Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback

[KalAl]

So here's my little experiment with Netflix:

Afrihost 4mb uncapped with 8mb line speed - used to stream at 288-384 (mostly), now shaped to 18% every night and useless
Afrihost 2mb business with 2mb line speed - streams at 240 with buffering sometimes hits 288
Telkom capped account on same 2mb line - streams steady at 384 reaching 480 - WINNER

So much for Afrihost me thinks...

Good luck, Goodbye, Good R...

 

[AfriMan]

So here's my little experiment with Netflix:

Afrihost 4mb uncapped with 8mb line speed - used to stream at 288-384 (mostly), now shaped to 18% every night and useless
Afrihost 2mb business with 2mb line speed - streams at 240 with buffering sometimes hits 288
Telkom capped account on same 2mb line - streams steady at 384 reaching 480 - WINNER

So much for Afrihost me thinks...

I think the tests here are pretty much difficult to compare - we don't really know what the conditions were when testing was conducted. Were there other services running in the background? Were they tested with same stream?

We generally see great throughput for streaming on both Uncapped and Capped - so we'd need to investigate further to see exactly why you are seeing such a big difference in performance.

 

[knoop]

AfriMan, I assume Business Uncapped will generally perform better at all times of the day than Regular Uncapped for Netflix?

 

[AfriMan]

I'm on a 2mb uncapped business account and my torrent downloads are super slow and did a speed test and it's 150. Tried to call for help but been on the phone for 20 min and got hold of someone and they said they shape business account after hours cause there is a load on the network?

Saw your message that you removed Protocol Prioritisation and all is working fine again. Best to keep an eye on that little setting

 

[AfriMan]

Yup - sorry, I got that wrong. As Afriguy said, the email will explain everything. To be honest, I think the reason is that Telkom no longer offers 1Mbps lines, so Afrihost has to pay for 2Mbps lines, but you get 1Mbps data. This means that the line for the 1 and 2Meg options is the same, and the R100 is the difference between Data Speeds.

Hope that makes sense

The line saving is pretty much the same for us as offered to the public, that's why we've opened up 1Mbps Bundles again on Uncapped and Business. If some clients still want to pay R297 for a bundle and stick on the 1Mbps speed even though their lines have been upgraded - we're totally cool with that

 

[AfriMan]

Your new Usage Graphs are not as good as the old ones, you cannot easily identify which dot is above which date, mostly the higher lines. Also, there is no hourly graph available any more.

Will you guys look at this in future? I know it's still in Beta, so...

We're definitely always looking to improve the quality of information we provide clients. We're still collating feedback we've received and seeing what features we can bring from the Old ClientZone to the New One.

We'll definitely take this under consideration and try to give clients the best of both worlds

 

[AfriMan]

Any idea of when we'll receive this e-mail?

You should get mailed as soon as Telkom confirms that your line has been upgraded. You can also log into ClientZone and you should get a popup message with the same info

 

[AfriMan]

Agreed.

A little tip: Don't fix what ain't broken.

You gotta try new things though - but we'll be the first to admit if something's not working for the majority clients

 

[Ho3n3r]

Saw your message that you removed Protocol Prioritisation and all is working fine again. Best to keep an eye on that little setting

Where is that "little setting"? I have looked EVERYWHERE on both the old and the new client zone, but I am yet to find it.

 

[Ho3n3r]

You gotta try new things though - but we'll be the first to admit if something's not working for the majority clients

But the point is it's definitely worse. Firstly, you cannot exactly point on which day each dot falls without putting a ruler to the screen, and you cannot see the hourly usage any more.

Perhaps you could clarify how that's better somehow?

 

[Mark.K]

One thing I have to say is that the service from afrihost is the best I have gotten from any institution. Only prob is the waiting when making a call that takes a long time but other than that there is no complaints. Think I can see why there is so many loyal customers now :thumbup:

 

[kimbo]

Where is that "little setting"? I have looked EVERYWHERE on both the old and the new client zone, but I am yet to find it.

 

[Stillie]

now afrihost just need to follow mweb and hand the free upgrades to the uncapped clients cnt wait for that hehe

 

[AfriMan]

now afrihost just need to follow mweb and hand the free upgrades to the uncapped clients cnt wait for that hehe

We did pass on the line upgrades for free - for now we'll be leaving data prices as is until the upgrades settle. Then we'll set of a small broadband explosion to blow our competitors away

 

[AfriMan]

One thing I have to say is that the service from afrihost is the best I have gotten from any institution. Only prob is the waiting when making a call that takes a long time but other than that there is no complaints. Think I can see why there is so many loyal customers now :thumbup:

We do realise that we currently have pretty bleak holding times on average - we're churning out new support and client service staff members but we've also implemented more rigorous training to ensure that those who do make it to the floor are a lot more awesome. We're expecting to bring times down and quality of service up to what people expect (and then we'll aim to always exceed their expectations)

 

[b1scu1t]

@AfriMan

We decided to upgrade to the business uncapped last night.
We're on the 4mbps so in the Bundle Order Form I chose 4mbps business uncapped with 4mbps DSL line speed.
At the Existing products step I chose the 4mbps business uncapped and then chose our existing ADSL line which says "up to 10mbps" and then also chose the option saying that it should change the product to "up to 4mbps".
It said the Bundled Monthly Cost is R 797.00.

When I got back into the clientzone after all the steps, it said the bundled cost is R897

I though I'd try to bundle them again, thinking MAYBE I clicked something wrong with the DSL line, but now I can't bundle them anymore. It just says an error occurred?

Just want to try and figure out what we will be charged on the 1st and how to bundle them again?

Thanks for any assistance.

PS. The Business uncapped is just wow! Absolutely amazed!

 

[AfriMan]

But the point is it's definitely worse. Firstly, you cannot exactly point on which day each dot falls without putting a ruler to the screen, and you cannot see the hourly usage any more.

Perhaps you could clarify how that's better somehow?

I think from a design point of view it's a lot cleaner and it make more sense in a general overview - but it may lack when it comes to getting specific information. I think there are still more updates to come with regard to daily graphs.

You still get log reports so you can get the very detailed info - but definitely see the point being made here.

 

[Stillie]

HAHA! afrihost is famous for this.... just hope its not long lol!!

We did pass on the line upgrades for free - for now we'll be leaving data prices as is until the upgrades settle. Then we'll set of a small broadband explosion to blow our competitors away

 

[Ho3n3r]

I think from a design point of view it's a lot cleaner and it make more sense in a general overview - but it may lack when it comes to getting specific information. I think there are still more updates to come with regard to daily graphs.

You still get log reports so you can get the very detailed info - but definitely see the point being made here.

Thanks man.

I agree that it looks more sleek, indeed. But the main purpose of the graphs are to give information. And if it gives less, and also less readable, info, then it's not better.

Maybe a different color for each day, or subtle gray vertical lines up from the base of the graph so that you can see exactly which date it corresponds to, would do wonders.

The hourly one, as you say, will probably still be implemented with the further upgrades.

By the way, thanks also to kimbo showing me where the protocol prioritisation option is. Luckily mine is deactivated

 

[Ho3n3r]

HAHA! afrihost is famous for this.... just hope its not long lol!!

Indeed