Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

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AfriMan said:
It wouldn't really make sense to do so, because we each have independent IPC capacity. I couldn't comment on the severity of what they are experiencing, I'm basing this mainly on comments from users in the forum.
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We'll just disagree on this point. :) Then AH cannot use "...other ISP's are showing similar signs of high usage and unexplained upsurge in demand for bandwidth..." as justification (for the lack of a better word) for this situation.
 
AfriMan said:
I'm really sorry you feel this way. I think we've been upfront about what we're seeing on the network and we've given over all the information we have. I don't think we've been unfair in how we've conducted ourselves, but PM me if you disagree and let's find the best solution.
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It's less about you not being upfront, and more about the whole affair just a bit of a see-saw, ya'know? I remember not 3 weeks ago thinking how quiet this thread had become; obviously a sign of how smooth things had been running for just about everyone. And then, with no prior warning, it's as if the past... I dunno.... year's worth of hiccups arrive at once. And yes, I know, first('ish) world problems and all that, worrying 'bout the quality of one's internet connection.

There are layers to this annoyance though. I understand what you're saying in terms of wanting a fair system, and not shaping real-time services at all. However when I'm wanting to download, say, a driver or a Linux distro... a real Linux distro... I'm a whole lot more interested in doing that at a reasonable rate than I am in watching Miley Cyrus swingin' around in the buff on a wrecking ball in 1080p. My opinion is that your stance, of shaping everything into the ground in order to protect real-time services, breaks down when non-real-time becomes utterly unusable. I'd rather see Youtube limited to 480p with the odd download not coming down at a comical rate - and before proffering turbocharge, they'd be depleted by now had I used them.

I'm annoyed to have my service rendered near-useless, taking into account that I am very much not a heavy data user. Heavier than some here, sure, but I don't think ±100 - 120GB per month is anything near excessive on a 4mb line. To be treated the same as people running torrents 24/7 - in part exactly because some choose to run torrents 24/7 - does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy. I'd even border on saying I feel a wee bit betrayed; not to descend into self-congratulatory horn-blowing here, but you've got upwards of a dozen clients from my close circles thanks to my advice and assistance, many with multiple accounts. The majority would be nett earners for you: pension-drawing aunts, uncles and parents puttering about on their 1mb uncapped accounts; mum-in-law using a few hundred MB per month on her 5 gig Mifi... I try to send business your way because I hold the company in high regard; it'd be much easier to just up-and-leave from a provider I don't respect.

Given the situation, and your position, you're going to have to deal with a bit of venting. Especially when indicators are that the situation is going backwards instead of progressing.
 
Wall said:
Can I just say that I love TurboCharge. It's awesome knowing you can unshape yourself for an hour if you really need full line speed. I tested it last night on a download and it worked brilliantly.

It's a very novel concept and I'm lovin' it. :D
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I tried TurboCharge for the first time last night and was distinctly unimpressed... Nothing happened for 15 minutes (even rebooted my router in desperation), after which my downloads jumped up from 5kbps to an eye-watering 35kbps for 30 minutes. After that, nadda... I'm being shaped/throttled to hell and back.

Right now, the beta Clientzone shows my projected usage at 100GB for the month; easily more than double what I would usually do. Am clearly paying for the - in hindsight - rash decision to download the BF4 beta in the early hours of the 1st...

:cry:
 
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HapticSimian said:
It's less about you not being upfront, and more about the whole affair just a bit of a see-saw, ya'know? I remember not 3 weeks ago thinking how quiet this thread had become; obviously a sign of how smooth things had been running for just about everyone. And then, with no prior warning, it's as if the past... I dunno.... year's worth of hiccups arrive at once. And yes, I know, first('ish) world problems and all that, worrying 'bout the quality of one's internet connection.

There are layers to this annoyance though. I understand what you're saying in terms of wanting a fair system, and not shaping real-time services at all. However when I'm wanting to download, say, a driver or a Linux distro... a real Linux distro... I'm a whole lot more interested in doing that at a reasonable rate than I am in watching Miley Cyrus swingin' around in the buff on a wrecking ball in 1080p. My opinion is that your stance, of shaping everything into the ground in order to protect real-time services, breaks down when non-real-time becomes utterly unusable. I'd rather see Youtube limited to 480p with the odd download not coming down at a comical rate - and before proffering turbocharge, they'd be depleted by now had I used them.

I'm annoyed to have my service rendered near-useless, taking into account that I am very much not a heavy data user. Heavier than some here, sure, but I don't think ±100 - 120GB per month is anything near excessive on a 4mb line. To be treated the same as people running torrents 24/7 - in part exactly because some choose to run torrents 24/7 - does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy. I'd even border on saying I feel a wee bit betrayed; not to descend into self-congratulatory horn-blowing here, but you've got upwards of a dozen clients from my close circles thanks to my advice and assistance, many with multiple accounts. The majority would be nett earners for you: pension-drawing aunts, uncles and parents puttering about on their 1mb uncapped accounts; mum-in-law using a few hundred MB per month on her 5 gig Mifi... I try to send business your way because I hold the company in high regard; it'd be much easier to just up-and-leave from a provider I don't respect.

Given the situation, and your position, you're going to have to deal with a bit of venting. Especially when indicators are that the situation is going backwards instead of progressing.
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Hey, no need dragging Miley and her ball into this.

That said, I thought this post was a fair summary. Luckily we've had a lot of feedback from the AfriManGuyGirl, but it all comes down to having to make a decision with regards to the service you're getting and what you're paying for it. It has definitely gotten worse for me, instead of better. Not that I would jump ship today or tomorrow, but I need to start weighing up options. Spending more or spending less. With AH or not with AH.
 
HapticSimian said:
It's less about you not being upfront, and more about the whole affair just a bit of a see-saw, ya'know? I remember not 3 weeks ago thinking how quiet this thread had become; obviously a sign of how smooth things had been running for just about everyone. And then, with no prior warning, it's as if the past... I dunno.... year's worth of hiccups arrive at once. And yes, I know, first('ish) world problems and all that, worrying 'bout the quality of one's internet connection.

There are layers to this annoyance though. I understand what you're saying in terms of wanting a fair system, and not shaping real-time services at all. However when I'm wanting to download, say, a driver or a Linux distro... a real Linux distro... I'm a whole lot more interested in doing that at a reasonable rate than I am in watching Miley Cyrus swingin' around in the buff on a wrecking ball in 1080p. My opinion is that your stance, of shaping everything into the ground in order to protect real-time services, breaks down when non-real-time becomes utterly unusable. I'd rather see Youtube limited to 480p with the odd download not coming down at a comical rate - and before proffering turbocharge, they'd be depleted by now had I used them.

I'm annoyed to have my service rendered near-useless, taking into account that I am very much not a heavy data user. Heavier than some here, sure, but I don't think ±100 - 120GB per month is anything near excessive on a 4mb line. To be treated the same as people running torrents 24/7 - in part exactly because some choose to run torrents 24/7 - does not leave me feeling warm and fuzzy. I'd even border on saying I feel a wee bit betrayed; not to descend into self-congratulatory horn-blowing here, but you've got upwards of a dozen clients from my close circles thanks to my advice and assistance, many with multiple accounts. The majority would be nett earners for you: pension-drawing aunts, uncles and parents puttering about on their 1mb uncapped accounts; mum-in-law using a few hundred MB per month on her 5 gig Mifi... I try to send business your way because I hold the company in high regard; it'd be much easier to just up-and-leave from a provider I don't respect.

Given the situation, and your position, you're going to have to deal with a bit of venting. Especially when indicators are that the situation is going backwards instead of progressing.
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I'm not at all opposed to venting, and by all means do so - I think you've got every right to express if you feel you're not getting what you're paying for.

My only contention would be that we really believe that we have a fair system and that it works on the most balanced view of what would best serve most clients. At the end of the day, we're in a forum where people possibly are more concerned with downloads than average users, for whom not getting real time services when they want or need it is a major concern. They like convenience of uncapped but don't really use bandwidth for anything other than realtime. A slow download here and there doesn't really concern them as much as getting their mail and being able to browse a website in a reasonable time. Some people may want to download 24/7 and never open their browsers except to use torrent magnets.

However we cater for other needs by offering products like Capped and Business DSL. If you really want full control over your product and want to determine your own experience, then there is an option. And if shaping is just an occasional irritation, you do also have 5 free Turbocharge sessions, and the ability to top up at a very cheap rate.
 
In the same situation. Shaping Policy: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P. Torrents downloading at 30 kB/s. Vagrant boxes coming down at maybe double that if I'm lucky. I average about 65 GB a month, but because of 3 vagrant boxes projection for the month sitting at 106.92 GB. I'd sh*t myself if I used that much. I used to average 300-750 kB's torrenting or direct downloading till this weekend. It's now been 30 kB/s for three days non stop. And can't get a direct answer from anybody, just get told that shaping will ease tonight. I don't work between 12 - 7.
 
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So shaping being applied...okay.

Trying to watch recorded twitch matches...getting a whopping average of 70kB/s on my 4mb line.

Try youtube...perfect 720p average over 300kB.

I've said it before and will say it again. Your handling of twitch data is broken.

Has a request to look at this been logged? On your capped account it works hundreds, telling me that your uncaped system is broken on twitch data handling.
 
ajc said:
I tried TurboCharge for the first time last night and was distinctly unimpressed... Nothing happened for 15 minutes (even rebooted my router in desperation), after which my downloads jumped up from 5kbps to an eye-watering 35kbps for 30 minutes. After that, nadda... I'm being shaped/throttled to hell and back.

Right now, the beta Clientzone shows my projected usage at 100GB for the month; easily more than double what I would usually do. Am clearly paying for the - in hindsight - rash decision to download the BF4 beta in the early hours of the 1st...

:cry:
Click to expand...

It depends on whether shaping was solely responsible for your slow speeds. If you also have congestion on your exchange at the time. One of our competitors estimated that 25% of exchanges could be congested (assuming they have data to back this up). That means 1 in 4 clients is experiencing congestion at some time or another :(
 
And if using TurboCharge only takes me back to my original speeds, then it feels a bit like a money making ploy.
 
Brenton said:
I used to average 300-750 kB's torrenting or direct downloading till this weekend. It's now been 30 kB/s for three days non stop. And can't get a direct answer from anybody, just get told that shaping will ease tonight. I don't work between 12 - 7.
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And the culprit is torrents, banging dloads 24/7 is straining the network. I dload via the services of Rs or Rg only after hours and it's us who feel the pinch 'cos of the torrenters :mad:. However moving over to a business account has alleviated that situation :D
 
Orihalcon said:
So shaping being applied...okay.

Trying to watch recorded twitch matches...getting a whopping average of 70kB/s on my 4mb line.

Try youtube...perfect 720p average over 300kB.

I've said it before and will say it again. Your handling of twitch data is broken.

Has a request to look at this been logged? On your capped account it works hundreds, telling me that your uncaped system is broken on twitch data handling.
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Did you PM me with the links you're watching so I can test? If you did apologies. Otherwise please do :(
 
I average about 60GB a month. When I joined I asked about this and was told, and I quote:
1. The account is not managed up to 320GB so even 10x the 31GB (this used to be my monthly average) would be fine :)
2. (was about my phone line.
3. Back to the 320GB you can download anything you like and you will not be managed until that point. Max management is down to 2mbps should you cross the 320GB in rolling 30day period.
 
cryptic1 said:
And the culprit is torrents, banging dloads 24/7 is straining the network. I dload via the services of Rs or Rg only after hours and it's us who feel the pinch 'cos of the torrenters :mad:. However moving over to a business account has alleviated that situation :D
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Yes, torrents still account for about a quarter of our capacity (if not more). If we could get more people to torrent and download overnight, that would be a WIN-WIN for everyone. We could really max out our capacity (which we pay for 24/7) and usage could be more spread out and shaping more lenient.
 
Brenton said:
I average about 60GB a month. When I joined I asked about this and was told, and I quote:
1. The account is not managed up to 320GB so even 10x the 31GB (this used to be my monthly average) would be fine :)
2. (was about my phone line.
3. Back to the 320GB you can download anything you like and you will not be managed until that point. Max management is down to 2mbps should you cross the 320GB in rolling 30day period.
Click to expand...

This was probably related to our old shaping/throttling rules - which have changed since we upgraded our network. We don't use any rolling window thresholds anymore. Shaping is entirely based on demand vs capacity and is totally dynamic.
 
Very disappointed. I am not even shaped, and this is what I get on international speed tests.

4MB Line, this is average.

2328358914.png
 
Hi,

Why are newsgroup downloads crawling at 1-5 Kb/s on 4Mb uncapped? Is it only me? Literally none of my downloads have completed since Sunday's Breaking Bad finale.

Is it better for the Afrihost network if I use news.afrihost.co.za instead of international torrenting? My downloads are scheduled to run only between 10PM and 10AM, so I thought I was being a good citizen. :confused:

Thanks,
 
AfriMan said:
This was probably related to our old shaping/throttling rules - which have changed since we upgraded our network. We don't use any rolling window thresholds anymore. Shaping is entirely based on demand vs capacity and is totally dynamic.
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Be this as it may, I was still averaging between 300-700 kB/s downloads using torrent last week for a Ubuntu ISO. And this week I'm lucky if I get 30 kB/s. My monthly average is 60GB, highest I've ever been is 90GB, and this was because of Steam game downloads. Just because I decided to download 3 Vagrant boxes for VirtualBox early in the month my projection is sitting at 107.63 GB for the month and therefore get I hit with a Shaping Policy: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P?

And I joined at the time of the switch over to MTN, and the salesman never mentioned that there was going to be change in policy.

I've just tested on a MWeb account I get 280 kB/s compared to the 30 kB/s on a 10MB line through AfriHost.

Turbocharge just takes me back up to the speeds I had before.
 
AfriMan said:
It depends on whether shaping was solely responsible for your slow speeds. If you also have congestion on your exchange at the time. One of our competitors estimated that 25% of exchanges could be congested (assuming they have data to back this up). That means 1 in 4 clients is experiencing congestion at some time or another :(
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No: nothing to do with my exchange. Local browsing, e-mail, Youtube and Skype - none of which I use heavily - were - and are - all fine. It's purely the shaping/throttling you're applying to my account...
 
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