Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback

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giggity said:
YouTube is fine, Twitch is terrible as usual. It seems that Twitch only works properly from 12-6am
Click to expand...

I've changed to WebAfrica, and using that on another line of mine. Yes, it sucks that you need to manage your outside 12-6 downloads but streaming is perfect, even fast moving scenes in WipeOut on Hulu Plus remain in HD. Even with 20Mb Business I could never get that on AH.
 
whatwhat said:
I've changed to WebAfrica, and using that on another line of mine. Yes, it sucks that you need to manage your outside 12-6 downloads but streaming is perfect, even fast moving scenes in WipeOut on Hulu Plus remain in HD. Even with 20Mb Business I could never get that on AH.
Click to expand...
I switched to a WA account yesterday. Had to do a triple take when starting Netflix last night and profile selection was available instantly. No delays. And no more buffering as was the case the previous few days on AH business uncapped.

I also fired up the History Channel app on the Roku last night out of curiosity. I love History channel but have never been able to use the app cause of the buffering. Well - no issues last night. Watched 4 episodes with zero problems and great quality.

As you say - bit of a pain to have to manage what you do on the line now, but at least streaming works great. Because of the improvement in streaming my wife has requested I leave things as they are.

Going to hold onto the AH account a bit longer and see if things improve before making a decision.
 
Afrihost, please fix the Twitch.tv/justin.tv issues (and I believe there are some issues with Hulu and Netflix?). That is a service that should NOT suffer on an unshaped service. I suspect that they are actually being shaped/throttled intentionally, since every international download works just fine except for streaming services. As a proof that the buffering only exists with Business Uncapped, the capped account works just fine, meaning that it is definitely an account, not capacity, line nor server issue.

Please stop throttling Business accounts' streaming capability. You are going to lose customers in doing this.

I am still loving the service... Websites load in an instant, and there is little to no buffering with YouTube, though gaming pings aren't great.
 
Last edited:
My Twitch is working... now that I've migrated to a capped account.

Coincidence? Sure :whistle:
 
Kwerty said:
My Twitch is working... now that I've migrated to a capped account.

Coincidence? Sure :whistle:
Click to expand...

Purely coincidental, no other reason is possible...

But seriously, I think that every person who has moved to capped has stated that streaming is better (including looking at the capped feedback). I thought Business Uncapped was supposed to have the same performance as Capped?
 
giggity said:
Purely coincidental, no other reason is possible...

But seriously, I think that every person who has moved to capped has stated that streaming is better (including looking at the capped feedback). I thought Business Uncapped was supposed to have the same performance as Capped?
Click to expand...
It is what sold me on business uncapped.
Was even told when I wanted to test it to get the 1GB free account because it functions exactly the same as business uncapped.
Not so true anymore me thinks.
 
I hope they fix their streaming. With all the crap that went down with OpenWeb, it's pretty clear you can only baffle people for so long with stories.
 
I do have a theory about the streaming issues people are having with Afrihost. I switched to an IS based provider this month, and noticed that all traces to youtube going through afrihost peers international, while IS peers with the a local caching server. This might also be happening with other streaming providers. Just think that they could look at also peering locally with some of the providers.
 
frobbertze2 said:
I do have a theory about the streaming issues people are having with Afrihost. I switched to an IS based provider this month, and noticed that all traces to youtube going through afrihost peers international, while IS peers with the a local caching server. This might also be happening with other streaming providers. Just think that they could look at also peering locally with some of the providers.
Click to expand...

MTR to Netflix:
Code: 
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                                10.0.0.2 -    0 |   10 |   10 |    1 |    1 |    3 |    1 |
|   105-236-10-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za -    0 |   10 |   10 |    7 |    9 |   17 |    7 |
|                          41.181.221.214 -    0 |    9 |    9 |   24 |   35 |   44 |   40 |
|   rb-dca-2.za--qux-b.za.mtnbusiness.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |   26 |   42 |   63 |   42 |
|     rb-cr-2.za--rb-dca-2.za-b.mtnns.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  229 |  237 |  244 |  240 |
|        jh-cr-1.za--rb-cr-2.za.mtnns.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  213 |  216 |  225 |  214 |
|        ls-cr-2.uk--rb-cr-1.za.mtnns.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  222 |  232 |  271 |  226 |
|      am-cr-1.nl--ls-cr-2.uk-a.mtnns.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  223 |  237 |  271 |  235 |
|       am-tpr-1.nl--am-cr-1.nl-a.mtn.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  212 |  218 |  234 |  224 |
|    xe-4-1-0.edge5.Amsterdam1.Level3.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  214 |  220 |  226 |  222 |
|vl-3504-ve-118.csw1.Amsterdam1.Level3.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  228 |  234 |  241 |  237 |
| ae-124-3510.edge3.Amsterdam1.Level3.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  216 |  224 |  237 |  218 |
|    XO-level3-1x10G.Amsterdam.Level3.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  219 |  224 |  241 |  225 |
|  te0-3-4-0.rar3.washington-dc.us.xo.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  293 |  303 |  315 |  293 |
|     te-11-0-0.rar3.sanjose-ca.us.xo.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  382 |  387 |  394 |  390 |
|          ae0.cir1.sanjose2-ca.us.xo.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  383 |  387 |  396 |  387 |
|             216.156.85.46.ptr.us.xo.net -    0 |    9 |    9 |  374 |  393 |  404 |  402 |
|xe-2-2-0-954.jnrt-edge01.prod1.netflix.com -    0 |    9 |    9 |  366 |  375 |  418 |  370 |
|      te1-8.csrt-agg01.prod1.netflix.com -    0 |    9 |    9 |  376 |  383 |  394 |  376 |
|                    netflixfreetrial.com -    0 |    9 |    9 |  375 |  385 |  395 |  387 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
   WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

I believe it is MTN up 'til the Amsterdam server, and Amsterdam definitely doesn't throttle internet connections.
 
frobbertze2 said:
I do have a theory about the streaming issues people are having with Afrihost. I switched to an IS based provider this month, and noticed that all traces to youtube going through afrihost peers international, while IS peers with the a local caching server. This might also be happening with other streaming providers. Just think that they could look at also peering locally with some of the providers.
Click to expand...
Welcome to MTN :p

...not to mention that if you trace with a capped account (1GB free included) and Business Uncapped, you will notice completely different routing... This, no matter what AH says about the data coming from the same pool. In fact, one of the hops onto the MTN network for Business appears to be a server named "unc-cpt-xxx-xxx-xx", etc.

Makes you think... :whistle:
 
Last edited:
Okay guys, own up. Someone broke Youtube streaming, I wanna know who did it. Only 240p buffers on Afrihost's DNS.
 
giggity said:
Does a different DNS fix it?
Click to expand...

Yep. Switching to Google DNS did the trick and in general browsing slowed down a lot in the ten minutes that I noticed the streaming issues and the speed drop. It's still there for me now when I switch back. I'll leave it be, wait until morning to see if it improves.
 
Still issues, still wafting for a call back from critical care (been waiting since last week for a call back), the service is getting worse by the day. What other ISP offers a business account at a similar price but with better streaming?

I don't see why I have to beg to get support to call me and at least try and determine the issuer. I believe they are aware their system in a mess, and try and delay things as long as possible. This is pathetic. I think its time to start resorting to social media to highlight this issue, so potential clients are away to stay far away.
 
cortexenslaver said:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html?id=14069219336289415226

international and local speeds are really shocking this evening in Cape Town... erratic, choppy and sloooowwwwww.
MTN has serious issues:
Code: 
C:\Users\cortexenslaver>tracert afrihost.com

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

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  home.gateway.pace.net [192.168.1.254]
  2  2278 ms     7 ms     7 ms  105-236-13-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
.13.129]
  3   338 ms     7 ms     8 ms  ipc-send-tb-3a.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.53.214]
  4    12 ms     7 ms     8 ms  tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.19
8.188]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  compj-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.2]
  6     9 ms    10 ms     9 ms  ct-cr-2.za--tb-cr-1.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.134]

  7    29 ms    28 ms    28 ms  rb-cr-1.za--ct-cr-2.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.69]

  8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  9     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 10  1133 ms    28 ms    28 ms  196.31.220.25
 11   147 ms    52 ms    31 ms  196.31.63.206
 12    64 ms    31 ms    29 ms  vl9-ah-ha-2.za.mtnbusiness.net [196.30.42.133]
 13    29 ms    29 ms    50 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

Trace complete.

...and again
Code: 
C:\Users\cortexenslaver>tracert afrihost.co.za

Tracing route to afrihost.co.za [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  home.gateway.pace.net [192.168.1.254]
  2  1790 ms     7 ms     7 ms  105-236-13-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
.13.129]
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4  2381 ms     8 ms     8 ms  tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.19
8.188]
  5     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  compj-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.2]
  6     9 ms     9 ms     9 ms  ct-cr-2.za--tb-cr-1.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.134]

  7    28 ms    28 ms    28 ms  rb-cr-1.za--ct-cr-2.za.mtnns.net [196.44.31.69]

  8    29 ms    29 ms    29 ms  jh-dca-2.za--jh-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.0.22
1]
  9    28 ms    28 ms    29 ms  196.31.220.12
 10  1939 ms    29 ms    28 ms  196.31.220.25
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12  1416 ms    28 ms    28 ms  vl9-ah-ha-2.za.mtnbusiness.net [196.30.42.133]
 13    29 ms    28 ms    29 ms  cms-gm.afrihost.com [197.242.144.102]

Trace complete.

...once more international
Code: 
C:\Users\cortexenslaver>tracert thinkbroadband.com

Tracing route to thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.130]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  home.gateway.pace.net [192.168.1.254]
  2     *      102 ms     7 ms  105-236-13-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
.13.129]
  3   981 ms     7 ms     8 ms  41.181.201.94
  4   138 ms     8 ms     9 ms  tb-dca-2.za--qux-a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.18
4.28]
  5     *        *     1527 ms  unc-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.8]
  6     8 ms     8 ms    34 ms  196.44.31.106
  7     *        *     1662 ms  am-cr-1.am--lt-cr-1.uk-a.mtnns.net [196.44.31.22
1]
  8   151 ms   151 ms   151 ms  ls-pr-1.uk--ls-cr-1.uk-a.mtn.net [209.212.111.83
]
  9   152 ms   151 ms   151 ms  linx-gw1.thn.ncuk.net [195.66.224.240]
 10   152 ms   151 ms   151 ms  te2-1-9.star10g.bdr-rt3.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97
.17]
 11   155 ms   152 ms   153 ms  te1-1-1-31.core-rs2.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]

 12   224 ms   166 ms   230 ms  www.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.130]

Trace complete.

HECTIC :(
Click to expand...

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this looks like some serious exchange congestion :(
Are you still having troubles with this today?
 
Napalm said:
Hi Afriman/boy/girl. I can concur with cortexenslaver. I'm on the 6mbit Business Uncapped and international speeds are quite slow.

I thought everything was feeling a bit slower than usual. Turns out everything is ,running slower than +- 4mbit (p2p and even local speed tests )

Will PM you my account name.

Speed test
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3662508011



HTML: 
Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.20]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     6 ms     4 ms     6 ms  TP-LINK.Home [192.168.1.254]
  2    15 ms     9 ms     9 ms  105-236-9-65-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.9
.65]
  3    12 ms    12 ms    12 ms  41.181.221.254
  4    11 ms    10 ms    11 ms  tb-dca-2.za--qux-a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.18
4.28]
  5    13 ms    13 ms    11 ms  unc-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.8]
  6    12 ms    14 ms    11 ms  196.44.31.106
  7   187 ms   155 ms   154 ms  am-cr-1.am--lt-cr-1.uk-a.mtnns.net [196.44.31.22
1]
  8     *      154 ms   176 ms  ls-pr-1.uk--ls-cr-1.uk-a.mtn.net [209.212.111.83
]
  9   156 ms   154 ms   154 ms  bbc-linx.pr01.thdow.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
 10     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 11     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 12   155 ms   156 ms   156 ms  ae0.er01.telhc.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.109]
 13   160 ms   158 ms   156 ms  132.185.255.149
 14   156 ms   156 ms   155 ms  bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.20]

Trace complete.

HTML: 
Tracing route to youtube.com [74.125.230.67]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     2 ms     1 ms     2 ms  TP-LINK.Home [192.168.1.254]
  2    11 ms     9 ms     9 ms  105-236-9-65-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.9
.65]
  3    11 ms    45 ms    11 ms  41.181.51.182
  4    11 ms    11 ms    10 ms  tb-dca-2.za--qux-a.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.18
4.28]
  5    12 ms    12 ms    12 ms  compj-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.2]
  6   157 ms   155 ms   155 ms  ls-cr-2--tb-cr-1.uk-b.mtnns.net [196.44.31.113]

  7   154 ms   154 ms   155 ms  ls-pr-2.uk--ls-cr-2.uk-a.mtn.net [209.212.111.18
7]
  8   155 ms   155 ms   156 ms  rb-ad-1--glgix-bloemf-1-a.mtnns.net [209.212.99.
13]
  9   155 ms     *      168 ms  209.85.255.76
 10   159 ms   155 ms   156 ms  72.14.238.21
 11   156 ms   154 ms   156 ms  youtube.com [74.125.230.67]

Trace complete.
Click to expand...

Your throughput is a little slow for the account :( Can't see any issues on the surface, if you're still having problems today drop me a PM and we can check this out :)
 
JesseG said:
My line is with AH, has been for about a year, excellent service for about 11 and a half months...
Last month hasn't been too good though, speed fluctuations, lag, latency issues, international downloading, websites take long too load, youtube buffers on a few occasions, so for me, something has changed with my account in the last month, yet I have been told that there has been no change, I don't know.....
Click to expand...

I know the wait is frustrating - as mentioned before we're pushing MTN as hard as possible for feedback on your account :( As soon as we hear anything you'll be the first to know.
 
giggity said:
Afrihost, please fix the Twitch.tv/justin.tv issues (and I believe there are some issues with Hulu and Netflix?). That is a service that should NOT suffer on an unshaped service. I suspect that they are actually being shaped/throttled intentionally, since every international download works just fine except for streaming services. As a proof that the buffering only exists with Business Uncapped, the capped account works just fine, meaning that it is definitely an account, not capacity, line nor server issue.

Please stop throttling Business accounts' streaming capability. You are going to lose customers in doing this.

I am still loving the service... Websites load in an instant, and there is little to no buffering with YouTube, though gaming pings aren't great.
Click to expand...

Business accounts are completely unshaped, never throttled.
I think Twitch has been discussed a lot on this thread. Twitch seems to work fine for some clients while others don't play so nicely together :(
 
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