Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

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excerpt from a PM i just sent afriguy
23h30 3/10 to 00h30 4/10
milnerton, cape town

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it seems as if the problem is most definitely with the afrihost 10mb uncapped account!

please help!

when i woke up this morning and tested (07h00), all was as it should be - getting 7mb down on speedtest and youtube was streaming at 6.5mb+.

i joined afrihost at the start of the month and this is the first time youtube has streamed properly. i trust this means that whatever problem there was has now been fixed :)
 
No shaping so far...I'm afraid to hope that it stays this way.

The last week has seen mornings start this way, but there's no reason to think it'll remain. Nor does it need to. I'm not paying for a 24/7 unshaped product; I'd just like it to remain borderline usable during waking hours.
 
And guess what, it failed. I see this morning there is no shaping:) but who knows how long it will last. I suspect the download failed last night when the shaping was lifted as a similar fail has happened when I tried to turbo yesterday. Desperately trying to get this download before the shaping kicks in again.

Started it again and flying along :) then Eskom decided to "aggressively shape" my electricity for a bit. I must have been very bad as a child because I am certainly being punished for it now:(
Anyway, started again and still going flat out with no shaping - way to go AH :)
 
I again had trouble on youtube this morning. The android app. Wasn't playing on HD, switched that off, but still buffered every couple of seconds. Quite irritating.

On the plus side, no shaping yet on this side.
 
No shaping for me either :) pity I'm at work and cant enjoy my unshaped awesomeness!

Also just found out we are running tests here (at work) on an afrihost account :)
 
Answers?

So this morning I woke up to no shaping. There are a few unanswered questions that could maybe be addressed by AfriHost personnel active on this forum:

  1. What was the cause of the heavy shaping? A week of no answers does not fill me with confidence.
  2. Why was there no updates or even an indication of a problem on the AfriHost web site? This is the first place people will look for answers. Having to hunt on social media and third party sites for answers is just sloppy communication.
  3. This is the big one for me - what constitutes heavy use under the new policies? When I joined I was told 350 GB a month was fine. Now it seems that anything over 50 GB on a 10 MB uncapped line will turn your connection into 2400 bps US Robotics modem. I almost anticipated the screech.

An informed client is a lot more likely to be tolerant. Right now I'm approaching downloads like a rabid dog.

Update: When my Shaping Policy was: 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P. I got download speeds on the speed test here of over 7200 kbps and my real time services were smooth and quick. Now that my Shaping Policy is set to No Shaping Applied my download speeds on the speed test here are sub 2500 kbps and real time services suck.
 
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And I would add:

4. If the network is overloaded so quickly, what is the real network capacity and how do we know this won't keep happening? With some actual numbers, not an MWeb-type response, pleaaaase.
 
So this morning I woke up to no shaping. There are a few unanswered questions that could maybe be addressed by AfriHost personnel active on this forum:

  1. What was the cause of the heavy shaping? A week of no answers does not fill me with confidence.
  2. Why was there no updates or even an indication of a problem on the AfriHost web site? This is the first place people will look for answers. Having to hunt on social media and third party sites for answers is just sloppy communication.
  3. This is the big one for me - what constitutes heavy use under the new policies? When I joined I was told 350 GB a month was fine. Now it seems that anything over 50 GB on a 10 MB uncapped line will turn your connection into 2400 bps US Robotics modem. I almost anticipated the screech.

An informed client is a lot more likely to be tolerant. Right now I'm approaching downloads like a rabid dog.

  1. Two weeks...
  2. You'll be told that there is/was abnormal demand, which their systems handled as designed. There wasn't anything 'wrong'.
  3. Whether you've downloaded 100MB on a 10mb line, or 100GB on a 1mb line, your download and P2P rate will be shaped into the ground if keeping everything else unshaped for everyone else demands it. It's the privilege of having a home uncapped account.
 
  1. This is the big one for me - what constitutes heavy use under the new policies? When I joined I was told 350 GB a month was fine. Now it seems that anything over 50 GB on a 10 MB uncapped line will turn your connection into 2400 bps US Robotics modem.

Afrihost dont shape according to a users useage, They shape according to network load. Or so we are told. EG you can download to your hearts content without being shaped as long as the overall AH network isnt busy / overloaded.

Haptic beat me to it ^^
 
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And I would add:

4. If the network is overloaded so quickly, what is the real network capacity and how do we know this won't keep happening? With some actual numbers, not an MWeb-type response, pleaaaase.

In-line with this question. would it be possible to have a realtime widget/meter on the afrihost website to show overall network load? I think that would make Uncapped users happier as they can actually see that there is some load on the network.
 
@AfriGuy: Sorry I didnt reply yesterday. The shaping continued to stay at 50/25 for the rest of the day. Wasnt awake long enough to see if it went down. This morning I am on no shaping at 9:00.
 
Afriman please lead out your inbox. Its full..

I am still shaped badly. 18.8% http and 6.25%. 5th day of 24/7 shaping...
Im not one of the lucky ones whose shaping is now gone.

Any update as to what's causing the excessive demand on the afrihost network?
 
Afriman please lead out your inbox. Its full..

I am still shaped badly. 18.8% http and 6.25%. 5th day of 24/7 shaping...
Im not one of the lucky ones whose shaping is now gone.

Any update as to what's causing the excessive demand on the afrihost network?

Same here, what did we do to deserve such shaping?
 
Afrihost dont shape according to a users useage, They shape according to network load. Or so we are told. EG you can download to your hearts content without being shaped as long as the overall AH network isnt busy / overloaded.

Haptic beat me to it ^^

If this is the case then why are some people still being heavily shaped and others (like me) are not? And why are there different shaping policies being applied to different users at the same time? If they shape base on network load an not according to individual usage then surely the shaping should be uniform for all users on a given package?

Anybody else think that maybe the NSA has a hand in this?
 
If this is the case then why are some people still being heavily shaped and others (like me) are not? And why are there different shaping policies being applied to different users at the same time? If they shape base on network load an not according to individual usage then surely the shaping should be uniform for all users on a given package?
Because you have various levels of infrastructure interfacing on a national scale. If certain elements of the network in Cape Town are under strain it won't help anyone to shape people in Jo'burg heavily.

I don't know how precise their measure of control is, but that's the gist of it.

Anybody else think that maybe the NSA has a hand in this?
Personally I think Telkom's sabotaging everyone else. :D Their uncapped thread's the only one not overflowing with despair.
 
If this is the case then why are some people still being heavily shaped and others (like me) are not? And why are there different shaping policies being applied to different users at the same time? If they shape base on network load an not according to individual usage then surely the shaping should be uniform for all users on a given package?

Anybody else think that maybe the NSA has a hand in this?

Shaping is according to usage profile, not on individual totals. So for example, someone who used 2GB over 3 days will be less shaped than someone who used 2GB in 3 hours. We try to project the usage based on the usage pattern to determine which users being shaped will have the biggest effect on demand, so that we can shape the least amount of users possible at all times.
 
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