Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

[HapticSimian]

Really sorry about - can totally understand your frustration. Do you have a Free GB account that you can use for banking so you can get your stuff done? Drop me a PM if there is something I can do to help

Managed it, finally, after having to extend my banking session 5 or 6 times. I should not be jumping through hoops just to get some banking done. Just fix your ****, dude.

Sorry to hear that - we really don't expect these demand issues to last as long as that. We're assured that a solution will be implemented very soon - we'll be giving confirmed deadlines as soon as we have them from our management,

'Next month' is 16 hours away... I fully expect these issues to last as long as that.

 

[AfriMan]

Looks like I am on a constant

Shaping Policy: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P

10Mbps Uncapped DSL Package, Usage for the month 17.6 GB.

I am so happy

Sorry that shaping has been so harsh. I see North is a little better this morning and we did unshape for a pretty long session last night.

 

[vangar316]

I wish that there was a 200gb bundle package.... That would be perfect for everyone

Agreed, like I said earlier. A 200Gb account at 4Mb/s with P2P and only P2P shaped at about R599 would be absolutely perfect.

 

[AfriMan]

Managed it, finally, after having to extend my banking session 5 or 6 times. I should not be jumping through hoops just to get some banking done. Just fix your ****, dude.



'Next month' is 16 hours away... I fully expect these issues to last as long as that.

If there was something that we could implement today, we would. There simply is no switch that can be flipped or setting that can be changed - believe me it would be done. As much as our clients are not getting the best service we can offer, we're also pretty bleak about what our clients are experiencing - I can promise you there are no Directors in leather armchairs smoking cigars saying "Who gives a crap?". All our Directors are pushing on MTN and Telkom to get a better result as quickly as possible, and they're not afraid of incurring any expense if there is a possibility of improving our client's experience even slightly.

 

[AfriMan]

Agreed, like I said earlier. A 200Gb account at 4Mb/s with P2P and only P2P shaped at about R599 would be absolutely perfect.

We do offer a 300GB capped bundle option. At the price, it's still an excellent offer

 

[HapticSimian]

If there was something that we could implement today, we would. There simply is no switch that can be flipped or setting that can be changed - believe me it would be done. As much as our clients are not getting the best service we can offer, we're also pretty bleak about what our clients are experiencing - I can promise you there are no Directors in leather armchairs smoking cigars saying "Who gives a crap?". All our Directors are pushing on MTN and Telkom to get a better result as quickly as possible, and they're not afraid of incurring any expense if there is a possibility of improving our client's experience even slightly.

Not to sound dismissive, but after the initial line of there being nothing wrong apart from a bit of extra demand, this has been the tune for more than a month. One would think we're still in the era of ox wagons and clippers at the rate this situation isn't improving.

 

[AfriMan]

What is bugging me is that i get shaped so quickly. Im basically paying the same amount for a 100gb capped account and can barely break 100gb without getting shaped...

A mate of mine who is on 2mb uncapped can on average download 150gb without getting shaped and he is also on afrihost uncapped.

It's applied according you usage pattern profiles. So it's more about the amount of time that bandwidth is consumed over, rather than the total. So someone who uses 100GB over 7 days will be more shaped than someone who used 100GB over 14 days - provided that they are fully logged in and moving data over that period of time.

 

[sparke]

It's applied according you usage pattern profiles. So it's more about the amount of time that bandwidth is consumed over, rather than the total. So someone who uses 100GB over 7 days will be more shaped than someone who used 100GB over 14 days - provided that they are fully logged in and moving data over that period of time.

Been waiting for a nice description on the sliding scale

 

[Gunner182]

Moved over to Afrihost two weeks ago, already shaped, 25% Download/ 6.5% P2P. WTH?? :wtf:

 

[AfriMan]

Not to sound dismissive, but after the initial line of there being nothing wrong apart from a bit of extra demand, this has been the tune for more than a month. One would think we're still in the era of ox wagons and clippers at the rate this situation isn't improving.

Having been through similar issues, I can assure that a six or eight week turnaround time for new capacity is unheard of from Telkom. When we previously ordered new capacity, it took them close to four months and they were almost a month late on some.

I don't want to say it will be fine tomorrow, or the next day, until we have some confirmed timelines. I can promise you we have the full weight of MTN behind us, so we're applying as much pressure as possible to ensure we get the fastest turnaround time to resolving the poor experience as quickly as possible. Our only option until then is to be as honest and accountable as we can, and do what we can to reassure our clients that we are doing everything possible that is within our power to provide the best experience we can right now.

 

[kissingmybbgoodbye]

It's applied according you usage pattern profiles. So it's more about the amount of time that bandwidth is consumed over, rather than the total. So someone who uses 100GB over 7 days will be more shaped than someone who used 100GB over 14 days - provided that they are fully logged in and moving data over that period of time.

Really, why am i shaped like this then

Shaping Policy: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P

10Mbps Uncapped DSL Package, Usage for the month 17.6 GB

 

[AfriMan]

Sorry, my statement wasn't supposed to come across offensively I was just saying that I'm glad that I am getting what I pay for.

We know that many clients are feeling that they not getting their value - and that is definitely a concern for us. Our management are working to make sure we improve our client's experience on all products (in all regions) as quickly as possible

 

[HapticSimian]

Having been through similar issues, I can assure that a six or eight week turnaround time for new capacity is unheard of from Telkom. When we previously ordered new capacity, it took them close to four months and they were almost a month late on some.

I don't want to say it will be fine tomorrow, or the next day, until we have some confirmed timelines. I can promise you we have the full weight of MTN behind us, so we're applying as much pressure as possible to ensure we get the fastest turnaround time to resolving the poor experience as quickly as possible. Our only option until then is to be as honest and accountable as we can, and do what we can to reassure our clients that we are doing everything possible that is within our power to provide the best experience we can right now.

I understand the limitations of red tape and bureaucracy, but as a paying customer it feels as if Afrihost initially failed to recognise this as the unmitigated disaster it is, and has subsequently failed to implement steps to alleviate the situation.

I'm still of the opinion that your real-time-über-alles system utterly breaks down when strained to its limits. When there is enough capacity in reserve to maintain downloads at a reasonable rate it's just dandy, but having normal day-to-day downloads reduced to farcical speeds IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It doesn't matter with how much religious fervour you defend your setup, it is a goddamned joke at its upper limits. Fix it.

 

[Reaper1242]

Firstly - truly grateful that you are sticking it out and also have faith in us that we'll sort this out. Really do appreciate that

It sounds like you're not being unshaped when you should be, and we'll need to look into this. I don't know if this is a new anomaly, or if it just wasn't as important previously becuase shaping was less prevalent.

Drop me a PM so I can check your audit logs and see if you are not being unshaped as you should be

Thanks. I sent a support request to request someone check them. Easier for me to track.

This morning I changed over to my prepaid account that has 10gb built up. First time in over a month I've seen those speeds. Feels great but I also know it has to end and then I'm back at 5% of what I'm getting now. Sad panda

 

[AfriMan]

I understand the limitations of red tape and bureaucracy, but as a paying customer it feels as if Afrihost initially failed to recognise this as the unmitigated disaster it is, and has subsequently failed to implement steps to alleviate the situation.

I'm still of the opinion that your real-time-über-alles system utterly breaks down when strained to its limits. When there is enough capacity in reserve to maintain downloads at a reasonable rate it's just dandy, but having normal day-to-day downloads reduced to farcical speeds IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. It doesn't matter with how much religious fervour you defend your setup, it is a goddamned joke at its upper limits. Fix it.

Again, I'm not sure what you would have us fix. Should we change our policies and start throttling? Should we send out letters to our heaviest users and ask them to leave? Short of that - we've explored every option.

We had already done capacity planning for our growing network. When we saw that usage had not returned to normal levels after a few days after the release of iOS 7, we fast-tracked those plans and started to put pressure on our partners and Telkom to help us deal with the demand.

We were still hopeful that usage would settle, and it did but only marginally, and subsequent releases for games and OS have kept usage at peak pretty much consistently.

I don't believe that we slacked off, or were complacent - maybe a little more optimistic about how much improvement could be realised in the short term.

I can promise you that our management and team are the most motivated to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Our reputation, our brand and our livelihoods depend on providing the best possible experience and we would like to continue to not only grow - but to receive the accolades and recognition that we have.

If there was any possible "fix" that could be put in, we've either done it already, or scheduled it to be implemented at the first possible opportunity.

 

[AfriMan]

Thanks. I sent a support request to request someone check them. Easier for me to track.

This morning I changed over to my prepaid account that has 10gb built up. First time in over a month I've seen those speeds. Feels great but I also know it has to end and then I'm back at 5% of what I'm getting now. Sad panda

PM me, if you haven't already - let's see what can be done to help

 

[grim]

Sorry to hear that - we really don't expect these demand issues to last as long as that. We're assured that a solution will be implemented very soon - we'll be giving confirmed deadlines as soon as we have them from our management,

If the solution doesn't include increased IPC capacity the user experience will remain sub-par, you simply don't have enough capacity to deal with all your users any more and slowing downloads down to a crawl is making the issue worse as users now have to run their lines 24/7 to download something instead of the download completing in a few minutes and freeing up that capacity again for other users.

Also this whole thing of blanket shaping punishes everyone for the few high-end users abusing the network.

 

[AfriMan]

Separate IPC's...separate regions unfortunately. I do feel for you JHB people...I do think that Afrihost will focus their plan to fix this problem up there first. So it might be small comfort, but there is that.

Our Eat region is running pretty smoothly, with some light shaping. The South is seeing a little more shaping, but the North is where we're seeing the highest demand.

We should be able to improve experience across the board once our planned changes come into effect soon

 

[HapticSimian]

Again, I'm not sure what you would have us fix. Should we change our policies and start throttling? Should we send out letters to our heaviest users and ask them to leave? Short of that - we've explored every option.

We had already done capacity planning for our growing network. When we saw that usage had not returned to normal levels after a few days after the release of iOS 7, we fast-tracked those plans and started to put pressure on our partners and Telkom to help us deal with the demand.

We were still hopeful that usage would settle, and it did but only marginally, and subsequent releases for games and OS have kept usage at peak pretty much consistently.

I don't believe that we slacked off, or were complacent - maybe a little more optimistic about how much improvement could be realised in the short term.

I can promise you that our management and team are the most motivated to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Our reputation, our brand and our livelihoods depend on providing the best possible experience and we would like to continue to not only grow - but to receive the accolades and recognition that we have.

If there was any possible "fix" that could be put in, we've either done it already, or scheduled it to be implemented at the first possible opportunity.

You're getting paid the big bucks; just do whatever the hell you need to do to see to it that available capacity is distributed more equitably. If there is overhead room for 1080p Youtube streams, there is overhead room to ensure that a 140mb driver does not need 8 hours to download.

You might be totally enamoured with your smart automatic shaping system, but when it leads to situations where small but necessary downloads simply can't be done, or where people who have moved less than 20GB of data on 10mb lines get shaped into the ground, it clearly isn't as ****ing clever as you've collectively convinced yourselves it is.

 

[AfriMan]

You're getting paid the big bucks; just do whatever the hell you need to do to see to it that available capacity is distributed more equitably. If there is overhead room for 1080p Youtube streams, there is overhead room to ensure that a 140mb driver does not need 8 hours to download.

You might be totally enamoured with your smart automatic shaping system, but when it leads to situations where small but necessary downloads simply can't be done, or where people who have moved less than 20GB of data on 10mb lines get shaped into the ground, it clearly isn't as ****ing clever as you've collectively convinced yourselves it is.

I think any system that is under strain is going to have anomalies in performance. So obvious solution is take away the strain - fix the cause, not the symptoms - but unfortunately that is not an option that is immediately available to us.

Again, I'm totally open to any suggestions that I can take forward to our management to help resolve or ease the issues. But I do have faith that we have the smartest and most experienced people working on this, and if they say that this is the best way forward - I will continue to trust in them.