Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback (Pt3)

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AfriMan said:
If you were paying for an unshaped service, I would agree. But we're talking about shaped service. Remember that it's not like throttling where your line potential is limited and you only get a fraction of throughput. You always have full use of your line for realtime services, so don't get less than your line. And non-realtime services are shaped, not blocked. You can still move a significant amount of data in a 24 hour cycle - many of our clients still do despite being shaped.

If we had a download only product, then maybe that's what you would want to go for, but there really isn't a big call for that. I think in practical terms, nobody would really want a DSL account that was only good for downloads and not general everyday internet use that's mostly realtime based.
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I disagree....I think there is a wider audiance that would want to DL then just browse the webpages....

and as said above by another member, your business account is essentially a download account?

Yes, I can dl quite a bit of data...the problem is, it has to happen over night at those 9 hours that you dont shape us.... Now i have a file i need to dl, that generally would take me 5mins at 400kbs...but cause i am shaped at the times i am awake it will take be 2hours so i have to leave it overnight....

Some testing done last night through a new provider to compare your current shaping.

here is the results running for 15mins on the exact same system at the same time, and then some speedtest.net results

OK, firstly - AFRIHOST
*i am using the best speed test i have to date for afrihost - 25/6/2014
3584394741.png

3584397423.png


Download rates - 15mins
afrihost.PNG


now, the COMP

3609653145.png

3609657826.png



Download rates - 15mins
com_.PNG
 
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ainsin said:
Its good to see that the truth has finally come out. I got a feeling that the shaping was going to be permanent, and its disappointing to say I was right.

Afrihost's uncapped offering was so much better than all other ISP's offering. Now its pretty much the same, but with the ability to stream Youtube. I don't agree with their new business strategy, so I am going to move at the end of the month.

I will definitely look at getting a cheap capped option. If I give less money to MTN.. I mean Afrihost, the better.
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I'm sorry if we haven't been communicating clearly around the current testing going on. It's not confirmed that this will be the new AUP for Uncapped, but there is a possibility that it will be similar when we finalise the testing.

We still feel that our offering is unique and offers great value for money for a semi-shaped solution. Realtime priority is a pretty big advantage over a throttled solution, and when you add the ability to Turbocharge whenever you like, it makes for a very good product. We'll continue testing and refining until we have the product performance where we feel it delivers the best experience for our clients.
 
As I understand it we are now THROTTLED for 15 hours and SHAPED for 9 hours? Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

And what happened last night - I only managed to download 369MB since midnight to 8am? According to the graph on your website? I could almost type faster than that.
 
SIlvRav said:
I disagree....I think there is a wider audiance that would want to DL then just browse the webpages....

and as said above by another member, your business account is essentially a download account?

Yes, I can dl quite a bit of data...the problem is, it has to happen over night at those 9 hours that you dont shape us.... Now i have a file i need to dl, that generally would take me 5mins at 400kbs...but cause i am shaped at the times i am awake it will take be 2hours so i have to leave it overnight....

Some testing done last night through a new provider to compare your current shaping.

here is the results running for 15mins on the exact same system at the same time, and then some speedtest.net results

OK, firstly - AFRIHOST
*i am using the best speed test i have to date for afrihost - 25/6/2014
3584394741.png

3584397423.png


Download rates - 15mins
View attachment 130557


now, the COMP

3609653145.png

3609657826.png



Download rates - 15mins
View attachment 130559
Click to expand...

I think the comment was intended to say that Business is an unshaped account, so it doesn't really matter what you use it for. If you want to saturate your lines with downloads or realtime services, it won't discriminate and give you your full line potential for whichever service or services you choose to use.

I won't argue with your tests, that's why we give out Free GB accounts, we want you to be able to decide what works for you. You will need to decide if 0.2Mbps or 32ms ping for gaming sways your decision one way or another. I do hope you choose us though, for price, value and service :)
 
Vorastra said:
As I suspected. I searched HD Trailers in Youtube. Tested the whole first page. Every single clips average bitrate @720p was lower than 2mbit which means that they would buffer fine. Once again my line went no higher than 2060kbps and they all buffered fine...because the average bitrate was low enough.


Afriman you are avoiding the point I keep on making. Let me caps for you. WHY does EVERY OTHER account I use work flawlessly AS WELL AS this account as long as it has TURBOCHARGE ENABLED.

Let me guess, Afrihost now depends on the Youtube local cache, so if it isn't cached then this happens....is Youtube really full speed or are you guys depending on the local cache? You're going say...Yes.

See if any of these run well on your 4mbit @1080p to force full line speed: Guess what? NONE of them on my connection. Afrihost 1gb (WORKS FINE), Web Africa 1+1gb (WORKS FINE), just turned on Turbocharge (OH LOOK THEY ALL WORK FINE NOW)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUXiM81hkg8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSyL_RBTkgU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61mKSVWMUmM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcLTwcOq1hM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBc4XYA-BM

YOU ARE SHAPING NON-LOCALLY CACHED YOUTUBE. This means that you do not provide 100% realtime. You guys better get this fixed very quickly.

AMAZING! Further proof that you shape non-local youtube. I just ran 2 (TWO!) HD Trailer vids in 720p at the same time with Turbocharge on. THEY BOTH STREAMED. AMAZING. When Turbocharge ends in an hour I bet you I won't be able to do this.

Nevermind that I'm wasting my Turbocharge just to prove to you that Afrihost is shaping Youtube. Hell why am I trying to prove to you...you already know this.
Click to expand...

Here is the vid of the tests I ran. Also, here is a screenshot of the shaping settings on the 4Mbps account I tested on. Even though my line is a bit faster, if Youtube was shaped or throttled, I would be capped at 2Mbps, according to what you've posted here (if I understand it correctly). As you can see all videos played smoothly, I did buffer on the hunting video for a split second and then 2-3 seconds. That was the only buffering I experienced through all the tests I did.

OdWx6GK.png


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxlcoIWomYY
 
Vorastra said:
So a week of slow Youtube, still no one has actually fixed anything. Instead I just get responses like: NOT US, MUST BE YOU. I DON"T SEE IT,MUST BE YOU.

I'm not actually going to get this fixed, am I? 25th is soon approaching.

More clips that run like crap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u-WVkL4h0I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw0y9f6B3wI
Click to expand...

Tested both on Mweb 4mbps Premium, no issue at all. Both start to play in about 1 second and buffers ahead quite fast. Will test it at home via Crystal Web for you also if you want. Not sure if this info helps you at all though. :)
 
AfriMan said:
Here is the vid of the tests I ran. Also, here is a screenshot of the shaping settings on the 4Mbps account I tested on. Even though my line is a bit faster, if Youtube was shaped or throttled, I would be capped at 2Mbps, according to what you've posted here (if I understand it correctly). As you can see all videos played smoothly, I did buffer on the hunting video for a split second and then 2-3 seconds. That was the only buffering I experienced through all the tests I did.

OdWx6GK.png


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxlcoIWomYY
Click to expand...

Did you...read what I wrote? Run them at 1080p.

Also, does it matter that you spike up to 5mbit and 11mbit, lets forget that. But let me type this again.

Answer me, ONLY this. Just this.

Afrihost 1gb (WORKS FINE), Web Africa 1+1gb (WORKS FINE), just turned on Turbocharge (OH LOOK THEY ALL WORK FINE NOW).

Answer me this. ^

I'm not here trying to make a point, I'm just trying to watch 720p.

Dude, do you want to try with my account on your side and see if you get the same issue. I'm going that far....
 
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Vorastra said:
Did you...read what I wrote? Run them at 1080p.

Also, does it matter that you spike up to 5mbit and 1mbit, lets forget that. But let me type this again.

Answer me, ONLY this. Just this.

Afrihost 1gb (WORKS FINE), Web Africa 1+1gb (WORKS FINE), just turned on Turbocharge (OH LOOK THEY ALL WORK FINE NOW).

Answer me this. ^

I'm not here trying to make a point, I'm just trying to watch 720p.

Dude, do you want to try with my account on your side and see if you get the same issue. I'm going that far....
Click to expand...

I think we need to take a step back here. I get the feeling you're a little frustrated and I get that.

We started this by trying to verify whether YouTube was being shaped. I think the test proves that whether or not the line is 4Mbps or higher, the account is capable of bursting and downloading at higher than 2Mbps, which was your original thinking behind saying that YouTube is being shaped. I tested this using HD trailers and now again using your own links.

As I said before, saying YouTube is shaped makes us look in the wrong place. Shaping is not an issue for YouTube at all. I think the test proves that well enough and I don't see the point of testing that at 1080p, it would only further demonstrate the same.

Again, we need to do more troubleshooting with your account, in your specific circumstances to see what could be happening here. If you're keen on that, PM me and let's get that started. I really believe that's where the solution lies, and I'm sure we can find a good way for you to get the experience you;re after one way or another.
 
Afriman I'd be interested to see if you can get youtube running close to line speed while shaping is in effect. This would verify that 1) there's absolutely no shaping on youtube and 2) realtime performance is as awesome as is being advertised as a result of this test shaping.
 
AfriMan said:
I think we need to take a step back here. I get the feeling you're a little frustrated and I get that.

We started this by trying to verify whether YouTube was being shaped. I think the test proves that whether or not the line is 4Mbps or higher, the account is capable of bursting and downloading at higher than 2Mbps, which was your original thinking behind saying that YouTube is being shaped. I tested this using HD trailers and now again using your own links.

As I said before, saying YouTube is shaped makes us look in the wrong place. Shaping is not an issue for YouTube at all. I think the test proves that well enough and I don't see the point of testing that at 1080p, it would only further demonstrate the same.

Again, we need to do more troubleshooting with your account, in your specific circumstances to see what could be happening here. If you're keen on that, PM me and let's get that started. I really believe that's where the solution lies, and I'm sure we can find a good way for you to get the experience you;re after one way or another.
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K. Let's start again. After a week. AfriMan. Test my account. Pm'ing you account again.
 
Sinbad said:
Afriman I'd be interested to see if you can get youtube running close to line speed while shaping is in effect. This would verify that 1) there's absolutely no shaping on youtube and 2) realtime performance is as awesome as is being advertised as a result of this test shaping.
Click to expand...

I think the test already showed that throughput was bursting to max rate limit (for a 4Mbps account) and higher. If your line is saturated from a stream, like running 1080p on a 2Mbps line, I don't think that would really be a great experience anyway. If the 4Mbps account was shaped or throttled, there would have been no bursts above a certain throughput rate. The test I ran was on a shaped account, shaped at maximum on downloads and P2P.

Or maybe I misunderstand the question :(
 
AfriMan said:
I think the test already showed that throughput was bursting to max rate limit (for a 4Mbps account) and higher. If your line is saturated from a stream, like running 1080p on a 2Mbps line, I don't think that would really be a great experience anyway. If the 4Mbps account was shaped or throttled, there would have been no bursts above a certain throughput rate. The test I ran was on a shaped account, shaped at maximum on downloads and P2P.

Or maybe I misunderstand the question :(
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Maybe I missed the spot on the video, but I only saw 2.3mbps or so?

My experience of shaping in the past (not necessarily yours, but general rate limiting stuff) is that often a burst is allowed, either while the shaper "catches up", or deliberately. Sustained line speed is what we're looking for ;)
 
Sinbad said:
Maybe I missed the spot on the video, but I only saw 2.3mbps or so?

My experience of shaping in the past (not necessarily yours, but general rate limiting stuff) is that often a burst is allowed, either while the shaper "catches up", or deliberately. Sustained line speed is what we're looking for ;)
Click to expand...

I can try. :)
 
AfriMan said:
I think the comment was intended to say that Business is an unshaped account, so it doesn't really matter what you use it for. If you want to saturate your lines with downloads or realtime services, it won't discriminate and give you your full line potential for whichever service or services you choose to use.

I won't argue with your tests, that's why we give out Free GB accounts, we want you to be able to decide what works for you. You will need to decide if 0.2Mbps or 32ms ping for gaming sways your decision one way or another. I do hope you choose us though, for price, value and service :)
Click to expand...

Riiiiigghhhht....Something tells me you didnt even open my attachments cause I have no idea where those ping figures come from...so let me type it out for you. (So dont preach service and good value to me)

Local server - the other co was 14ms vs your 15ms
International - the other co was 232ms vs your 206ms (take note the 232ms was further away server)

Ping here is not an issue, but traffic is - DL/UP of other co is 152mb in 16mins with average DL of 81kb/s and UL of 74kbs

Afrihost is 71mb at 15mins with DL of 34kb/s and UP of 44kbs....

So I can download more double the capacity in the same time with a DL speed that is faster then an UL speed and 240% faster then afrihost.

Your testing of your new shaping policies is going to result in a very very angry (more then now) market if it becomes permanent.
 
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I might not be happy with the current state of the nation on the almost perma shaping taking place, but I can at least say that I have no problems with playing youtube @ 720p. And my line per BitMeter stays at 440kB/s.

I'll take some screens tonight with the videos posted here to illustrate.
 
Orihalcon said:
I might not be happy with the current state of the nation on the almost perma shaping taking place, but I can at least say that I have no problems with playing youtube @ 720p. And my line per BitMeter stays at 440kB/s.

I'll take some screens tonight with the videos posted here to illustrate.
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Yes please screenshot. Add OS, browser and whether you are using HTML5 or Flash. If you can. Can you check the Youtube clips that I posted and see if those play at full 440kB/s ?

If other users have no problem on the same clips, then something on my account has not been done correctly.
 
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