Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

[AfriMan]

I'm just gonna post a general reply because I think things have gone a little off track here.

We definitely didn't have a great day yesterday, and we fully acknowledge that too many users had a poor experience pretty much throughout the day. We're hoping that will demand for Apple OS updates subsiding that today will be more stable, and we'll be monitoring closely to make sure we do everything we can to stabilise experience.

I just also want to comment on some of the theories about throttling and dishonesty being bandied around. I think these are big stretches here and they are completely untrue. We're not hiding any issues, we've been very upfront about what happened. People are saying that this is not due to the iOS update. The reality is the only other explanation for the sudden and sustained increased demand in 7pm on Wednesday would be that we signed up 10k users and they all went bananas on the network at the same time. I think the timing and nature of it, if we think back to previous years when major OS updates have landed, it's far more logical and reasonable to believe that it's more than coincidence that the timing of the iOS8 release and increase in demand must be related. We also have reports on our side showing the breakdown of usage and protocols and Apple services increased dramatically and in come cases were using up between 20 and 30% of the networks capacity. The South in particular was using a large amount of data on Apple Service Updates. So these are the facts.

I also think it's important to note for the people who are calling for IPC upgrades across the country to cater for updates. Upgrading IPC is a major financial commitment, and those costs need to be absorbed. If we simply added more IPC without similarly increasing revenue, by raising our fees, then it's not a sustainable solution. IPC is not a topup we can do in ClientZone, it takes months of negotiation and planning, whether it's to add new IPC or to remove IPC that is now no longer required. To add capacity for a one or two day event is simply not feasible, and is more likely going to have long term cost implications for our clients, whether it's increased pricing or just the inability to drop our prices (which is something we're always trying to find ways to do).

We'll see how today goes, demand is picking up but thus far it looks as though we're not reaching the contention we did yesterday yet. I'm hopeful that this means today will be a better day performance wise, but we've got a dedicated team looking at this and making changes where we can to improve everyone's experience.

Thanks for all your patience so far, and let's hope yesterday's terrible experience is now behind us.

 

[quovadis]

I also think it's important to note for the people who are calling for IPC upgrades across the country to cater for updates. Upgrading IPC is a major financial commitment, and those costs need to be absorbed. If we simply added more IPC without similarly increasing revenue, by raising our fees, then it's not a sustainable solution. IPC is not a topup we can do in ClientZone, it takes months of negotiation and planning, whether it's to add new IPC or to remove IPC that is now no longer required. To add capacity for a one or two day event is simply not feasible, and is more likely going to have long term cost implications for our clients, whether it's increased pricing or just the inability to drop our prices (which is something we're always trying to find ways to do).

So what you're saying is that Afrihost's service will degrade to unacceptable levels each and everytime Apple updates IOS and that we as customers should accept that Afrihost will not invest in it's own network to mitigate this adhoc demand? Wow.

 

[LazyLion]

I wonder if I'm even gonna be able to use all my cap for the month.

 

[AfriMan]

So what you're saying is that Afrihost's service will degrade to unacceptable levels each and everytime Apple updates IOS and that we as customers should accept that Afrihost will not invest in it's own network to mitigate this adhoc demand? Wow.

We still invest in our network to better manage traffic. But I assume your meaning behind "invest in your network" is buy IPC. I think we'd love to have endless supplies of IPC, but it's not viable. We have to consider upstream costs and how those will be passed on to clients and decide which is the best course of action - this a tough business decision.

 

[AfriMan]

I wonder if I'm even gonna be able to use all my cap for the month.

If network performance stabilises, then we should see regular performance again.

 

[Seeyou]

AfriMan - if the issues in the South aren't IPC/capacity related, then why does performance degrade so much in the evenings, long before the IOS updates even rolled out?

I use my capped account for business during the day, and do 95% of my downloading between midnight and 7am, so on the whole I'm happy with my AH account. However, when I do browse or stream in the evenings it is NOTICEABLY slower, and I don't think an explanation of "we're aware of the high demand and slow speeds in the evenings, but it's ok because it goes away the next morning" would satisfy you either, were you in the same position.

 

[AfriMan]

AfriMan - if the issues in the South aren't IPC/capacity related, then why does performance degrade so much in the evenings, long before the IOS updates even rolled out?

I use my capped account for business during the day, and do 95% of my downloading between midnight and 7am, so on the whole I'm happy with my AH account. However, when I do browse or stream in the evenings it is NOTICEABLY slower, and I don't think an explanation of "we're aware of the high demand and slow speeds in the evenings, but it's ok because it goes away the next morning" would satisfy you either, were you in the same position.

The general issues in the South (not related to the iOS8 update) could be viewed as capacity related. Essentially demand during that period exceeds our resources. However, we've investigated and found that our shaping of Uncapped is not 100% efficient and also our traffic management could be improved. We are busy rolling out the updates to the software that controls these devices and we believe it will manage demand more effectively and create enough headroom on the network to bring performance back to expected levels.

We obviously have some other fallback plans, but we'll need to see the results of those actions first to determine whether we go to a plan B.

 

[quovadis]

We still invest in our network to better manage traffic. But I assume your meaning behind "invest in your network" is buy IPC. I think we'd love to have endless supplies of IPC, but it's not viable. We have to consider upstream costs and how those will be passed on to clients and decide which is the best course of action - this a tough business decision.

Well since this is a adhoc capacity issue maybe Afrihost should consider an Eskom approach and create a website called DSLALERT.CO.ZA and everytime there's a spike in usage the meter will go red and we can all be asked to reduce our usage accordingly. Excuse the sarcasm but I am of the opinion that my responsibility is to pay for a service and your responsibility is to provide it - Apple updates or not.

 

[AfriMan]

Well since this is a adhoc capacity issue maybe Afrihost should consider an Eskom approach and create a website called DSLALERT.CO.ZA and everytime there's a spike in usage the meter will go red and we can all be asked to reduce our usage accordingly. Excuse the sarcasm but I am of the opinion that my responsibility is to pay for a service and your responsibility is to provide it - Apple updates or not.

That is definitely the intention, and as I said, we'd love to have no constraints on IPC to always have full capacity available. At the end of the day, we are not downloading the updates, this is what a significant portion of clients have decided to use bandwidth for, and we can only do our best to optimise our infrastructure and provide the best experience to the best of our ability.

 

[Skimmie]

on the whole IPC debate, With Telkom rolling out more VDSL services throughout the country and upgrading line speeds, shouldnt this be the urgent message to increase IPC going forward. i know its expensive and largely a long term fixed cost going forward. But if an Apple update can cause this what will happen by the end of the year when more and more exchanges are upgraded and you are stuck with more 20/40mbs connections being signed up? The more VDSL connections people get the more their capacity needs will increase and the more usage there is. And its logic that usage will be more after 7pm, so obviously you need to look at the loads during that time and not react after there is a problem but plan accordingly. Everyone knew about the apple update since june, it has not been a secret. It happens every year, so this network load issue should never have happened in the first place.

Just my opinion

 

[i.got~issues]

"Manage" the Apple and iDevice data then... you know from whenst it commeth...
Treat this traffic as Home Uncapped p2p and put an effing shaping graphic for iUpdates in the Client Zone.

Let the effing iOS-whatpad-phone-jobsBook update over a few days and unshape this iTraffic then afterhours dammit!

 

[Cynicster]

That is definitely the intention, and as I said, we'd love to have no constraints on IPC to always have full capacity available. At the end of the day, we are not downloading the updates, this is what a significant portion of clients have decided to use bandwidth for, and we can only do our best to optimise our infrastructure and provide the best experience to the best of our ability.

If your iOS clients weren't updating their iDevices they would be hitting your network with other downloads anyway so what would you be using as an excuse then?

 

[Skimmie]

If your iOS clients weren't updating their iDevices they would be hitting your network with other downloads anyway so what would you be using as an excuse then?

Good point, i for one updated my iphone, but also stopped all other traffic to do it, so i wouldve used my 1/2gb anyway.

 

[AfriMan]

"Manage" the Apple and iDevice data then... you know from whenst it commeth...
Treat this traffic as Home Uncapped p2p and put an effing shaping graphic for iUpdates in the Client Zone.

Let the effing iOS-whatpad-phone-jobsBook update over a few days and unshape this iTraffic then afterhours dammit!

We did consider shaping the Apple download but we though this may create more complaints and ultimately have a greater impact on the network if people were running sustained downloads for longer periods. We may consider that as a preferable option in the future

 

[AfriMan]

If your iOS clients weren't updating their iDevices they would be hitting your network with other downloads anyway so what would you be using as an excuse then?

We're fine with normal day to day use, but running OS updates is especially difficult because people won't usually cancel all their other day to day online activities so the additional bandwidth is on top of daily usage.

 

[bumbledore]

The general issues in the South (not related to the iOS8 update) could be viewed as capacity related. Essentially demand during that period exceeds our resources. However, we've investigated and found that our shaping of Uncapped is not 100% efficient and also our traffic management could be improved. We are busy rolling out the updates to the software that controls these devices and we believe it will manage demand more effectively and create enough headroom on the network to bring performance back to expected levels.

This is what people were initially complaining about, at least this is what I can surmise from reading the thread since Monday (and before), as well as my experience since signing up a week ago.

It seems everyone has become detailed by the iOS 8 appearance, and this has partly been facilitated by you, as you are putting it forward as the reason for everyone's shart internet experiences. There's even a notification on your website about it. It is beginning to derail this thread. Very skillful, I must be honest.

I don't see a specific notice on your website around the capacity issues in the south, which you have finally (almost) admitted to in this thread. I find this bizarre? EDIT: Oh, my bad! How embarassing... There actually is one going back to 03 September, but one has to scroll down to see it. Any ways of bumping it to the top? Given it's still unresolved...

Could you perhaps elaborate a little more on what you mean by "other fallback plans?" - I assume this to be more IPC?

 

[AfriMan]

This is what people were initially complaining about, at least this is what I can surmise from reading the thread since Monday (and before), as well as my experience since signing up a week ago.

It seems everyone has become detailed by the iOS 8 appearance, and this has partly been facilitated by you, as you are putting it forward as the reason for everyone's shart internet experiences. There's even a notification on your website about it. It is beginning to derail this thread. Very skillful, I must be honest.

I don't see a specific notice on your website around the capacity issues in the south, which you have finally (almost) admitted to in this thread. I find this bizarre? EDIT: Oh, my bad! How embarassing... There actually is one going back to 03 September, but one has to scroll down to see it. Any ways of bumping it to the top? Given it's still unresolved...

Could you perhaps elaborate a little more on what you mean by "other fallback plans?" - I assume this to be more IPC?

We have been aware of the diminished performance in the South. Because the window where the performance has degraded is very short, it's very hard to justify a full upgrade to capacity. However, we've consulted with the vendors of our shaping hardware and software and we've found that we could gain a significant amount of bandwidth back by shaping Uncapped accounts more efficiently and also ensuring that we keep tighter control over which services are shaped and which are not. We estimate that this will more than make up for the extra demand we are seeing in the South in the evenings. This will also improve our network management for other regions.

In terms of plan B, I guess a capacity upgrade is a last resort if we have no other way of addressing the demand, but I think there are also some other network management options that can be explored, and possibly will be implemented anyway so we can running a tighter network.

 

[Aghori]

This is why I do not like Apple. They even cause headaches for AH and I.

 

[i.got~issues]

Words fail me...

Afrihost Capped



Connection Uncapped



Axxess Capped



I am out.

/meh

 

[AfriMan]

This is why I do not like Apple. They even cause headaches for AH and I.

It would be so much better if they reviewed their release method and allowed caching and resuming of downloads