Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback - 2

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AfriMan said:
Streaming is definitely a priority for us and something we test fairly often to benchmark network performance. However, we test the most common services like YouTube, Simfy, etc for audio and video streaming. There are now lots of different services available (and more on the way) so we need to troubleshoot performance on a case by case basis to improve each service where we can.
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I watch live streams on Youtube almost every week, and since the beginning I have not been able to watch these without buffering on higher than 360p, sometimes even 360p struggles. Yet I can watch normal non-streamed videos on 480p without problems, except of course the last few weeks. On WebAfrica free account I stream the same live streams on 480p.

If you can remember, I've complained about it before, but it never improved, so I just left it.

Now I know how it feels when you have your balls chopped off.
 
Ho3n3r said:
I watch live streams on Youtube almost every week, and since the beginning I have not been able to watch these without buffering on higher than 360p, sometimes even 360p struggles. Yet I can watch normal non-streamed videos on 480p without problems, except of course the last few weeks. On WebAfrica free account I stream the same live streams on 480p.

If you can remember, I've complained about it before, but it never improved, so I just left it.

Now I know how it feels when you have your balls chopped off.
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I'm not sure what you mean by non-streamed videos. Are you referring to live streams vs regular streamed or cached content?
 
@Afriman, Twitch was horrendous last night, almost every stream I chose buffered constantly, tried to watch a past broadcast and that buffered and then stopped playing....

EDIT : I received this response from your critical care team, please keep in mind that I have 10Mbps connection, so I'm not sure how much of a faster connection I need to stream 1080p videos :

"Thank you for sending us this information. From my understanding the durban and surrounding areas have received a network upgrade and that everything is now running with no problems. However with regards to this query could you please send through a speed test and a trace route so that our support team can assist you further. With regards to you tube streaming it does depend on the type of encryption the video is as to weather or not it works as a normal 1080p movie as some of them require a faster line than others."
 
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JesseG said:
"Thank you for sending us this information. From my understanding the durban and surrounding areas have received a network upgrade and that everything is now running with no problems. However with regards to this query could you please send through a speed test and a trace route so that our support team can assist you further. With regards to you tube streaming it does depend on the type of encryption the video is as to weather or not it works as a normal 1080p movie as some of them require a faster line than others."
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HUH???? WTF????
Do these guys sit around a camp fire thinking up BS reasoning and excuses to give clients???

No matter what type of video it is, or the encryption, this is an UNSHAPED account.... 10MB line is MORE than enough to stream 1080p videos - I do it all the time.

What a load of hogwash! Where in the heck does AH find these guys? If you don't know what you are talking about, AH tech-guy, than don't say anything... This is now getting ridiculous WOW.

...and this AFTER the awaited "upgrade"?
Another repeat of the IPC shortage in July.... AH has once again not factored extra capacity for the time wasted "testing". I suspect the other regional upgrades won't even make a dent :(
Last time round we waited months for the IPC upgrade in the South, only to get a mere 20%.... yet the rest of the order was never fulfilled - and this is where we find ourselves now :wtf:
 
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JesseG said:
@Afriman, Twitch was horrendous last night, almost every stream I chose buffered constantly, tried to watch a past broadcast and that buffered and then stopped playing....

EDIT : I received this response from your critical care team, please keep in mind that I have 10Mbps connection, so I'm not sure how much of a faster connection I need to stream 1080p videos :

"Thank you for sending us this information. From my understanding the durban and surrounding areas have received a network upgrade and that everything is now running with no problems. However with regards to this query could you please send through a speed test and a trace route so that our support team can assist you further. With regards to you tube streaming it does depend on the type of encryption the video is as to weather or not it works as a normal 1080p movie as some of them require a faster line than others."
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I didn't test any streaming last night. We're busy moving house so I had to pack up my stuff (including router etc) and didn't have much time to be online. From running a few downloads, throughput seemed to be pretty good on the network last night, I didn't check if streaming or latency were showing issues.

In my tests, I've seen 1080p streams demand between 6-8Mbps in general. If you're line isn't rock solid, you might see some buffering. The video compression used also seems to make a huge different, so whether it's 720p or 1080p doesn't always give an accurate benchmark on how much throughput the video or service could demand.
 
I recently switched over to Business ADSL 4 Mbps and I noticed that although it's an "unlimited" account, there appears to be a very specific data limit visible in the ClientZone.

I emailed support about it and got this response:

I do apologise for the confusion. Ultimately we have to set a limit on all ADSL packages, this does not by any means whatsoever entail that you will be cut after 5TB. It is simply a threshold that has to be set. If you do manage to reach 5TB then the threshold will be set higher. This will be done long before you reach it in order for you to have 100% uptime.

So in effect it would appear that:

There's a limit, that isn't a limit, but is set as limit, but if you hit the limit, it will be increased to a higher limit, and ... it will never be used as a limit ... because the account is unlimited ?!

I'm still rather confused by this. What, exactly is the progress bar labelled as "available data" in the screenshot below all about ? Because it's counting down rather ominously right now and I fear the consequences of it ever hitting 0.

B0fP9x1.jpg
 
SiliconKid said:
I recently switched over to Business ADSL 4 Mbps and I noticed that although it's an "unlimited" account, there appears to be a very specific data limit visible in the ClientZone.

I emailed support about it and got this response:

I do apologise for the confusion. Ultimately we have to set a limit on all ADSL packages, this does not by any means whatsoever entail that you will be cut after 5TB. It is simply a threshold that has to be set. If you do manage to reach 5TB then the threshold will be set higher. This will be done long before you reach it in order for you to have 100% uptime.

So in effect it would appear that:

There's a limit, that isn't a limit, but is set as limit, but if you hit the limit, it will be increased to a higher limit, and ... it will never be used as a limit ... because the account is unlimited ?!

I'm still rather confused by this. What, exactly is the progress bar labelled as "available data" in the screenshot below all about ? Because it's counting down rather ominously right now and I fear the consequences of it ever hitting 0.

B0fP9x1.jpg
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In terms of how our system works, with MTN integration, we have to create a data "link" which is where we monitor usage, etc. That link, can't be infinite, because it wouldn't work within the constraints of the system. So we set the value to something which is not theoretically possible, which in essence achieves the same result as infinity, so that we can measure the finite consumption value against it. However, as the support person correctly said, if by some miracle you were actually able to achieve that value, you would exceed it and continue to use data (without any penalty).
 
SiliconKid said:
I recently switched over to Business ADSL 4 Mbps and I noticed that although it's an "unlimited" account, there appears to be a very specific data limit visible in the ClientZone.

I emailed support about it and got this response:

<snip>
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Your telephone number is visible in the screenshot, I would advise editing it out, next to the "last connection from"...
 
Ho3n3r said:
For me, streaming has always been **** on Afrihost, even when there are no network issues. Then I switch over to a WebAfrica free account, and all streaming issues are resolved.

I get the feeling this will never get sorted.
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I have complained about this, Supersport seems a bit better, but YouTube has issues, TwithTV never works. Sent test results, spoke to critical care and then nothing. This happens all the time. Really given up complaining as its always the same story, odd no other ISP seems to have streaming issues. I also cannot continually have test accounts and backup accounts.
 
whatwhat said:
The 5TB limit this guy is seeing in his clientzone. I've never seen that on my ClientZone?
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It shouldn't show as that :)
As AfriMan pointed out, it's a data link that we need to set. Theoretically, 5TB won't be hit. Lets say it can though, we'll just add another 5TB - still the same thing as Uncapped.
 
AfriMan said:
I didn't test any streaming last night. We're busy moving house so I had to pack up my stuff (including router etc) and didn't have much time to be online. From running a few downloads, throughput seemed to be pretty good on the network last night, I didn't check if streaming or latency were showing issues.

In my tests, I've seen 1080p streams demand between 6-8Mbps in general. If you're line isn't rock solid, you might see some buffering. The video compression used also seems to make a huge different, so whether it's 720p or 1080p doesn't always give an accurate benchmark on how much throughput the video or service could demand.
Click to expand...

My line is rock solid as throughput nearly maxes out my line, speedtest shows the account to be in perfect order, I'm fairly certain that this a streaming issue which is network based....
I have sent through the required tests which critical has asked for, please look into this for me, thanks....
 
JesseG said:
My line is rock solid as throughput nearly maxes out my line, speedtest shows the account to be in perfect order, I'm fairly certain that this a streaming issue which is network based....
I have sent through the required tests which critical has asked for, please look into this for me, thanks....
Click to expand...

I'm sure our Critical Care guys will be able to spot something :)
 
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