Francistown doesn’t feature in most Botswana itineraries the way Gaborone or Maun do, but as the country’s second-largest city — around 100,000 people, roughly 400 kilometers northeast of the capital — it has connectivity to match, and it’s worth knowing about if your route passes through on the way to Chobe or the border with Zimbabwe.
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Coverage in Francistown itself
All three of Botswana’s networks reach Francistown with solid 4G, and it’s specifically named alongside Gaborone as one of the cities that received Orange’s upgraded 4G+ (LTE-A) service, which improves streaming and download speeds over standard 4G. BTC also has a decent urban presence here, being one of the few cities outside Gaborone where its coverage is considered reliable. In practice, connectivity in Francistown is comparable to Gaborone for everyday tourist needs — maps, messaging, video calls.
Why Francistown matters for a Botswana itinerary
Sitting near the confluence of the Tati and Ntshe rivers and about 90 kilometers from the Zimbabwe border, Francistown is a natural stopping point for anyone driving between Gaborone and the northern safari areas, or crossing toward Zimbabwe. If you’re on a longer road trip through Botswana, it’s a sensible place to handle connectivity-dependent tasks — confirming the next leg’s bookings, backing up photos — given how much less reliable signal becomes once you’re further from major towns.
Free WiFi and local options
As one of Botswana’s established urban centers, Francistown has decent free WiFi availability in hotels, restaurants, and cafes, similar to what you’d find in Gaborone or Maun. If you need a local SIM rather than relying on an eSIM, Francistown is one of the larger cities where you can reliably find one, alongside Maun, Kasane, Gaborone, and Ghanzi.
Which network to use
For a Francistown stop specifically, any of the three carriers work well given the city’s solid urban coverage. If your route continues toward more rural stretches or safari areas afterward, Mascom’s wider rural footprint makes it the more useful choice for the rest of the trip — the mobile networks comparison covers the full picture.
If you’re continuing the journey
Francistown is often a stop rather than a destination, on the way to Chobe National Park via Kasane, or south back toward Gaborone. Coverage drops noticeably once you’re on the roads between these towns — the Botswana road-trip connectivity guide covers preparing each leg of a longer drive, which is worth doing even between two well-connected cities, since the stretch in between often isn’t.
Setting up before you arrive
If you haven’t installed an eSIM yet, the Botswana eSIM installation guide and activation guide cover getting set up, ideally before you leave home rather than waiting until you’re already on the road.
FAQ
Is internet reliable in Francistown?
Yes — as Botswana’s second-largest city, it has solid 4G coverage across all three major networks, comparable to Gaborone for everyday use.
Is Francistown a good place to buy a local SIM?
Yes — it’s one of the larger cities in Botswana where local SIM cards are reliably available, alongside Gaborone, Maun, and Kasane.
Does Francistown’s coverage extend toward the Zimbabwe border?
Not entirely — the town itself is well-covered, but signal thins out on the roads leading toward the border and beyond.
Which network is best for a Gaborone-to-Chobe drive through Francistown?
Mascom generally, given its wider rural reach for the less-covered stretches between the major towns.
Final Recommendation
Francistown offers connectivity on par with Gaborone, making it a reliable stop on a longer Botswana road trip — use it to handle anything time-sensitive before continuing toward Chobe, the border, or back south, since the roads in between typically won’t offer the same reliability.