Afrihost issues that needs to be sorted out...

[Necuno]

please in a decent manner list the issues you think they need to sort out first before becoming the no 1 isp. this is not a tool to flame or crucify them. it's to help both them and us as the clients.

i definitely think that they need to have a look at some issues first before introducing anything new. having them fixed will fix a lot of issues directly and indirectly:

issues

• official response still pending. pm has been sent - Necuno
• the popper on the products page that say you will be capped needs imho reflect rather that you will be charged for over usage or keep it the same and implement a proper capping system like other isps have which stops you before you reach the first 1 gig - Necuno
  
• The technical knowledge of their tech support staff - Rodent-Boy / Sackboy
  
• Wording on emails is confusing and not pertinent to certain situations - Chelle / Afrikane (example)
  
• Streaming, xlive and torrents slow - K3NS31 / AnimateX
  
• Billing department, getting billed twice - Aqua_lung
  
• Account locked after topup - Techrat / Aqua_lung
  
• To many sms reminders for pre-paid data - Gatecrasher
  
• Blank out bank details parts - Abe (reference)

suggestions

• More payment options - zadbnguy / Necuno...something like fastpay maybe ?
  
• RSS feed for issues on the IS network - Necuno

=== reply ====

Hi

• the popper on the products page that say you will be capped needs imho reflect rather that you will be charged for over usage or keep it the same and implement a proper capping system like other isps have which stops you before you reach the first 1 gig - Necuno

We were implementing that policy to allow people to access the clientzone to top up rather than get hard capped because of usage during the hourly updates that we get from Telkom. We have reduced the amount that we give now so that the 'eat' into the next months cap is reduced.

• The technical knowledge of their tech support staff

This is an important one - we are working hard at training our newer staff member and getting proper escalation in place.

• Wording on emails is confusing and not pertinent to certain situations

Some of these have already been changed - for example the bandwidth notifications were confusing, we have sorted these out - if you can send me some others you feel this way about I will take a look

• Streaming, xlive and torrents slow

I will take this up with IS - this might form part of their shaping during office hours but will confirm

• Billing department, getting billed twice

This has not been a general problem - although our credit card vendor has on their own authority debited some customers twice - we have no idea why as we never sent the instruction twice - but we are liasing with them to get to the bottom of it

• Account locked after topup

This probably boils back to the overuse issue described above - so as you top up it basically settles the outstanding data

• To many sms reminders for pre-paid data

Notifications for usage?

• Blank out bank details parts

In the clientzone or on invoices? This is something we can look at

• RSS feed for issues on the IS network

This is something we are working on along with a status page

• More payment options

we have not actually looked into these but will do so.

Please send me any feedback directly so I can investigate.

Thanks
Pete

 

[Rodent-Boy]

The technical knowledge of their tech support staff leaves a bit to be desired. Bog standard answers aren't always helpful when you're experiencing issues.

 

[Chelle]

Wording on emails is confusing and not pertinent to certain situations - like the one which you get when you sign up during the month and your bandwidth is pro-rated.

Email support in respect of follow up situations needs to be improved. i.e. when support tells you they're getting answers from accounts or tech etc you often don't get a response until you follow up again. It seems their ticket systm automatically closes the case after an email response has been sent.

 

[Necuno]

thanks for the responses so far. i've updated the list

 

[K3NS31]

I have a 4Mb line which I switch between Afrihost and Cybersmart, so I've had a chance to do a good performance comparison. I find that I have the following issues where Cybersmart is significantly better than Afrihost, which is the only reason I haven't got a high cap Afri account:

1. Video streaming from YouTube, Dailymotion etc. is just not as fast, and also starts slower.
2. Xbox Live is noticeably slower, especially (again) with videos (trailers etc.)
3. Torrents are WAY slower.

Other than that, never had any issues in the few months I've been using them. Been quite happy in fact, just want more speed.

 

[AnimateX]

I'm on a 384kbit line and use Telkom Internet and Afrihost.

With Telkom Internet I rarely get less than 38KB/s but with Afrihost I always get 20KB/s or less. This I have comfirmed with sites like Youtube, Sourceforge and Rapidshare but it is not limited to those and includes any streaming or downloading through HTTP.

I have had both accounts for a few months so I've had time to compare and make sure. Maybe it is only affecting a portion of users.

Price is great so I'm happy. Better HTTP speed would be make me happy*2.

 

[d0b33]

Afrihost is great value but when things go wrong they don't own up.

I got billed twice sent a few emails, what they do? delete the second invoice without refunding it! I got help on this forum by getting extra bandwidth but I cant use it because my account is capped, well the topup I bought is capped I have 2Gb left on main account that I can't use!
No help from afrihost.

Good thing I got the WA special or I'd be stuck with this, I canceled my account now.

 

[Necuno]

I have a 4Mb line which I switch between Afrihost and Cybersmart, so I've had a chance to do a good performance comparison. I find that I have the following issues where Cybersmart is significantly better than Afrihost, which is the only reason I haven't got a high cap Afri account:

1. Video streaming from YouTube, Dailymotion etc. is just not as fast, and also starts slower.
2. Xbox Live is noticeably slower, especially (again) with videos (trailers etc.)
3. Torrents are WAY slower.

Other than that, never had any issues in the few months I've been using them. Been quite happy in fact, just want more speed.

I'm on a 384kbit line and use Telkom Internet and Afrihost.

With Telkom Internet I rarely get less than 38KB/s but with Afrihost I always get 20KB/s or less. This I have comfirmed with sites like Youtube, Sourceforge and Rapidshare but it is not limited to those and includes any streaming or downloading through HTTP.

I have had both accounts for a few months so I've had time to compare and make sure. Maybe it is only affecting a portion of users.

Price is great so I'm happy. Better HTTP speed would be make me happy*2.

i'm also getting slow overall throughput.

 

[davemc]

Their top-up specials must not start before 1/2 way in the current month. It's a kick in the face of existing customers who properly budgeted and purchased their usage to see bandwidth being sold to those who don't for 1/2 the price, as a top-up package, not even 5 days into the month.

 

[milomak]

Their top-up specials must not start before 1/2 way in the current month. It's a kick in the face of existing customers who properly budgeted and purchased their usage to see bandwidth being sold to those who don't for 1/2 the price, as a top-up package, not even 5 days into the month.

you can't be serious?

 

[Bismuth]

you can't be serious?

I certainly hope he isn't, but not sure as there is no /

B

 

[Wag]

Their top-up specials must not start before 1/2 way in the current month. It's a kick in the face of existing customers who properly budgeted and purchased their usage to see bandwidth being sold to those who don't for 1/2 the price, as a top-up package, not even 5 days into the month.

Eishhh !!!!

 

[boerseun]

Their top-up specials must not start before 1/2 way in the current month. It's a kick in the face of existing customers who properly budgeted and purchased their usage to see bandwidth being sold to those who don't for 1/2 the price, as a top-up package, not even 5 days into the month.

I bet you work for the competition...;-)

 

[d0b33]

OK, afrihost sorted me out on the being capped issue after a second attempt.

 

[d0b33]

Edit:
My account is still locked though even after a router restart, think ill just move over to my webafrica account and forget about it, to frustrating to get this working.

 

[Necuno]

i've pm-ed moshe for some feed back

 

[bradrap]

Well I can't access wow-heroes.com and mmowned.com :'( and some porn sites aren't loading thumbnails... wtf up with that??

 

[bokka1]

I have a 4Mb line which I switch between Afrihost and Cybersmart, so I've had a chance to do a good performance comparison. I find that I have the following issues where Cybersmart is significantly better than Afrihost, which is the only reason I haven't got a high cap Afri account:

1. Video streaming from YouTube, Dailymotion etc. is just not as fast, and also starts slower.
2. Xbox Live is noticeably slower, especially (again) with videos (trailers etc.)
3. Torrents are WAY slower.

Other than that, never had any issues in the few months I've been using them. Been quite happy in fact, just want more speed.

That is strange regarding the Xbox Live content. The Live marketplace is hosted locally and should theoretically be unshaped. I use them and have no problems.

 

[Sackboy]

Their accounts department is telling customers that with PREPAID ADSL, there is a mandatory monthly direct debit, instead of a client-controlled payment from the bank. i.e. you pay as you go.

 

[zadbnguy]

Their accounts department is telling customers that with PREPAID ADSL, there is a mandatory monthly direct debit, instead of a client-controlled payment from the bank. i.e. you pay as you go.

I got the same feedback from them and that it wasn't feasible for them to change their accounting/billing system (for the R29/GB offering) to accommodate such a offering, due to the way the "special" business model had been constructed.

Grid host uses a system similar in all intents to paypal but works on a local model, whereby you can deposit money, if and when needed into your account. This is then linked as a payment option on Grid host site as a other form of transfer.

Now if this can even be used for their current cheapest hosting model of R8.95, surely the costs can't be that bad to justify it for Afrihosts offering? Or is it just not worth the effort?

Another payment option at least!