Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

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Aharon said:
As am I - my finger is right now itching to hit the cancellation button - I note also the silence of the forum reps...
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We're still here :) Remember it was a public yesterday, but we do try and get to as many posts as possible.
 
AfriGuy said:
Are you still seeing slow HTTP downloads? Are you shaped at all?
I think YouTube vids may download a bit quicker as it'll probably download from the source - and may be cached too.
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I wasn't complaining, promise :-)
I was just curious to try other 'speedtest sites'. My http download was hitting maximum speed. So i was happy. :-)
 
Type RSA said:
Yep nowhere to be seen... I'm thinking there is something more to this slow speeds. Got lucky with the IOS7 downloads and just used that as an excuse.... Wonder what the real issue is here.
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It wasn't really an excuse, we put the facts out there :)
Our network is seeing higher demand than what we'd like - however this is being managed (as our network is supposed to) by shaping.
 
BaronZA said:
Can you tell us why the shaping is effecting people so bad all of a sudden?
I've had a good 9 months till now, similar usage every month. Previously my torrents got knocked down a bit, but never got effected with other things.
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We noticed a really high demand on our network last week with the iOS updates as well as general OS updates as well as the launch of GTA5.
Traffic patterns will change from month to month - and recently we've seen a much higher demand from clients on our network. I can promise you that our shaper and network is working as it should.

We'll keep a look out for your PM :)
 
AfriGuy said:
Our network is most certainly running fine though. It's doing what it's supposed to be doing - and shaping needs to happen to handle the demand. While shaping takes place, it protects the rest of our network to run realtime services on an unshaped level. The network needs to be managed (as we've always been doing) to ensure it gives the best overall experience.
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Bollocks, with all due respect, chaps.

What you've thus far failed to address is why we're seeing an end-user experience so dramatically different from what we've experienced for the past however many months it's been since you worked out the initial kinks with the MTN switch-over.

I habitually check ClientZone a few times a day, just to see how my experience measures against the network state you report. Without exaggerating I can't recall seeing any shaping more than a handful of times in what must be approaching a year... if not more. Now, if the sun's shining, I'm probably sitting on 18.8%/6.25% shaping.

It's pathetic.
 
AfriGuy said:
We noticed a really high demand on our network last week with the iOS updates as well as general OS updates as well as the launch of GTA5.
Traffic patterns will change from month to month - and recently we've seen a much higher demand from clients on our network. I can promise you that our shaper and network is working as it should.

We'll keep a look out for your PM :)
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So what you are saying is that your network cant cope with more acounts than what you have at this stage. Do you suggest I instead look elsewhere for an isp? Cause these instances of new OS releases and new games will be ongoing.
 
While I understand the need to shaping I do not agree with any shaping or throttling. At the moment UNCAPPED is marketing jargon... unfortunately it is not really uncapped. Sad truth.

That being said, Afrihost seems to have the best balance between price and service (with service being the main word here) and that is why I made Afrihost my choice.

Did my order for my Router with afrihost and now just waiting for it to arrive at my office as well as my line to be activated.

EXCITED
 
HapticSimian said:
Bollocks, with all due respect, chaps.

What you've thus far failed to address is why we're seeing an end-user experience so dramatically different from what we've experienced for the past however many months it's been since you worked out the initial kinks with the MTN switch-over.

I habitually check ClientZone a few times a day, just to see how my experience measures against the network state you report. Without exaggerating I can't recall seeing any shaping more than a handful of times in what must be approaching a year... if not more. Now, if the sun's shining, I'm probably sitting on 18.8%/6.25% shaping.

It's pathetic.
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Usage patterns do change though, along with the demand on our network.
We completely admit here that the demand is higher than what we'd like to see - however this is being managed as it's supposed to by shaping Home Uncapped accounts on non-essential protocols.
 
AfriGuy said:
Usage patterns do change though, along with the demand on our network.
We completely admit here that the demand is higher than what we'd like to see - however this is being managed as it's supposed to by shaping Home Uncapped accounts on non-essential protocols.
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Of course patterns change, but this has changed to the point where the product I currently have is materially different from the product I've grown accustomed to. Going from hardly seeing any shaping, ever, to guaranteed near-unusable daytime speeds overnight is not what I expect from an Afrihost service.
 
HapticSimian said:
Of course patterns change, but this has changed to the point where the product I currently have is materially different from the product I've grown accustomed to. Going from hardly seeing any shaping, ever, to guaranteed near-unusable daytime speeds overnight is not what I expect from an Afrihost service.
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I'm going to have to agree here, usage patterns do change but so should the service with it's demands so that older users do not suffer any changes in their regular service expectations.
 
Leatherman said:
So what you are saying is that your network cant cope with more acounts than what you have at this stage. Do you suggest I instead look elsewhere for an isp? Cause these instances of new OS releases and new games will be ongoing.
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Not at all, our network is coping.
We definitely don't believe that our network is over-subscribed at all.
 
thomascmyk said:
I'm going to have to agree here, usage patterns do change but so should the service with it's demands so that older users do not suffer any changes in their regular service expectations.
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Remember that our Home Uncapped accounts are subjected to shaping. We do this (and we're really open about how and when it happens as well as what level) to ensure that the rest of our network runs smoothly.
Who knows, maybe next month we'll see low amounts of traffic and shaping will hardly be implemented. It's all up to the demand on our network and any current time.
 
AfriGuy said:
Remember that our Home Uncapped accounts are subjected to shaping. We do this (and we're really open about how and when it happens as well as what level) to ensure that the rest of our network runs smoothly.
Who knows, maybe next month we'll see low amounts of traffic and shaping will hardly be implemented. It's all up to the demand on our network and any current time.
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Please stop patronising me with generic, canned responses.

I know full-well what the account is and is not subjected to; I'm not arguing that. What I'm saying is that there has been a sudden, dramatic change in the level of shaping supposedly needed to maintain your network's stability. This does not make any sense.

Perhaps next month will see low usage, or perhaps you'll suddenly start shaping the bejeezus out of your business account users outside of office hours. Who knows indeed... perhaps we'll all need home and business uncapped accounts if we want to maintain some semblance of 'round-the-clock usability.
 
I personally could not care less if you shape torrent to within an inch of existence between 8 and 5 each day...or even HTTP downloads when used to dl non work related content...

However when the shaping is affecting Steam and Origin downloads and gaming pings as we have been seeing then it's a different story and the impact is MUCH worse than merely waiting a few extra days for a download to finish.
 
HapticSimian said:
Please stop patronising me with generic, canned responses.

I know full-well what the account is and is not subjected to; I'm not arguing that. What I'm saying is that there has been a sudden, dramatic change in the level of shaping supposedly needed to maintain your network's stability. This does not make any sense.

Perhaps next month will see low usage, or perhaps you'll suddenly start shaping the bejeezus out of your business account users outside of office hours. Who knows indeed... perhaps we'll all need home and business uncapped accounts if we want to maintain some semblance of 'round-the-clock usability.
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What exactly is your gripe with the current shaping policy being applied...?

If it is because torrents are downloading slowly during the day then well...I feel bad for you son...(not really :p)

However if it is because your streaming, Steam, Origin or gaming is affected then yes I will agree with your argument.
 
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Orihalcon said:
What exactly is your grip with the current shaping policy being applied...?

If it is because torrents are downloading slowly during the day then well...I feel bad for you son...(not really :p)

However if it is because your streaming, Steam, Origin or gaming is affected then yes I will agree with your argument.
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****, don't think I've downloaded 10 things via torrent in the last year...

My grip(e) has been fairly clearly expressed, I think. I get antsy when an Nvidia driver takes ****ing hours to download, when it would never have at any point in this account's past existence.
 
I am also shaped currently Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P, but normal HTTP speed is over 4mbps. Remember last week over a 100 newshost people made the move from Mweb to Afrihost according to their forums. Look at it how you want, its a crapload of 4mbps clients extra.
 
HapticSimian said:
Please stop patronising me with generic, canned responses.

I know full-well what the account is and is not subjected to; I'm not arguing that. What I'm saying is that there has been a sudden, dramatic change in the level of shaping supposedly needed to maintain your network's stability. This does not make any sense.

Perhaps next month will see low usage, or perhaps you'll suddenly start shaping the bejeezus out of your business account users outside of office hours. Who knows indeed... perhaps we'll all need home and business uncapped accounts if we want to maintain some semblance of 'round-the-clock usability.
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Sorry if my responses are frustrating you, I'm doing my best to get the info out there. They definitely ain't canned though :)
The reason we're seeing more shaping is because, as we've mentioned, the demand on our network has become higher. While the demand is indeed higher, our IPC limits are not being reached but shaping is needed to ensure realtime services are not affected. If we didn't shape we'd probably run into congestion and the overall experience would become really poor, across the board.
 
Orihalcon said:
I personally could not care less if you shape torrent to within an inch of existence between 8 and 5 each day...or even HTTP downloads when used to dl non work related content...

However when the shaping is affecting Steam and Origin downloads and gaming pings as we have been seeing then it's a different story and the impact is MUCH worse than merely waiting a few extra days for a download to finish.
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While I can get it's frustrating, we have to shape HTTP and Game downloads :( The actual in-game traffic shouldn't be affected though :)
 
Just on a side note too, it's best to schedule all/ the bigger downloads for after hours to get the best possible peak hour experience. I personally do this, have torrents, NNTP and my HTTP downloads scheduled from 11pm to 8pm. On a 6Mbps line they run along quite nicely and 99% of the time the stuff I've scheduled is all done by the time I haul myself outta bed in the mornings :)
 
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