Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

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Wow afrihost.. You are worse than MWEB.. I haven't been even trying to download much this month.. 20gb on a 4mb uncapped and I get this? I'm sorry, if this isn't better by next week I'm canceling with my double money back in my pocket.. 9 days of the worst internet I've ever had? Yes. Why was afrihost voted so good in the MyBroadband awards? You guys suck. Period. And this is coming from an MWEB person who was doing only 100gb a month and not even being shaped.


DATA USED
Data Statistics
Data Used: 21.34 GB
Average Daily Usage: 2.13 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 66.15 GB

100%
REALTIME
SPEED
Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
Latest IP Address:


That is so f****** sad. So disappointed. Worst ISP I have had to date..
 
Last edited:
AfriGuy said:
It's definitely working as it should :) While it is working, it's not an ideal situation though... if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

Then why all of the many reported issues with real-time services, whether this be youtube "not officially supported" netflix, gaming? Because I've experienced issues with ALL of these. 10mbps account in Centurion, most often shaped to 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P, and then when is says no shaping applied, I still have issues streaming.

I've been closely monitoring the Business Uncapped thread too in hopes of a temporary alternative, but even here the same complaints about real-time services exist.

I hardly post much at all, but read a lot, and all I've been reading has not given me any sense of comfort about resolution any time soon... now with all these latency issues, it feels like it's just gotten even worse. 3 weeks back when this issue began, reading certain rather vehement posts from some customers got me close to posting in defence of Afrihost, but thankfully I saved myself looking like a fool by doing that since I fully echo these vehement sentiments myself now 3 weeks later.

It really does feel like this is the new normal. Statements along the lines of "it should hopefully ease of later tonight" just give absolutely no sense of comfort. Yes, that shaping policy relaxes after midnight, but the real effect is not always realised. A few points have been made without (I suppose, understandably) much response... would it not be more fair if our expected service fees were similarly shaped? It seems at the very least, I am being shaped into being in line with a 1 mbps account; I took the 10 mbps so that I would not have to experience issues with real time services even if there was some network impact... so much for that "logic".

It would really be great if we got a solid answer (amounting to more than "wait and see" or "hope for the best" or "try again later") on what is materially being done to identify and resolve this ongoing heavy shaping issue, and now high latency spiking. A timeframe for resolution would be really nice... or at least proper operation of the higher costing alternative Business Uncapped for those that want to make the upgrade to avoid this current Home Uncapped grief. At this stage, the extra R400 is definitely not looking like worth it... especially when primarily just wanting to get streaming to work properly - a service that "should" be unaffected on both Home and Business Uncapped!

More than enough rambling and ranting from me for now... have already gone beyond my normal post quota here, and fear getting future posts shaped into the ground too...
 
after being internet-less all day... Thanks to helkom doing some unplanned maintenance in our area... I am now back up and running

I think my projected usage is about 50gig and I've got zippo shaping:whistle:


1meg line btw
 
oliverwww said:
Wow afrihost.. You are worse than MWEB.. I haven't been even trying to download much this month.. 20gb on a 4mb uncapped and I get this? I'm sorry, if this isn't better by next week I'm canceling with my double money back in my pocket.. 9 days of the worst internet I've ever had? Yes. Why was afrihost voted so good in the MyBroadband awards? You guys suck. Period. And this is coming from an MWEB person who was doing only 100gb a month and not even being shaped.




DATA USED
Data Statistics
Data Used: 21.34 GB
Average Daily Usage: 2.13 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 66.15 GB

100%
REALTIME
SPEED
Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
Latest IP Address:


That is so f****** sad. So disappointed. Worst ISP I have had to date..
Click to expand...

And you know I have had several problems with this shaping yet not one afrihost representative has helped..
 
HapticSimian said:
Yeah, you would say that... Yet it leads to the untenable situation of light uncapped users spending more than half their time shaped to oblivion.
Click to expand...

Our intention has always been to give our maximum capacity over to clients. For months now we've been shaping so little that many clients have come to expect to not be shaped, or shaped very little. The norm in the industry is heavy daytime shaping, regardless of capacity, and only unshaping at specific times. I think for some it's only after midnight. Or it's throttling. We've always given capacity back to clients whenever we could, and let everyone get the best benefit of the network, so that even the heaviest users can experience being unshaped as much as possible.

I sincerely believe that under the circumstances we are delivering the best experience possible. Rather than shed clients or throttling clients, we're sticking to our guns and putting our real time priority policies to the test, and so far I believe they are working - as in we feel that we are giving each client the best experience with the resources we can offer.

But I am totally open to suggestions on alternative shaping policies that could improve the overall experience for all clients.
 
AfriGuy said:
Shaping looks at the overall usage and projected usage. If you're in the higher usage group shaping may be a bit higher.
Click to expand...

I average 60-75 GB a month on a 10MB uncapped line, but happen to start this month with a few Vagrant box downloads which put me on a projection of 120 GB for the month after 2 days. This resulted in the shape of death being applied for the next 10 days of 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P. A test torrent had downloads of 16-24 kB/s. So, I try and use a product as it was sold to me, but &*%^ me right?

Reading this thread shows that there is an ongoing problem, with no clear answer being given. There is wild speculation over MWeb users flooding the network and AfriHost running out of capacity. As a technology company that can't say that the cause is X and as a result we intend doing Y and we will be able to tell our users the outcome by Z after what seems 3 weeks, this does not fill me with confidence.

Responses here from AfriHost representatives are vague and passive. The "status" is the same today as it was last week. Let's see, let's hope and maybe are not answers to a problem. They show that either AfriHost don't know what is going on, or that they really do have a serious problem with no solution in place.

And in all of this the AfriHost site states in green "network fully operational" when it clearly hasn't been for weeks now with no clear indication of when or if things will normalise.
 
oliverwww said:
Wow afrihost.. You are worse than MWEB.. I haven't been even trying to download much this month.. 20gb on a 4mb uncapped and I get this? I'm sorry, if this isn't better by next week I'm canceling with my double money back in my pocket.. 9 days of the worst internet I've ever had? Yes. Why was afrihost voted so good in the MyBroadband awards? You guys suck. Period. And this is coming from an MWEB person who was doing only 100gb a month and not even being shaped.


DATA USED
Data Statistics
Data Used: 21.34 GB
Average Daily Usage: 2.13 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 66.15 GB

100%
REALTIME
SPEED
Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
Latest IP Address:


That is so f****** sad. So disappointed. Worst ISP I have had to date..
Click to expand...

I'm really sorry that we've let you down here. I don't have a PM from you though, please send through your details onto me so I can have a look at where the slow speeds are coming in from.
 
Abzolute said:
Then why all of the many reported issues with real-time services, whether this be youtube "not officially supported" netflix, gaming? Because I've experienced issues with ALL of these. 10mbps account in Centurion, most often shaped to 12.5% Download/ 6.25% P2P, and then when is says no shaping applied, I still have issues streaming.

I've been closely monitoring the Business Uncapped thread too in hopes of a temporary alternative, but even here the same complaints about real-time services exist.

I hardly post much at all, but read a lot, and all I've been reading has not given me any sense of comfort about resolution any time soon... now with all these latency issues, it feels like it's just gotten even worse. 3 weeks back when this issue began, reading certain rather vehement posts from some customers got me close to posting in defence of Afrihost, but thankfully I saved myself looking like a fool by doing that since I fully echo these vehement sentiments myself now 3 weeks later.

It really does feel like this is the new normal. Statements along the lines of "it should hopefully ease of later tonight" just give absolutely no sense of comfort. Yes, that shaping policy relaxes after midnight, but the real effect is not always realised. A few points have been made without (I suppose, understandably) much response... would it not be more fair if our expected service fees were similarly shaped? It seems at the very least, I am being shaped into being in line with a 1 mbps account; I took the 10 mbps so that I would not have to experience issues with real time services even if there was some network impact... so much for that "logic".

It would really be great if we got a solid answer (amounting to more than "wait and see" or "hope for the best" or "try again later") on what is materially being done to identify and resolve this ongoing heavy shaping issue, and now high latency spiking. A timeframe for resolution would be really nice... or at least proper operation of the higher costing alternative Business Uncapped for those that want to make the upgrade to avoid this current Home Uncapped grief. At this stage, the extra R400 is definitely not looking like worth it... especially when primarily just wanting to get streaming to work properly - a service that "should" be unaffected on both Home and Business Uncapped!

More than enough rambling and ranting from me for now... have already gone beyond my normal post quota here, and fear getting future posts shaped into the ground too...
Click to expand...

If you're seeing issues on streaming and other realtime services we'll need to look at this issue itself, our shaper doesn't look at realtime services at all.
We did see latency spikes between last night and this morning which would affect streaming as it's heavily reliant on stable latency. These have been sorted out though and we're seeing latency normalise.
 
oliverwww said:
Wow afrihost.. You are worse than MWEB.. I haven't been even trying to download much this month.. 20gb on a 4mb uncapped and I get this? I'm sorry, if this isn't better by next week I'm canceling with my double money back in my pocket.. 9 days of the worst internet I've ever had? Yes. Why was afrihost voted so good in the MyBroadband awards? You guys suck. Period. And this is coming from an MWEB person who was doing only 100gb a month and not even being shaped.


DATA USED
Data Statistics
Data Used: 21.34 GB
Average Daily Usage: 2.13 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 66.15 GB

100%
REALTIME
SPEED
Account Overview
Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 18.8% Download/ 6.25% P2P
Latest IP Address:


That is so f****** sad. So disappointed. Worst ISP I have had to date..
Click to expand...

We're sorry you feel that way. We truly believe that our policies are delivering the best experience under the circumstances. Resources are limited, and we need to ensure that all clients get the best we can offer. While some may call for throttling, we don't believe it's the way. While it may solve one client's problem, it creates a dire situation for another client who's complete internet experience is diminished greatly. We are putting measures in place to resolve this, but for now we have to make the best of what the network can offer, and shaping is the best way we know how to prevent high contention, latency and good throughput on priority services.

If you've just joined us, you might not know that we bad been shaping very little for most of the year, and because our system is dynamic, we believe that our clients enjoyed much less shaping than they would have on the time based systems favoured by our competitors.
 
AfriGuy said:
If you're seeing issues on streaming and other realtime services we'll need to look at this issue itself, our shaper doesn't look at realtime services at all.
We did see latency spikes between last night and this morning which would affect streaming as it's heavily reliant on stable latency. These have been sorted out though and we're seeing latency normalise.
Click to expand...

Ok, then I'll PM you all the info I can when I get home later this evening to hopefully get to the bottom of this. Aside from a trace route, what kind of info would help?
 
Abzolute said:
Ok, then I'll PM you all the info I can when I get home later this evening to hopefully get to the bottom of this. Aside from a trace route, what kind of info would help?
Click to expand...

A traceroute and your ClientZone email address is all I'll need to check things out :)
 
AfriGuy said:
Downloading after hours is always recommended. It's when our network is the most quiet.
Click to expand...

Hi Afriman. Thanks, I can deduce it's recommended from a "using unused network capacity", but what I'm asking is does downloading at these times influence my shaping in a positive or negative way? Does that usage count towards my shaping calculation with the same weight as business hours downloads?

Now I'm scheming again. I wish I could draw some kind of advantage from downloading at that times, where it doesn't influence my Downloading shaping. It feels unfair that P2P usage at the hours where the network is not used to capacity (that word, capacity) should influence my Download shaping when I need it, i.e. between 18:00 and 23:00, and weekends.

I hope this makes sense, and I hope AfriMan sees this as a reply to the shaping policy suggestion as well.
 
manfromthesouth22 said:
Hi Afriman. Thanks, I can deduce it's recommended from a "using unused network capacity", but what I'm asking is does downloading at these times influence my shaping in a positive or negative way? Does that usage count towards my shaping calculation with the same weight as business hours downloads?

Now I'm scheming again. I wish I could draw some kind of advantage from downloading at that times, where it doesn't influence my Downloading shaping. It feels unfair that P2P usage at the hours where the network is not used to capacity (that word, capacity) should influence my Download shaping when I need it, i.e. between 18:00 and 23:00, and weekends.

I hope this makes sense, and I hope AfriMan sees this as a reply to the shaping policy suggestion as well.
Click to expand...

It should yeah. Downloading after hours will put less strain on the network during peak hours which in turn will allow us to unshape even more and grab those odd files every now and then during the day.

Remember that shaping is run on a completely dynamic level, so at the end of the day the clients will control the shaping.
 
manfromthesouth22 said:
Hmm, interesting. My usage is less than yours, with I would say average usage of 90GB per month for the last two months, with this month projected at 47GB to help with the whole shaping / network pressure thing. Yet I'm being shaped the same. 25 / 6.5 for most of the day. Interesting...

Mr Afri-X, can you tell me, does download scheduling play a part in shaping? Will I be shaped less if my downloads are scheduled after hours? I mostly, I'd say 75%, download between 2 and 6. Should this count in my favour?
Click to expand...

Hi manfromthesouth22

I saw this was covered earlier in this thread.

Typical Afrihost, double speak response to your question.

Short answer is no, so what's the point then? Where's the incentive?

Download overnight and be shaped into the ground the next day.

Good riddance I say!
 
AfriGuy said:
It should yeah. Downloading after hours will put less strain on the network during peak hours which in turn will allow us to unshape even more and grab those odd files every now and then during the day.

Remember that shaping is run on a completely dynamic level, so at the end of the day the clients will control the shaping.
Click to expand...

Okay, shaping is determined by network load, dynamically, but also by overall use and predicted use, as was stated earlier. The overall use and predicted use is personal, unique to me, and network load is universal. My shaping is unique to me.

Will downloading after hours, me, influence my overall usage and predicted usage in the same manner as downloading during business hours? Will my downloading behaviour after hours have the same negative effect on my shaping as business hours downloads have?
 
wingnut771 said:
Hi manfromthesouth22

I saw this was covered earlier in this thread.

Typical Afrihost, double speak response to your question.

Short answer is no, so what's the point then? Where's the incentive?

Download overnight and be shaped into the ground the next day.

Good riddance I say!
Click to expand...

Already covered? Probably, but still not in a manner that I can deduce an answer!

Yeah, I don't think there is any incentive to download after hours, except for the fact that business hours are slow. There should be a reward for not leaving your downloads active, which is what I've been doing.

You understand my question though. Thanks for that.
 
manfromthesouth22 said:
Okay, shaping is determined by network load, dynamically, but also by overall use and predicted use, as was stated earlier. The overall use and predicted use is personal, unique to me, and network load is universal. My shaping is unique to me.

Will downloading after hours, me, influence my overall usage and predicted usage in the same manner as downloading during business hours? Will my downloading behaviour after hours have the same negative effect on my shaping as business hours downloads have?
Click to expand...

The first thing our shaper looks at is the overall usage on the network.
Download at night will use a quieter network - allowing the network to run smoother during office hours.
 
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