Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt2)

[AfriGuy]

Youtube is unusable even just with sound and a static background.

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
 1  10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2)  2.072 ms  2.165 ms  1.222 ms
 2  105-236-4-129-esr-lo.mtnbusiness.co.za (105.236.4.129)  45.512 ms  19.815 ms  13.573 ms
 3  ipc-recieve-rb-4a.za.mtnbusiness.net (41.181.178.89)  16.429 ms  15.059 ms  15.795 ms
 4  rb-dca-2.za--rb-cr-1.za-a.mtnns.net (196.44.31.120)  26.396 ms * *
 5  jh-cr-1.za--rb-cr-2.za.mtnns.net (196.44.0.42)  14.502 ms  12.774 ms  13.319 ms
 6  qux-jh-dca-2.za-b.za.mtnbusiness.net (41.181.165.115)  28.937 ms  37.902 ms  36.833 ms
 7  72.14.194.74 (72.14.194.74)  14.550 ms  20.475 ms  16.799 ms
 8  66.249.95.8 (66.249.95.8)  198.314 ms  195.206 ms  194.477 ms
 9  209.85.244.240 (209.85.244.240)  355.940 ms  422.563 ms  340.921 ms
10  66.249.95.173 (66.249.95.173)  325.766 ms
    72.14.232.134 (72.14.232.134)  333.554 ms  331.543 ms
11  216.239.49.45 (216.239.49.45)  191.944 ms  186.149 ms
    72.14.238.43 (72.14.238.43)  219.335 ms
12  * * *
13  google-public-dns-a.google.com (8.8.8.8)  213.910 ms  206.687 ms  201.672 ms

Is this still happening? We can't seem to replicate the errors on our end, but seeing a timeout on one of our hops is concerning.
Please PM me

 

[AfriGuy]

I had similar results to that last night - and I'm in Cpt. The entire evening. 4/5th hop timeouts. Realtime services are definitely not working as they should be.

@AfriManGuyGirl: Seeing that there seems to be an issue (since AH management is looking at this, but cannot yet provide timelines, etc) does it even make sense to give feedback? It feels like this is just how it will be for some time to come. I'm not shaped at present, althought I'm not convinced since downloads were crawling at 30Kbps last night, and I've given feedback re realtime services which doesn't seem to have much realtime to them, but it doesn't seem like much is changing. Downloads (scheduled) after 0h00 seems to work ok at the moment.

Saying that, I appreciate the feedback AfriManGuyGirl is providing and sometimes I really feel sorry for them. Same issues, day in and day out, for a month now? That can't be fun.

As I mentioned in my last post, timeouts shouldn't be seen on any of our hops is concerning. We can't seem to replicate the errors, but please drop me a PM with your info and I'll see what I can dig up here.

 

[AfriGuy]

I have been struggling with my Afrihost uncapped for the past 3 weeks. Getting speeds of 655b/s down of a 10MB line that was running at a minimum of 800kb/s down. Tried everything and all I got from Afrihost is "it could be our shaping policy" even when I try to explain that there is no shaping applied or when shaping is applied and I run my turboboost minutes. Then the idiot walk through begins of a traceroute, being told to reset my router etc etc, and when I ask if then can just recreate the port to see, I got told they can't do that anymore, and then you get the old "send me your number and username" so I can stare at it blankly for 20mins and tell you it's probably your exchange charade. Even though when I use Telkom or Mweb I get the full line speeds and a ping under 500ms locally. Frustrates the hell out of me.

I see you also posted this in another thread, I've just replied there too.
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...eed-issues?p=11405695&viewfull=1#post11405695

I'm really sorry that we've let you down We definitely want to provide the best experience to all of our clients, and seeing that your speeds aren't up to scratch is concerning.
Please send me through a PM with your account info and any history you have of the issue and I'll do my best to have this sorted out for you.

 

[nerf]

We are seeing pretty much max usage on our Northern network at the moment, even with shaping. However, latency should be solid, so real time services should still be running pretty well.

What do your traceroutes show?

Time for an IPC upgrade

 

[AfriGuy]

Time for an IPC upgrade

I don't think that will be a quick win for this though, upgrading our IPC links to allow for multiple software updates, downloads and allowing for more network overhead would mean upgrading by massive margins
We really do believe that at the moment, our IPC is running to the best of it's ability.

 

[sparke]

It's never about punishing clients for their usage, we only shape out of necessity. We always try to limit the number of clients who are shaped as much as we can, and the extent that we have to shape. But as demand grows, we have to increase that number to ensure that priority real time services are not affected by high latency and slow throughput for streaming, etc. When demand is very excessive, then it's is conceivable that we have to shape the maximum number of clients to the maximum degree to keep the network running at optimum for the benefit of all clients.

You internet should always remain useable and offer value for money, even with shaping applied, which we do not feel is the case with throttling - which is why we moved away from this.

We feel our system is the most fair and offers the best overall experience in the circumstances, but we are always open to suggestions from our clients if they have ideas of how we can do things better

This makes no sense, dont you have a sliding scale???? throt...er shape based on usage?

 

[AfriGuy]

This makes no sense, dont you have a sliding scale???? throt...er shape based on usage?

Our shaping has been setup in run dynamically. We feel it's the most fair way of implement shaping for non-realtime services

 

[sparke]

I don't think that will be a quick win for this though, upgrading our IPC links to allow for multiple software updates, downloads and allowing for more network overhead would mean upgrading by massive margins
We really do believe that at the moment, our IPC is running to the best of it's ability.

So you are stalling till all your businesses close for the holidays and the other somewhat heavy users cancels their services to open more capacity then!!!

 

[sparke]

Our shaping has been setup in run dynamically. We feel it's the most fair way of implement shaping for non-realtime services

On a sliding scale? so it is based on usage, hitorical usage as well, so do you look at the last year or the customers life time pattern

 

[AfriGuy]

So you are stalling till all your businesses close for the holidays and the other somewhat heavy users cancels their services to open more capacity then!!!

Not really what I was implying
As AfriMan mentioned - everyone on our end are looking at solutions for this:

Again, this is not an issue of not having enough money to buy capacity or skimping to make extra money with a downgraded product. At the end of the day we're not here to make a quick buck, our aim is to establish long (hopefully life long) relationships with our clients - and that is based on trust.

We've trusted our clients to back us when we take bold steps like cutting prices or introducing Mobile, and they have always come through for us. And where we've asked our clients to trust us in situations like this, we believe we have always come through and rewarded our clients in some way over and above what we promise.

I can only give you time frames when we get them from our management. I'd rather not give you any false promises or unrealistic timelines until I have some confirmation from management and our network team.

 

[drukkie]

Problem is that the heavy downloaders will leave....then the ones in 2nd place will become the abusers...

just loops lololol

 

[AfriGuy]

Problem is that the heavy downloaders will leave....then the ones in 2nd place will become the abusers...

just loops lololol

Some may leave, others may get replaced by other power users.
We don't have a problem with the amount of usage any of our users run through

 

[Type RSA]

This discussion will end up in AfriHost upping their capacity. Mark my words.

 

[AfriGuy]

This discussion will end up in AfriHost upping their capacity. Mark my words.

Maybe so, maybe other solutions will be found

 

[gotaway]

Some may leave, others may get replaced by other power users.
We don't have a problem with the amount of usage any of our users run through

I'm leaving soon, but not because of issues on the network. I'm moving and there is not Telkom infrastructure (yet)

 

[AfriGuy]

I'm leaving soon, but not because of issues on the network. I'm moving and there is not Telkom infrastructure (yet)

Best of luck with the move, shout as soon as there's copper you can access and we'll gladly have you back on our network

 

[sparke]

Maybe so, maybe other solutions will be found

you cant increase capacity at the cost of millions for a marginal increase in revenue and this is what has happened, they attracted the power users, dear i say abusers. we can see here how a very small group can bring a network to its knees. if they increase capacity they will do it at a loss.

I doubt the guys bypassing will leave until throttled as they are clearly not shaped...waiting on afrihost to pull an MWEB soon...they hate to admit it but it seems like the only way they will get back to normal, or as my previous comment wait till the actual power users that really download a lot legitimately leave or when the businesses close during the holidays

 

[AfriGuy]

you cant increase capacity at the cost of millions for a marginal increase in revenue and this is what has happened, they attracted the power users, dear i say abusers. we can see here how a very small group can bring a network to its knees. if they increase capacity they will do it at a loss.

I doubt the guys bypassing will leave until throttled as they are clearly not shaped...waiting on afrihost to pull an MWEB soon...they hate to admit it but it seems like the only way they will get back to normal, or as my previous comment wait till the actual power users that really download a lot legitimately leave or when the businesses close during the holidays

I don't think we agree with your sentiments here.
Not even as a last resort will we consider throttling - we've always been here to provide the best possible experience to all of our clients.

We aren't seeing any substantiated evidence that our users on the leaderboard are the cause to the problems we've seen. We've been seeing these usage patterns for months without any issues.
Again, everyone at Afrihost, including Management are looking at ways to see marked improvements going forward.

 

[Seriously]

On a sliding scale? so it is based on usage, hitorical usage as well, so do you look at the last year or the customers life time pattern

FFS They (Afrihost) do not shape users individually like Mweb, they shape the network based on total load with prioritising certain services. Is that so hard to fathom?

Afrihost always came up with amicable solutions for everyone so I cannot see why there should be any fear that this is a long term problem.

 

[sparke]

I don't think we agree with your sentiments here.
Not even as a last resort will we consider throttling - we've always been here to provide the best possible experience to all of our clients.

We aren't seeing any substantiated evidence that our users on the leaderboard are the cause to the problems we've seen. We've been seeing these usage patterns for months without any issues.
Again, everyone at Afrihost, including Management are looking at ways to see marked improvements going forward.

it is the only thing that makes sense, is the leaderboards live or when will they update so we can see how miserable our service has been