Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

[Type RSA]

Firstly, I think it's always a good idea to limit your comments to your own experience. To speak on behalf of every single uncapped user is a bit of a stretch. We're still seeing many users (as in tens of thousands) getting normal service on their Uncapped, Business Uncapped and Capped accounts without hassles.

Secondly, what we're talking about is shaping, and nothing else. Yes, we regret that we have to shape as much as we've had to in the past few days, but we're still giving the entire network capacity over to our clients, and we're doing our best to manage their experience while there is high demand. What is it that we're not doing that you feel should be done? Should we be issuing letters or warnings? Should we start throttling? We're completely open to your suggestions here.

Lastly, remember that everything that was happening before Thursday is still happening. Exchanges are still congested, lines are still faulty. There can still be a multitude of issues contributing to a poor experience and we need to be methodical and ensure that we address each issue systematically to eliminate any possible causes.

But as I said, if you have some theories to offer about what's happening and how you think this should have been handled better, please let me know, I am always open to constructive feedback

Good reply thanks. Just wish I was one of the tens of thousands that could use my line

 

[hxc87x]

Lastly, remember that everything that was happening before Thursday is still happening.

What happened on Thursday?

 

[hawker]

I've been more than impressed with my Afrihost experience (and I only signed up about a week or two ago).

Thanks for all your work Afriman.

 

[vaaitjie]

I have not signed up with afrihost as yet, but i must agree here with afriman, they are always honest, even the sales guy told me that they will shape if there is a high demand. I was with mweb and now with Telkom, but will move to afrihost soon. Afrihost is the most honest ISP out there

 

[pouroverguy]

I will admit that I am a heavy user, but the whole month I have been shaped for around 13 - 16 hours, except weekends

 

[Type RSA]

Well what is considered to be a "heavy user". I use under 100GB a month. is that "heavy" for an uncapped account?

 

[HapticSimian]

Firstly, I think it's always a good idea to limit your comments to your own experience. To speak on behalf of every single uncapped user is a bit of a stretch. We're still seeing many users (as in tens of thousands) getting normal service on their Uncapped, Business Uncapped and Capped accounts without hassles.

Hey, I'm just going by what you said...

Shaping will still differ from user to user based on their usage patterns, though pretty much everyone on Uncapped could experience shaping at peak demand times like we're seeing at the moment.
...

... twice...

...we may shape everyone to the maximum extent possible to protect the network. But generally someone who's using bandwidth more aggressively would be shaped more aggressively.

But do inform me if I'm meant to read your statement as saying that (tens of) thousands of Jo'burg home uncapped users aren't seeing their speeds reduced to laughable levels.

Secondly, what we're talking about is shaping, and nothing else. Yes, we regret that we have to shape as much as we've had to in the past few days, but we're still giving the entire network capacity over to our clients, and we're doing our best to manage their experience while there is high demand. What is it that we're not doing that you feel should be done? Should we be issuing letters or warnings? Should we start throttling? We're completely open to your suggestions here.

How's about, for a start, you acknowledge that a substantial portion of your customer base is currently having an abysmal experience? I didn't just decide, on a whim, to use a 4mb home uncapped account from Afrihost. It was a decision reached after careful consideration of options, and one justified - up until recently - by however many months of consistent experience you've delivered. It was a decision also made, in part, because I honestly couldn't give a hoot that you might need to apportion some of my bandwidth to others at times. Take half, if you feel so inclined. You are however expecting me to be OK with getting less than 20%, and I find it baffling that you seem so nonplussed by my annoyance.

Lastly, remember that everything that was happening before Thursday is still happening. Exchanges are still congested, lines are still faulty. There can still be a multitude of issues contributing to a poor experience and we need to be methodical and ensure that we address each issue systematically to eliminate any possible causes.

My line's fine, as is my exchange, but thanks for your concern. I can send you some traceroutes if you'd like?

But as I said, if you have some theories to offer about what's happening and how you think this should have been handled better, please let me know, I am always open to constructive feedback

Here's some: drop the passive-aggressive attitude.

 

[kripstoe]

Shaping in full swing again?

Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P

 

[Orihalcon]

@Haptic

You are making an invalid assumption thinking that just because someone is shaped that they are having a bad experience because perhaps they don't download at all. Or don't need to download during the day. Many users might merely be using their internet for streaming etc and go to bed with the downloads running wake up with everything being done.

So the shaping effects different people in different ways.

In the last two weeks how has this shaping impacted you specifically?

 

[AfriMan]

Hey, I'm just going by what you said...


... twice...


But do inform me if I'm meant to read your statement as saying that (tens of) thousands of Jo'burg home uncapped users aren't seeing their speeds reduced to laughable levels.


How's about, for a start, you acknowledge that a substantial portion of your customer base is currently having an abysmal experience? I didn't just decide, on a whim, to use a 4mb home uncapped account from Afrihost. It was a decision reached after careful consideration of options, and one justified - up until recently - by however many months of consistent experience you've delivered. It was a decision also made, in part, because I honestly couldn't give a hoot that you might need to apportion some of my bandwidth to others at times. Take half, if you feel so inclined. You are however expecting me to be OK with getting less than 20%, and I find it baffling that you seem so nonplussed by my annoyance.


My line's fine, as is my exchange, but thanks for your concern. I can send you some traceroutes if you'd like?


Here's some: drop the passive-aggressive attitude.

What I read from what you've said here is that YOU are very unhappy with the situation, and I can understand that. So let's leave everyone else's experience out of it and talk about why you are are unhappy. I admit, the situation is not ideal, it's not anything we'd like to continue for an extended period (or even for a short period).

Are you saying we have dropped the ball and made a huge mistake somewhere? Then I need to clearly understand how you arrived at this conclusion. We've been open about what has been happening, we've confirmed what we're doing from our side to manage this. Again, what are we NOT doing, that you feel we should? I am really (honestly) asking for your opinion about where you think we've messed up and what you think should be done to resolve your unhappiness.

Again, we are only shaping torrents and downloads. This is not like throttling, it's shaping. It means that you've never lost the full use of your line at any point. Plus we give you turbocharge minutes to bypass shaping if you so choose, we give Free Capped accounts to be completely unshaped if you so choose. Is there more that we should be doing to give you a better experience?

 

[saa044]

What is your line speed?

4mbps

 

[HapticSimian]

@Haptic

You are making an invalid assumption thinking that just because someone is shaped that they are having a bad experience because perhaps they don't download at all. Or don't need to download during the day. Many users might merely be using their internet for streaming etc and go to bed with the downloads running wake up with everything being done.

So the shaping effects different people in different ways.

In the last two weeks how has this shaping impacted you specifically?

We've been 'round this mulberry bush before, and it hasn't been 2 weeks... it's been one. When it takes 2+ hours to grab a 130mb driver I'm bloody-well affected. And stream? Hah! I can just about get smooth streaming on 360p Youtube vids, so I guess the whole 100% real-time thing's also kinda out the window. But hey, at least I can use my 4mb ADSL for a Skype chat, so I guess I should be satisfied.

Again, I am measuring performance against what I've experienced since the initial MTN kinks were worked out. What my needs and usage patterns are, frankly, has bugger-all to do with anything. The simple fact is that those needs have been more than satisfied up until a week ago, when iOS7 was held as a perfectly reasonable explanation. But that explanation no longer holds, and the 'it'll get better'-line doesn't sound particularly convincing with Afrihost seemingly at a loss as to why everyone's eating their megabytes.

 

[Molotov]

So i'm downloading itunes at full speed (4mbps) but everything else is shaped to hell ?

Did i miss something ?

 

[Orihalcon]

We've been 'round this mulberry bush before, and it hasn't been 2 weeks... it's been one. When it takes 2+ hours to grab a 130mb driver I'm bloody-well affected. And stream? Hah! I can just about get smooth streaming on 360p Youtube vids, so I guess the whole 100% real-time thing's also kinda out the window. But hey, at least I can use my 4mb ADSL for a Skype chat, so I guess I should be satisfied.

Again, I am measuring performance against what I've experienced since the initial MTN kinks were worked out. What my needs and usage patterns are, frankly, has bugger-all to do with anything. The simple fact is that those needs have been more than satisfied up until a week ago, when iOS7 was held as a perfectly reasonable explanation. But that explanation no longer holds, and the 'it'll get better'-line doesn't sound particularly convincing with Afrihost seemingly at a loss as to why everyone's eating their megabytes.

You see, here is already a big difference. I can watch 720p perfectly fine and stream HQ without any hassle while shaping is applied on my account - also the 18.8% / 6.25%. So why would your shaping be any different than mine or anyone else's? It wouldn't. Which tells me something else is effecting at least your realtime experience.

And yes - the driver download thing certainly sucks.

I will believe that Afrihost is working on the problem and have been forthcoming with us as this has been my experience with them. Until proven to be false I can be patient. Besides my downloads run at max speed at night as well...yes...I even scheduled my drivers to download in the twilight hours.

The situation is not ideal, but it is a reality and while I can appreciate your ire regarding the current state...it certainly is not helping to resolve the situation.

 

[drukkie]

Does Afrihost know what scaling means? You can't buy a 2Gbit line and intend on servicing customers forever....
you grow....

YOU NEED TO BUY MORE BANDWIDTH...

I got openweb test account this morning...2Mb
Running torrents at 140 and news at 50....that's full line speed.

I don't buy the exchange/IOS/GTA thing anymore....

tata....

 

[HapticSimian]

What I read from what you've said here is that YOU are very unhappy with the situation, and I can understand that. So let's leave everyone else's experience out of it and talk about why you are are unhappy. I admit, the situation is not ideal, it's not anything we'd like to continue for an extended period (or even for a short period).

I would hope not.

Are you saying we have dropped the ball and made a huge mistake somewhere? Then I need to clearly understand how you arrived at this conclusion. We've been open about what has been happening, we've confirmed what we're doing from our side to manage this. Again, what are we NOT doing, that you feel we should? I am really (honestly) asking for your opinion about where you think we've messed up and what you think should be done to resolve your unhappiness.

I'm saying a sudden change from occasional 60-or-80% shaping to guaranteed 18.8% shaping during daytime deserves more than a 'meh'. A week isn't a spike, it's a trend, and one that I find very concerning.

Again, we are only shaping torrents and downloads. This is not like throttling, it's shaping. It means that you've never lost the full use of your line at any point. Plus we give you turbocharge minutes to bypass shaping if you so choose, we give Free Capped accounts to be completely unshaped if you so choose. Is there more that we should be doing to give you a better experience?

Just answer one question: is the goal to return service levels to pre-iOS7 quality? If yes, then I'll pretend it's 2004 again and I'll go watch some 240p clips of kittens and puppies for a bit. Your turbocharge minutes and free 1gig accounts don't impress me; I've not needed them in the past, and I'd rather you fix whatever's causing you to suggest them as a stop-gap now.

 

[Stochos]

We've been 'round this mulberry bush before, and it hasn't been 2 weeks... it's been one. When it takes 2+ hours to grab a 130mb driver I'm bloody-well affected. And stream? Hah! I can just about get smooth streaming on 360p Youtube vids, so I guess the whole 100% real-time thing's also kinda out the window. But hey, at least I can use my 4mb ADSL for a Skype chat, so I guess I should be satisfied.

Again, I am measuring performance against what I've experienced since the initial MTN kinks were worked out. What my needs and usage patterns are, frankly, has bugger-all to do with anything. The simple fact is that those needs have been more than satisfied up until a week ago, when iOS7 was held as a perfectly reasonable explanation. But that explanation no longer holds, and the 'it'll get better'-line doesn't sound particularly convincing with Afrihost seemingly at a loss as to why everyone's eating their megabytes.

+1

 

[HapticSimian]

You see, here is already a big difference. I can watch 720p perfectly fine and stream HQ without any hassle while shaping is applied on my account - also the 18.8% / 6.25%. So why would your shaping be any different than mine or anyone else's? It wouldn't. Which tells me something else is effecting at least your realtime experience.

As could I, up until today... which doesn't help my annoyance levels any. And yes, my line and exchange are fine, and no, I don't have any other devices running any other data streams on my network.

And yes - the driver download thing certainly sucks.

I will believe that Afrihost is working on the problem and have been forthcoming with us as this has been my experience with them. Until proven to be false I can be patient. Besides my downloads run at max speed at night as well...yes...I even scheduled my drivers to download in the twilight hours.

The situation is not ideal, but it is a reality and while I can appreciate your ire regarding the current state...it certainly is not helping to resolve the situation.

Have they genuinely acknowledged that they view the current state as a problem? If so, I've missed it... I've seen a lot of 'the network's just doing what it's meant to do' though. I find that concerning.

I'll be - and have been - vehement in my defence of Afrihost when the need arises; I've not got it in for anyone or anything. I'm just wholly unimpressed with the current state of affairs.

 

[Leatherman]

4mbps

Well then it is good enough in my opinion too. As I am also on 4mbps and will be happy with that.

 

[AfriMan]

I would hope not.


I'm saying a sudden change from occasional 60-or-80% shaping to guaranteed 18.8% shaping during daytime deserves more than a 'meh'. A week isn't a spike, it's a trend, and one that I find very concerning.


Just answer one question: is the goal to return service levels to pre-iOS7 quality? If yes, then I'll pretend it's 2004 again and I'll go watch some 240p clips of kittens and puppies for a bit. Your turbocharge minutes and free 1gig accounts don't impress me; I've not needed them in the past, and I'd rather you fix whatever's causing you to suggest them as a stop-gap now.

Obviously our intention is to run the best possible network and to have ample resources to do so. We've been in business for a long time, and collected pretty much all the honours an ISP can get, purely because we do put our clients first. Sometimes situations come along that can't be fixed (because nothing is broken) but need to be managed with diligence and patience. We can understand that you are not happy with that situation, if you assumed that we were, let me correct you - we're not! We don't like having to shape clients, we don't like hearing that anyone is unhappy with the service they receive (and pay for). The real question is "Are we delivering the very best service and experience that we can under the circumstances?" - and I sincerely believe that the answer is yes.

You may not see value in Turbocharge or Free GB accounts, but many clients do, and many of them use them extensively to have the best experience. We can only offer tools and options for you to determine what will suit your needs best.

Someone just posted this on Twitter:

"My ISP @Afrihost is amazing!First time in 2 months knowingly shaped via CP(25%DLs&15%P2P) So I used my free turbocharge and boom, FULLSPEED"

We know there is an issue, we are doing whatever we can to manage this and to deliver the best possible experience, and we do believe that many of our clients are receiving this.