Web Africa uncapped hosting products launched

[rpm]

Web Africa uncapped hosting products launched (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/hosting-storage/30578-web-africa-uncapped-hosting-products-launched.html)

Web Africa has launched its Nitro Unlimited hosting products, offering subscribers uncapped traffic

[mcryan]

Web Africa uncapped hosting products launched (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/hosting-storage/30578-web-africa-uncapped-hosting-products-launched.html)

Web Africa has launched its Nitro Unlimited hosting products, offering subscribers uncapped traffic

I like the business packages, but no MySQL or PHP for the personal packages? That's a bit disappointing.

[tohir]

Would so much like to support SA companies, but compared to offerings from Hostgator - sorry.

[zerofivetwosix]

I am a reseller with Webafrica and I would appreciate it if Webafrica could please explain the pricing structure relating to Hard Disk Space Usage on the Hosting by Ulisation model they have. I have addressed this matter on numerous occasions on their forum, but this has not been responded to.

They have given there hosting clients increased Hard Disk Space part of this Unlimited Bandwidth options they now have, but did not afford the same to their Resellers.

I.e. A client who requires and uses 2GB of Hard Disk space will only pay R149.00 if they hosted directly with Webafrica, whilst I will be charged on their Reseller package over R620.00. How are we suppose to be able to compete if this is the type of pricing models they are using?

I am aware of the oversell argument that not all clients use all the space been allocated, by some kind of price adjustment is in order I feel, as they have done with their hosting clients.

Server Admins (http://www.server-admins.co.za) have just sent out a notification to all clients of their new Reseller Packages, they offer R920.00 Unlimited everything on their Local Hosting, but it is to move all my domains that will be the nightmare, but it looks like if Webafrica are not prepared to come to the party, I will have to.

[Apache]

I am a reseller with Webafrica and I would appreciate it if Webafrica could please explain the pricing structure relating to Hard Disk Space Usage on the Hosting by Ulisation model they have. I have addressed this matter on numerous occasions on their forum, but this has not been responded to.

They have given there hosting clients increased Hard Disk Space part of this Unlimited Bandwidth options they now have, but did not afford the same to their Resellers.

I.e. A client who requires and uses 2GB of Hard Disk space will only pay R149.00 if they hosted directly with Webafrica, whilst I will be charged on their Reseller package over R620.00. How are we suppose to be able to compete if this is the type of pricing models they are using?

I am aware of the oversell argument that not all clients use all the space been allocated, by some kind of price adjustment is in order I feel, as they have done with their hosting clients.

Server Admins (http://www.server-admins.co.za) have just sent out a notification to all clients of their new Reseller Packages, they offer R920.00 Unlimited everything on their Local Hosting, but it is to move all my domains that will be the nightmare, but it looks like if Webafrica are not prepared to come to the party, I will have to.
Hetzner volume account?

[Yuu]

If i take the cheapest option for a home user, can i host a flash game for my local peeps.

talking about Haxball (http://www.haxball.com)

Will i be able to login to the WIndows box, get into say Internet explorer , load up the URL and host a game (port forwarding may be an issue) but not a biggie. Anyone care to explain if this idea will work :)?

The game is a browser based game so no client to download, just uses flash.

Will my total hosting cost be R19.00 per month?

[zerofivetwosix]

Apache I hear you and I do make use of their services and think that they are great. Unfortunately the clients that I have with Webafrica require Windows Hosting. Server Admins is the route to go, it is just the migration process that is going to be fun. :)

[Saajid]

I am a reseller with Webafrica ***snip

I hear you. I am sitting in the same boat. The feeling we get from WebAfrica is that they don't want resellers anymore. We've helped to grow their business, and now they can stand on their own feet, so they want us gone.

Only reason I haven't moved to Server Admins is because they don't offer shared Windows reseller hosting, which I need.

[Denouncer]

"99.9% Uptime" - lol

Anyways, it's certainly a step in the right direction, but what's up with the limited and extremely expensive web space? Only 5GB on the "Pro" package? Companies such as Afrihost and Mweb offer anything from 50GB to "unlimited" for a similarly priced package. And if you want more than 5GB with Webafrica, then you must fork out R500 per GB!! How does Webafrica justify that sort of pricing?

It's a step in the right direction, sure, but not a big enough leap to catch up with the rest of the local hosting companies.

[zerofivetwosix]

I hear you. I am sitting in the same boat. The feeling we get from WebAfrica is that they don't want resellers anymore. We've helped to grow their business, and now they can stand on their own feet, so they want us gone.

Only reason I haven't moved to Server Admins is because they don't offer shared Windows reseller hosting, which I need.

Server Admins do offer shared Windows Reseller Hosting (http://www.server-admins.co.za/reseller/windows-reseller-hosting-za/). Ignore the Bandwidth allocation in the tables, because I received an email from them this afternoon that this has changed. Perhaps email them for more detail.

[waCliff]

They have given there hosting clients increased Hard Disk Space part of this Unlimited Bandwidth options they now have, but did not afford the same to their Resellers.


Unlimited Bandwidth is now available on our Reseller Hosting Offering. Essentially this means Resellers don't pay for traffic at all.

[zerofivetwosix]

Unlimited Bandwidth is now available on our Reseller Hosting Offering. Essentially this means Resellers don't pay for traffic at all.

waCliff I was not referring to your Unlimited Bandwidth. I got the email you sent this morning, thank you!!!! I am referring to ridiculous sum you charge for Hard Disk Space. Is this now also unlimited or am I missing something?

[WAJeff]

I am a reseller with Webafrica and I would appreciate it if Webafrica could please explain the pricing structure relating to Hard Disk Space Usage on the Hosting by Ulisation model they have. I have addressed this matter on numerous occasions on their forum, but this has not been responded to.

They have given there hosting clients increased Hard Disk Space part of this Unlimited Bandwidth options they now have, but did not afford the same to their Resellers.

I.e. A client who requires and uses 2GB of Hard Disk space will only pay R149.00 if they hosted directly with Webafrica, whilst I will be charged on their Reseller package over R620.00. How are we suppose to be able to compete if this is the type of pricing models they are using?

I am aware of the oversell argument that not all clients use all the space been allocated, by some kind of price adjustment is in order I feel, as they have done with their hosting clients.

Server Admins (http://www.server-admins.co.za) have just sent out a notification to all clients of their new Reseller Packages, they offer R920.00 Unlimited everything on their Local Hosting, but it is to move all my domains that will be the nightmare, but it looks like if Webafrica are not prepared to come to the party, I will have to.

Hi zerofivetwosix,

I see that you've commented on our forums too :)
For the Reseller, we do have something in the pipe lines which will address the disk space and bandwidth concerns.



"99.9% Uptime" - lol

Anyways, it's certainly a step in the right direction, but what's up with the limited and extremely expensive web space? Only 5GB on the "Pro" package? Companies such as Afrihost and Mweb offer anything from 50GB to "unlimited" for a similarly priced package. And if you want more than 5GB with Webafrica, then you must fork out R500 per GB!! How does Webafrica justify that sort of pricing?

It's a step in the right direction, sure, but not a big enough leap to catch up with the rest of the local hosting companies.

What website are you looking to host?
Can you please let me know where you're seeing the R500/ GB pricing? Maybe you're confusing this with our Reseller range?

[Sodan]

While MWEB’s offering allows for unlimited traffic and unlimited dish space, it carries a 50MB limit on any MySQL databases.


To hold an infinite amount of food?

[zerofivetwosix]

Hi zerofivetwosix,

I see that you've commented on our forums too :)
For the Reseller, we do have something in the pipe lines which will address the disk space and bandwidth concerns.




What website are you looking to host?
Can you please let me know where you're seeing the R500/ GB pricing? Maybe you're confusing this with our Reseller range?

Hi waJeff,

Yes, I have brought this up on your forum and I have logged a support ticket on this matter as well.

Can you tell me how long is this pipe you are referring to? Because I am ready to jump ship

[WAJeff]

Hi waJeff,

Yes, I have brought this up on your forum and I have logged a support ticket on this matter as well.

Can you tell me how long is this pipe you are referring to? Because I am ready to jump ship

As much as I'd like to give you a timeline, it's something that our product team needs to decide on :(
I've been told it's something that will be happening soon.

[Franna]

zerofivetwosix - Exactly why I closed my Webafrica resellers account last month and moved my 15 domains. Don't be afraid to do it - it is not that complicated and time-consuming.

[MVGL]

@ zerofivetwosix

Don't get your hopes up. Heard all this nonesense before. Migration was frustrating but I have never looked back. Migrated over a year ago, get great service now and have actually made some money.

Shop around and don't let them squeeze the last cent out of you.

My 2c

[Saajid]

I hear you. I am sitting in the same boat. The feeling we get from WebAfrica is that they don't want resellers anymore. We've helped to grow their business, and now they can stand on their own feet, so they want us gone.

Only reason I haven't moved to Server Admins is because they don't offer shared Windows reseller hosting, which I need.


Server Admins do offer shared Windows Reseller Hosting (http://www.server-admins.co.za/reseller/windows-reseller-hosting-za/). Ignore the Bandwidth allocation in the tables, because I received an email from them this afternoon that this has changed. Perhaps email them for more detail.

Awesome. I've checked with them before, and they didn't offer it at the time. I'm definitely going to jump ship. Goodbye WA and goodbye to your insane costs of R300 per Gigabyte, or R30,000 per Terabyte of hard drive space.

[Saajid]

I concur with the others. Don't get your hopes up. Their promises of changes to come are just a way for WebAfrica to save face on a public forum. They really DON'T want resellers and more, but can't just switch us all off. They have to drive us away by making us hate them, much the same way corporates do when they need to get rid of a problem employee.

I hope MWEB comes to the party with some good reseller hosting options. They've made a big splash with ADSL and Consumer hosting, almost seems fitting that they should do the same for Reseller Hosting.

[Saajid]

Regarding the costly disk space, this is what I have posted before:


Hi.

Many people are upset/nervous/scared about the new reseller hosting by utilisation model, myself included.

My biggest worry is the cost of disk space, at 30c per MB (i.e. R300 per GB, or R30,000 per Terabyte!)

I find this totally outrageous. Disk space should be the easiest thing to manage and upgrade. Just stick more/bigger drives into your guys RAID arrays. The cost of disk space is so cheap nowadays. A 1TB drive can cost between R500 and R1000 depending on make, model and bulk discounts. Compare this to R30,000 per TB at current rates. I can only describe this as outrageous.

Sure I understand there other costs involved besides just the cost of the drives, like mirroring/redundancy, backups, staff/support, etc but are you saying that the cost of 1TB of hosting space is 30-60 times the cost of a single 1TB hard drive?

I get the feeling that WebAfrica is using this outrageous pricing to subsidise other reseller resources/costs. I'd rather pay a bit more for bandwidth and/or domains, then R30,000 for a TB of disk space.

If WebAfrica could bring down the cost of disk Space to about 5c per MB (i.e. R50 per GB, or R5000 per TB), that would be more realistic IMO.

Better still, include at least 200MB of disk space with each domain

[Denouncer]

Can you please let me know where you're seeing the R500/ GB pricing? Maybe you're confusing this with our Reseller range?

http://www.webafrica.co.za/webhosting/

Disk Space Overages p/MB: 50c

Perhaps my maths is slightly out, but since 1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes, then according to the above, 1GB of extra space = R512

What am I missing here?

[elvis_presley]

http://www.webafrica.co.za/webhosting/

Disk Space Overages p/MB: 50c

Perhaps my maths is slightly out, but since 1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes, then according to the above, 1GB of extra space = R512

What am I missing here?

You're missing nothing. Sounds like you've found the catch :)

[mrturbs]

What people don't seem to get is this is shared hosting, there is a real cost to increasing disk space allocations here. Namely backups become very costly from a restore point of view, if they let each client have 50GB and they have 50 clients per server, you need to backup and restore 2.5TB of data. If you have a server crash you sit without your data for a good few hours because of the size of the restore.

If these packages don't offer enough space for you, then you really shouldn't be on shared hosting.

[mrmrrza]

zerofivetwosix - Exactly why I closed my Webafrica resellers account last month and moved my 15 domains. Don't be afraid to do it - it is not that complicated and time-consuming.

As well, enough is enough.... I got tired of waiting. Anyone else notice that when smartcom bought a stake, WAs competitiveness went downhill?

[WAJeff]

As well, enough is enough.... I got tired of waiting. Anyone else notice that when smartcom bought a stake, WAs competitiveness went downhill?

Since SmartCom has bought 30% of WA, we've been continuing to both grow at a phenomenal rate as well as as increase our competitiveness, product releases and customer service. The finer details about the SmartCom join to WA can be read on our Blog (http://blog.webafrica.co.za/2008/11/web-africa-and-smartcom-join-forces/)

[21stcn]

I hate to say it as I've been a loyal WA customer for years, but WA prices are no longer competitive. When I saw the price comparison table recently with the nitro unlimited offerings, I thought I had accidentally visited the waybackmachine snapshot of 1997.

Firstly, to provide personal packages without a single mySQL database is ludicrous. I don't know if you have noticed but personal site = wordpress 90% of the time. Most people who go entry level personal will use a CMS. Frankly I don't know what this personal site you are hosting is about, with 50mg and no development services for R20. Rip off. I mean, if you actually think about this it is laughable: unlimited traffic for a 20mg site with 1 email address and no databases. You wouldn't need unlimited bandwidth, so here unlimited traffic across the board is messing up all package pricing.

Secondly the business packages are all wrong. 1 gig, 15 email, 1 db for R99. You must be joking. On another random SA host, for R60 p/m (international) you get: 4 gigs disk space, unlimited traffic, 10 domains,10 mySQL & unlimited email addresses.

For local another host is R80 for 3gigs space, 3 gigs bandwidth 30 emails, 3 domains and 3 mySQL. If you pull more than 3 gigs in local traffic then you can surely afford a pro package with 10 gigs for R250 and 7 gigs storage as your site should be making you revenue.

So what are you paying so much extra for? Basically really great service and HELM over cPanel. Give me cPanel any day; I'll even pay more for it. I'll put up with adequate service if I can at least turn a profit. It seems that, in order to spread unlimited traffic across all packages, WA has hiked all prices. There is no longer differential between Win & Linux. As a webdeveloper I don't want to pay extra so others customers can host on windows.

The reason I mention it is because I didn't want to change. But I need to now. I need to set up a few more packages for new clients but WA prices are not good enough. Unless there is a good reason for forking out which I am missing.

[server-admins.net]

I am a reseller with Webafrica and I would appreciate it if Webafrica could please explain the pricing structure relating to Hard Disk Space Usage on the Hosting by Ulisation model they have. I have addressed this matter on numerous occasions on their forum, but this has not been responded to.

They have given there hosting clients increased Hard Disk Space part of this Unlimited Bandwidth options they now have, but did not afford the same to their Resellers.

I.e. A client who requires and uses 2GB of Hard Disk space will only pay R149.00 if they hosted directly with Webafrica, whilst I will be charged on their Reseller package over R620.00. How are we suppose to be able to compete if this is the type of pricing models they are using?

I am aware of the oversell argument that not all clients use all the space been allocated, by some kind of price adjustment is in order I feel, as they have done with their hosting clients.

Server Admins (http://www.server-admins.co.za) have just sent out a notification to all clients of their new Reseller Packages, they offer R920.00 Unlimited everything on their Local Hosting, but it is to move all my domains that will be the nightmare, but it looks like if Webafrica are not prepared to come to the party, I will have to.Many thanks for mentioning us in this. I've wanted to respond a little sooner and thank you how ever as you know we've had our hands full :)

We have revised our reseller resources which should save most resellers a few cents here and there.


Awesome. I've checked with them before, and they didn't offer it at the time. I'm definitely going to jump ship. Goodbye WA and goodbye to your insane costs of R300 per Gigabyte, or R30,000 per Terabyte of hard drive space.Not too sure if you've made contact with us recently? If you need further clarity on any of our services then give us a shout or pop us a mail.