Afrihost CAPPED ADSL Feedback (MTN)

[FuLL_MeT4L]

Having the same problem again with latency from myself in CPT, to the JHB Intoxicated CS:GO servers. I've reproduced the ping and tracert results one again below. As I say it seems to work some of the time, and other times like tonight I just get this nonsense.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\XYZ>ping 41.0.11.164

Pinging 41.0.11.164 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 41.0.11.164:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 174ms, Maximum = 175ms, Average = 174ms

C:\Users\XYZ>tracert 41.0.11.164

Tracing route to 41.0.11.164 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.2
2 24 ms 28 ms 23 ms 105-236-249-65-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
.249.65]
3 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms 41.181.221.254
4 20 ms 8 ms 11 ms tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.19
8.188]
5 8 ms 11 ms 8 ms unc-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.8]
6 30 ms 51 ms 90 ms tb-pr-1.za--tb-cr-2.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.18.14
3]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 153 ms 153 ms 156 ms 196.43.25.205
9 175 ms 175 ms 174 ms 196.43.39.18
10 187 ms 187 ms 184 ms vodacom-gw.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.25.253.110]
11 174 ms 175 ms 174 ms 41.0.0.33
12 175 ms 176 ms 181 ms 41.0.0.33
13 175 ms 175 ms 175 ms 41.0.11.164

Trace complete.

 

[Martian]

Your accounts system is screwed
I bought additional data during the month, I get the invoice and then get a message that you cant deduct, and charged R5 for the rejection.
The card details you have are the ones I use for the monthly deduction and those work perfectly so not sure what the problem is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, had the same issue last night when I needed to top up. Account is now suspended as a result of the system rejecting my card details.

 

[AfriMan]

Hi All.

Anyone else having issues tonight. Internet is crawling. I tried my Telekom account and that flies

Internet should have been pretty normal over the weekend, though there were quite a few exchanges down on Friday evening before I knocked off.

Can you post any tests?

 

[AfriMan]

Your accounts system is screwed
I bought additional data during the month, I get the invoice and then get a message that you cant deduct, and charged R5 for the rejection.
The card details you have are the ones I use for the monthly deduction and those work perfectly so not sure what the problem is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember that we use a 3rd party carrier who requests the details directly from your bank. If the bank rejects the transaction for some reason, then we get a report. Just like sometimes you go to Pick n Pay and they say your card is declined and then they run it a second time and it goes through. Unfortunately, we have to go by what the banks tell us

 

[AfriMan]

Having the same problem again with latency from myself in CPT, to the JHB Intoxicated CS:GO servers. I've reproduced the ping and tracert results one again below. As I say it seems to work some of the time, and other times like tonight I just get this nonsense.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\XYZ>ping 41.0.11.164

Pinging 41.0.11.164 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=175ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51
Reply from 41.0.11.164: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 41.0.11.164:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 174ms, Maximum = 175ms, Average = 174ms

C:\Users\XYZ>tracert 41.0.11.164

Tracing route to 41.0.11.164 over a maximum of 30 hops

1 <1 ms <1 ms 1 ms 10.0.0.2
2 24 ms 28 ms 23 ms 105-236-249-65-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236
.249.65]
3 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms 41.181.221.254
4 20 ms 8 ms 11 ms tb-dca-2.za--qux-c.za.mtnbusiness.net [41.181.19
8.188]
5 8 ms 11 ms 8 ms unc-cpt-1.mtnns.net [196.44.18.8]
6 30 ms 51 ms 90 ms tb-pr-1.za--tb-cr-2.za-a.mtnns.net [196.44.18.14
3]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 153 ms 153 ms 156 ms 196.43.25.205
9 175 ms 175 ms 174 ms 196.43.39.18
10 187 ms 187 ms 184 ms vodacom-gw.telkom-ipnet.co.za [196.25.253.110]
11 174 ms 175 ms 174 ms 41.0.0.33
12 175 ms 176 ms 181 ms 41.0.0.33
13 175 ms 175 ms 175 ms 41.0.11.164

Trace complete.

Looking at these latency spikes, it seems like it starts at the exchange. You should usually be around 10ms on the second hop and 28ms+ is dangerously close to horrible. I see intermittent jumps in latency throughout the trace and I think this must be related to the exchange or the line

 

[AfriMan]

Yup, had the same issue last night when I needed to top up. Account is now suspended as a result of the system rejecting my card details.

Becuase our system automatically allocates the data, we are not able to reverse the topup on our side, so we do suspend access until the amount is setup. It doesn't happen very often though, but where it does, this help to keep our billing system as straightforward as possible

 

[Martian]

Becuase our system automatically allocates the data, we are not able to reverse the topup on our side, so we do suspend access until the amount is setup. It doesn't happen very often though, but where it does, this help to keep our billing system as straightforward as possible

That's all good and well but it's the same details that is used every month to debit my account, nothing has changed on my side.

I've paid the account with a different card but now there's reconnection fees and a 72 hour waiting period.

That's not right hey

 

[AfriMan]

That's all good and well but it's the same details that is used every month to debit my account, nothing has changed on my side.

I've paid the account with a different card but now there's reconnection fees and a 72 hour waiting period.

That's not right hey

Drop me a PM and I'll look into if for you. But I suspect it's most likely to be a bank error

 

[Martian]

Drop me a PM and I'll look into if for you. But I suspect it's most likely to be a bank error

PM sent

 

[ant_man]

Remember that we use a 3rd party carrier who requests the details directly from your bank. If the bank rejects the transaction for some reason, then we get a report. Just like sometimes you go to Pick n Pay and they say your card is declined and then they run it a second time and it goes through. Unfortunately, we have to go by what the banks tell us

I fully understand but PnP wont charge me R5 to run my card again.
I will PM you the invoice details.

 

[balky]

Drop me a PM and I'll look into if for you. But I suspect it's most likely to be a bank error

If it's a bank error, then the bank should pay all costs involved, the customer should not be penalised.

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Hi AfriMan, finally back online plse could you start the process with Telkom to refund for the downtime

 

[AfriMan]

Hi AfriMan, finally back online plse could you start the process with Telkom to refund for the downtime

Can you drop me a PM so we can chat about that?

 

[AfriMan]

If it's a bank error, then the bank should pay all costs involved, the customer should not be penalised.

We can't know the difference from the error we receive. If the problem was on our side, we'd have thousands of rejected payments and our Dev team would definitely know about it (we do integrity checks with our output files sent to the banks)

 

[AfriMan]

I fully understand but PnP wont charge me R5 to run my card again.
I will PM you the invoice details.

The admin fee is only charged when there have been previous rejected payments. We are penalised by our bank for bounced payments and we also lose our rating with the bank which allows us to reduce banking fees (which is part of the overheads that ultimately influence what we bill clients for products). It's in everyone's interests to have as few returned payments as possible.

 

[FuLL_MeT4L]

Looking at these latency spikes, it seems like it starts at the exchange. You should usually be around 10ms on the second hop and 28ms+ is dangerously close to horrible. I see intermittent jumps in latency throughout the trace and I think this must be related to the exchange or the line

Whilst I agree that the 2nd hop isn't ideal, it's hardly the cause of the 200ms to JHB. Hops 6 through 8 are more clearly where the problem lies. You had said you'd be following up on whether this is a peering issue? Though, peering issues are not usually intermittent? I've been playing on these Intoxicated servers for months and never had this problem prior to joining Afrihost in Jan. Perhaps I ought to open a ticket or follow up via PM.

 

[ant_man]

The admin fee is only charged when there have been previous rejected payments. We are penalised by our bank for bounced payments and we also lose our rating with the bank which allows us to reduce banking fees (which is part of the overheads that ultimately influence what we bill clients for products). It's in everyone's interests to have as few returned payments as possible.

Why cant top-ups be charged with my monthly invoice, one amount at the end of the month?

I will try and process the amount manually later.

 

[AfriMan]

Whilst I agree that the 2nd hop isn't ideal, it's hardly the cause of the 200ms to JHB. Hops 6 through 8 are more clearly where the problem lies. You had said you'd be following up on whether this is a peering issue? Though, peering issues are not usually intermittent? I've been playing on these Intoxicated servers for months and never had this problem prior to joining Afrihost in Jan. Perhaps I ought to open a ticket or follow up via PM.

But it depends on the intermittent nature. Because I see that latency is higher even at the second hop, when that latency occurs at later stages it compounds to higher values. Usually the cause of the problem is where you first notice intermittent or inconsistent results, because this will colour the rest of the results.

 

[AfriMan]

Why cant top-ups be charged with my monthly invoice, one amount at the end of the month?

I will try and process the amount manually later.

This is something we've discussed internally and may possibly be something we could offer in the future if we can determine the right business rules.

The problem now is that because the "product" (i.e. data) is delivered immediately, the payment must clear otherwise we could potentially a large amount of data which my not be paid for in time, and possibly never recovered. Our current volume of unpaid transactions is concerning, so we want to do everything possible to reduce these instances before we look at changing our systems - though I can see what a convenient benefit this would be for many clients. I know I have NO cash left in my account by the time it gets to the end of the month when I would most likely need to top up

 

[FuLL_MeT4L]

But it depends on the intermittent nature. Because I see that latency is higher even at the second hop, when that latency occurs at later stages it compounds to higher values. Usually the cause of the problem is where you first notice intermittent or inconsistent results, because this will colour the rest of the results.

I've posted 2 sets of tracert results, the second tracert has the setup you describe with a less desirable 2nd hop, but the first tracert has a fairly standard 2nd hop. I'll do more tests tonight.