Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

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AfriMan said:
The new system has caused a few headaches for us. Unfortunately, we also can't offer special pricing for intermediary syncs due to Telkom's pricing, as many people are now dropped to lower syncs due to the system's settings.

I think Telkom should also get better at setting system to be less strict in downgrading lines so quickly, but I guess any new system comes with teething problems. I do believe that the system is for the best and will do a lot more for the client at the end of the day when they get it right.
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I finally got it sorted today. The guy from CPT called me asking what is the problem with the fault that was logged. He continued to argue with me saying that 10Mbps with a SNR of 8.9dB will be slower than 6Mbps with 12dB SNR.

Yeah had a very big argument with him over the phone and DEMANDED I be put back to 10Mbps which he did for me. Sigh.
 
cavedog said:
I finally got it sorted today. The guy from CPT called me asking what is the problem with the fault that was logged. He continued to argue with me saying that 10Mbps with a SNR of 8.9dB will be slower than 6Mbps with 12dB SNR.

Yeah had a very big argument with him over the phone and DEMANDED I be put back to 10Mbps which he did for me. Sigh.
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:wtf:

I am not sure how to react... I am glad you are back at the full speed! But I am not sure I understand why the Telkom Techs are behaving this way.
 
cavedog said:
I finally got it sorted today. The guy from CPT called me asking what is the problem with the fault that was logged. He continued to argue with me saying that 10Mbps with a SNR of 8.9dB will be slower than 6Mbps with 12dB SNR.

Yeah had a very big argument with him over the phone and DEMANDED I be put back to 10Mbps which he did for me. Sigh.
Click to expand...

AfriGenie said:
:wtf:

I am not sure how to react... I am glad you are back at the full speed! But I am not sure I understand why the Telkom Techs are behaving this way.
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A Telkom techie once told me that you have to have an SNR of at least 10db. That's probably what they are taught. My SNR is currently 6 - 7 db and for the past 4 weeks everything has been streaming and downloading really well.
 
cavedog said:
I finally got it sorted today. The guy from CPT called me asking what is the problem with the fault that was logged. He continued to argue with me saying that 10Mbps with a SNR of 8.9dB will be slower than 6Mbps with 12dB SNR.
Click to expand...

He may have been mixing up SNR, in which the Higher the number the better, and Attenuation which is the opposite. But the figures you quote are actually a borderline case either way, as a Higher speed with with a lower SNR could lead to more losses depending on how good your Router is at error correction. A modern Router you should be fine, if its 10+ years old I would go for lower speed and better SNR.
 
I finally received my SIM for the PLUS+ data today, put it in the phone and all was well.
Later I tried to access the internet and it didn't work, I assumed it was a bad spot as MTN Coverage is not great arround here at the best of times.
Got home and tried again and still nothing. So I tried my tablet, also with an Afrihost SIM and all was well.
Looking at the Client zone I see it says the account status is CAPPED and the use data is:

3561010509706478 105.208.59.164 473.0 KB 2015-01-09 12:25:46 2015-01-09 12:33:04

My math may be rusty but as far as I am aware 473.0 KB is not greater than 500MB.
This PLUS+ is turning out to be a damn expensive farce
 
AfriGenie said:
:wtf:

I am not sure how to react... I am glad you are back at the full speed! But I am not sure I understand why the Telkom Techs are behaving this way.
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OMG So a guy from Telkom calls me again Today and say he changed my profile to 7Mbps my line will be better now...... OMW. Had to fight with him too and he ended off dropping the phone in my ear. He did change it to 7Mbps but quickly changed it back to 10Mbps.
 
caroper said:
He may have been mixing up SNR, in which the Higher the number the better, and Attenuation which is the opposite. But the figures you quote are actually a borderline case either way, as a Higher speed with with a lower SNR could lead to more losses depending on how good your Router is at error correction. A modern Router you should be fine, if its 10+ years old I would go for lower speed and better SNR.
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8.9dB is hardly borderline. I have 2 x 10Mbps lines at the same address but both lines have completely different stats. This line that I was complaining about runs fine on 10Mbps with 8-9dB SNR without ANY errors in the router stats. My other 10Mbps line which is with Telkom runs with 10.2dB SNR but has a decent amount of errors that are being corrected.

So SNR is not always directly linked to errors but does play some role.
 
A Telkom tech called Anthony called me this morning at 8:00 to ask me about the fault that was logged.

I explained the whole thing (line used to be rock solid at 7 Mbps / 1 Mbps but has now been put an the 7 Mbps / 632 Kbps profile, whilst I really need that little bit of extra upstream and I'm paying for 10 Mbps ADSL). He then claimed that *that* was my problem, my line really can't handle 10. When I said that my line had been operating rock solidly at 7 / 1 for a year and that I really had wanted to keep it at 7 / 1 and not 7 / .6 something, he then said that the line profiles weren't his domain, he dealt more with physical line faults. End of call.

Bottom-line: I'm crossing my fingers that Afrihost regain their access to the back end so that they can put my profile back on 10, and my modem can then do what it was designed to do, because Telkom prefers not to help.

cpbotha said:
Just in case this might help anyone else:

AfriMan has looked into the issue, and it seems to be Telkom's new automatic ADSL line profile system which has put me on a 7Mbps down / 632 Kbps upstream profile. The 7 Mbps makes sense (my modem reports being able to handle slightly more than that), but the 632 Kbps does not make sense, because the line could easily handle 1 Mbps. However, there's no 7 Mbps / 1 Mbps profile, so I'm stuck on this for now.

AfriMan is going to try to get Telkom to put me back on the 10 Mbps / 1Mbps profile (my modem is clever enough adjusting speeds to keep the line stable), but chances are that Telkom's system will automatically put me on a lower profile again.
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cpbotha said:
A Telkom tech called Anthony called me this morning at 8:00 to ask me about the fault that was logged.

I explained the whole thing (line used to be rock solid at 7 Mbps / 1 Mbps but has now been put an the 7 Mbps / 632 Kbps profile, whilst I really need that little bit of extra upstream and I'm paying for 10 Mbps ADSL). He then claimed that *that* was my problem, my line really can't handle 10. When I said that my line had been operating rock solidly at 7 / 1 for a year and that I really had wanted to keep it at 7 / 1 and not 7 / .6 something, he then said that the line profiles weren't his domain, he dealt more with physical line faults. End of call.

Bottom-line: I'm crossing my fingers that Afrihost regain their access to the back end so that they can put my profile back on 10, and my modem can then do what it was designed to do, because Telkom prefers not to help.
Click to expand...

PM TelkomZA and ask them to have a look.
 
I normally buy 1gig (R5) at a time when my capped is finished, but today I realized that for each gig I buy i am paying R5 + R11.50 in debit order fees.
 
Do Afrihost at least perform an aptitude test when employing Support Staff?
From the following exchange I have my doubts.
Can you please advise why my 500Meg promo sim is not working?
All was fine yesterday when I received it, I inserted the sim and tested with no issue.
But since then it has not worked.
Looking at the Client zone I see it says the account status is CAPPED and the use data is:

3561010509706478 105.208.59.164 473.0 KB 2015-01-09 12:25:46 2015-01-09 12:33:04

My math may be rusty but as far as I am aware 473.0 KB is not greater than 500MB.
This PLUS+ is turning out to be a damn expensive farce I was billed on the first and on the 10th I am still unable to use any of its features.
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I received the following prompt replay from Support
Hi Chris :)

I trust that you are well.

Your promotional data is capped :

27605677964@afrihost - Promotional Mobile Data ( Capped )

Have a great day and please let me know if I can help with anything else!

Warm regards
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I think I manage a polite reply despite my feelings:
I know it is CAPPED, I was asking Why it is CAPPED when your own records show it was active for only active for 8Min and 42 Seconds and consumed only 473 KB of data.

Please resolve or escalate this request rather than Telling me what I had already told you.
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No reply yet, I guess I have to wait for the Afrigeeks to see it on Monday.
 
caroper said:
Do Afrihost at least perform an aptitude test when employing Support Staff?
From the following exchange I have my doubts.


I received the following prompt replay from Support


I think I manage a polite reply despite my feelings:


No reply yet, I guess I have to wait for the Afrigeeks to see it on Monday.
Click to expand...

I think your phrasing is bad, I had the same thoughts as the support consultant. Say why your data cap has been reached if only 473KB have been used.
 
Is this a "Bait and Switch" Tactic?

Here is the response from escalating the above query
In order to get your 500mb promotional data in relation to afrihost+
you will need to sign up for a new mobile data and sim card because
we cannot assign promotional data to a promotional package. It's just how it is.

So if you sign up for any other mobile data package, you can set your
afrihost plus to your new sim card and set the 500mb to it.
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So they sell PLUS+ on the merits of a 500MB data bundle.
They have an option on the Order page to have a SIM sent, (The option I chose).
When the sim arrives you are informed, as above, that in order to actually use the 500MB you have to also sign up to an additional data package and allocate it to the new SIM.

Am I reading this wrong or is that how other interpret the message quoted above?

EDIT:

This has been resolved:
My apologies for the confusion.
Your 500MB promotional data has been allocated to your account.

Kindly reboot your device and try connecting again.
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I rebooted as requested and all is fine.

It took 32 Hours from my initial query, and had to be escalated twice, but it is resolved to my satisfaction and I can now finally try out SimFy on the device.

Cheers
Chris
 
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