Is internet down in my area today ?

Fixed internet: who builds the network vs who sells to you (and why that matters in an outage)

In the fixed market, there’s a clear split between infrastructure owners (who lay and operate fibre/copper) and retail ISPs (who sell you the service and support you).

• Infrastructure / FNOs (open-access fibre): Openserve (Telkom's wholesale arm), Vumatel, Frogfoot. They build and maintain last-mile FTTH and regional backbones, then wholesale access to ISPs.
• Retail ISPs (sell to households): Telkom (retail), MWEB, Webafrica, Vox (and others). Some mobile brands (e.g., Vodacom, MTN) also resell fibre over open-access networks for home internet.

Why it matters: during a fixed outage, your line may be physically down on the FNO side (e.g., fibre cut, OLT fault, power failure at a distribution node) even if your ISP’s core is healthy. That’s why ISPs often say “the fault is with the fibre network operator” and provide ETR (estimated time to restore) once the FNO updates them.

Resilience & build quality:

• FTTH networks from Open-Access FNOs are generally robust, but common risks remain: third-party digs (construction cuts), load-shedding power events at cabinets/hubs, or backhaul incidents between cities.
• The fixed market is designed around redundancy and wholesale separation: multiple ISPs can operate on the same fibre, which improves competition and speeds up recovery once the physical break is repaired.
• The national regulator (ICASA) oversees service quality frameworks and licensing. ISPs and FNOs publish maintenance windows and communicate major incidents; wholesale-retail separation ensures faults are escalated quickly to the party that can actually fix the cable/equipment.

How to read your bill: if your invoice shows an ISP like MWEB/Webafrica/Vox/Telkom Retail but your order mentions “Openserve/Vumatel/Frogfoot fibre”, you’re on an open-access line. In practice, you speak to your ISP, who then escalates to the FNO with a fault reference.

Mobile networks: infrastructure MNOs, MVNOs, and typical causes of downtime

On mobile, only a few companies own and run radio networks nationwide: Vodacom, MTN, Telkom Mobile, and Cell C (which relies heavily on roaming on MTN for coverage).

• MNOs (infrastructure owners): Vodacom, MTN, Telkom Mobile, Cell C (hybrid model with national roaming on MTN for RAN in many areas).
• MVNOs (no radio network): Capitec Connect and many others. They ride on a host network (e.g., Cell C/MTN). If the host has an outage, the MVNO is impacted too.

Typical mobile outage drivers:

• Load-shedding or site power failures → towers fall back to batteries; prolonged cuts can drain backup.
• Backhaul fibre cuts → the tower is up but can’t reach the core; users see “no data” or severe slowdown.
• Core network or provisioning faults → authentication/IMS/dns issues; calls or data fail even with full bars.
• Roaming dependencies (e.g., Cell C on MTN) → an MTN regional incident can cascade to roaming customers.

Fixed-wireless (LTE/5G home internet): these products depend on the same mobile towers/backhaul. If a tower is congested or down, home LTE/5G will degrade or drop even when your indoor router looks fine.

What to do during an outage (step-by-step for home fibre/ADSL and mobile)

Follow this checklist to isolate the problem and speed up restoration:

1) Quick local checks

• Reboot router/ONT (fibre) or CPE (LTE/5G home).
• Inspect lights:
  • Fibre ONT: LOS/ALARM = possible fibre issue; PON should be steady/green.
  • Router: WAN/Internet light off = line down; red = authentication/ISP fault.
  • Mobile/LTE router: signal bars OK but no Internet = backhaul/core problem likely.
• Try a second device (phone/laptop) and a wired connection (if possible) to rule out Wi-Fi glitches.

2) Determine if it’s fixed or Wi-Fi/device-only

• If Wi-Fi only is down but Ethernet works, it’s a local Wi-Fi issue (channel, interference, placement).
• If Ethernet/WAN shows no Internet, the fault is upstream (ISP/FNO or mobile network).

3) Check official status pages / app

• For fixed fibre, check your ISP’s status page (e.g., MWEB/Webafrica/Vox/Telkom Retail). If they flag Openserve/Vumatel/Frogfoot in your suburb, it’s an FNO incident; they’ll post ETR once the FNO confirms.
• For mobile, check your MNO’s status (Vodacom/MTN/Telkom/Cell C). If you’re on an MVNO (e.g., Capitec Connect), check both the MVNO’s comms and the host MNO.