Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback

[whatwhat]

Afrihost is really dropping the ball. People are quick to leave MWeb when they did the same yet keep hanging on with this lot.

 

[Pakka]

Afrihost is really dropping the ball. People are quick to leave MWeb when they did the same yet keep hanging on with this lot.

Simply because of the good service we received in the past. We all hope they'll pick up the ball again.. soon!

 

[TheGrove]

@AFriMan I am currently running the Openweb downloaders king account and looking at other options, need to be able to stream content from Netflix, Hulu, Lovefilm between 17:00 and 22:00 then all weekend, torrents between 22:00 and 06:00 and then other downloads any time for example Origin, steam etc.

Openweb works great for a few days then speeds drop dramatically, need to log a support ticket, then everything is fine again for a few days.

Telkom line syncs at over 12mbps according to the DSL2500u modem, when I had my 10mbps account FNB capped account showed I was getting full 10mbps on the speed test. New development so all the Telkom eqiupment is nice and shiny.

Will Afrihost business be a better option in Cape Town?

 

[whatwhat]

Simply because of the good service we received in the past. We all hope they'll pick up the ball again.. soon!

Yes. Soon. It's been a month and a bit now. Look mine is still working fine, but if I'm shelling out this amount of cash and get crappy service I'll be moving even if it is just until they sort themselves out.

It's like my health insurance telling me I don't actually get the dentist benefits I wanted to this month since a lot of other people have claimed dental as well.

 

[gconey]

Nothing has changed with my line... Well apart from moving it back to Telkom.

I doubt you will find a post of me being unsympathetic about anything but if you think that consistently getting speeds of 1.5Mbps on a business account is fine then so be it.
<snip>

Gavin, you gave me the impression that you didn't believe there was a general issue with the Northern Region on Afrihost when we were discussing the issue and if I remember correctly you even offered to post speedtests to prove there was nothing wrong with the Afrihost network. If that's not the case then I apologise.

From your traceroute it's not clear where this problem is and I wish I could have latencies like that.

By the way, I don't believe receiving 37.5% of the advertised speed is okay by any means, hence the reason for my posts trying to get a information from the Afrihost representatives. You told me that I was forcing the issue when I was trying to get the information which is the source of my opinion that you were unsympathetic. At least now we are in the same situation and would like a solution. I however disagree with your proposed solution of introducing shaping or protocol specific throttling on the Afrihost Business accounts. That will not be a long term solution to the issue.

 

[Hush9300]

Gavin, you gave me the impression that you didn't believe there was a general issue with the Northern Region on Afrihost when we were discussing the issue and if I remember correctly you even offered to post speedtests to prove there was nothing wrong with the Afrihost network. If that's not the case then I apologise.

From your traceroute it's not clear where this problem is and I wish I could have latencies like that.

By the way, I don't believe receiving 37.5% of the advertised speed is okay by any means, hence the reason for my posts trying to get a information from the Afrihost representatives. You told me that I was forcing the issue when I was trying to get the information which is the source of my opinion that you were unsympathetic. At least now we are in the same situation and would like a solution. I however disagree with your proposed solution of introducing shaping or protocol specific throttling on the Afrihost Business accounts. That will not be a long term solution to the issue.

I offered to do testing with regard to international speeds. Which till today are still generally quite good.

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in shaping being introduced on business accounts especially P2P... Not just to protect the integrity of the network but to allow relief to home uncapped after business hours provided that the real time is unaffected.

I've seen quite a few people move over to the business accounts and I don't believe it to be coincidence that performance has suffered. Previously I got 3Mbps + pretty much all day and now I will be lucky to get that a handful of times during the day.

 

[gconey]

<snip>

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in shaping being introduced on business accounts especially P2P... Not just to protect the integrity of the network but to allow relief to home uncapped after business hours provided that the real time is unaffected.

I've seen quite a few people move over to the business accounts and I don't believe it to be coincidence that performance has suffered. Previously I got 3Mbps + pretty much all day and now I will be lucky to get that a handful of times during the day.

I'm with you on this, my account was the same until about a month and a half ago then everything started slowing down and I want that remedied as desperately as you want it.

You seem to argue that P2P and NNTP are not business related protocols and must therefore be shaped on a business package but how do you reconcile not shaping streamed TV shows on a business account? Do you believe watching Gray's Anatomy is business related?

Another issue with your argument is that once P2P and NNTP is completely blocked or shaped into the ground by all ISP's then people will find alternative ways to get their entertainment. All those people that are currently downloading will then switch over to streaming and if the ISP doesn't have the capacity to handle all that concurrent traffic then you will have exactly the same issue. Don't think you're unique in your ability to figure out how to get your entertainment using alternative methods, if the need arises most will figure out the same methods.

I personally feel that P2P and NNTP are often scapegoats when there's an issue. The same goes with the recent software updates being blamed when there was obviously something else wrong.

In any event my theory is that shaping only changes user behaviour and doesn't solve congestion problems.

 

[Hush9300]

I'm with you on this, my account was the same until about a month and a half ago then everything started slowing down and I want that remedied as desperately as you want it.

You seem to argue that P2P and NNTP are not business related protocols and must therefore be shaped on a business package but how do you reconcile not shaping streamed TV shows on a business account? Do you believe watching Gray's Anatomy is business related?

Another issue with your argument is that once P2P and NNTP is completely blocked or shaped into the ground by all ISP's then people will find alternative ways to get their entertainment. All those people that are currently downloading will then switch over to streaming and if the ISP doesn't have the capacity to handle all that concurrent traffic then you will have exactly the same issue. Don't think you're unique in your ability to figure out how to get your entertainment using alternative methods, if the need arises most will figure out the same methods.

I personally feel that P2P and NNTP are often scapegoats when there's an issue. The same goes with the recent software updates being blamed when there was obviously something else wrong.

In any event my theory is that shaping only changes user behaviour and doesn't solve congestion problems.

It not so much that P2P is a scapegoat but it is no secret that if left unchecked it can bring many a network to its knees. Streaming is just much lighter on the network.

And no, I don't consider streaming to be business related but as I work from home I decided the business package to be the best of both worlds. I would happily move accounts and even have 2 accounts for each purpose if I had to.

 

[AfriMan]

I'm with you on this, my account was the same until about a month and a half ago then everything started slowing down and I want that remedied as desperately as you want it.

You seem to argue that P2P and NNTP are not business related protocols and must therefore be shaped on a business package but how do you reconcile not shaping streamed TV shows on a business account? Do you believe watching Gray's Anatomy is business related?

Another issue with your argument is that once P2P and NNTP is completely blocked or shaped into the ground by all ISP's then people will find alternative ways to get their entertainment. All those people that are currently downloading will then switch over to streaming and if the ISP doesn't have the capacity to handle all that concurrent traffic then you will have exactly the same issue. Don't think you're unique in your ability to figure out how to get your entertainment using alternative methods, if the need arises most will figure out the same methods.

I personally feel that P2P and NNTP are often scapegoats when there's an issue. The same goes with the recent software updates being blamed when there was obviously something else wrong.

In any event my theory is that shaping only changes user behaviour and doesn't solve congestion problems.

I think there's a lot of good points made here. I think behaviour is a huge factor though. From a network perspective, the impact that P2P has on a network is much heavier than streaming or even NNTP. It's to do with the multiple threads that are established and the massive upload that congests both the client's line capability and the network if you are seeding tons of files. Streaming is a lot cleaner on the network, and also does not saturate your connection the way P2P can. We've been predicting a natural change in behaviour to move from downloading to streaming and this is already happening. Once cheaper and free services start flooding the web, most people will get rid of their hard drives and stream what they need directly to their TV's or PC's (and eventually their brains - OK, that's just my take, no science behind that one).

P2P is still by far the most dominant protocol on our network and even dropping a quarter of BitTorrent traffic would free up a ton of bandwidth - and I would imagine this is the same for congested exchanges. My 2c, I think the move towards streaming audio and video is very positive. Obviously there will always be a need for Linux distro's, but this will also help manage online piracy - they just need to figure out clever ways to incentivise people to stream affordably.

 

[PurSpyk!!]

Are there plans to control P2P on the business accounts?

 

[AfriMan]

I offered to do testing with regard to international speeds. Which till today are still generally quite good.

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in shaping being introduced on business accounts especially P2P... Not just to protect the integrity of the network but to allow relief to home uncapped after business hours provided that the real time is unaffected.

I've seen quite a few people move over to the business accounts and I don't believe it to be coincidence that performance has suffered. Previously I got 3Mbps + pretty much all day and now I will be lucky to get that a handful of times during the day.

I think it would be good for businesses to CHOOSE if they want shaping on their accounts or not. I imagine a lot of business owners are battling with slow speeds on their lines only to find the tea lady is torrenting "Revenge" and slowing down their network. A business owner may want to shape their connection during the day when their employees are there, but then turn it off for their personal or business downloads. They pay for it, it should be their choice

Would be awesome

 

[AfriMan]

Are there plans to control P2P on the business accounts?

No, we'll never shape Business or add any hidden clauses. Unshaped is unshaped - we're not gonna mess with that part

 

[Necuno]

No, we'll never shape Business or add any hidden clauses. Unshaped is unshaped - we're not gonna mess with that part

Distro train doesn't stop with just p2p. There is also http, ftp, nzb, dc++ / dcc etc etc. I for one won't be happy if my games (or other implementations) that use p2p* are now throttled all of a sudden because someone is had slow nzb because of fast p2p.

*Yes not only zeraw, but also legit uses. lol.

 

[Hush9300]

I think it would be good for businesses to CHOOSE if they want shaping on their accounts or not. I imagine a lot of business owners are battling with slow speeds on their lines only to find the tea lady is torrenting "Revenge" and slowing down their network. A business owner may want to shape their connection during the day when their employees are there, but then turn it off for their personal or business downloads. They pay for it, it should be their choice

Would be awesome

But the issue here is that regular people are moving to business accounts to bypass the shaping of protocols/packet signatures on home accounts. Have you seen how quiet the home uncapped thread is lately? How many of them have moved over to business accounts? If this is not managed, soon we will sit with a first-come-first-serve, bottlenecked network.

Something's got to give. Either shaping is applied or proof of business is required prior to account activation.

 

[Necuno]

Something's got to give. Either shaping is applied or proof of business is required prior to account activation.

List an ISP that does this.

 

[Hush9300]

List an ISP that does this.

I've seen ISP's that have business accounts where P2P/NNTP is completely blocked until 12am but I haven't come across one that requires proof of business yet.

Have you thought of what would happen to the network if everybody moved to unshaped business accounts. The signs are already here and it will become a very expensive exercise for ISP's if they leave it as is.

 

[AfriGuy]

@AFriMan I am currently running the Openweb downloaders king account and looking at other options, need to be able to stream content from Netflix, Hulu, Lovefilm between 17:00 and 22:00 then all weekend, torrents between 22:00 and 06:00 and then other downloads any time for example Origin, steam etc.

Openweb works great for a few days then speeds drop dramatically, need to log a support ticket, then everything is fine again for a few days.

Telkom line syncs at over 12mbps according to the DSL2500u modem, when I had my 10mbps account FNB capped account showed I was getting full 10mbps on the speed test. New development so all the Telkom eqiupment is nice and shiny.

Will Afrihost business be a better option in Cape Town?

Hi

We aren't shaping based on times, but rather on our overall network usage and demand at the time. This too is only run on our Home Uncapped accounts - Business Uncapped and Capped accounts are completely unshaped. 24/7.

 

[bullzeye.za]

Afrihost is really dropping the ball. People are quick to leave MWeb when they did the same yet keep hanging on with this lot.

Afrihost hasn't had a T&C change that has no purpose but to screw the end user over. I stuck with MWEB through all their network outages, and slowness, and I'll happily stick with Afrihost through theirs, so long as I know they're working on it.

 

[Necuno]

I've seen ISP's that have business accounts where P2P/NNTP is completely blocked until 12am but I haven't come across one that requires proof of business yet.

I've been connected since my 14400 U.S. Robotics and of course there has been ISPs that block p2p/nntp. However if you can afford the car then you can drive it, what dealer would turn someone away who has the money?

Have you thought of what would happen to the network if everybody moved to unshaped business accounts. The signs are already here and it will become a very expensive exercise for ISP's if they leave it as is.

I think Afriman has coved this already. The answer isn't just a simple as to throttle p2p or block it off, we are well in 2013 and p2p isn't the only method to download anymore. Shall we fire up mIRC and do some DCC ?

 

[AfriGuy]

Afrihost is really dropping the ball. People are quick to leave MWeb when they did the same yet keep hanging on with this lot.

I'm not quite sure I follow here?