Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

[AfriMan]

I predict that things will get better in September IF the double data promo ends.

I don't believe that Double Data is affecting the network in anyway. From what we're seeing on our performance monitoring, we're seeing optimal performance in terms of demand vs capacity. So we're not seeing contention that would cause degraded performance.

 

[Sidious28]

I think it's important to remember that distance to the exchange also affects the effectiveness of the modulation for higher speeds. You'll sometimes see that dropping your line sync will improve your stats. Really depends on the individual situation.

Reporting to Telkom (or to us so we can log with Telkom if we manage your line) is definitely the way to go here.

Thanks Afriman and Napalm for replying.

I had a tech come in yesterday to check things out but he just wanted to blame the router for the issue. I told him to go check the box in our backyard which we've had problems with before but he couldn't be bothered to do so. Just walked to the back looked at it (not even using a ladder) and told me since he couldn't see that the box was open that there wasn't an issue. I have never seen such a lazy and incompetent telkom employee, even though I explained to him multiple times this happened just after the stormy weather. It was quite funny that when the tech finally arrived my internet and phone were working perfectly (we have some static on the line even with a filter) when we've had this issue for a long time and now my issues are surfacing again.

 

[AfriMan]

Thanks Afriman and Napalm for replying.

I had a tech come in yesterday to check things out but he just wanted to blame the router for the issue. I told him to go check the box in our backyard which we've had problems with before but he couldn't be bothered to do so. Just walked to the back looked at it (not even using a ladder) and told me since he couldn't see that the box was open that there wasn't an issue. I have never seen such a lazy and incompetent telkom employee, even though I explained to him multiple times this happened just after the stormy weather. It was quite funny that when the tech finally arrived my internet and phone were working perfectly (we have some static on the line even with a filter) when we've had this issue for a long time and now my issues are surfacing again.

Murphy's law - has happened to me as well. I report a fault and when the tech comes it's not as bad as it was. At least they didn't charge me a callout - so hoping they won't charge you either.

 

[Sidious28]

Murphy's law - has happened to me as well. I report a fault and when the tech comes it's not as bad as it was. At least they didn't charge me a callout - so hoping they won't charge you either.

All he did was plugin his router to see if there was an adsl connection, honestly a child could do that ffs. Oh well I guess I'll just have to wait till this weekend for the rain to come and report the issue once again. When I phoned telkom on the past saturday, the consultant could even hear the static on the line but it doesn't seem to be that the tech's look into that sort of thing. Good old telscum lol

 

[AfriMan]

All he did was plugin his router to see if there was an adsl connection, honestly a child could do that ffs. Oh well I guess I'll just have to wait till this weekend for the rain to come and report the issue once again. When I phoned telkom on the past saturday, the consultant could even hear the static on the line but it doesn't seem to be that the tech's look into that sort of thing. Good old telscum lol

The one thing about reporting multiple times is I usually get to a really solid tech who knows his stuff and then fixes it once and for all. For all their faults, I think Telkom has a wealth of knowledge and skills that is really valuable to his country. If they ever get their administration right (and I think Technology is helping), we can all do some great things together

 

[ChrisGeo]

I cant connect to my afrihost account at all :/

 

[AfriGuy]

I cant connect to my afrihost account at all :/

What colour is the DSL light on your router?

 

[ChrisGeo]

The colour that allows me to connect to mweb but not afrihost

 

[AfriGuy]

The colour that allows me to connect to mweb but not afrihost

LOL!!
Drop me a PM with your DSL username, I'll see what's happening

Edit: That's the colour of betrayal btw

 

[froot]

The colour that allows me to connect to mweb but not afrihost

POTD

LOL!!
Drop me a PM with your DSL username, I'll see what's happening

Edit: That's the colour of betrayal btw

 

[hayted]

LOL!!
Drop me a PM with your DSL username, I'll see what's happening

Edit: That's the colour of betrayal btw

This made my day - tip of the hat to you good sir

 

[ramsbod]

I live in Somerset West and Afrihost is my ISP. I have a bundled 10Mbps line and 50+50Gb CAP, unshaped account. I used to get 8.5Mbps 24/7 on my line until Feb 2014. The closer it gets to the end of the month the slower the speed becomes between 6-9pm. Afrihost insists it is my line that is the problem. I have sent them a ping plot showing the packet loss being experienced on almost all of their MTN business servers. MTN are probably using the same backbone as they use for cell phone traffic. The Heldrberg area is out on a limb from Cape Town with many cell phone towers along the way. Many people use the time in traffic on the N2 to make business phone calls. It is my theory that this is the problem. A few years ago I used CellC as my ISP and this is the explanantion they gave me for the problem. They have 5 cell phone towers in a row connected together with microwave before the signal reaches fibre. I was connecting to the last cell phone tower so I had to compete with the traffic from all 5 of these cell phone towers. It is very likely that MTN have the same issues. As the Helderberg is a popular retirement place, the demand for fast internet is small and so it doesn't pay to put fibre in all the way along the N2 to get to the relatively few customers. You may remember them digging trenches for fibre all the way along the N2, but they only put in difference coloured pipes for the fibre. They blow in the fibre at a later stage. It would be interesting to know if MTN have a fibre connection to the Helderberg. It certainly seems so because the pings to Cape Town are really fast. The problem is packet loss which Afrihost cannot explain. I don't know why ISPs don't share what their network looks like and what the traffic is. That way we can see if the network is heavily loaded and may then decide to use the internet later. This would help them too.
http://needforspeedsomersetwest.yolasite.com/

 

[ramsbod]

Telkom guest account - Speed 8.7Mbps

Afrihost account - Speed 5.3Mbps (would have been 3Mbps if I tested earlier)

Tracert to Saix.net on Afrihost account

Tracert to Afrihost.com on Afrihost account

Ping plot on Afrihost account - the pink horizontal bars indicate % packet loss


Houston we have a problem!

 

[ramsbod]

AfriGuy, what do you have to say now?

 

[Timber_MG]

Latency up to no good tonight. VPN fixes it (again, not much longer).

@Afriguy, I am awaiting a response from support regards my escalation request or should I close the ticket?

 

[Afrigirl]

I live in Somerset West and Afrihost is my ISP. I have a bundled 10Mbps line and 50+50Gb CAP, unshaped account. I used to get 8.5Mbps 24/7 on my line until Feb 2014. The closer it gets to the end of the month the slower the speed becomes between 6-9pm. Afrihost insists it is my line that is the problem. I have sent them a ping plot showing the packet loss being experienced on almost all of their MTN business servers. MTN are probably using the same backbone as they use for cell phone traffic. The Heldrberg area is out on a limb from Cape Town with many cell phone towers along the way. Many people use the time in traffic on the N2 to make business phone calls. It is my theory that this is the problem. A few years ago I used CellC as my ISP and this is the explanantion they gave me for the problem. They have 5 cell phone towers in a row connected together with microwave before the signal reaches fibre. I was connecting to the last cell phone tower so I had to compete with the traffic from all 5 of these cell phone towers. It is very likely that MTN have the same issues. As the Helderberg is a popular retirement place, the demand for fast internet is small and so it doesn't pay to put fibre in all the way along the N2 to get to the relatively few customers. You may remember them digging trenches for fibre all the way along the N2, but they only put in difference coloured pipes for the fibre. They blow in the fibre at a later stage. It would be interesting to know if MTN have a fibre connection to the Helderberg. It certainly seems so because the pings to Cape Town are really fast. The problem is packet loss which Afrihost cannot explain. I don't know why ISPs don't share what their network looks like and what the traffic is. That way we can see if the network is heavily loaded and may then decide to use the internet later. This would help them too.
http://needforspeedsomersetwest.yolasite.com/

I honestly don't know the network is configured on that level. For us, mobile and ADSL are on two different networks, ADSL still relays on Telkom providing that "to the door" infrastructure.
Thank you for sending through you results. I'll be happy to ask the team to try trace where the issue is. I need your username first though, please can you send it to me via PM.

 

[Afrigirl]

Latency up to no good tonight. VPN fixes it (again, not much longer).

@Afriguy, I am awaiting a response from support regards my escalation request or should I close the ticket?

Hi.

Can you send me a PM with your username or the ticket reference number.

 

[Zadomino]

Finally connected to the free 1gig plan to try out. How do I get passed the 1 Mbps download speed though? I signed up for a 4Mbps line

 

[07_10]

I'm a new subscriber, and I must say I'm really amazed with my account. For the first time am I able to seamlessly stream 720p YouTube videos on a 2mbps line.

Great account. Just hope the double data promotion is extended.

 

[AfriMan]

Finally connected to the free 1gig plan to try out. How do I get passed the 1 Mbps download speed though? I signed up for a 4Mbps line

If you signed up a 1GB Free that is a capped account with no rate limit, so you should be getting full line speed. Your ping is also too high for a local ping, so this looks like a line issue to me.

Please run our Network App Test, I'd like to see how this latency is occuring