Home›Telkom speed test

Telkom speed test

Test your Telkom connection and see whether your fibre, LTE or older copper line is delivering what your package promises.

Telkom fibre runs over Openserve, so a fibre result should sit close to your package. LTE results move with signal and time of day, so compare like with like.

What speed is normal on Telkom?

Telkom sells three kinds of home internet: fibre on the Openserve network, fixed LTE routers on Telkom’s mobile network, and, in a shrinking number of areas, copper ADSL or VDSL. The normal range is completely different for each, so check which one you have before reading the table.

Telkom connectionTypical downloadTypical pingGood for
Telkom fibre (Openserve)Within about 10% of package, e.g. 25, 50, 100, 200 Mbps3–15 msEverything, several devices at once
Telkom fixed LTE (home router)10–60 Mbps30–70 msHD streaming, calls, browsing
Telkom mobile LTE (phone)10–70 Mbps30–60 msEveryday phone use
ADSL / VDSL copper2–40 Mbps depending on line20–50 msBrowsing, one HD stream

Copper lines are being switched off area by area as Openserve migrates customers to fibre or LTE. If you are still on ADSL and it is slow, ask Telkom about the migration offer for your area.

Rule of thumb: on fibre, under 80% of the package on a cable is a fault worth logging. On LTE, 50–80% of your best-ever result is normal at busy times.

Why your Telkom speed is slow, and what to do about it

Identify your connection type first, then follow the steps that apply to it.

  1. Test on a cable, not WiFiPlug a laptop into the router with an Ethernet cable and test again. If the cable result is much higher than WiFi, the problem is inside your home, not with your provider. Move closer to the router, switch to the 5 GHz WiFi band, or add a mesh unit.
  2. Check the ONT or router lights (fibre)On fibre, a red LOS light on the ONT means the line itself is down and the fault sits with Openserve. Green lights with slow speed point to the router, WiFi or the package.
  3. Reposition an LTE routerPut a fixed LTE router at a window on the side facing the nearest tower, as high as possible. Two bars or fewer will never give full speed.
  4. Test at a quiet hour and at peakRun the test at 10 am and again at 8 pm. A big evening drop points to congestion on the network, not your setup. A steady shortfall at every hour points to the line or the plan.
  5. Restart the routerSwitch it off at the wall for 30 seconds. Routers that have been on for weeks leak memory, drop to slower WiFi modes and hold onto poor connections. Do this before anything else.
  6. Check your package and any capLog into the Telkom app and confirm the speed you are paying for and whether a fair-use cap has kicked in on an LTE plan. It is common to be on a lower package than you remember.
  7. Contact Telkom with your numbersIf daytime speeds on a cable are still far below your plan, log a fault in the Telkom app, dial 10210 or use WhatsApp. Send the download, upload and ping numbers, the time of day and whether you were on cable or WiFi. That gets you past the first-line “restart your router” reply.

Telkom fibre and Openserve: who fixes what

Openserve builds and maintains the fibre line to your house and the ONT box on the wall. Telkom is the ISP that sells you the package and routes your traffic. You always log the fault with Telkom, but it helps to say whether the ONT lights are normal; if they are, the fault is unlikely to be the line.

Still on ADSL?

Copper ADSL tops out at around 10 Mbps for most lines and VDSL at around 40 Mbps, and both degrade with distance from the exchange and rain damage. Openserve is decommissioning copper across the country, so if your area has fibre or a good LTE signal, migrating is usually a bigger speed gain than any troubleshooting.

Common questions

Why is my Telkom fibre slow?

Test on a cable first. If the cable result matches your package, the problem is WiFi. If it is far lower and the ONT lights are normal, contact Telkom; if the ONT shows a red LOS light, the line is down.

What speed should Telkom LTE give me?

Typically 10–60 Mbps on a fixed LTE router with a good signal, less at peak. Router placement at a window makes the biggest difference.

Does Telkom throttle LTE?

Some Telkom LTE plans reduce speed after a fair-use amount. The Telkom app shows your usage and any cap.

Is Telkom ADSL being switched off?

Yes, area by area. Telkom and Openserve migrate customers to fibre or LTE as copper is decommissioned.