Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback

[AfriMan]

Afriman, any idea when your new pricing structure will be announced ?

No idea at the moment. I know we're aware of the MyBB article regarding uncapped prices and obviously telkom upgrades - so we're factoring everything in to come up with some awesome new deals

 

[AfriMan]

This statement is not entirety correct. There is no way that additional capacity would be acquired without a proper business case which clearly shows the benefits outweigh the investment.

Retention could not be enough to justify the investment therefore additional income had to come from somewhere. We have to take your word that this additional income won't be sourced from business package upgrades but investors will require their pound of flesh.

Unless the extra income has already been realised from additional clients, that addition must have been projected from another source. Crossing fingers & hoping for extra income doesn't generally make a dent on the waterfall graph.

I think we're missing each other. We would definitely want to re-invest any additional income into infrastructure to make our network awesome and make our products as affordable as possible and give more back to our clients at all times.

I'm saying this was never a question of us not having enough money to purchase capacity - we didn't think we needed for at least another few months - but the sudden spike in demand caught us off-guard and we had to scramble off our orders to Telkom and call in a lot of favours to try to get the fastest implementation possible. This would have happened regardless of whether more clients upgraded to capped or business. Our marketing relies heavily on word of mouth, and we need to ensure that our clients have a great experience first - it's always been a priority.

So just saying that it's not a question of us needing to wait for more signups or upgrades to get things in motion - we would always do whatever is in our power to do to give our clients the very best experience

 

[5plus2equals9]

No idea at the moment. I know we're aware of the MyBB article regarding uncapped prices and obviously telkom upgrades - so we're factoring everything in to come up with some awesome new deals

The combination of the additional capacity you're getting and the new pricing structure should work out great.

 

[Type RSA]

Last night was a mess. Pings over 400ms in the North. Luckily I couldn't post anything as myBB forums were down.... Lucky AfriHost

 

[AfriGuy]

Last night was a mess. Pings over 400ms in the North. Luckily I couldn't post anything as myBB forums were down.... Lucky AfriHost

Did you manage to grab a traceroute?

 

[Type RSA]

Did you manage to grab a traceroute?

Yep, was on the 3rd hop to IPC.... My exchange is pumping lately. 5ms response time from exchange. Will post tracert and speedtest I did last night later on..

 

[AfriGuy]

Yep, was on the 3rd hop to IPC.... My exchange is pumping lately. 5ms response time from exchange. Will post tracert and speedtest I did last night later on..

Odd indeed. Please drop me a line when you notice this again.

 

[gconey]

I think we're missing each other. We would definitely want to re-invest any additional income into infrastructure to make our network awesome and make our products as affordable as possible and give more back to our clients at all times.
<snip>
So just saying that it's not a question of us needing to wait for more signups or upgrades to get things in motion - we would always do whatever is in our power to do to give our clients the very best experience

Thanks for the reply.

I hear where you're coming from and it makes sense, you are not planning to recover your additional costs from your existing clients. That's great to hear.

Something still bothers me with your reply and that is to reinvest all additional income is not a sustainable business plan as eventually a return on the investment would be expected. In a growing market ploughing back all additional income will work but if the market is no longer growing or investors doesn't see their potential return meeting their expectations then it's no longer sustainable.

As customers we are trying to maximise our utility and as a business you're trying to maximise your profit. Those two goals are often at odds with one another but it seems that you're trying your best to bring back the balance by acquiring extra capacity.

I will also take your word that you're expecting enough growth to sustain your investor's expectations and are not planning to recover the additional costs from your existing clients.

 

[AfriMan]

Thanks for the reply.

I hear where you're coming from and it makes sense, you are not planning to recover your additional costs from your existing clients. That's great to hear.

Something still bothers me with your reply and that is to reinvest all additional income is not a sustainable business plan as eventually a return on the investment would be expected. In a growing market ploughing back all additional income will work but if the market is no longer growing or investors doesn't see their potential return meeting their expectations then it's no longer sustainable.

As customers we are trying to maximise our utility and as a business you're trying to maximise your profit. Those two goals are often at odds with one another but it seems that you're trying your best to bring back the balance by acquiring extra capacity.

I will also take your word that you're expecting enough growth to sustain your investor's expectations and are not planning to recover the additional costs from your existing clients.

What you're saying makes traditional business sense - but there is really nothing traditional about the way we do business. We believe that when our clients win - we win. So we focus on the WIN for our clients - best service, best products, best experience, best competitions - we aim to stand out to the point that our clients just have to talk about us.

We try not to look ahead at what's in it for us - we believe that if we look after our clients, they'll look after us. And our own experience tells us that client's advertise us to their networks a lot more effectively than any advertising or marketing campaigns

 

[Hush9300]

Having a much better time of it today.

 

[gconey]

What you're saying makes traditional business sense - but there is really nothing traditional about the way we do business. We believe that when our clients win - we win. So we focus on the WIN for our clients - best service, best products, best experience, best competitions - we aim to stand out to the point that our clients just have to talk about us.

We try not to look ahead at what's in it for us - we believe that if we look after our clients, they'll look after us. And our own experience tells us that client's advertise us to their networks a lot more effectively than any advertising or marketing campaigns

We can probably continue this conversation indefinitely & it sounds like you truly believe what your saying. I don't really believe that a company would invest money in something without expecting a healthy profit.

I think let's leave it at that. I would much rather have you help your clients in need than having a debate about the economics behind a decision you made.

 

[AfriGuy]

Having a much better time of it today.

That's great news, thanks for keeping us posted!

 

[Type RSA]

Here is my speedtest and tracert for tonight..

Tracing route to www.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.254
  2     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  105-236-3-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.3.
1]
  3     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  ipc-recieve-rb-2a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.178
.65]
  4     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms  rb-dca-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.31.1
20]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     7 ms  jh-cr-1.za--rb-cr-2.za.mtnns.net [196.44.0.42]
  6     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  qux-jh-dca-2.za-b.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.165
.115]
  7     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  196.44.31.99
  8     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  196.30.1.53
  9     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  tengigabitethernet9-1.gw20.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.220.25]
 10     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  tengigabitethernet5-1.hr15.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.63.198]
 11     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

COMPARED TO LAST NIGHT

Tracing route to www.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.254
  2     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  105-236-3-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.3.
1]
  3   376 ms   375 ms   373 ms  ipc-recieve-rb-1a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.178
.53]
  4   397 ms   405 ms   387 ms  rb-cr-1.za--rb-dca-1.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.0.14
6]
  5   390 ms   396 ms   392 ms  jh-cr-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-b.mtnns.net [196.44.31.17
1]
  6   405 ms   387 ms   379 ms  qux-jh-dca-2.za-b.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.165
.115]
  7   403 ms   404 ms   393 ms  196.44.31.99
  8   417 ms   409 ms   399 ms  196.31.220.6
  9   374 ms   373 ms   367 ms  tengigabitethernet1-1.gw20.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.220.23]
 10   365 ms   367 ms   365 ms  tengigabitethernet5-1.hr15.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.63.198]
 11   399 ms   394 ms   389 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

Trace complete.

PS. This is on the 4mb package. Very happy tonight!!

 

[AfriGuy]

Here is my speedtest and tracert for tonight..

Tracing route to www.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.254
  2     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  105-236-3-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.3.
1]
  3     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  ipc-recieve-rb-2a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.178
.65]
  4     9 ms     9 ms     8 ms  rb-dca-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.31.1
20]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     7 ms  jh-cr-1.za--rb-cr-2.za.mtnns.net [196.44.0.42]
  6     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  qux-jh-dca-2.za-b.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.165
.115]
  7     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  196.44.31.99
  8     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  196.30.1.53
  9     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  tengigabitethernet9-1.gw20.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.220.25]
 10     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  tengigabitethernet5-1.hr15.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.63.198]
 11     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

COMPARED TO LAST NIGHT

Tracing route to www.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.254
  2     5 ms     5 ms     5 ms  105-236-3-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.3.
1]
  3   376 ms   375 ms   373 ms  ipc-recieve-rb-1a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.178
.53]
  4   397 ms   405 ms   387 ms  rb-cr-1.za--rb-dca-1.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.0.14
6]
  5   390 ms   396 ms   392 ms  jh-cr-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-b.mtnns.net [196.44.31.17
1]
  6   405 ms   387 ms   379 ms  qux-jh-dca-2.za-b.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.165
.115]
  7   403 ms   404 ms   393 ms  196.44.31.99
  8   417 ms   409 ms   399 ms  196.31.220.6
  9   374 ms   373 ms   367 ms  tengigabitethernet1-1.gw20.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.220.23]
 10   365 ms   367 ms   365 ms  tengigabitethernet5-1.hr15.jnb6.za.mtnbusiness.n
et [196.31.63.198]
 11   399 ms   394 ms   389 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

Trace complete.

PS. This is on the 4mb package. Very happy tonight!!

Looking much better!

 

[Type RSA]

For some reason my line keeps on dropping tonight. Router keeps on disconnecting and reconnecting. I have the 4mb line and router is syncing at 8mb.

 

[Bryn]

Everything's fine here.

 

[jun_tao]

For some reason my line keeps on dropping tonight. Router keeps on disconnecting and reconnecting. I have the 4mb line and router is syncing at 8mb.

Maybe the Telkom upgrade happening?

 

[Type RSA]

Maybe the Telkom upgrade happening?

Maybe hey, who knows.. But seems better now though

 

[manfromthesouth22]

This is depressing.

Our office internet on Business Uncapped felt slow. No I can confirm it definitely was slow.

On the YouTube test site, using Business Uncapped, I got streaming speeds between 300 and 400 kbps. I bought a OpenWeb Capped account to test it, and with that I get streaming speeds between 2500kbps and 4600kbps. Tested both at 720p. Openweb didn't buffer. Afrihost didn't stop buffering.

Not impressed. Moving at month's end if this doesn't improve.

 

[nerf]

This is depressing.

Our office internet on Business Uncapped felt slow. No I can confirm it definitely was slow.

On the YouTube test site, using Business Uncapped, I got streaming speeds between 300 and 400 kbps. I bought a OpenWeb Capped account to test it, and with that I get streaming speeds between 2500kbps and 4600kbps. Tested both at 720p. Openweb didn't buffer. Afrihost didn't stop buffering.

Not impressed. Moving at month's end if this doesn't improve.

Are you using the Afrihost DNS servers ?