Afrihost New Network Feedback - Part 2

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Firstly, I have a lot of respect for AfriGenie on this forum, probably the best form on PR ive seen even, however when I read as per the bold below, I too would be concerned spending hard earned cash on an Afrihost account - I still cant believe people are so loyal to stick it out after how many months / wait years of this crQ@p ISP.


AfriGenie said:
The lack of an update from us does not mean that the Team has stopped working on this issue. There are multiple upstream providers working to figure out what is going on, they unfortunately keep us updated on every single step in the processes that they are using.

When I have a clear update with information to share, I will definitely share that information.
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FatBoySlim said:
Firstly, I have a lot of respect for AfriGenie on this forum, probably the best form on PR ive seen even, however when I read as per the bold below, I too would be concerned spending hard earned cash on an Afrihost account - I still cant believe people are so loyal to stick it out after how many months / wait years of this crQ@p ISP.
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I know this is little reassurance to the Clients that are affected by the peering issues with Mweb, but what makes this a tricky issue is that not all of our Clients are affected by it. A small number of our Clients in the East and South seem to experience it intermittently. By and large our network is performing pretty well at the moment.

As I said, that means little to those that are affected, and that is why we're working pretty darned hard to figure out what is causing the problem.
 
standerr said:
Android updates was just now reporting 59min left for 25Mb, but seems to have gone completely south now. Standing dead still with no time indication anymore.
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Did you maybe see if you were being shaped at all?
 
it is not only downloads that have erratic speeds even after midnight but browsing is a serious problem with pages loading half way and must be refreshed a couple of times
ii sure looks like shaping or maybe a bandwidth problem
 
electrofreeze said:
it is not only downloads that have erratic speeds even after midnight but browsing is a serious problem with pages loading half way and must be refreshed a couple of times
ii sure looks like shaping or maybe a bandwidth problem
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What type of account are you on at the moment? Are there specific sites that you are having problems with?
 
AfriGenie said:
Did you maybe see if you were being shaped at all?
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Why would I be shaped? I'm on a premium uncapped account that should mean only shaping when the network is under strain? Surely the network is good enough to not be under strain to the level I'm not able to download a 25mb update for almost an hour?
 
Just did a live chat to support, because I'm being shaped like crazy. This is the outcome.

Code: 
Why am I currently seeing shaping on my line.
I see: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

I'm on a premium uncapped account.
Simphiwe N has joined the chat.
Simphiwe N (09:35:53) : How are you Riaan ? 
Welcome to Afrihost LiveChat :-)
Riaan (09:36:21) : Hi
Riaan (09:36:52) : Did you see my message above?
Riaan (09:37:11) : I'm seeing shaping applied on my line, but I'm on a premium uncapped account.
Riaan (09:39:35) : Hello
Simphiwe N (09:41:46) : Yes, we do shape premium uncapped accounts in fact all our uncapped accounts are not subject to shaping but only business uncapped is given highest priority then comes premium uncapped.
Riaan (09:42:31) : Yes, but on your sit it says only when the network is under strain right? So is the network currently under strain?
Riaan (09:42:55) : This is the section from your site 

- Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but may be subject to shaping of downloads should the network be under strain.
Simphiwe N (09:43:24) : If you are being shaped now then yes we are under strain in your region.
 
standerr said:
Why would I be shaped? I'm on a premium uncapped account that should mean only shaping when the network is under strain? Surely the network is good enough to not be under strain to the level I'm not able to download a 25mb update for almost an hour?
Click to expand...

standerr said:
Just did a live chat to support, because I'm being shaped like crazy. This is the outcome.

Code: 
Why am I currently seeing shaping on my line.
I see: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

I'm on a premium uncapped account.
Simphiwe N has joined the chat.
Simphiwe N (09:35:53) : How are you Riaan ? 
Welcome to Afrihost LiveChat :-)
Riaan (09:36:21) : Hi
Riaan (09:36:52) : Did you see my message above?
Riaan (09:37:11) : I'm seeing shaping applied on my line, but I'm on a premium uncapped account.
Riaan (09:39:35) : Hello
Simphiwe N (09:41:46) : Yes, we do shape premium uncapped accounts in fact all our uncapped accounts are not subject to shaping but only business uncapped is given highest priority then comes premium uncapped.
Riaan (09:42:31) : Yes, but on your sit it says only when the network is under strain right? So is the network currently under strain?
Riaan (09:42:55) : This is the section from your site 

- Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but may be subject to shaping of downloads should the network be under strain.
Simphiwe N (09:43:24) : If you are being shaped now then yes we are under strain in your region.
Click to expand...

The shaping isn't so much to prevent strain on the network as to ensure that all of our Clients have the best possible experience. The shaping on our Premium Uncapped accounts will only affect your HTTP and P2P downloads and from what I've found app updates can also be shaped.

The shaping on the Premium Uncapped accounts tends to start dropping off from around 22h00 as most of our Clients go offline.
 
AfriGenie said:
The shaping isn't so much to prevent strain on the network as to ensure that all of our Clients have the best possible experience. The shaping on our Premium Uncapped accounts will only affect your HTTP and P2P downloads and from what I've found app updates can also be shaped.

The shaping on the Premium Uncapped accounts tends to start dropping off from around 22h00 as most of our Clients go offline.
Click to expand...

Except shaping http downloads to a standstill does not ensure all your clients have the best possible experience. Its excessive.
 
AfriGenie said:
The shaping isn't so much to prevent strain on the network as to ensure that all of our Clients have the best possible experience. The shaping on our Premium Uncapped accounts will only affect your HTTP and P2P downloads and from what I've found app updates can also be shaped.

The shaping on the Premium Uncapped accounts tends to start dropping off from around 22h00 as most of our Clients go offline.
Click to expand...

Ultimately the shaping is to a level that I cannot do anything.
The fine print on your site says this:
Code: 
Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but may be subject to shaping of downloads should the network be under strain.
In my mind this says that no matter how much data you've used (unmetered), we will shape all premium customers to the same level when the network is under strain. If not under strain then it should be full speed.
Right? Do I interpret correctly?

Currently in my client zone I see this: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
This seems no different than normal home uncapped. If the network is going to be under strain all the time, then paying for a premium uncapped account mean nothing.
 
Unhappy438 said:
Except shaping http downloads to a standstill does not ensure all your clients have the best possible experience. Its excessive.
Click to expand...

HTTP downloads are generally shaped to a significantly lesser degree than P2P downloads, only HTTP downloads are actually shaped, browsing and streaming over HTTP won't be affected at all.
 
standerr said:
Ultimately the shaping is to a level that I cannot do anything.
The fine print on your site says this:
Code: 
Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but may be subject to shaping of downloads should the network be under strain.
In my mind this says that no matter how much data you've used (unmetered), we will shape all premium customers to the same level when the network is under strain. If not under strain then it should be full speed.
Right? Do I interpret correctly?

Currently in my client zone I see this: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
This seems no different than normal home uncapped. If the network is going to be under strain all the time, then paying for a premium uncapped account mean nothing.
Click to expand...

The Home Uncapped accounts have all services throttled once you've hit the usage limit over a 30-day rolling window. That means your downloads, streaming, browsing etc will all be affected by the throttling.

The Premium Uncapped accounts will only have P2P and HTTP downloads shaped, and then only when the overall demand on the network is high, that's a significant difference in overall performance.
 
AfriGenie said:
The Home Uncapped accounts have all services throttled once you've hit the usage limit over a 30-day rolling window. That means your downloads, streaming, browsing etc will all be affected by the throttling.

The Premium Uncapped accounts will only have P2P and HTTP downloads shaped, and then only when the overall demand on the network is high, that's a significant difference in overall performance.
Click to expand...

OK, but then my question is this. Is the network currently under enough strain that I'm sitting with a shaping policy like this: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

If so then it seems there will never be a time that I'll get anything other than that policy, unless it's after 11pm in the evening. That's surely crazy for your network to be under such strain all the time, when we constantly hear there are no issues.
Then the fine print should read: This happens all the time, so don't expect any reasonable throughput for most of the waking hours.
 
standerr said:
OK, but then my question is this. Is the network currently under enough strain that I'm sitting with a shaping policy like this: Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

If so then it seems there will never be a time that I'll get anything other than that policy, unless it's after 11pm in the evening. That's surely crazy for your network to be under such strain all the time, when we constantly hear there are no issues.
Then the fine print should read: This happens all the time, so don't expect any reasonable throughput for most of the waking hours.
Click to expand...

The network isn't under strain, demand is high at the moment, and that means that we are currently shaping P2P and HTTP downloads on Uncapped accounts. The shaping on Uncapped accounts is usually at it's highest during the working day, with the shaping then starting to relax from around 21h00.

This is all monitored in real-time, and the shaping adjusted as needed dynamically.

It really does depend on what you are using your connection for mostly, if most of your usage is streaming then you won't need to worry about the shaping.
 
AfriGenie said:
The network isn't under strain, demand is high at the moment, and that means that we are currently shaping P2P and HTTP downloads on Uncapped accounts. The shaping on Uncapped accounts is usually at it's highest during the working day, with the shaping then starting to relax from around 21h00.

This is all monitored in real-time, and the shaping adjusted as needed dynamically.

It really does depend on what you are using your connection for mostly, if most of your usage is streaming then you won't need to worry about the shaping.
Click to expand...

I assume it's a gray area then. Your own site wording specifically mentions under strain as the threshold, not high demand.
Code: 
Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, 
and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but [B]may be[/B] subject 
to shaping of downloads should the network [B]be under strain[/B].
I draw your attention to the "may be" and the "be under strain"
That wording makes it sound like this should not be an every day occurrence, but rather the exception.

Definitely in my mind not working as advertised. And I know you'll say then log a dispute, but it's surely not in good spirit that a customer should need to do that. The service should work exactly as advertised.
 
standerr said:
I assume it's a gray area then. Your own site wording specifically mentions under strain as the threshold, not high demand.
Code: 
Premium Uncapped packages are not subject to throttling or monthly thresholds, 
and will enjoy full speed real-time services under all normal circumstances, but [B]may be[/B] subject 
to shaping of downloads should the network [B]be under strain[/B].
I draw your attention to the "may be" and the "be under strain"
That wording makes it sound like this should not be an every day occurrence, but rather the exception.

Definitely in my mind not working as advertised. And I know you'll say then log a dispute, but it's surely not in good spirit that a customer should need to do that. The service should work exactly as advertised.
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I was trying to provide clarification on how the shaping works and when it will be implemented. I can say for sure that the shaping is working as intended.

The shaping is applied as and when needed, as opposed to the Home Uncapped which will definitely throttle an account once a specific usage threshold has been hit.

It's entirely possible that the Premium Uncapped account doesn't suite your needs, that's why we've got three different tiers of Uncapped account.
 
AfriGenie said:
I was trying to provide clarification on how the shaping works and when it will be implemented. I can say for sure that the shaping is working as intended.

The shaping is applied as and when needed, as opposed to the Home Uncapped which will definitely throttle an account once a specific usage threshold has been hit.

It's entirely possible that the Premium Uncapped account doesn't suite your needs, that's why we've got three different tiers of Uncapped account.
Click to expand...

That it might not be for me I can accept, but there is for sure a huge difference between under strain and high demand. Then the wording is not correct and Afrihost should get it sorted. I make a purchase/upgrade/downgrade decision based on your honest words on the site, including the fine print. If that is not accurate then I'll make the incorrect assumptions.
 
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