Arthur
Honorary Master
Thank-you. You are most gracious.
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Question of the Day: Will you be watching the FIFA World Cup Final?
AfriHost CEO explains why the network has been underperforming..
- Thread starter element1
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I am getting irritated as my kids cannot play on their Minecraft server. Afrihost connection just times out. I now have to pay WA for extra data so they can play in the afternoons. Although I understand Afrihost have problems (which have been going on too long IMO) it is actually now costing me extra money. Will have patience till Monday otherwise I have to cancel as I need a working connection for kids holidays in December.
TEXTILE GUY
Honorary Master
I am one of those who will stick with AH for now and allow them that latitude ...
A bit pi$$ed that AH made me do a bunch of stoopid stuff with Telkom instead of coming out with the issue, but happy that things are normalising.
That aside, having been around the block with some other ISPs, AH still presents a better value proposition IMHO.
DISCLAIMER - Sorry if you dont agree - thats your opinion this is mine.
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A bit pi$$ed that AH made me do a bunch of stoopid stuff with Telkom instead of coming out with the issue, but happy that things are normalising.
That aside, having been around the block with some other ISPs, AH still presents a better value proposition IMHO.
DISCLAIMER - Sorry if you dont agree - thats your opinion this is mine.
edit
/agrees
How are you meant to give a guaranteed resolution time on an unknown IT issue? Thats a bit silly.
Working in IT I understand Gians issues and I really wish him luck. People dont understand the complexities of these networks and how difficult it is to fix them. The fact that the vendors of the hardware are involved and having problems speaks volumes.
This email actually gave me more confidence in Afrihost. Instead of lying he acknowledges that they dont know the issue, but are working on it non-stop. Thats exactly what I would expect from a good ISP.
To the guys and girls at Afrihost. Good luck, keep up the hard work, and some of us understand the pressures and loads you are dealing with at the moment. Im happy to keep my telecoms services with Afrihost.
I get feedback from many of my users and my monthly bill with the group that owns Axxess and Afrihost is sitting at around R69 000. So I get a lot of exposure and input from clients. Afrihost has had some bad days, but theyre actually doing something about it. Ive had my clients on bigger names with worse networks and they didnt bother to help us.
On a side note, there is a very obvious sockpuppet trolling this thread.
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KillerBOB
Well-Known Member
You guys are real martyrs. I'm sure Gian appreciates it.
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Thank you for the feedback so far guys, we really appreciate the supportive messages that have been put here.
I think we have all learned important lessons, and we will definitely apply to the way we handle these issues in future, although for my sake I certainly hope this sort of issue is never repeated!
Although I am seeing a definite improvement in terms of throughput in individual accounts, if anyone still has any issues with speeds or latency, please let know. We will need to now start looking at individual accounts to see why the changes we made are not being applied to that account correctly.
I think we have all learned important lessons, and we will definitely apply to the way we handle these issues in future, although for my sake I certainly hope this sort of issue is never repeated!
Although I am seeing a definite improvement in terms of throughput in individual accounts, if anyone still has any issues with speeds or latency, please let know. We will need to now start looking at individual accounts to see why the changes we made are not being applied to that account correctly.
CapetonianMike
Active Member
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This is the best thing I have heard this month. When I don't have this nagging feeling of distrust I don't feel like I am being strung along.
This is what really set me off. If my support ticket was answered with an acknowledgement that there was something wrong on AH's side that could cause the issue, and then they asked me to talk with Telkom to eliminate my problem being with my line, I would have done it gladly. That would have made me feel like they really cared and wanted to go the extra mile to make sure they had done everything they possible could for me, while also being honest about any issue on their side. Even a message now, after two weeks, on my ticket would be good.
Getting an "its Telkom" response made me feel like AH didn't want to take responsibility and that would be incredibly consumer unfriendly. No matter how honest AH felt they were being, something so small as a single sentence missing from a support ticket can make a consumer feel otherwise. I hope these lessons are truly learnt, AH would be better for it.
PS I have canceled my account and already signed up with another ISP, but if that doesn't work out I would definitely reconsider AH if these lessons are put into practice.
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That is what I think needs to be what we need to work on, that is to get a consistent response across all of our communication channels, I think hearing conflicting reports and feedback must be one of the most frustrating things.
I am always disappointed when a client leaves us, but I certainly hope we can get ourselves sorted, so that when you give us a try again, we do nothing but impress!Bursty-dude
Expert Member
Same here.
Chevron
Serial breaker of phones
First you say you're gonna stay with them, the you say you're passed.
Talk about bipolar. Or is sucker a better word?
I like that you mention value. You really get what you pay for. And going by the feedback thread they've been major issues for at least a year now.
I'd much rather pay a bit more and have something that works.
savage
Expert Member
WOW! Gain does not even know that he has unhappy customers?
WBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH Afri* persons are putting up such a bloody front that the communication does not even REACH the persons whom they should be reaching.
I don't give a RATS ASS what your problem is, or what you are doing to fix it. I've said it before, I'll say it again. The *correct* thing to do is to refund your customers, and you know it!
This is absolutely laughable. A bloody joke!
WBWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH Afri* persons are putting up such a bloody front that the communication does not even REACH the persons whom they should be reaching.
I don't give a RATS ASS what your problem is, or what you are doing to fix it. I've said it before, I'll say it again. The *correct* thing to do is to refund your customers, and you know it!
This is absolutely laughable. A bloody joke!
Necuno
Court Jester
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How many chances do they need?
1. Initial uncapped and draconian shaping
2. March 2014 affair
3. October 2014 affair
Looks nice from high above, right?
MagicDude4Eva
Banned
As a business customer I am annoyed that I got the run around since September and was always told that it either was my problem or a Telkom issue and it took over 6 weeks of mounting consumer complaints for Afrihost to acknowledge that they are experiencing problems.
I would have appreciated honesty and transparency more if it had happened in September and not been dragged out which in hindsight now appears to have been a poor attempt to cover up the actual issues to avoid any bad customer PR.
Afrihost does not seem to understand that their customers are more appreciative when told the truth but I for one feel lied to and patronized and have wasted many hours providing info to Afrihost for the problems I experienced while it was very clear to them from the beginning that they internally suffered problems and decided not to be open about them.
Not quite sure how Afrihost will rebuilt the trust lost, but a sad mail sent in the wee hours of the morning is not going to achieve this for me.
I would have appreciated honesty and transparency more if it had happened in September and not been dragged out which in hindsight now appears to have been a poor attempt to cover up the actual issues to avoid any bad customer PR.
Afrihost does not seem to understand that their customers are more appreciative when told the truth but I for one feel lied to and patronized and have wasted many hours providing info to Afrihost for the problems I experienced while it was very clear to them from the beginning that they internally suffered problems and decided not to be open about them.
Not quite sure how Afrihost will rebuilt the trust lost, but a sad mail sent in the wee hours of the morning is not going to achieve this for me.
Necuno
Court Jester
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Top 10?
Just give them another change[sup]tm[/sup]
This will be fixed soon[sup]tm[/sup]
We've worked through the night[sup]tm[/sup]
Look at this new feature we are releasing[sup]tm[/sup]
Just pay a little more[sup]tm[/sup]
Gain must have overlooked your problem[sup]tm[/sup]
The thing is, Afrihost's problems problems go well beyond network underperformance. Their big problem is total lack of respect for their customers to the point that literally stealing from them is just business as usual. As one of those that was fleeced to the tune several thousand Rand, I'm very happy to have left for other ISPs that are at least somewhat honest.
I'd strongly suggest that anyone that believes the latest "apology" take a look at all the previous similar emails, and consider how it is that the cycle of "rip-off -> apology -> rip-off again" just keeps going.
I'd strongly suggest that anyone that believes the latest "apology" take a look at all the previous similar emails, and consider how it is that the cycle of "rip-off -> apology -> rip-off again" just keeps going.
astroboi89
Senior Member
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I predict that Afrihost will be consumed/rebranded by MTN within the next 5 years. Mr creepy smile Gian wont be CEO and will find a new business venture. Gian you might have cared about your customers from inception of Afrihost but you certainly don't care about them enough to be refunded.I am also tired of this :"we love our customers" and "mtn loves you too". Grow a pair and do the right thing by reimbursing clients in some way.
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/me thinks....
If all of these problems are to blame on "those devices" which I presume is like glorified routers (say like Forti....), the moment you realized there is something wrong, why not roll back to the previous working version of the firmware /software, and send the new version back to the lab/developers to sort out?? You do have backups of the firmware of these "devices", right??
Also, do you really want us to believe that the software /firmware running on "those devices" are totally unique, custom developed for the AH network, was never ever (a) lab tested by the manufacturer and (b) was never used by any other ISP or network provider anywhere in the world, where that device manufacturer also have live units??? Like you received version 7.4.1009.d any absolutely nobody else is using version 7.4.xxx, and you were the testbed for the version? And you said "yes" for an update on your core network yet it's something that is/was never tested or used??
Does simply not make sense. But then again, what does nowadays?
If all of these problems are to blame on "those devices" which I presume is like glorified routers (say like Forti....), the moment you realized there is something wrong, why not roll back to the previous working version of the firmware /software, and send the new version back to the lab/developers to sort out?? You do have backups of the firmware of these "devices", right??
Also, do you really want us to believe that the software /firmware running on "those devices" are totally unique, custom developed for the AH network, was never ever (a) lab tested by the manufacturer and (b) was never used by any other ISP or network provider anywhere in the world, where that device manufacturer also have live units??? Like you received version 7.4.1009.d any absolutely nobody else is using version 7.4.xxx, and you were the testbed for the version? And you said "yes" for an update on your core network yet it's something that is/was never tested or used??
Does simply not make sense. But then again, what does nowadays?
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KillerBOB
Well-Known Member
I'm starting to think this will be a real possibility too. I also think AH will make quite a nice case study in the coming years.