Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback

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saa044 said:
Free alternative (I think) http://tunlr.net/get-started/ Works ok on my connection so far for the 3 Netflix connections.
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Thanks, but I'm going to ditch my DNS ambitions. To stream HD you'd need at least 400KB/s, and even if my connection consistently achieved that (which it didn't over Unopay), it would stuff the internet for the rest of the household.
 
SirSlothXCI said:
No mate. Highest Netflix quality uses around 1GB per hour. The line easily handles that kind of traffic in 60 minutes.

That aside, the quality currently is just plain BAD. And apparently Netflix assesses your line quality and streams content to you accordingly. There has to be some kind of problem with the network?
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From Netflix site:
Best quality (uses up to 1 GB per hour, up to 2.8 GB per hour if watching HD, or up to 4.7 GB per hour if watching 3D

Also you can set the quality of the movie by pressing ctrl - alt -shift -s to open the stream selector and you can select the stream you want. Lastly Netflix starts off at the lower settings to stop it from buffering too much on startup, it then increases the quality of the stream as it goes to the best level it determines. You can watch this by again pressing ctrl-alt-shift-s and you will see two headings, currently playing will be the bit rate that you are currently viewing, then currently buffering will be the bitrate will obviously be the bitrate that it is currently buffering.
 
Slartibartfast said:
Ive noticed that, regardless of what speed my line syncs at, the most i ever get on speedtest is exactly 83% of the sync speed. anyone else have the same?
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Afriman, i would appreciate your view on this. i have tested it in a number of line sync speeds between 2mbps and 3.9mbps with a 4mbps data account and i always get exactly 83% of the sync speed as a download speed. its almost like afrihost have a default 17% throttle of whatever the line syncs at
.
 
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Slartibartfast said:
Afriman, i would appreciate your view on this. i have tested it in a number of line sync speeds between 2mbps and 3.9mbps with a 4mbps data account and i always get exactly 83% of the sync speed as a download speed. its almost like afrihost have a default 17% throttle of whatever the line syncs at
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As has been stated before, this is normal overhead for the line.

4mb line = 4096kb / 8 = 512kB.

One can only download at around 420kB on a 4mb line not 512kB so lets just leave it at that.

This is normal, if you still argue after this then you just making a fool out of yourself.
 
Logo said:
From Netflix site:
Best quality (uses up to 1 GB per hour, up to 2.8 GB per hour if watching HD, or up to 4.7 GB per hour if watching 3D
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From Netflix site:

"We know that some of you have Internet data caps and we want to make it easier for you to manage how much data you use. We offer 3 video quality settings to help you manage your data usage. No matter what level you choose, your Netflix membership price will remain the same.

Good quality (up to 0.3 GB per hour)
Better quality (up to 0.7 GB per hour)
Best quality (up to 1.0 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)"

All of this is also "Up to". It's not guaranteed usage per hour.
 
wingnut771 said:
As has been stated before, this is normal overhead for the line.

4mb line = 4096kb / 8 = 512kB.

One can only download at around 420kB on a 4mb line not 512kB so lets just leave it at that.

This is normal, if you still argue after this then you just making a fool out of yourself.
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Unbunch your panties friend, im just asking a question....

And foolish or not it still seems odd that the dowload speed tracks the sync speed
 
Slartibartfast said:
And foolish or not it still seems odd that the dowload speed tracks the sync speed
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Why? Of your ability to transfer any number of bytes a percentage is lost to overheads; this percentage won't change substantially just because you happen to be transferring bytes faster.
 
So update on the League of Legends European West server ping issues. Last night it seemed i was back to normal 197 ping on my uncapped 10mb account. Will see tonight how it goes if it stays like that 2 days in a row. The streaming on twitch.tv was not that good up until 9pm where the 720P stream i was watching settled down and had no issues.
 
HapticSimian said:
Why? Of your ability to transfer any number of bytes a percentage is lost to overheads; this percentage won't change substantially just because you happen to be transferring bytes faster.
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Im really not trying to stir the pot here. im not in the it business so I have a laypersons understanding of this but my logic tells me that if Afrihost allows me to use 4mbps of data but my line only allows me to use 3mbps of data, I would have though that I have 1mbps of overhead data available so data transfer should max out my line?
 
Your max download speed would always follow the lowest common denominator, ie 2mbps package on a 4mbps line, you'd get 2mbps OR 4mbps package on a 2mbps line and you'd still get 2mbps.

With regard to overheads, you'd usually get around 110 to 120 KBps for every 1mbps.
 
Slartibartfast said:
Im really not trying to stir the pot here. im not in the it business so I have a laypersons understanding of this but my logic tells me that if Afrihost allows me to use 4mbps of data but my line only allows me to use 3mbps of data, I would have though that I have 1mbps of overhead data available so data transfer should max out my line?
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If your line speed is greater than you account speed, then yes it will compensate for the overheads. Not the other way around.
 
Slartibartfast said:
Im really not trying to stir the pot here. im not in the it business so I have a laypersons understanding of this but my logic tells me that if Afrihost allows me to use 4mbps of data but my line only allows me to use 3mbps of data, I would have though that I have 1mbps of overhead data available so data transfer should max out my line?
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I wasn't trying to suggest you were; there are many topics more stir-worthy than download rates. :D

Ultimately the rate your line syncs at is a physical limitation regardless of the rate your account would allow.
 
Dan C said:
If your line speed is greater than you account speed, then yes it will compensate for the overheads. Not the other way around.
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So based on this it may make sense to reduce my data package to 2mbps and keep my 4mbps line (which only syncs stable at 3mbps)? at the moment i get 2.5mbps max on a 4mbps line and 4mbps data but from what you say i may get almost this on a 2mbps data package and a 3mbps line?
 
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Slartibartfast said:
So based on this it may make sense to reduce my data package to 2mbps and keep my 4mbps line (which only syncs stable at 3mbps)? at the moment i get 2.5mbps max on a 4mbps line and 4mbps data but from what you say i may get almost this on a 2mbps data package and a 3mbps line?
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Correct.
 
Slartibartfast said:
Sure, i understand this, if you have a 2meg line with 2meg data you wont necessarily get 2meg download speed. In my case i have a 4meg afrihost line which syncs at 3meg and then i get roughly 83% of the 3meg sync speed so i end up with only about 62% of what i pay for.

If afrihost cant give a line that syncs at the full line speed they should at least give me full data use up to my sync speed, no?
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Doesn't matter what you sync at, you won't get full sync speed even if you're paying for a higher speed. It's not the ISP's fault, it's network protocol. The general rule (or at least my general rule :)) is to divide your sync speed by 10 to determine approximately the maximum speed you can achieve. 1024/10 = ~102, 2048/10 = ~204 etc. It's not exact, but your maximum should be in that ballpark.
 
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Logo said:
Also you can set the quality of the movie by pressing ctrl - alt -shift -s
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Thanks for this little tip, worked a treat! When I manually set the quality to a better setting, it streams just fine. Now I wonder why Netflix would give me such a crappy auto stream quality.

Is there any way to manually change this on an Xbox as well? :erm:
 
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