Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt3)

[The_Unbeliever]

Afrihost promises the 1Gb capped account for free forever. Yet if you cancel your account, this free service also goes up in a puff of smoke. I'm starting to see a pattern of fake promises, claims of no shaping when there is etc....

Then sign up for a 1Gb free account again? What's so difficult in doing that?

When AH introduced the 1Gb free accounts yonkers ago, I signed up for one. And a while later for another one. The first, intial one disappeared when I switched over to an uncapped account, but the second free account didn't.

Later on I cancelled all my services with AH, but the free gig remained (because of the Mweb lure). After having burned myself with Mweb (and vowing never to return) I signed up with AH again.

Will be keeping that 1Gb free account for as long as possible because it is handy as a test. Or when you want to burn some data quick quick (eg torrenting a Linux distro) and the uncapped account is too slow for that...

So far I'm a happy camper (you can call me an Afrihost fanboy) and is satisfied with the service I've got so far from Afrihost.

As for Telkom and Mweb - that's a different story and shall be told another time.

 

[wingnut771]

Then sign up for a 1Gb free account again? What's so difficult in doing that?

When AH introduced the 1Gb free accounts yonkers ago, I signed up for one. And a while later for another one. The first, intial one disappeared when I switched over to an uncapped account, but the second free account didn't.

Later on I cancelled all my services with AH, but the free gig remained (because of the Mweb lure). After having burned myself with Mweb (and vowing never to return) I signed up with AH again.

Will be keeping that 1Gb free account for as long as possible because it is handy as a test. Or when you want to burn some data quick quick (eg torrenting a Linux distro) and the uncapped account is too slow for that...

So far I'm a happy camper (you can call me an Afrihost fanboy) and is satisfied with the service I've got so far from Afrihost.

As for Telkom and Mweb - that's a different story and shall be told another time.

Howz your Netflix?

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Howz your Netflix?

I don't watch Netflix.

 

[Bl1zz4rd]

@The_Librarian, What say you of all these Afrihost shaping complaints? Are you using a standard or business account?

Also, what was your reason for leaving MWEB?

 

[UnholyMunk]

Howz your Netflix?

Shocking! last night was the worst night I've had so far with Netflix. Buffering every minute or so with a consistently bad quality stream... Checked out youtube, and it was a similar issue. Thought I'd do some trace routes to see if it was my exchange/line.... not a single bad ping was had that day! Switched over to another ISP and *BAM*streaming at 720p with no buffering....

So Afrihost, tell me again how 'real time services' are not affected by shaping?

 

[wingnut771]

Shocking! last night was the worst night I've had so far with Netflix. Buffering every minute or so with a consistently bad quality stream... Checked out youtube, and it was a similar issue. Thought I'd do some trace routes to see if it was my exchange/line.... not a single bad ping was had that day! Switched over to another ISP and *BAM*streaming at 720p with no buffering....

So Afrihost, tell me again how 'real time services' are not affected by shaping?

You're farting against thunder bro

 

[AfriMan]

Then sign up for a 1Gb free account again? What's so difficult in doing that?

When AH introduced the 1Gb free accounts yonkers ago, I signed up for one. And a while later for another one. The first, intial one disappeared when I switched over to an uncapped account, but the second free account didn't.

Later on I cancelled all my services with AH, but the free gig remained (because of the Mweb lure). After having burned myself with Mweb (and vowing never to return) I signed up with AH again.

Will be keeping that 1Gb free account for as long as possible because it is handy as a test. Or when you want to burn some data quick quick (eg torrenting a Linux distro) and the uncapped account is too slow for that...

So far I'm a happy camper (you can call me an Afrihost fanboy) and is satisfied with the service I've got so far from Afrihost.

As for Telkom and Mweb - that's a different story and shall be told another time.

Sorry that you had to leave us, even for a short while. We should have worked a little harder to keep you - but glad that we got you back

 

[AfriMan]

Shocking! last night was the worst night I've had so far with Netflix. Buffering every minute or so with a consistently bad quality stream... Checked out youtube, and it was a similar issue. Thought I'd do some trace routes to see if it was my exchange/line.... not a single bad ping was had that day! Switched over to another ISP and *BAM*streaming at 720p with no buffering....

So Afrihost, tell me again how 'real time services' are not affected by shaping?

They shouldn't be, but I have acknowledged that when contention is higher that it should be, there are some residual effects. This may be to induced latency, it's really hard to track because it's mostly brief spikes and we don't always pick this up on our monitoring.

This would only apply to users in the South where demand is extremely high. Other regional networks should be performing normally where demand is being managed by shaping within acceptable limits. Should be

 

[cortexenslaver]

This would only apply to users in the South where demand is extremely high. Other regional networks should be performing normally where demand is being managed by shaping within acceptable limits. Should be

Is that what you call 12.5% and 6.5% 24 hours a day, for the whole month???? "Acceptable limits"???
RIDICULOUS!

 

[AfriMan]

Is that what you call 12.5% and 6.5% 24 hours a day, for the whole month???? "Acceptable limits"???
RIDICULOUS!

I'm referring to performance of the network, especially realtime services. We definitely don't want to shape clients consistently at maximum, but we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place until Telkom fulfil the order we placed last year. Until then, we have to shape where we need to (and unshape where we can) to provide the best experience with the resources we have available for now

 

[Zarathustra]

It is with regret that I cancelled my business relationship with AfriHost today - I cannot wait around for things to get better, especially when I have to spend my hard earned & limited cash. So...

 

[Bl1zz4rd]

@Afriman, What is the cause of the strain on the network over the past while?

 

[AfriMan]

It is with regret that I cancelled my business relationship with AfriHost today - I cannot wait around for things to get better, especially when I have to spend my hard earned & limited cash. So...

Sorry to hear that. I totally respect where you are coming from, I know this is not a great experience for many of our clients. We're doing everything we can from our side.

If you've already put in your cancellation, then I guess I can only wish you the best. Drop me a PM if you're ever keen on trying us again when we've received our additional capacity

 

[cortexenslaver]

I'm referring to performance of the network, especially realtime services. We definitely don't want to shape clients consistently at maximum, but we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place until Telkom fulfil the order we placed last year. Until then, we have to shape where we need to (and unshape where we can) to provide the best experience with the resources we have available for now

With all the free bandwidth you are giving away, I hope to hell you guys place ANOTHER order now... considering that by the time you get last year's order, it will not be enough. JHB had some relief for a month after the IPC upgrade, but even they now have shaping again. Really sorry, but this is very poor network management... even more so, because you guys keep rolling out new products with free giveaways, when you know there is no capacity to service your existing client-base. Does AH's sales management actually speak to your network guys and MTN to plan correctly???? Or is it just the case that the sales roll-out schedule is followed in spite of the obvious bandwidth / IPC shortage?

By the way, I have worded it like this because there is no doubt that there are issues on the MTN network, over-and-above the the IPC issues you have mentioned. The tests we have ALL provided here prove that beyond any doubt. It is not enough to keep blaming Telkom... they are YOUR supplier, not OURS. Imagine if I told my client that he couldn't have what he/she paid for because I was having trouble with a supplier??? I would go out of business fairly quickly if I couldn't deliver what I promised.

But hey, that's just me.... maybe WE are not important enough to AH to worry if we leave?
...just saying

 

[AfriMan]

With all the free bandwidth you are giving away, I hope to hell you guys place ANOTHER order now... considering that by the time you get last year's order, it will not be enough. JHB had some relief for a month after the IPC upgrade, but even they now have shaping again. Really sorry, but this is very poor network management... even more so, because you guys keep rolling out new products with free giveaways, when you know there is no capacity to service your existing client-base. Does AH's sales management actually speak to your network guys and MTN to plan correctly???? Or is it just the case that the sales roll-out schedule is followed in spite of the obvious bandwidth / IPC shortage?

By the way, I have worded it like this because there is no doubt that there are issues on the MTN network, over-and-above the the IPC issues you have mentioned. The tests we have ALL provided here prove that beyond any doubt. It is not enough to keep blaming Telkom... they are YOUR supplier, not OURS. Imagine if I told my client that he couldn't have what he/she paid for because I was having trouble with a supplier??? I would go out of business fairly quickly if I couldn't deliver what I promised.

But hey, that's just me.... maybe WE are not important enough to AH to worry if we leave?
...just saying

I totally get what you are saying here and let me start at the end and say that you are definitely important to us! We are pretty bleak if any client leaves us, for whatever reasons, and we're definitely not planning to go out of business that way.

It's hard to stop everything waiting on capacity. As you can see, we've been waiting at least four months already, if not longer, for this new capacity. For a business like ours to have no specials or promos for that length of time is basically inviting death by competition, and we need to stay competitive to ensure we can maintain the prices and competitive edge that allows us to run promos and specials. So it's a very fine line to tread, and we do our best to make sure that it falls in favour of our clients at all times. It may not feel that way, but I truly believe that doing it in another way would adversely affect our clients cause a downtrend in pricing and network performance

 

[Vorastra]

Afrihost, I want a truthful answer here. When you do get this additional bandwidth, does this mean that us Standard Uncapped guys won't be shaped to death as much all day or what? Because to be honest it's coming up to the end of the month and I've used about 80GB and I just get shaped ALL day, EVERY day.

 

[AfriGuy]

Afrihost, I want a truthful answer here. When you do get this additional bandwidth, does this mean that us Standard Uncapped guys won't be shaped to death as much all day or what? Because to be honest it's coming up to the end of the month and I've used about 80GB and I just get shaped ALL day, EVERY day.

Once the additional capacity is added everyones overall experience will improve. As for shaping, there may be some shaping during the day/ peak times for the standard Uncapped accounts - but it should ease off earlier in the evening.

 

[AfriMan]

Afrihost, I want a truthful answer here. When you do get this additional bandwidth, does this mean that us Standard Uncapped guys won't be shaped to death as much all day or what? Because to be honest it's coming up to the end of the month and I've used about 80GB and I just get shaped ALL day, EVERY day.

That definitely the intention, and we have already placed orders for more bandwidth in the future in some regions to ensure that we cater for future needs. The current upgrade is focussed mainly in the South and East and should be a significant improvement on the current capacity. Shaping will always be a possibility but we're hoping to also have some contingencies in the future to try to ensure that we can better manage periods like this when we're awaiting ordered capacity.

LOL - AfriGuy beat me to it

 

[kripstoe]

As for shaping, there may be some shaping during the day/ peak times for the standard Uncapped accounts - but it should ease off earlier in the evening.

Hmm...

That statement will not convince me to take up uncapped again.

I changed to capped. Do I qualify for the additional data AH is giving out?

 

[AfriGuy]

Hmm...

That statement will not convince me to take up uncapped again.

I changed to capped. Do I qualify for the additional data AH is giving out?

I think once the capacity is lit up you'll see the sentiment change Most standard Uncapped accounts out there are subject to shaping. It's not guaranteed on our network, but if it's busy your non-realtime stuff will be shaped. When it's not busy you won't be shaped.

If you have a data-only account with us you should see the extra data allocated to your account next month.