Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

[nihilist]

Afriman, what sort of speeds should I be getting during the day on an FTP or HTTP download on my AH Uncapped Home 4Mbit account?

Currently getting 70-90 from debian.org

So I figured Debian's servers may be slow, so I started downloading the ISO from a South African mirror, but also at 70-90kb/s - but when it starts, the Debian download drops from it's former speed to 50kb/s, if I pause the second download, the Debian one goes back up.

It's almost as though I'm being shaped to 100kb/s max.

is HTTP/FTP shaped that much during the day?

 

[AfriMan]

Why not just shape IOS downloads instead of everyone else?

It's a major change to the system to search every packet for iOS-ness, and we'd also have to essentially change our AUP to do this. I'm not sure whether this is entirely and iOS issue but we do this it's a contributing factor.

We're looking at all possibilities but we'd rather be sure (and open) about what the issue is and how we'll resolve it in the end

 

[nihilist]

Is this normal ?

Tracing route to www.afrihost.co.za [197.242.144.102]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1192 ms 1253 ms 1277 ms 105-236-4-1-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za [105.236.4.
1]

High pings on your second hop can indicate:
- Some other devices on your network are using bandwidth.
- Dropbox/some other uploading is going on
- Line issues (check your sync/noise/attenuation POTS filter etc)
- Bad router - try restarting (Had this with a DGN2200Mv2 from Telkom which would occur after it being up for a day or two or from just a bit of light torrenting)
- The dreaded evil Exchange Congestion™

I usually get 9ms on my second hop and 20-23ms to Afrihost.com from where I am in KZn behind a pretty old exchange with vintage copper cabling.

 

[Spamhater]

You need to remember that our shaping doesn't look at account specific usage but rather the overall load on our network at any given time. At the moment the demand is a bit higher so we need to shape non-essential traffic to make sure the realtime services are not affected

Afriguy
Thank you for your reply , I was just shocked that I was shaped at such a low usage than normally I use to download per month

 

[nihilist]

It's a major change to the system to search every packet for iOS-ness, and we'd also have to essentially change our AUP to do this. I'm not sure whether this is entirely and iOS issue but we do this it's a contributing factor.

We're looking at all possibilities but we'd rather be sure (and open) about what the issue is and how we'll resolve it in the end

If I may make a suggestion.

Please shape torrents, usenet MORE and HTTP, FTP, Youtube, IOS, etc etc less! I love my AH mostly already, http surfing is really, really fast for the most part! Youtube is still kind of iffy, even 360p. I don't know what kind of traffic goes through your network or makes up the bulk of it but please slow down the non-essnetial stuff - I really want fast Steam, youtube, surfing, HTTP and FTP downloads

I think the majority here would agree.

 

[HapticSimian]

It's a major change to the system to search every packet for iOS-ness, and we'd also have to essentially change our AUP to do this. I'm not sure whether this is entirely and iOS issue but we do this it's a contributing factor.

It doesn't help perceptions that, until last week Friday, it did indeed seem that your systems managed available resources incredibly well. It's exactly because the experience now is so far removed from past trends that some of us are having a bit of a whine. Does Afrihost actually view the current state as an issue at all though?

We're looking at all possibilities but we'd rather be sure (and open) about what the issue is and how we'll resolve it in the end

I'd love to see an overlay of your total throughput on the JINX graphs...

 

[bumbledore]

Afriman, what sort of speeds should I be getting during the day on an FTP or HTTP download on my AH Uncapped Home 4Mbit account?

Currently getting 70-90 from debian.org

is HTTP/FTP shaped that much during the day?

I wasn't sure until a few days ago, but yes, they shape you into the ground during the day.

Currently downloading at ~200KB/s from debian.org on a 10mbps line. Clientzone says I'm not throttled / shaped / whatever they're calling it these days (semantics).

Can stream youtube at 990KB/s.

Seems Netflix and Hulu are also being shaped dramatically, to ~200KB/s.

An alternative download from a file-sharing site (uploaded.net) is also being throttled / shaped / whatever they're calling it these days (semantics) to ~200KB/s.

Recently jumped ship from MWEB to Afrihost to give them another chance, but frankly this is pathetic. Must be a lot of people downloading from PSN or Apple servers right now.

 

[MentalPONY]

I tested again and now I get 15 15 15 on 2nd hop, it comes and goes at random intervals it seems, my ping in WoW has been 1000ms all afternoon now. Looks like i'll have to open another ticket for my line, the last time I opened a ticket was in April and 2 weeks ago I got an SMS which stated that my ticket has been closed, the support consultant said Telkom would phone me , it's been 5 months.

 

[nihilist]

I wasn't sure until a few days ago, but yes, they shape you into the ground during the day.

Currently downloading at ~200KB/s from debian.org on a 10mbps line. Clientzone says I'm not throttled / shaped / whatever they're calling it these days (semantics).

I don't think the Clientzone ever shows shaped/throttling anymore, afaik that was dropped after they moved to MTN, I may be wrong. Nothing on the Clientzone indicates such, at least.

However it's 5:30pm so if the daytime shaping is in place, surely that should be lifted at 5pm?

I don't get why HTTP would be shaped, if at all.

My suggestion would be, shape protocols on a usage basis, ie: if you do 500GB a month on 4Mbit via http, then reduce http for that user, not his entire connection. So if you are going nuts on p2p, shape p2p ONLY for that user. I think that makes the most sense IMHO.

 

[bumbledore]

My suggestion would be, shape protocols on a usage basis, ie: if you do 500GB a month on 4Mbit via http, then reduce http for that user, not his entire connection. So if you are going nuts on p2p, shape p2p ONLY for that user. I think that makes the most sense IMHO.

Or alternatively, they could charge less for a second rate service. Reduce profit margins by 25% and increase service delivery similarly.

 

[nihilist]

I tested again and now I get 15 15 15 on 2nd hop, it comes and goes at random intervals it seems, my ping in WoW has been 1000ms all afternoon now. Looks like i'll have to open another ticket for my line, the last time I opened a ticket was in April and 2 weeks ago I got an SMS which stated that my ticket has been closed, the support consultant said Telkom would phone me , it's been 5 months.

Good way to test is to unplug ALL your PCs except one, run TCP View (if on Windows) and confirm nothing is hogging bandwidth (close everything) and then leave a ping overnight / during the day and see what the results are.

 

[HapticSimian]

I don't think the Clientzone ever shows shaped/throttling anymore, afaik that was dropped after they moved to MTN, I may be wrong. Nothing on the Clientzone indicates such, at least.
...

The new ClientZone most assuredly does. I'd upload a screenshot for you, but I don't have an hour...

...
My suggestion would be, shape protocols on a usage basis, ie: if you do 500GB a month on 4Mbit via http, then reduce http for that user, not his entire connection. So if you are going nuts on p2p, shape p2p ONLY for that user. I think that makes the most sense IMHO.

Nah. Everything's been dandy up until last week. My suggestion would be to just get back to that...

 

[nihilist]

MentalPONY - send TelkomZA a PM with your line issues, he's a legend at getting stuff sorted

 

[nihilist]

The new ClientZone most assuredly does. I'd upload a screenshot for you, but I don't have an hour...

Oh? that new Flash type ClientZone? I haven't used it, it's really an eyesore since I have photophobia and doesn't work on my Stylish FF dark theme thing - I hope that's not going to be the default Clientzone

 

[Type RSA]

Would this have any effect on the speeds we are getting??

There is a cable failure (started last week, I think Thursday). I think it was EASSy, but I am not sure (it is on the Durban to Amsterdam route, which I think is on EASSy).

The SAIX/IPNet guys have been getting more temporary capacity on other routes, and doing some routing changes. But, until:
-EASSy is fixed (I believe it should be fixed by today, but I am not 100% sure if is up yet)

Was taken from the Telkom ISP forum..

 

[OMB]

I don't think the Clientzone ever shows shaped/throttling anymore, afaik that was dropped after they moved to MTN, I may be wrong. Nothing on the Clientzone indicates such, at least.

However it's 5:30pm so if the daytime shaping is in place, surely that should be lifted at 5pm?

I don't get why HTTP would be shaped, if at all.

My suggestion would be, shape protocols on a usage basis, ie: if you do 500GB a month on 4Mbit via http, then reduce http for that user, not his entire connection. So if you are going nuts on p2p, shape p2p ONLY for that user. I think that makes the most sense IMHO.

just checked mine as my browsing has been bloody slow today

100% REALTIME
SPEED

Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

 

[nihilist]

Data Statistics
Data Used: 145.84 GB
Average Daily Usage: 5.83 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 175.01 GB

Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

WTF?!

 

[Type RSA]

Data Statistics
Data Used: 145.84 GB
Average Daily Usage: 5.83 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 175.01 GB

Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

WTF?!

Be lucky bra. I'm not even on 100GB yet and shaped like that too...

But worst of all. I feel like a chop now. Convinced my bud to move onto Afrihost and since day 1 with no usage at all he was down to 25% Download and 6.5% P2P.. Now that is an awesome first experience..

 

[Sinbad]

Shaping Policy: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P

175GB on a 10mb account.

WTF indeed.

 

[BaronZA]

iOS and GTAV have such a big take in this? Like really? 2 Steam sales I'm sure is a lot more download demand. And no lag in those times Just saying, you're having a hard time now, so something is up, shape my torrents, but not my whole line!

Also who uses iPhone 3G's(or the extended copies of that exact phone 4 and 5) anymore