Afrihost (pure joy) - paying for 10mbps getting less than 2mbps

[thegingerbeardman]

As much "joy" as it brings me paying for something I'm not receiving. I got to say getting 20% of what you pay for is a little more than I'm willing to swallow.

Here's my problem:

1. I was on a 10mbit internet connection, line with Telkom and data with Afrihost.

2. Around 2 months ago my line speed degraded to less than 4mbps.

3. I contacted Afrihost to resolve the issue (I got the usual, refresh session story), nothing was resolved.

4. Contacted Telkom, they reset my ports as Afrihost instructed at the time. (this was 2 months ago), Nothing was resolved.

5. Contacted Afrihost back to find out what I could do to fix my line as I was at the end of my tether with Telkom unable / unwilling to help me.

6. Afrihost suggested I move my line to them to be managed by them as they would deal with Telkom directly.

7. I Immediately did that, contacted Afrihost and instructed them to resolve the issue with telkom.

8. I was promised that the issue would be taken care of.

9. A few weeks later a Telkom technician / private contractor arrived stating he was here to migrate my line from one room to another. WTF!

10. When I told him that was not even close to what he needed to do he told me that he was not able to help as that was the job of a different division and I have heard nothing from neither Telkom nor Afrihost as to when this issue was going to be resolved.

11. Lately the speed has degraded further to less than 2mbit line speed.


I am paying for 10mbit ADSL line speed (which I was happily receiving for just under a year until 2 months ago) and I expect to get at least an approximation of that line speed, I understand ADSL is a best effort service but between 10% and 20% of the expected speed is totally unacceptable.

I am posting this here in the hopes that one of you fine mybroadband forum members can help, maybe afriman is still hanging around.

This is ruining my weekends as all I'm doing is fighting with these 2 seemingly incompetent service providers getting my blood pressure through the roof.

 

[Rickster]

Post line stats from your router and a traceroute to any local website (not google.co.za)

 

[thegingerbeardman]

Post line stats from your router and a traceroute to any local website (not google.co.za)

Connection Speed 2558 kbps 440 kbps
Line Attenuation 35.5 db 36.0 db
Noise Margin 8.45 db 6.5 db


Tracing route to www.mybroadband.co.za [104.20.71.110]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 2 ms 3 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 54 ms 53 ms 53 ms cpt-up1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.105]
4 53 ms 61 ms 50 ms cpt-in1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.118]
5 53 ms 53 ms 50 ms cpt-net1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.128]
6 52 ms 50 ms 50 ms africainx.ct1.napafrica.net [196.10.140.7]
7 71 ms 69 ms 70 ms CORE.GP-ID-DCE-3.TO.GP-ID-MEC-2.AINX.P2P.10G.za [41.84.13.228]
8 97 ms 70 ms 69 ms 41-66-181-59-3b.CLO008-CDN-local-VLAN-321.africainx.net [41.66.181.59]
9 70 ms 69 ms 70 ms 104.20.71.110

Trace complete.

 

[Rickster]

Connection Speed 2558 kbps 440 kbps
Line Attenuation 35.5 db 36.0 db
Noise Margin 8.45 db 6.5 db


Tracing route to www.mybroadband.co.za [104.20.71.110]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms 2 ms 3 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 54 ms 53 ms 53 ms cpt-up1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.105]
4 53 ms 61 ms 50 ms cpt-in1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.118]
5 53 ms 53 ms 50 ms cpt-net1.ip.adsl.co.za [169.1.5.128]
6 52 ms 50 ms 50 ms africainx.ct1.napafrica.net [196.10.140.7]
7 71 ms 69 ms 70 ms CORE.GP-ID-DCE-3.TO.GP-ID-MEC-2.AINX.P2P.10G.za [41.84.13.228]
8 97 ms 70 ms 69 ms 41-66-181-59-3b.CLO008-CDN-local-VLAN-321.africainx.net [41.66.181.59]
9 70 ms 69 ms 70 ms 104.20.71.110

Trace complete.

Yea....10meg on those stats, not going to happen.

Its not afrihosts problem, thats a telkom line fault or a possible faulty router.

 

[thegingerbeardman]

Yea....10meg on those stats, not going to happen.

Its not afrihosts problem, thats a telkom line fault or a possible faulty router.

I accept that it could be a faulty router, and I accept that it could be a telkom line issue. I can change my router (and I will do that) but my frustration is the run around I am receiving from these 2 companies.

I fully expect Afrihost to step in and get Telkom to test and resolve the fault if one exists, that is why I migrated my adsl service to be managed by them, If its the router then I expect a technician to bring a working router test it here and tell me that. Just venting my frustration...

 

[Rickster]

Report telkom to the NCC, thats what i did.

I waited 2 months for them and then i got fed up and reported them to the NCC, 3 days later they were at my house.

 

[thegingerbeardman]

I accept that it could be a faulty router, and I accept that it could be a telkom line issue. I can change my router (and I will do that) but my frustration is the run around I am receiving from these 2 companies.

I fully expect Afrihost to step in and get Telkom to test and resolve the fault if one exists, that is why I migrated my adsl service to be managed by them, If its the router then I expect a technician to bring a working router test it here and tell me that. Just venting my frustration...

And I disagree, it is Afrihost's problem, I'm paying them to manage my adsl line. I really don't care if its their fault or Telkom's. I just expect it to be resolved.

 

[thegingerbeardman]

Report telkom to the NCC, thats what i did.

I waited 2 months for them and then i got fed up and reported them to the NCC, 3 days later they were at my house.

Great idea. I think you may be in the minority on that one. I've heard that often results in a fruitless waste of time and energy, but if I don't joy in the week or so I might have no choice but to that.

 

[genetic]

And I disagree, it is Afrihost's problem, I'm paying them to manage my adsl line.

Eish, why?

Always keep your line separate from your ISP.

 

[LaraC]

Great idea. I think you may be in the minority on that one. I've heard that often results in a fruitless waste of time and energy, but if I don't joy in the week or so I might have no choice but to that.

Rather send a PM to either AfriGuy, AfriGenie or AfriMan. They are very helpful and will assist with the fault.

 

[thegingerbeardman]

Eish, why?

Always keep your line separate from your ISP.

Because I have had the pleasure of dealing with Telkom's call centre so often (hour long hold times, incompetent call center agents, "accidental" dropped calls when they can't resolve an issue) and the pain of moving to another ISP if I need to is worth the effort in my eyes if I can offload the stress of dealing with telkom directly, to me the trade off is worth it.

 

[thegingerbeardman]

Rather send a PM to either AfriGuy, AfriGenie or AfriMan. They are very helpful and will assist with the fault.

Thanks, I've sent them a PM. Hopefully they can help.

 

[LaraC]

Thanks, I've sent them a PM. Hopefully they can help.

They don't usually work over weekends but I'm sure they will get back to you on Monday.

 

[User52]

Because I have had the pleasure of dealing with Telkom's call centre so often (hour long hold times, incompetent call center agents, "accidental" dropped calls when they can't resolve an issue) and the pain of moving to another ISP if I need to is worth the effort in my eyes if I can offload the stress of dealing with telkom directly, to me the trade off is worth it.

I would use the telkom twitter team if I were you as they work over weekends and they usually respond quickly. Afrihost have very little control over the lines they manage and therefore cannot really help with the issue you have (they can actually but it will take longer as all they do is pass on the message).... If you want to get this sorted sooner just set up twitter and PM telkom.

 

[Salvage]

Eish, why?

Always keep your line separate from your ISP.

I've had my line managed by a few different ISPs to try avoid having to deal with Telkom myself. My personal experience was that the ISPs can't do any better than you and I when it comes to dealing with Telkom. It just adds another, mostly useless, middleman to the resolution process and gets my blood boiling having to deal with two companies instead of one to get my line fixed.

Now I keep my line with Telkom and thus far have had more success in resolving my line issues when they come up than any of the ISPs did.

 

[User52]

I've had my line managed by a few different ISPs to try avoid having to deal with Telkom myself. My personal experience was that the ISPs can't do any better than you and I when it comes to dealing with Telkom. It just adds another, mostly useless, middleman to the resolution process and gets my blood boiling having to deal with two companies instead of one to get my line fixed.

Now I keep my line with Telkom and thus far have had more success in resolving my line issues when they come up than any of the ISPs did.

I have my line with afrihost but I just contact telkom directly if i have issues with the line sync or faults. Wholesale is basically the same as regular line so no benefits with either...

 

[Stian]

I've used different ISP before, now I have Axxess managing my line and bundle.
It been a year now and I'm quite happy with them.

 

[GrammatonCleric]

Telkom usually takes their time resolving issues so it doesn't help raising your blood pressure...you're shortening your own life

I would also not migrate my line to my ISP. I did that before to take away the hassle of dealing with Talkom directly but when I wanted to cancel my service, it was a nightmare...so don't do that...you're shortening your own life

If you have a smartphone, download the Telkom app and log your faults there. They tend to resolve your issues a lot quicker...in my experience anyway.
Sometimes they clear your fault without it being resolved, but the beauty of the app is...if the fault is cleared and you don't see a difference in your line...just log another one

Plus, the longer your fault is open and unresolved, the less money Telkom makes because they're not allowed to bill you if you're not getting the service you're paying for

It'll eventually became a ball-ache for them and they'll HAVE to sort your issues out to get you off their necks

Telkom's call center agents don't give 2 sh*ts about YOUR problems and far too many people take their frustrations out on these call center agents, yet it's not really their fault that there's something wrong with your line. I think that's why they become despondent and unhelpful.