Afrihost Service shedding

A

Antono

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
307
Reaction score
131
FNO bla bla bla, somebody else bla bla bla, everybody bla bla bla.

@Afrihost-Gian @AfriGuy @Afrigirl @AfriNatic Those are the starting statements that are currently the flavor of the day. Yes I know we have load shedding and yes I know you will blame somebody else and yes I know you only control your little corner of the supply chain but here is the thing - I AM NOT PAYING ANY OF THE OTHERS, I am paying you. I used to have service during load shedding but for the last few months, there is nothing, or like today 1Mbps. With load shedding as it is currently you provide me with service for less than half my working day (hint: the reason why I have fibre is not to play games).

So since I already know all your excuses I would like to know something else - What are you doing to ensure that the customer whose money you take is provided with a service? No, I am not interested in the fact that you have one gel battery keeping some black box up, I want to know how you ensure that other players in the supply chain come to the party (I am sure you pay them so there must be some SLA on place) and what do you do if they don't. BTW can I, the paying customer, have this same SLA with you?
 
Hello.

We have different SLA's with our FNO partners, ranging from 3 up to 5 working days for all FTTH clients. Majority of our FNO partners do have back up power in place for loadshedding or power outages. You are welcome to drop us a PM so we can follow up with the FNO you are currently with.
 
Afrigirl said:
Hello.

We have different SLA's with our FNO partners, ranging from 3 up to 5 working days for all FTTH clients. Majority of our FNO partners do have back up power in place for loadshedding or power outages. You are welcome to drop us a PM so we can follow up with the FNO you are currently with.
Click to expand...
Oh ok so based on the SLA you have with your partners you can demand payment from me without providing any service? It is no wonder the ISP environment is such a lucrative space. Since I never have any connectivity during load shedding and it is NEVER your problem (or as your agent just pointed out to me today, it is my equipment) then I guess it is money for nothing. Interesting concept that is really catching on in SA this doing nothing but demanding payment. I am with Openserve and according to them, it is never them. NOw I just have to find a router that works on battery backup during load shedding because apparently, mine does not.
 
Antono said:
Oh ok so based on the SLA you have with your partners you can demand payment from me without providing any service? It is no wonder the ISP environment is such a lucrative space. Since I never have any connectivity during load shedding and it is NEVER your problem (or as your agent just pointed out to me today, it is my equipment) then I guess it is money for nothing. Interesting concept that is really catching on in SA this doing nothing but demanding payment. I am with Openserve and according to them, it is never them. NOw I just have to find a router that works on battery backup during load shedding because apparently, mine does not.
Click to expand...
What exactly is the issue - does fiber go down for the entire area you live in when there's load-shedding?
 
Antono said:
NOw I just have to find a router that works on battery backup during load shedding because apparently, mine does not.
Click to expand...
None do. That's why everyone has been buying a mini-UPS to keep fiber & wifi on during load-shedding.
 
saor said:
What exactly is the issue - does fiber go down for the entire area you live in when there's load-shedding?
Click to expand...
I do not know if it is the entire area I just know that my service goes down whenever there is loadshedding. The issue is then kicked to Openserve who then claim all is fine on their side. So by the time the ball has been kicked back and forth the power is back on and voila, I have service again. It's a miracle.
 
Antono said:
I do not know if it is the entire area I just know that my service goes down whenever there is loadshedding. The issue is then kicked to Openserve who then claim all is fine on their side. So by the time the ball has been kicked back and forth the power is back on and voila, I have service again. It's a miracle.
Click to expand...
So it's not just your ONT / fiber box that dies during load-shedding? That thing needs power...
 
saor said:
None do. That's why everyone has been buying a mini-UPS to keep fiber & wifi on during load-shedding.
Click to expand...
OK that was me being sarcastic. I have 10Kw to keep the teeny little ONT and router going but it does not help if the ISP just shrugs their shoulders. It is their job to ensure that their FNO partners provide back up for their service since I am paying the ISP.
 
Antono said:
Oh ok so based on the SLA you have with your partners you can demand payment from me without providing any service? It is no wonder the ISP environment is such a lucrative space. Since I never have any connectivity during load shedding and it is NEVER your problem (or as your agent just pointed out to me today, it is my equipment) then I guess it is money for nothing. Interesting concept that is really catching on in SA this doing nothing but demanding payment. I am with Openserve and according to them, it is never them. NOw I just have to find a router that works on battery backup during load shedding because apparently, mine does not.
Click to expand...
I'm with Afrihost and never had downtime during loadshedding. Even up to 6 hours. I do however have my own backup UPS to keep the ONT and router going. (Frogfoot is my FNO)
 
saor said:
So it's not just your ONT / fiber box that dies during load-shedding? That thing needs power...
Click to expand...
You mean that the little green light should be on? I always wondered what that was for.
 
Dan C said:
I'm with Afrihost and never had downtime during loadshedding. Even up to 6 hours. I do however have my own backup UPS to keep the ONT and router going. (Frogfoot is my FNO)
Click to expand...
Just the last couple of months and I have been constantly logging calls and they just don't give a F.
 
same problem with my Afrihost MTN cell data, but I at least have a vodacom sim that never goes down
 
Antono said:
OK that was me being sarcastic. I have 10Kw to keep the teeny little ONT and router going but it does not help if the ISP just shrugs their shoulders. It is their job to ensure that their FNO partners provide back up for their service since I am paying the ISP.
Click to expand...
Lol no unless you're paying for a business line.
 
Antono said:
Just the last couple of months and I have been constantly logging calls and they just don't give a F.
Click to expand...
Well way back when I had ADSL and during loadshedding it went off after 30mins. I never thought of blaming Afrihost, but rather Telkom. Maybe my point of view is different to what you expect from an ISP.
 
Bundu said:
same problem with my Afrihost MTN cell data, but I at least have a vodacom sim that never goes down
Click to expand...
Yip I am on my cell 5g when it is available but at least when it's gone I don't pay for it.
 
Dan C said:
Well way back when I had ADSL and during loadshedding it went off after 30mins. I never thought of blaming Afrihost, but rather Telkom. Maybe my point of view is different to what you expect from an ISP.
Click to expand...
Who we blame and who we pay are two different things. If I was paying Openserve then I would expect them to sort out the ISP is that was within their supply chain. My OP was directed to afrihost and concerned about what they did to ensure that their partners deliver. Trying to get the answer from them directly is not possible because those who know are protected by the frontline support agents. Personally, I don't care if there are 1000 role players in the chain, I expect the party I'm paying to manage downstream issues. Afrihost is just 'oh it's not us, it's them but hey, don't forget to pay'. I've been having this issue for months now and they have escalated to openserve a few times and openserve just say all is good on their side.
 
This is like blaming a delivery company for not delivering a package because your municipality has not been maintaining your roads and it's impossible to get to your house. Sure, you can rant and rave at the delivery company and tell them you pay them and it's not your problem they can't drive to your house, and what are they going to do about it. But at the end of the day there's nothing they can do if they can't get to your house.

Now, having said that, I do agree that there is a lot wrong with the FNO/ISP model we currently have in South Africa and it definitely needs a lot of improvement. However let's just remember it wasn't that long ago that everybody used to say that we would never get fibre in South Africa. It's a small miracle that we do have fibre considering how small the market is in South Africa, and it's an even bigger miracle that most of that network (mostly) manages to stay up during loadshedding.
 
Antono said:
Who we blame and who we pay are two different things. If I was paying Openserve then I would expect them to sort out the ISP is that was within their supply chain. My OP was directed to afrihost and concerned about what they did to ensure that their partners deliver. Trying to get the answer from them directly is not possible because those who know are protected by the frontline support agents. Personally, I don't care if there are 1000 role players in the chain, I expect the party I'm paying to manage downstream issues. Afrihost is just 'oh it's not us, it's them but hey, don't forget to pay'. I've been having this issue for months now and they have escalated to openserve a few times and openserve just say all is good on their side.
Click to expand...
I understand your frustration and many do. I pay for electricity, but when I try to switch on my TV it does not seem to work all the time. ( and yes, it's more expensive charging batteries than not )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X