Afrihost or MWEB, help me decide.

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exocet

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Evening everyone.

I am currently signed up with Afrihost for their 15GB unshaped ADSL package on a 4MB Telkom line. I am considering moving over to MWEB 4MB uncapped, I understand that this is a shaped service. I need some advice from experienced users of either Afrihost or MWEB uncapped package to help me decide. Could you please answer a few of my questions? Thanks in advance!

1. I understand MWEB hosts the Steam servers in JHB etc. Does downloading games off Steam with the MWEB account count towards the bandwidth usage before the throttle(or any other counter-measure against over-usage) kicks in?

2. What is the approximate amount of total data in GB(combining U/L and D/L) I can use before I hit the throttle amount for both Afrihost and MWEB? (In the case of MWEB not counting the Steam downloads, just general downloading, streaming and gaming)

3. If I want to move over to MWEB, do I have to switch over to their line rental plan? Or can I keep using Telkom's line and subscribe only to MWEB's ISP service?

4. At what times during the week will I get shaped for either ISP's?

5. Any interesting perks with either ISP's? Small amount of cash difference do not matter.

If similar posts have been posted here before, I am sorry for wasting your time. Could you please point me to the right post?
 
Hi exocet,

Why don't you test our network and see for yourself first hand what the experience is like.
That way you can draw your own conclusions as to how the network performs.
PM me your contact details and I'll get a consultant to contact you to set you up with a free 7day trial account. ;)
Also I do need to point out that we do not throttle any of our accounts, however we do have dynamic shaping in place on our network.

Should you wish to keep you line with Telkom and only pay MWEB for data, that can be arranged for you as well.

kind regards,
MWEB Guy
 
Taking into consideration that MWEB replied to your question, on an unofficial channel, at 21h30 at night... I think the choice is obvious ;)

Also, they are pretty awesome in the way that they don't throttle you as long as you don't try to sneak past their shaping.
 
Afrihost is terrible for uncapped service. Absolutely horrible. Some people like OpenWeb, I personally did not. MWeb has been the best for me so far (touch wood)
 
yap mweb all the way, been with them now 4 more than a year a no probs with their uncapped
 
Afrihost won the ISP of the year award for 2011 and 2012 is not decided yet. That should tell you something. I personally am very happy with Afrihost as long as you stay on a capped account. If you move to an uncapped account you cannot be sure of anything since your questions have not been answered directly by MWEBGuy.
 
Mr_Bee said:
Afrihost won the ISP of the year award for 2011 and 2012 is not decided yet. That should tell you something. I personally am very happy with Afrihost as long as you stay on a capped account. If you move to an uncapped account you cannot be sure of anything since your questions have not been answered directly by MWEBGuy.
Click to expand...

I love Afrihost for their capped service. It's brilliant. Uncapped - different kettle of fish. Absolutely horrible. You are capped arbitrarily. I'm with MWeb and do 150GB approx. a month and have never been capped.
 
Mweb - while I've had a few ups and downs I wouldn't change for a sec. They def the only ones worth considering.
 
Mweb have been brilliant for me. My gaming(No1 priority) works better then any of the other 5/6 accounts I've tried and I'm able to download all the TV programs I watch in HD with no problems.
 
Mr_Bee said:
Afrihost won the ISP of the year award for 2011 and 2012 is not decided yet. That should tell you something. I personally am very happy with Afrihost as long as you stay on a capped account. If you move to an uncapped account you cannot be sure of anything since your questions have not been answered directly by MWEBGuy.
Click to expand...

LOL.
 
Just adding another +1 to MWEB here, awesome product at an awesome price. And I've never needed to contact the service department, which speaks volumes about stability :)
 
Since i used a bit of both.

For CAPPED, Afrihost is the most flexible and cheapest (especially if you need to top-up)

They also got some nifty features like the AlwaysON Wifi service where you can basically use your gigs (for an extra per GB fee) on wifi hotspots (i.e. the airport/hotels/shops which is normally not free) . Mweb got something similar , but they're still stuck in the stone-age where you buy Wifi MINUTES (i mean seriously, that is like so 1995 way of selling bandwidth). So Afrihost is definitely the more innovative when it comes to using capped bandwidth.


For UNCAPPED, Mweb . I've had no issues with throttles so far.

I was throttled to death on Afrihost when i went with their uncapped package and they were very vague as to when exactly they throttle and when exactly they lift the throttle (they say it's based on your usage vs. the average, but they don't actually give you any tool to monitor this, so you literally fly blind until you get throttled mid-month . Then you're stuck and forced to use another ISP to get some speed again ).

When i mailed Afrihost about the throttling, they did indicate the average at that stage was 50GB , (and i was obviously past 50GB) . So if you do your calculations, Uncapped package is about R500, their 25GB+25GB capped package is ALSO R500 . The 50GB capped package is still better past 50GB, because once that throttle comes down on your uncapped account it is very difficult to use it (my speeds went down to 384kbps and lower) VERSUS topping up (paying extra) and keeping full speed.

Oh as to regards to your questions
1. I understand MWEB hosts the Steam servers in JHB etc. Does downloading games off Steam with the MWEB account count towards the bandwidth usage before the throttle(or any other counter-measure against over-usage) kicks in?

2. What is the approximate amount of total data in GB(combining U/L and D/L) I can use before I hit the throttle amount for both Afrihost and MWEB? (In the case of MWEB not counting the Steam downloads, just general downloading, streaming and gaming)

3. If I want to move over to MWEB, do I have to switch over to their line rental plan? Or can I keep using Telkom's line and subscribe only to MWEB's ISP service?

4. At what times during the week will I get shaped for either ISP's?

5. Any interesting perks with either ISP's? Small amount of cash difference do not matter
Click to expand...

1. Since Mweb state they don't throttle their uncapped accounts, i assume that is no. But i'm sure it will count on a mweb capped account though (no "freezone" as far as i know) .

2.Afrihost : It was 50GB when i inquired in January (it is based on the user average)
Mweb : None (supposedly. I've not hit any throttles yet)

3. No, you can keep your line at Telkom and just get the uncapped package. I'm on that configuration too. It is slightly cheaper if you move your line to Mweb and take the all inclusive deal, but don't need to.

4. No idea :). I would assume works day 8am-5pm there are shaping on both ISPs , but i am never home to see what happens during those times. After hours, both perform similarly (if you're not throttled on Afrihost)

5. As mentioned, Afrihost got the AlwaysON Wifi thing, which is very cool if you travel alot with a wifi device (i.e. an Ipad/Tablet) . Mweb got their Wifi offering, but it's totally seperate and works in minutes (a concept i last dealt with on my 56.6k Modem using Telkom's "Callmore" service)
 
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I think I've made up my mind. I am going to switch over. You guys are awesome!
Thank you so much everyone for all the info, have a fantastic weekend!
 
MWEB is a load of crap. they keep on blaming telkom for everything that goes wrong. I've been battling a month now and they don't do anything. I use another account and it works 100%
 
Afrihost all the way . Best ISP we've dealt with in 10 years , and we've tried most of them including MWEB.
:):)
 
Mr_Bee said:
Afrihost won the ISP of the year award for 2011 and 2012 is not decided yet. That should tell you something. I personally am very happy with Afrihost as long as you stay on a capped account. If you move to an uncapped account you cannot be sure of anything since your questions have not been answered directly by MWEBGuy.
Click to expand...

What's more direct than 'try the account for a week'?
 
stay away from any ISP using IS. they trottle you to death. they seem to have all kinds of connectivity issues, without any solutions. Afrihost service is great, but their product s@cks. And the MWEB-guy beats that and offer a great product thats largely hassle free. for Uncapped there's only one ISP and that's MWEB.
 
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