Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

[AfriGuy]

Afrihost editing their own DNS service to allow use of services like Netflix would be cool too.

That would be awesome, just not sure around the legalities of this.

 

[AfriGuy]

But you are making provision for UnoDNS (UnoTelly), right? Since it seems to be, by far, the most popular one in SA.

Not sure about UnoDNS, I know we do our best to provide the best service possible - just makes it hard to guarantee
Maybe you can share your experiences with envo?

 

[envo]

Sorry if you feel you've been lied to, definitely not the intention here.
I can promise you, realtime services are not shaped - you're more than welcome to double check our AUP on that

With the types of Netflix, Hulu and the likes - we cannot guarantee this to be unshaped all the time. This is because of the current country restrictions imposed on the service, making it very hard for us to cover every third party work around via DNS/ proxies or other methods. We have plenty clients who use Netflix and Hulu without any issues - maybe you can ask here for tips on getting this running smoothly.

I'm using unotelly with their DNS in Cape Town. This only hides my South African IP to Netflix and certainly doesn't route the stream differently.

To me, streaming is real-time. You just said real-time is 100% unshaped, now you're saying a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu (or even YouTube for that matter!) is actually shaped sometimes and you can't guarantee anything.

Why then advertise and keep repeating that your real-time services are unshaped??

 

[slvR]

I'm using unotelly with their DNS in Cape Town. This only hides my South African IP to Netflix and certainly doesn't route the stream differently.

To me, streaming is real-time. You just said real-time is 100% unshaped, now you're saying a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu (or even YouTube for that matter!) is actually shaped sometimes and you can't guarantee anything.

Why then advertise and keep repeating that your real-time services are unshaped??

Your unique circumstances don't speak for everyone. Some people could be using services other than Unotelly that DO route the stream differently. This is where the "We can't guarantee this because it's out of our hands" comes in.

 

[aybbleek]

I'm using unotelly with their DNS in Cape Town. This only hides my South African IP to Netflix and certainly doesn't route the stream differently.

To me, streaming is real-time. You just said real-time is 100% unshaped, now you're saying a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu (or even YouTube for that matter!) is actually shaped sometimes and you can't guarantee anything.

Why then advertise and keep repeating that your real-time services are unshaped??

I must say that my service has been absolutely rubbish the last 2 weeks, I am HEAVILY shaped on pretty much everything. If I wanted an after-hours ADSL account I would have gone elsewhere, I went to Afrihost because they WERE the best.

I'm on 4MB Uncapped.

frustrated

 

[AfriGuy]

I'm using unotelly with their DNS in Cape Town. This only hides my South African IP to Netflix and certainly doesn't route the stream differently.

To me, streaming is real-time. You just said real-time is 100% unshaped, now you're saying a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu (or even YouTube for that matter!) is actually shaped sometimes and you can't guarantee anything.

Why then advertise and keep repeating that your real-time services are unshaped??

Streaming is realtime, but please understand that some streams are more complicated than others. Not all video/ audio streaming works the same. Some are similar to YouTube, some are similar or based off a P2P model.

Again, Netflix has country restrictions so we cannot guarantee that the service will work 110% on our network - but we do try our best. I think a lot of our clients can stand up for this, as I said - quite a few members of MyBB have no issues with Netflix.

 

[AfriGuy]

I must say that my service has been absolutely rubbish the last 2 weeks, I am HEAVILY shaped on pretty much everything. If I wanted an after-hours ADSL account I would have gone elsewhere, I went to Afrihost because they WERE the best.

I'm on 4MB Uncapped.

frustrated

Really sorry about this Which area in SA are you in?
While shaping may be there, we don't touch realtime services - what's your browsing/ streaming etc services like?

 

[aybbleek]

Really sorry about this Which area in SA are you in?
While shaping may be there, we don't touch realtime services - what's your browsing/ streaming etc services like?

I'm in Port Elizabeth. Can't download when shaped to 18% / 6.25%, downloading ANYTHING times out or fails. Have to download at least 7 - 9 times before it will even start. Torrents are a waste of time, might as well use carrier pigeons. Streaming buffers non-stop, I use ANY other ADSL account and the service runs smoothly. Netflix buffers, Hulu buffers, both in SD. Even running 240p sport streams (which worked perfectly in December), buffers non-stop now.

I might as well go and get an Mweb Big Black Box + 56K Dial-Up modem, I would actually have better speeds.

And yes I have checked my line, everything is perfect and am syncing at 8mbps. Just fix your ridiculous shaping. You've seen enough rants on this thread to know its BS!

 

[AfriMan]

Hi AfriMan, so I just did the request to change to a 2mb business account. It says it's active, but I presume it will only be active from the 1st of February? My speeds haven't changed so I think it hasn't kicked in. Capped account still showing full speed.

It will kick in by latest midnight tonight - drop me a PM if it hasn't

 

[hayted]

When is that IPC being done in Port Elizabeth again?

 

[GreatD7007]

When is that IPC being done in Port Elizabeth again?

I don't think there is a ETA set. That accounts for all regions I think

 

[envo]

I'm in Port Elizabeth. Can't download when shaped to 18% / 6.25%, downloading ANYTHING times out or fails. Have to download at least 7 - 9 times before it will even start. Torrents are a waste of time, might as well use carrier pigeons. Streaming buffers non-stop, I use ANY other ADSL account and the service runs smoothly. Netflix buffers, Hulu buffers, both in SD. Even running 240p sport streams (which worked perfectly in December), buffers non-stop now.

I might as well go and get an Mweb Big Black Box + 56K Dial-Up modem, I would actually have better speeds.

And yes I have checked my line, everything is perfect and am syncing at 8mbps. Just fix your ridiculous shaping. You've seen enough rants on this thread to know its BS!

^ this. Exactly this. If it happened all the time I would be "mmm ok, this service is not for me", but it only started happening over the last 2 weeks or so. Previously I could stream perfectly. In fact, I could even have a download running in the background AND stream without it buffering and I thought "Woa, Afrihost IS amazing" (I'm a previous MWEB customer)

But now.. Eish. (I'm in Gauteng BTW)

 

[AfriGuy]

I'm in Port Elizabeth. Can't download when shaped to 18% / 6.25%, downloading ANYTHING times out or fails. Have to download at least 7 - 9 times before it will even start. Torrents are a waste of time, might as well use carrier pigeons. Streaming buffers non-stop, I use ANY other ADSL account and the service runs smoothly. Netflix buffers, Hulu buffers, both in SD. Even running 240p sport streams (which worked perfectly in December), buffers non-stop now.

I might as well go and get an Mweb Big Black Box + 56K Dial-Up modem, I would actually have better speeds.

And yes I have checked my line, everything is perfect and am syncing at 8mbps. Just fix your ridiculous shaping. You've seen enough rants on this thread to know its BS!

I agree that shaping isn't ideal, we are making inroads to address most of the shaping concerns/ queries with our additional capacity which will hopefully be switched on soon. Is your browsing and streaming OK?

Remember you can enable a turbocharge should you need to download an urgent file.

 

[aybbleek]

I agree that shaping isn't ideal, we are making inroads to address most of the shaping concerns/ queries with our additional capacity which will hopefully be switched on soon. Is your browsing and streaming OK?

Remember you can enable a turbocharge should you need to download an urgent file.

I used all of my Turbocharges just to be able to use the internet. If you want to look at the definition of streaming from :

streaming adjective
computers : playing continuously as data is sent to a computer over the Internet

As per the Webster definition of streaming, no I do not have this as a service from Afrihost. I can browse Facebook fairly OK, but trust me I don't think I would have opted for an Afrihost Uncapped 4MB/s Facebook (works fairly) ADSL account for R597.00 PM. I might as well just use the free 1GB account.

^ this. Exactly this. If it happened all the time I would be "mmm ok, this service is not for me", but it only started happening over the last 2 weeks or so. Previously I could stream perfectly. In fact, I could even have a download running in the background AND stream without it buffering and I thought "Woa, Afrihost IS amazing" (I'm a previous MWEB customer)

But now.. Eish. (I'm in Gauteng BTW)

^I am also an ex Mweb customer and left them because of this crap.

 

[AfriGuy]

I used all of my Turbocharges just to be able to use the internet. If you want to look at the definition of streaming from :

streaming adjective
computers : playing continuously as data is sent to a computer over the Internet

As per the Webster definition of streaming, no I do not have this as a service from Afrihost. I can browse Facebook fairly OK, but trust me I don't think I would have opted for an Afrihost Uncapped 4MB/s Facebook (works fairly) ADSL account for R597.00 PM. I might as well just use the free 1GB account.



^I am also an ex Mweb customer and left them because of this crap.

If browsing and other realtime services (with the exception of Netflix, Hulu) are being affecting please send me a PM so we can have this looked into for you.

 

[GreatD7007]

I used all of my Turbocharges just to be able to use the internet. If you want to look at the definition of streaming from :

streaming adjective
computers : playing continuously as data is sent to a computer over the Internet

As per the Webster definition of streaming, no I do not have this as a service from Afrihost. I can browse Facebook fairly OK, but trust me I don't think I would have opted for an Afrihost Uncapped 4MB/s Facebook (works fairly) ADSL account for R597.00 PM. I might as well just use the free 1GB account.



^I am also an ex Mweb customer and left them because of this crap.

Mweb is much MUCH worse than Afrihost Can't even compare them both

 

[aybbleek]

I don't think you understand, you can't shape your clients to a stand still ALL day, what is the point of an uncapped account, please let me know?

Anyways, PM sent.

 

[Heksmeester]

AfriTeam,

Any known issues today on Uncapped? My 4mb Business account is downloading at 180kBps.

 

[GreatD7007]

I don't think you understand, you can't shape your clients to a stand still ALL day, what is the point of an uncapped account, please let me know?

Anyways, PM sent.

Fair enough. I'm also frustrated don't get me wrong. It will be sorted soon, just waiting for the upgrades from Telkom (Additional Capacity on all Regions IPC's)

 

[saa044]

Mweb is much MUCH worse than Afrihost Can't even compare them both

I disagree, can say any time I want to download a file I get 400KB/s plus and everything streams at full speed. I have access to a Mweb, Afrihost and Axxess account so can make a nice comparison.