Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback - 2

[electrofreeze]

when will the latency and packet loss be sorted out as it looks like the same problems as last year
no isp can have the same problems for so long and not find a fix
just buy more ipc

 

[AfriMan]

when will the latency and packet loss be sorted out as it looks like the same problems as last year
no isp can have the same problems for so long and not find a fix
just buy more ipc

We are definitely working on improving overall network performance, and we know that this is affecting some clients experience on priority services. We've made some progress but there is still more work to be done.

Buying more IPC is an ongoing plan, and if that is what is required we have the commitment from MTN and our management that this will be done. For the moment we believe that we do have enough capacity and we need to make how we use it much more efficient.

 

[koosbeer]

We've seen the reports here of D3 issues and our tests are not able to replicate this. We are definitely keen to find any possible issue. D3 is an oldie but a goodie and we know many clients still game on it. We'll keep investigating until we can see what could be happening, but it will also help if you can ensure that this is not just during peak demand but happens at any time of the day.

The thing is the D3 problem is not the only thing. Mumble being like a 90s cellphone conversation is the BIG problem. And the fact that this issue is resolved IMMEDIATELY when switching to the 1gb capped account. And it returns when I switched back to my biz account.

As I said before, the only time I can game a bit is between 8 - 10. That is when this problem pops up. So yeah, it is during peak. But does that make it fine? Isnt the biz account not supposed to be influenced by this peak traffic? Also, why does switching to the capped account fix it?

 

[AfriMan]

Still up the freaking creek this morning!


1 105-237-134-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za 4.526 ms 4.758 ms 4.659 ms
2 41.181.221.213 (41.181.221.213) 153.103 ms 163.854 ms 160.067 ms
3 41.181.221.214 (41.181.221.214) 147.541 ms 151.671 ms 151.357 ms
4 rb-dca-2.za--qux-b.za.mtnbusiness.net (41.181.165.118) 153.417 ms 156.251 ms 158.767 ms
5 rb-cr-1.za--rb-dca-2.mtnns.net (196.44.31.122) 167.883 ms 104.111 ms 176.854 ms
6 196.44.31.97 (196.44.31.97) 175.306 ms 180.848 ms
jh-dca-2.za--jh-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net (196.44.0.221) 172.158 ms
7 196.31.220.10 (196.31.220.10) 175.857 ms 185.594 ms 179.877 ms
8 196.31.220.21 (196.31.220.21) 192.127 ms 101.756 ms 198.317 ms
9 196.31.63.202 (196.31.63.202) 181.478 ms 188.244 ms 179.959 ms
10 vl9-ah-ha-2.za.mtnbusiness.net (196.30.42.133) 196.152 ms 189.319 ms 183.845 ms
11 cms-gm.afrihost.com (197.242.144.102) 177.034 ms 157.353 ms 153.898 ms

We're working with both MTN and Telkom on trying to get this resolved. Seems like it's more complex than we expected.

 

[Sinbad]

We are definitely working on improving overall network performance, and we know that this is affecting some clients experience on priority services. We've made some progress but there is still more work to be done.

Buying more IPC is an ongoing plan, and if that is what is required we have the commitment from MTN and our management that this will be done. For the moment we believe that we do have enough capacity and we need to make how we use it much more efficient.

Your users, your customer perception and this thread say otherwise. I'm disappointed to see such denial of an obvious problem. A sad day for internetz in SA.

 

[AfriMan]

People need to vote with their wallets and move somewhere else. Honestly, it's not a big deal to change an ISP - some people get divorced more often than moving to an ISP that actually works.

But honestly, Afrihost made their half a billion rand from MTN so they really are coasting now.

I think the voting with your wallet cliche is very short-sighted, but it is every clients right to spend their money where they feel it works best for them. Ultimately, switching providers often is not great for most people, and while we don't expect that we would win every content and survey, we still believe that many of our clients still feel the best value and return on their spend is with us.

 

[AfriMan]

Your users, your customer perception and this thread say otherwise. I'm disappointed to see such denial of an obvious problem. A sad day for internetz in SA.

I can't give you an admission that contradicts what our network engineers say, that would be irresponsible of me. The feedback I have is that we do have sufficient capacity for the current demand and usage trends.

 

[AfriMan]

So my last post just seemed to get out right ignored.

No wonder you guys have dropped in the polls so much since the last one.

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/adsl/124232-best-adsl-isp-in-south-africa-revealed.html

I didn't see your last post - totally apologise for that. Best to PM me, cos I always reply to every PM I receive.

 

[AfriMan]

The thing is the D3 problem is not the only thing. Mumble being like a 90s cellphone conversation is the BIG problem. And the fact that this issue is resolved IMMEDIATELY when switching to the 1gb capped account. And it returns when I switched back to my biz account.

As I said before, the only time I can game a bit is between 8 - 10. That is when this problem pops up. So yeah, it is during peak. But does that make it fine? Isnt the biz account not supposed to be influenced by this peak traffic? Also, why does switching to the capped account fix it?

Unfortunately any account on the network can be affected by demand, but as far as I am aware latency and performance should be much better in the North (than what we're seeing in the South, for example).

We've run tests on Teamspeak, but we can try to replicate what you're seeing on Mumble. Drop me a PM and I'll get you in touch with the right guys to test this (I know you were also chatting with AfriGuy, so if he already escalated this, I'll follow that up).

 

[koosbeer]

Unfortunately any account on the network can be affected by demand, but as far as I am aware latency and performance should be much better in the North (than what we're seeing in the South, for example).

We've run tests on Teamspeak, but we can try to replicate what you're seeing on Mumble. Drop me a PM and I'll get you in touch with the right guys to test this (I know you were also chatting with AfriGuy, so if he already escalated this, I'll follow that up).

I offered before to do a desktop capture (video) of what exactly happens and how it changes back and forth. I can upload this somewhere and share it with you so that you can see. My last communication with the Afri collective kinda made me upset where I was told to do a series of tracerts over a couple of days with accounts being switched around etc etc. I sadly cant do that. Like I said, the little time I have to spend behind my PC at home, I would like to spend gaming not running tests and stuff. That is why I resorted to posting on the general thread. It is important for you guys and everyone to be aware of the problems.

 

[Sinbad]

I can't give you an admission that contradicts what our network engineers say, that would be irresponsible of me. The feedback I have is that we do have sufficient capacity for the current demand and usage trends.

So why is there so much fiddling, fixing and optimising needed? This tells me that demand exceeds supply and you're balancing on a very fine line? If you had enough capacity you wouldn't need to go through your shaping rules with a fine tooth comb all the time.

I know you can only say what you're told, but I don't believe what you're being told...

 

[electrofreeze]

So why is there so much fiddling, fixing and optimising needed? This tells me that demand exceeds supply and you're balancing on a very fine line? If you had enough capacity you wouldn't need to go through your shaping rules with a fine tooth comb all the time.

I know you can only say what you're told, but I don't believe what you're being told...

+1000 Definitely the problem
come on ah spend some of that money you made so your customers can have a good internet experience
there must be a someone the customer can send his complains to so they can screw up ah for better service to the customer

 

[whatwhat]

I think the voting with your wallet cliche is very short-sighted

Please tell me why you think that. Would you be happy paying 1000-2000 rand a month for a subpar service, only to be told that it would be fixed soon?

Now, you might say that you don't have problems but imagine for a second that you are affected. What would you do?

 

[AfriMan]

Please tell me why you think that. Would you be happy paying 1000-2000 rand a month for a subpar service, only to be told that it would be fixed soon?

Now, you might say that you don't have problems but imagine for a second that you are affected. What would you do?

The route to better infrastructure is to invest in a provider and give them the buying power to build better technology and access, and I say that specifically with reference to the South African context. Especially with things like cable theft and load shedding, telecomms providers spend tens of billions to repair and replace infrastructure to keep service going and to build in new redundancies.

As I said, it's every consumer's right to hop service providers whenever they'd like, and we support that right by providing month to month contracts and never demanding that you stay with us if you feel you're getting poor value. But ultimately it's long term relationships forged with clients that move industries forward.

 

[AfriMan]

I offered before to do a desktop capture (video) of what exactly happens and how it changes back and forth. I can upload this somewhere and share it with you so that you can see. My last communication with the Afri collective kinda made me upset where I was told to do a series of tracerts over a couple of days with accounts being switched around etc etc. I sadly cant do that. Like I said, the little time I have to spend behind my PC at home, I would like to spend gaming not running tests and stuff. That is why I resorted to posting on the general thread. It is important for you guys and everyone to be aware of the problems.

I think the best is to work one on one with one of our team who knows exactly how the game and VoIP technologies work and he can tell you exactly what information he needs to replicate your experience and see what can be done.

 

[AfriMan]

So why is there so much fiddling, fixing and optimising needed? This tells me that demand exceeds supply and you're balancing on a very fine line? If you had enough capacity you wouldn't need to go through your shaping rules with a fine tooth comb all the time.

I know you can only say what you're told, but I don't believe what you're being told...

It's definitely fair to say that we need to balance the available resources, the upstream costs and the client experience. It's a very narrow tightrope and we always try to stack the odds in favour of the client experience, by upgrading IPC even when our incoming revenue growth does not always justify it.

I think it makes sense to look at any immediate wins first. remember that we don't do this in order NOT to upgrade, upgrade of resources is an ongoing plan. But it's to make sure that we don't make upstream costs force us to raise prices, which puts us in a vicious cycle where the very clients who want a better experience will move elsewhere due to rising costs. Looking at the reaction to increases in cellular voice carrier costs puts this in perspective, but very people are willing to discuss the massive investment that is required to maintain a national service. I know that MTN spend tens of billions year on year, so we're talking about massive amounts of money, and I kinda understand why very few cellular providers think they afford to risk month to month contracts, etc.

 

[bullzeye.za]

Please tell me why you think that. Would you be happy paying 1000-2000 rand a month for a subpar service, only to be told that it would be fixed soon?

Now, you might say that you don't have problems but imagine for a second that you are affected. What would you do?

I'm totally with you here. If you are spending money and not getting what you expect, you really should move away.

Personally, I get every cent that I pay for - My 10mb account regularly pushes over 500gb, and I don't notice slowdowns at all, ever.

I suppose it's possible that I get throttled to 2mb sometimes, but the way that my downloads work, I never see the speed theyr'e going, only that they arrive automatically, and that's all I care about.

 

[PurSpyk!!]

I think the survey is an accurate indication of the frustration and unhappiness most of us are experiencing. This has been a long time coming, and maybe Afrihost management will take note of this and hopefully implement changes.

I sent a PM a few weeks back requesting a refund due to slow issues on your network (which the various Afi reps admitted to), and as expected, nothing was done about it. Keep up this type of service and you will be the lowest on satisfaction surveys.

 

[AfriMan]

I think the survey is an accurate indication of the frustration and unhappiness most of us are experiencing. This has been a long time coming, and maybe Afrihost management will take note of this and hopefully implement changes.

I sent a PM a few weeks back requesting a refund due to slow issues on your network (which the various Afi reps admitted to), and as expected, nothing was done about it. Keep up this type of service and you will be the lowest on satisfaction surveys.

Our management will definitely take notice. Ultimately though, I'd always like to think that other ISPs have learned and upped their game, which is good for the industry. I think it's our turn to learn and maybe look at what works and what doesn't and what we can do to be better for our clients.

 

[bullzeye.za]

It's definitely fair to say that we need to balance the available resources, the upstream costs and the client experience. It's a very narrow tightrope and we always try to stack the odds in favour of the client experience, by upgrading IPC even when our incoming revenue growth does not always justify it.

I think it makes sense to look at any immediate wins first. remember that we don't do this in order NOT to upgrade, upgrade of resources is an ongoing plan. But it's to make sure that we don't make upstream costs force us to raise prices, which puts us in a vicious cycle where the very clients who want a better experience will move elsewhere due to rising costs. Looking at the reaction to increases in cellular voice carrier costs puts this in perspective, but very people are willing to discuss the massive investment that is required to maintain a national service. I know that MTN spend tens of billions year on year, so we're talking about massive amounts of money, and I kinda understand why very few cellular providers think they afford to risk month to month contracts, etc.

This makes sense - The amount of bandwidth your clients are consuming year on year must be growing very quickly, given the rate that VOD services are growing. You can always try and bargain for cheaper rates from your upstream providers, but if they won't budge, the difference has to fall somewhere, either in reducing your profits ( and you -do- make a killing off of ADSL, I'm sure ), or upping your prices.