Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

Status
Not open for further replies.
I find this 'pro-rata' charge for a Capped account dumb.
I can understand if it were an un-capped account, but capped.... how does that figure.
So basically if I have a 100 GB account and see by the 20th of the month that I'm not going to make it, and need to buy a second account, say a 30 GB account, that account will be pro-rata to 10 GB.
This means I will need to buy a second 100 GB account to get 30 gigs, thus the next month I will have to pay for 200 GB, that's dumb, dumber and dumbest.
Don't tell me about the R29 per Gig topup when R49 buys 10 GB, also seems dumb.
Maybe I'm too old to understand the modern arithmetic.
Does Openweb also do this pro-rata thing on a capped account I wonder ?
 
AfriGuy said:
Sorry about the late feedback here guys, with the festive season kicking in and a long weekend we're catching up on things a bit.
The package you guys are questioning is a bit of a strange one, our system has adjusted all of the pricing in line with the Telkom upgrades and normalised the pricing to a standard structure - making billing etc a bit easier.

The package has seen a slight price increase, however existing clients will be billed what they always have should they not upgrade/ downgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, but can you please explain why the price increase? Telkom's 10Mbps line still costs the same as the old 4/10Mbps lines, as does Afrihosts's (yes the new 4Mbps got cheaper, hence your cheaper packages there). This means the only thing you can be charging more for is the data, and this is crazy as everywhere data becomes cheaper!!
 
ProAsm said:
I find this 'pro-rata' charge for a Capped account dumb.
I can understand if it were an un-capped account, but capped.... how does that figure.
So basically if I have a 100 GB account and see by the 20th of the month that I'm not going to make it, and need to buy a second account, say a 30 GB account, that account will be pro-rata to 10 GB.
This means I will need to buy a second 100 GB account to get 30 gigs, thus the next month I will have to pay for 200 GB, that's dumb, dumber and dumbest.
Don't tell me about the R29 per Gig topup when R49 buys 10 GB, also seems dumb.
Maybe I'm too old to understand the modern arithmetic.
Does Openweb also do this pro-rata thing on a capped account I wonder ?
Click to expand...

I have had this fight with them also - I WANT 100Gig but they Pro-Rate you so you are forced to get ripped off buying Top-Up.

They need to relook at this...
 
ProAsm said:
I find this 'pro-rata' charge for a Capped account dumb.
I can understand if it were an un-capped account, but capped.... how does that figure.
So basically if I have a 100 GB account and see by the 20th of the month that I'm not going to make it, and need to buy a second account, say a 30 GB account, that account will be pro-rata to 10 GB.
This means I will need to buy a second 100 GB account to get 30 gigs, thus the next month I will have to pay for 200 GB, that's dumb, dumber and dumbest.
Don't tell me about the R29 per Gig topup when R49 buys 10 GB, also seems dumb.
Maybe I'm too old to understand the modern arithmetic.
Does Openweb also do this pro-rata thing on a capped account I wonder ?
Click to expand...

It makes sense when you have to have a blanket policy to suit all potential products and signup scenarios. For example, someone signing up for 100GB's a few days before the end of the month may not want to have to use all that data to get their money's worth. Ultimately it is the most balanced and fair way to ensure that clients get their money's worth and that what they receive is realistic according to their needs. The majority of clients don't purchase a DSL account because they need that amount of data now, they would purchase what they need for the month, so we try calculate that based on a daily average.

Also we have a permanent 2 for 1 special, so you're paying R14.50 per GB, not R29 :)
 
Thanks AfriMan, well I'm switching over to you guys at the end of this month so we will experience all these options as time goes along ;)
Looking at my record below, maybe I should go for the standard uncapped ?
Also do you guys have a throttling policy like you know who as once in a blue moon I might exceed the limit like last month.

bw1.jpg
 
ProAsm said:
Thanks AfriMan, well I'm switching over to you guys at the end of this month so we will experience all these options as time goes along ;)
Looking at my record below, maybe I should go for the standard uncapped ?
Also do you guys have a throttling policy like you know who as once in a blue moon I might exceed the limit like last month.

bw1.jpg
Click to expand...

What linespeed do you have?
For 2Mb, you need to use more than 75GB to justify uncapped.
For 4Mb, 100GB.
For 10Mb, 200GB.
Then on top of this, capped is unshaped.
 
froot said:
What linespeed do you have?
For 2Mb, you need to use more than 75GB to justify uncapped.
For 4Mb, 100GB.
For 10Mb, 200GB.
Then on top of this, capped is unshaped.
Click to expand...

Hi froot, yes, it's the capped unshaped option that's attracting me as I'm not a heavy user but my bandwidth does fluctuate quite a lot.
I'm on a 4 mbit line and currently on a Mweb Premium which is a waste for me but there standard uncapped sucks so bad it's not worth having, hence the reason I'm looking at a capped account and the Afrihost capped 75 GB for R299 is very attractive :)

Oh! btw, those figures in the table are all on a 2 mbit line, I was upgraded on the 6th December so the chances are everything on that table before December will increase at least by 50% :)
 
ProAsm said:
Thanks AfriMan, well I'm switching over to you guys at the end of this month so we will experience all these options as time goes along ;)
Looking at my record below, maybe I should go for the standard uncapped ?
Also do you guys have a throttling policy like you know who as once in a blue moon I might exceed the limit like last month.

bw1.jpg
Click to expand...

We don't do throttling, we only shape according to the capacity on the network in relation to current demand for bandwidth. Depending on which region of the country you are in, it will depend on the current demand at any time, and your current usage profile. So judging by your attachment, in a month where you're pulling 171GB you might be classified as more aggressive (and shaped earlier during high usage periods) than a month when you've used 20GB. It depends on how much data you're using over the time you're actually connected.

It really also depends on your preference. If you're primarily a realtime service user, then you may not mind downloads or torrents coming in slower at peak times or scheduling downloads to run overnight. However, if you want to get downloads when you want them at the best speeds, then you might want to go for an unshaped option like a Capped bundle or a Business Uncapped.
 
froot said:
What linespeed do you have?
For 2Mb, you need to use more than 75GB to justify uncapped.
For 4Mb, 100GB.
For 10Mb, 200GB.
Then on top of this, capped is unshaped.
Click to expand...

I think there is also an element of knowing that if you need the extra data, then it's there. It's really a personal preference. I would never say that someone on Uncapped has to use a certain amount of data - I think it's really about personal preference and what works for you :)
 
Aquiva said:
Thanks for the reply, but can you please explain why the price increase? Telkom's 10Mbps line still costs the same as the old 4/10Mbps lines, as does Afrihosts's (yes the new 4Mbps got cheaper, hence your cheaper packages there). This means the only thing you can be charging more for is the data, and this is crazy as everywhere data becomes cheaper!!
Click to expand...

We didn't change any pricing effectively. We simply realigned the products to reflect the Telkom line product changes. So for example the 50GB + 1Mbps Bundle became the 50GB + 2Mbps Bundle for the same price.

The idea has always been for pricing on capped bundles to be comparable to Uncapped bundles, so it's an easy comparison and purchase choice for clients. However, at launch we catered for but did not fully anticipate the "irregular" bundles where clients matched (for example) 50GB with a 10Mbps line, etc. This created irregular pricing which made comparisons more difficult, but also created some amazingly cheap packages. We did need to address this and normalise the pricing to be sustainable and cost effective - though we'll definitely let clients who scored on those bundles keep the pricing they already have.

So it's definitely not that pricing got more expensive, it's more like we had a pretty awesome promo and it has to come to an end. So if you got that price, it's an absolutely awesome deal and you can keep it. But even people signing up for the bundles at the normalised price are still getting a fantastic deal.
 
avr-rulez said:
I have had this fight with them also - I WANT 100Gig but they Pro-Rate you so you are forced to get ripped off buying Top-Up.

They need to relook at this...
Click to expand...

I definitely don't feel that there is any element of ripping anyone off. We've found that in general most clients order bandwidth based on their monthly consumption, not their current needs. So pro-rata makes sense and is definitely the best practice.

We also have a calculator on our order form, so you can always order a higher package to get the bandwidth you want for the current month and then submit a downgrade in ClientZone before the 25th to get a different package in the new month. It's really up to you to use the tools available :)
 
AfriMan said:
I think there is also an element of knowing that if you need the extra data, then it's there. It's really a personal preference. I would never say that someone on Uncapped has to use a certain amount of data - I think it's really about personal preference and what works for you :)
Click to expand...

Yup, that is true. It's also about suggesting a product that suits a client - I've seen many people over the past year, who have uncapped, but never go above 20 or 30GB, or 50GB on a heavy month.
 
I am on afrihost 50 GB capped package. The latency over the last few months is horrible. Telkom account has a 20ms but afrihost goes to 626ms. Today it is 100ms.

I have opened +8 tickets. No help through support. One person closed the ticket saying that the pc is the problem.

Disappointed.
 
silver6933 said:
I am on afrihost 50 GB capped package. The latency over the last few months is horrible. Telkom account has a 20ms but afrihost goes to 626ms. Today it is 100ms.

I have opened +8 tickets. No help through support. One person closed the ticket saying that the pc is the problem.

Disappointed.
Click to expand...

Can you post some speedtests and traceroutes and whatnot?
 
silver6933 said:
I am on afrihost 50 GB capped package. The latency over the last few months is horrible. Telkom account has a 20ms but afrihost goes to 626ms. Today it is 100ms.

I have opened +8 tickets. No help through support. One person closed the ticket saying that the pc is the problem.

Disappointed.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear this.

We're generally seeing solid latencies on our side, even at times when contention affects shaping and throughput. It's possible when usage suddenly peaks and our system is compensating latency may peak, but this should never be longer than 5-10 minutes at maximum. If this is the consistent latency you experience, then we'll need to investigate this :(

Drop me a PM when you can so we can get started with some troubleshooting :(
 
froot said:
Yup, that is true. It's also about suggesting a product that suits a client - I've seen many people over the past year, who have uncapped, but never go above 20 or 30GB, or 50GB on a heavy month.
Click to expand...

True, and I wouldn't necessarily say they shouldn't be on Uncapped. If someone just wants the peace of mind of knowing that they can do a lot more bandwidth when they need it (for updates, holidays, etc) and don't want to have to top up or calculate their usage - it still makes sense :)
 
So slow ... Getting 0.5 Mbps on my 9 Mbps line with a 75 GB capped account.

Slow for anyone else?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X