Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

[BrendanMc]

Like I said, you basically decided the entire customer base should suffer for the benefit of Apple users.

Precisely. You could have set it up the update could be downloaded from 12 in the evening until 8am the morning. I'm sure given this scenario, most people would have accepted it. But I think the Apple iOS issue, is only a small part of a much bigger problem.

 

[xrapidx]

Precisely. You could have set it up the update could be downloaded from 12 in the evening until 8am the morning. I'm sure given this scenario, most people would have accepted it. But I think the Apple iOS issue, is only a small part of a much bigger problem.

Well, I'm out if my download isn't complete at 4pm when I get home.

I'm not paying for a unshaped capped account that gets throttled to 1% of line speed for the benefit of apple users. How on earth is that even slightly fair?

I see Axxess reports a stable network at the moment.

 

[mbvdl]

Think I will do the same, I am always too understanding, until I remember how much money I am dumping into my line and capped account, and how little of it I actually use. Will try a small cap account from Axxess and WA when I get home and find that my international link to my favourite game is still giving me dung. I hope this is not the case, will miss AH, but if a silly apple crowd can bring it down, then I don't know what can't.
Sorry guys...

 

[AfriMan]

Precisely. You could have set it up the update could be downloaded from 12 in the evening until 8am the morning. I'm sure given this scenario, most people would have accepted it. But I think the Apple iOS issue, is only a small part of a much bigger problem.

I think it's always a balance of whether we want to receive masses of complaints from Apple users, or run the risk of poor performance on the network. The amount of traffic we saw was an indication that we underestimated the number of Apple users and the resultant demand.

 

[mbvdl]

Fair enough, and probably realistic from any "business" perspective. Thanks for the feedback on that one, and I understand the compromise, but it's only really acceptable if things improve from here, infrastructure wise

 

[Solitude]

Can it really be due to Apple users? I mean, there are a lot more people people using Windows machines in South Africa surely and yet Afrihost capped internet doesn't grind to a halt when Windows updates are released.

How big are the updates?

 

[BrendanMc]

I think it's always a balance of whether we want to receive masses of complaints from Apple users, or run the risk of poor performance on the network. The amount of traffic we saw was an indication that we underestimated the number of Apple users and the resultant demand.

Perhaps this would be a good time to do a survey of sorts. Find out what % of your users use what devices. And then find out if they would have issues if those updates are downloaded at certain times. Moving forward you can then plan ahead for future such updates regardless of the devices in play.

 

[AfriMan]

Can it really be due to Apple users? I mean, there are a lot more people people using Windows machines in South Africa surely and yet Afrihost capped internet doesn't grind to a halt when Windows updates are released.

How big are the updates?

It depends on the device, but generally the core update is around 1GB. The installation also used additional bandwidth, cos somewhere in there you get the U2 album in your iTunes on every device. I'm not sure what the full bandwidth demand is per device.

 

[MartyMarts]

Can it really be due to Apple users? I mean, there are a lot more people people using Windows machines in South Africa surely and yet Afrihost capped internet doesn't grind to a halt when Windows updates are released.

How big are the updates?

I don't buy it. Just seems a little too convenient :/

 

[Solitude]

It depends on the device, but generally the core update is around 1GB. The installation also used additional bandwidth, cos somewhere in there you get the U2 album in your iTunes on every device. I'm not sure what the full bandwidth demand is per device.

I don't buy it. Just seems a little too convenient :/

I'm sorry AfriMan but I don't buy it either. It doesn't seem logical. I hope it gets sorted soon.

At home I use Afrihost Mobile, is that working alright?

*edit*

To add to the not logical bit: Why is this only affecting Afrihost? I apologise if it's been answered earlier in this thread.

 

[AfriGuy]

I'm sorry AfriMan but I don't buy it either. It doesn't seem logical. I hope it gets sorted soon.

At home I use Afrihost Mobile, is that working alright?

*edit*

To add to the not logical bit: Why is this only affecting Afrihost? I apologise if it's been answered earlier in this thread.

Mobile doesn't look to be affected.

 

[Flameboy ZA]

Afrihost has until the 24th to sort out their crap otherwise I will be moving to another ISP. 3Mbps down on a 40Mpbs line with Capped data? I think not.

 

[Solitude]

Mobile doesn't look to be affected.

Okay cool. Thanks AfriGuy.

 

[Cynicster]

I've got a question for you AfriGuy/Man:
If you have financial limitations to upgrading your network in order to keep up with your existing customers' needs, why haven't you closed applications to new customers so as not add further to the problem? By letting further customers on board this sinking ship you're only helping it sink faster.

 

[Paragon]

It;s getting worse....

I can't even stream 360p on my 2meg line on Afrihost today (no problem on my other ISP accounts).

I know some things are not in your control and you're attempting to fix it, but this is getting rediculous...

 

[ChadKay]

How long is this going to go on for? It's been 2 days now?
Honestly is the tech team even doing anything besides shaping everyone? I have even tried to download iOS 8 with my 10MB line and the ETA is 5 hours? Which shows that there isn't even any priority given to the "Apple downloaders". Whilst I use my Webafrica account I get full speeds which made me think maybe this is just Afrihost. So I signed up for a free 1GB account on Mweb, Axxess, Cybersmart and my Webafrica account. They were all where they should be and I was receiving my full speeds.
But yet again, maybe the Apple downloaders are only using Afrihost? Shame if you really believe that...

 

[CrazyBob]

Just reporting in ...download and browsing speeds seem back to normal for me. Streaming YouTube is very inconsistent though. Mostly I get 720p, other times it can just handle 240p in all it's glory.

 

[Aquiva]

I've got a question for you AfriGuy/Man:
If you have financial limitations to upgrading your network in order to keep up with your existing customers' needs, why haven't you closed applications to new customers so as not add further to the problem? By letting further customers on board this sinking ship you're only helping it sink faster.

If Afrihost think they are under too much financial strain to keep up with demand on their network, wait till they lose 15+% of their client base because of this ****!

A few more points I don't understand:
1. Now that MTN owns Afrihost, you would assume they have better means to increase capacity even if it is temporary to keep up with high demand periods.
2. Why is Afrihost the ONLY Service Provider to have had issues during the IOS8 launch (which by the way was not such an issue last year with IOS7, which was a much bigger launch)?
3. Webafrica is encouraging (and running competitions) users to download TB's of data and don't experience any problems!

 

[Max001]

AfriGuy, I've been a loyal customer for many many years now and with the great respect.. I really don't buy this "Apple" download story...you have something else terribly wrong.
It's been going on for days now...
Afrihost Download 1.79Mbps, Upload .80 Mbps (40GB capped account)
I've now open an account with Axxess (1g free)..Download 8.76Mbps Upload .89Mbps
I do hope that this gets sorted out quickly or regrettably Afrihost will lose all my 3 accounts

 

[ChadKay]

I've got a question for you AfriGuy/Man:
If you have financial limitations to upgrading your network in order to keep up with your existing customers' needs, why haven't you closed applications to new customers so as not add further to the problem? By letting further customers on board this sinking ship you're only helping it sink faster.

Because as a company their main goal is to maximise profit, not deliver outstanding service...Which I can say that their customer service and billing is top notch, their actual internet service is not.