Afrihost Business Uncapped Feedback

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Hummercellc said:
Afriman, I have tried calling your accounts department now 4 times, I hear the ladies talking in the background and then the call cuts off.... :confused:
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That's pretty weird, sounds like you call is not coming through on our side. But weird that you're not hearing the agent speak :(

Drop me a PM, will get you a callback if I can't help you directly.
 
According to our dearest hard-working friends at Telkom, this latest issue is due to a bulk fault in our area and no ETA can be given for fixing it.

Wonder what the issue has been for the last 14 months then.....

I'll stick it out and be patient to see what gets done. I like Afrihost and their staff.
 
Bursty-dude said:
According to our dearest hard-working friends at Telkom, this latest issue is due to a bulk fault in our area and no ETA can be given for fixing it.

Wonder what the issue has been for the last 14 months then.....

I'll stick it out and be patient to see what gets done. I like Afrihost and their staff.
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Wow, would that mean everyone in your area has been battling as well. That sucks :(
 
is there a reason why international speeds are so slow compared to local? Are there any problems with the network?
Local test:
Download Speed: 3422 kbps (427.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 411 kbps (51.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 59 ms
5/9/2014 11:34:00 AM

International:
Download Speed: 2118 kbps (264.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 398 kbps (49.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 205 ms
5/9/2014 11:35:09 AM
 
Rohan said:
is there a reason why international speeds are so slow compared to local? Are there any problems with the network?
Local test:
Download Speed: 3422 kbps (427.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 411 kbps (51.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 59 ms
5/9/2014 11:34:00 AM

International:
Download Speed: 2118 kbps (264.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 398 kbps (49.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 205 ms
5/9/2014 11:35:09 AM
Click to expand...

International speeds will always be lower than local, considering the distance and latency. Depending on whether you're going to EU/UK (shortest route) or the US will also determine the kind of speeds you get.
 
Afriman, what is the story with streaming content, especially Hulu and Netflix? I have been in touch with your support, and their line is "we have no control over it" - which is a bit of a copout, since I don't think you have any control over any traffic once it leaves your network.

No matter what I do in terms of protocol prioritization and killing any other traffic on my network, the devices which autodetect the streaming quality will not change to HD, and forcing the stream to HD in a browser leads to excessive buffering - this even when a speedtest (and a real world test using HTTP or NNTP download) shows that I'm running at line speed otherwise.

Is Afrihost shaping/throttling streaming providers (I have seen some other comments about Twitch and Supersport here too, but don't have time to read the whole thread)? I'd really appreciate a straight answer (but one which explains what I am seeing as described above), since this is a big reason why I choose the business uncapped product.
 
Vlad_M said:
Afriman, what is the story with streaming content, especially Hulu and Netflix? I have been in touch with your support, and their line is "we have no control over it" - which is a bit of a copout, since I don't think you have any control over any traffic once it leaves your network.

No matter what I do in terms of protocol prioritization and killing any other traffic on my network, the devices which autodetect the streaming quality will not change to HD, and forcing the stream to HD in a browser leads to excessive buffering - this even when a speedtest (and a real world test using HTTP or NNTP download) shows that I'm running at line speed otherwise.

Is Afrihost shaping/throttling streaming providers (I have seen some other comments about Twitch and Supersport here too, but don't have time to read the whole thread)? I'd really appreciate a straight answer (but one which explains what I am seeing as described above), since this is a big reason why I choose the business uncapped product.
Click to expand...

We don't touch any services on Business - it's totally unshaped. We don't shape Twitch or Supersport either, pretty sure on that one.

Is this a specific video stream you're having problems with, or is any type of video streaming giving you these issues?
 
AfriMan said:
We don't touch any services on Business - it's totally unshaped. We don't shape Twitch or Supersport either, pretty sure on that one.

Is this a specific video stream you're having problems with, or is any type of video streaming giving you these issues?
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You might not shape Twitch and Supersport, but neither of these work as they should on your network.
 
AfriMan said:
We don't touch any services on Business - it's totally unshaped. We don't shape Twitch or Supersport either, pretty sure on that one.

Is this a specific video stream you're having problems with, or is any type of video streaming giving you these issues?
Click to expand...

I only use Hulu and Netflix, but as you can see above there seems to be issues with any streaming. Any explanation for that?
 
PurSpyk!! said:
You might not shape Twitch and Supersport, but neither of these work as they should on your network.
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We've run lots of tests on our side and we've eliminated anything on our network causing issues with both services. I'm not sure what more can be done from this side. :(
 
Vlad_M said:
I only use Hulu and Netflix, but as you can see above there seems to be issues with any streaming. Any explanation for that?
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We'd have to run more extensive tests on your throughput and latency to see if they are not what they should be. As far as I know those particular services are running well in tests and by most client reports at the moment.

Drop me a PM when you can :(
 
Vlad_M said:
Afriman, what is the story with streaming content, especially Hulu and Netflix? I have been in touch with your support, and their line is "we have no control over it" - which is a bit of a copout, since I don't think you have any control over any traffic once it leaves your network.

No matter what I do in terms of protocol prioritization and killing any other traffic on my network, the devices which autodetect the streaming quality will not change to HD, and forcing the stream to HD in a browser leads to excessive buffering - this even when a speedtest (and a real world test using HTTP or NNTP download) shows that I'm running at line speed otherwise.

Is Afrihost shaping/throttling streaming providers (I have seen some other comments about Twitch and Supersport here too, but don't have time to read the whole thread)? I'd really appreciate a straight answer (but one which explains what I am seeing as described above), since this is a big reason why I choose the business uncapped product.
Click to expand...

If you interesting in streaming check the Twitch link in my sig.
 
AfriMan said:
International speeds will always be lower than local, considering the distance and latency. Depending on whether you're going to EU/UK (shortest route) or the US will also determine the kind of speeds you get.
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Actually, with all due respect, that is a cop-out.

As I believe in keeping thing's scientific, and am aware that different speed test servers report different speeds (talking international), so let's stick to the MyBB speedtest, as that has always given me full speed when my setup was free of issues.

With my vast experience (by trying various ISP's), I have definitely noticed some that do it right, and some that do it wrong:

Here's an example of one that can do it right from my 4mb line:

A local test:

Download Speed: 3463 kbps (432.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 426 kbps (53.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 45 ms
5/9/2014 10:48:43 PM

An international test:

Download Speed: 3465 kbps (433.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 403 kbps (50.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 214 ms
5/9/2014 10:50:17 PM

So, from these results (from another ISP), the only thing I can extrapolate is that you are having issues with your upstream provider (read: lack of international bandwidth), and by going on the evidence posted earlier above, but haven't verified it myself, your response just pushed a button with me so felt i had to say something :(

I'm sorry if I'm being a bit harsh, but really, when I choose an ISP, I expect them to fulfill my needs and expectations, and when I see sub-par results from bog-standard tests such as MyBB speedtests etc, I immediately start loosing "trust" in that ISP.

Whether or not I can speak to an actual human or not is irrelevant, as in my experience with ALL ISP's, is that, if one has problems like this, a human can't help anyway (and ends up blaming everything else except themselves), because the results are a reflection of a much bigger problem, which they are never ready to admit, and have learned to accept that it's best to just move on, experimenting with other providers as I go, until I find what I know is possible and looking for.

I'm sorry if the truth (IMHO) hurts :(
 
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We are here at Carnivore in Muldersdrift for dinner. I was about to setup a hot spot for my boy to use the net on his iPad and see they have an Afrihost-mobile wifi here. Being a business DSL customer am I able to use this? And if so, what password do I use?
 
Hopefully the issue is getting sorted out today, thanks to Afrihost and the friendly Telkom techs who are currently here.
Line from manhole outside our property to the house is perfect, the fault lies somewhere else, but the two guys are checking.
 
I think somehow the issue has sort of been fixed.

5 tests done again:

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And it is pretty damn stable!
I am happy for now. Anything above 5Mb is usable for me. I will keep an eye on the line speed and see how it goes for at least a week, before deciding further.
 
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