Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback

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We're experiencing increased latency and packet loss on the network. This may be related to the SEACOM cable outtage but we'e waiting for IS to confirm this. Will hopefully have an ETA on this very soon.
 
Hi AfriMan

So I'm going to give a not so short history of my issue, hopefully posting here will make a difference because not much else does and I'm not prepared to try and try for months on end again. So before I start, I'm very aware of the current latency issues and I assure you this has nothing to do with that.

So I had my ADSL activated a month ago. It's the 3rd time I'm attempting ADSL where I live in Pierre van Ryneveld, PTA East. The other 2 times cost me heaps of cash over many months of basically begging Telkom to fix the line, but those guys think if the line is testing OK, then all is well. This time I took a friends advice who speaks very highly of Afrihost, and assigned the line over to Afrihost on the 1Mbps Uncapped bundle deal, hoping they can fix the line with Telkom, but so far, no luck, just waiting...

Some Facts:
1. The line always syncs fine, and never drops
2. The lines SNR and Attenuation tests fine on any router
3. Other people in my direct area with ADSL is working fine, even on 4Mbps+ lines
4. I've tried several cables, routers, PC's and ISP's that was all confirmed working on other lines, and Telkom also tested from here with their own equipment and accounts getting the same results
5. Telkom's been here many many times to test and rewire everything, and it leads to nothing every time except for me having to miss some work while some tech tells me "But your line is working sir". /Bangs head on table

These 4 issues below just won't go away, and no one seems capable of fixing it.
A) Absolutely bugger all bandwidth... I'm telling you, working on a 56k modem is a joy compared to this. I can't even use Gmail 99% of the time. All downloads fail. No youtube vids work. Same issue I've had 3 years ago, and again 2 years ago. I have to game on 3G.... Exciting stuff I tell you.... Getting speedtest to run once is a 20 min mission of spamming F5 until the site loads.
B) At least 10% packet loss at all times making online gaming completely impossible
C) I'm paying for this **** even if it's useless.....
D) No feedback ever unless I beg for it

Some tests I did now:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2177897391.png
Just a note: Upload speed always seem close to what it should be as seen above, maybe that helps, maybe not...

Ping statistics for 196.43.22.222:
Packets: Sent = 373, Received = 320, Lost = 53 (14% loss)

Upstream 512000
Downstream 2048000
SNR Margin(Upstream) 13 dB
SNR Margin(Downstream) 28.5 dB
Line Attenuation(Upstream) 18.0 dB
Line Attenuation(Downstream) 35.5 dB

So can someone please tell me what on earth I must do to get this sorted? Am I missing something?

So here is what I as the paying customer would like:

a) I want someone to contact me ASAP and drive this until it's sorted OR b)
b) at least get to a point of saying there is nothing you can do, and blah blah is why not
c) If a) within a week, happy days
d) If not a) or b) within a week goto f)
e) If b) goto f)
f) Full refund and request a new physical line to be installed from Telkom(ETA on this?)

Please Afrihost, I've heard good things, prove it! :)

Anyways, any other advice is very very welcome! Maybe someone else had similar issues?
 
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Hi Cornel

Thanks for the detailed history / breakdown. I want to be honest here, when you migrate a line in with an existing fault, Telkom are very uncooperative. I've had a couple of clients with this problem, and for Telkom it's a way to get away from fixing the issue, and shunting blame to the ISP. The thing to bear in mind is that the ISP only get's billing and frontline support control, Telkom continue to maintain and repair physical infrastructure, and all fault logging still goes through them.

Having said that, we will do our absolute best to engage with Telkom and push them towards a full and final resolution for. We follow the faults up continually, and escalate accordingly until we have your confirmation that you are satisfied. With the history you are reporting, I doubt that this will be in resolved in a single week - there is really no way to guarantee a turnaround time at this stage.

Please send me a PM with your details and we'll get the process started. No matter happens, we're in your corner & we'll pursue this on your behalf to the bitter end!

:)
 
@AfriMan - I know you can’t give us the exact figure but how much bandwidth can be used before being throttled on a 4mbps uncapped account? would 200GB still be within un-throttled territory?
 
@AfriMan - I know you can’t give us the exact figure but how much bandwidth can be used before being throttled on a 4mbps uncapped account? would 200GB still be within un-throttled territory?

Doing 10-12gig a day without a peep on 4meg
 
I'm on a 4M uncapped and I have just been told after complaining about my speeds that I have been throttled to a 1M service due to high downloads.
My downloads apparently was just over 100GB

I am awaiting clarification on the actual thresholds and the duration of the throttling before normal service is resumed. Switched off my account for now and using another ISP until I receive an answer.

Also to the question of whether my billing will be adjusted accordingly with my service being available to me.
 
I'm on a 4M uncapped and I have just been told after complaining about my speeds that I have been throttled to a 1M service due to high downloads.
My downloads apparently was just over 100GB

I am awaiting clarification on the actual thresholds and the duration of the throttling before normal service is resumed. Switched off my account for now and using another ISP until I receive an answer.

Also to the question of whether my billing will be adjusted accordingly with my service being available to me.
Nah thats a poo story
 
I'm on a 4M uncapped and I have just been told after complaining about my speeds that I have been throttled to a 1M service due to high downloads.
My downloads apparently was just over 100GB

I am awaiting clarification on the actual thresholds and the duration of the throttling before normal service is resumed. Switched off my account for now and using another ISP until I receive an answer.

Also to the question of whether my billing will be adjusted accordingly with my service being available to me.

Thats strange. AfriMan can you confirm this is the case? From your previous posts below the threshold should have been lifted?

Some great news! We've listened to what you guys have to say, and we're looking at some changes!

For now, we've increased the throttle point significantly, by just over 30%. This will include accounts which had already been throttled, i.e. your accounts will be unthrottled if you fall within the new limits.

If you've been following this thread and have now decided to sign up for this product, please use this link:

http://go.afrihost.com/thanks-for-being-awesome

You'll get 50% of your pro-rata amount (from today until 31st May) and 50% of your first full months bill (provided you don't cancel within the specified period). You can then use our Refer-a-friend feature to create a link for others and get 50% knocked off your account for whatever they sign up for (and they'll also get 50% off their first month).

Hope that makes your Friday a little bit more awesome! :)

That's awesome to hear!

And even better news ... we've increased the threshold again!! By another 100%!!! :D

Is this still the case?
 
It does seem like they are throttling people at different usage's, which is really unfair. anyway shouldnt the limit be in their T & c's
 
I'm on a 4M uncapped and I have just been told after complaining about my speeds that I have been throttled to a 1M service due to high downloads.
My downloads apparently was just over 100GB

I am awaiting clarification on the actual thresholds and the duration of the throttling before normal service is resumed. Switched off my account for now and using another ISP until I receive an answer.

Also to the question of whether my billing will be adjusted accordingly with my service being available to me.

We need to look at the specifics of your usage. Remember that we use a 30 day rolling window that goes across month start-end. So it's last 30 day of bandwidth usage from the present day, and that's the total we calculate on.

Best would be for you to PM me so that we can look into your individual usage and what has transpired. We definitely do not throttle at 100GB!!
 
It does seem like they are throttling people at different usage's, which is really unfair.

Totally not the case, we universally implement throttle according to our rule set. It may vary according to network performance, but this is still consistently applied to those who exceed the threshold limits.
 
Totally not the case, we universally implement throttle according to our rule set. It may vary according to network performance, but this is still consistently applied to those who exceed the threshold limits.
hmm... Ok I will change back to Afrihost this coming month assuming my current isp allows it to be cancelled this month.

Could you give a ballpark on the 2mb limits?
 
I'm on a 4M uncapped and I have just been told after complaining about my speeds that I have been throttled to a 1M service due to high downloads.
My downloads apparently was just over 100GB

I am awaiting clarification on the actual thresholds and the duration of the throttling before normal service is resumed. Switched off my account for now and using another ISP until I receive an answer.

Also to the question of whether my billing will be adjusted accordingly with my service being available to me.

you sure you not getting confused with your OpenWeb account:D
 
Lol, no I actually left Openweb and moved to Afrihost due to me always having to change accounts when I had a hassle. To me the problems were never addressed and just bypassed and I don't like that approach. Deal with the problem until it's fixed is my preference.

Afriman, thanks for your response on this, but I am going on what was quoted to me by your support staff in writing to my problem ticket.
Could you please just clarify once more Afrihost policy on thresholds
I'd like to know for the uncapped accounts individually
1) What are the thresholds
2) What happens specifically when those thresholds are reached
3) How long and under what circumstances are the original services restored.
4) Is the billing adjusted pro-rata for the duration of the diminished service

Once we have this info, we should make a sticky of it as it seems to crop up fairly often. Especially with the guys new to Afrihost like me.

And if I subscribe for the 10M uncapped service on a 4M line, will me thresholds be higher.?

Lastly, is my line locked/throttled, or can I just buy another account and switch between the two when I get throttled?

Please answer the above as completely as possible for me.

Thanks a ton... I want to restore my Pure Internet Joy... :D
 
Will give as specific answers as I can, bearing in mind that these can vary according to network congestion and other factors.

1) Threshold for 4Mbps Uncapped is somewhere around 250GB+. You can do more if the network allows, but 250GB would be pretty much safe without ever hitting throttle. On 10Mb it's probably around 450GB+
2) When you reach the threshold, your throughput starts getting reduced in small increments, if you usage total continues to climb, the throughput is limited further until either the total starts to fall (and it is slowly released) or you reach max throttle, which is 1Mbps on 4MBps, and 2Mbps on 10Mbps.
3) Service comes back to normal when your rolling total falls under the original threshold, but can be gradually restored as your total comes back within range, just as it is throttled in increments as you fall out of range.
4) Billing is not adjusted, as this falls in line with the AUP and service is still continuous.

If you use the 10Mbps account, you fall under those rules, regardless of your actual line speed. So even if you hit threshold, there would be no actual effect until it dropped below 4Mbps (in terms of throttle)

You can always buy a capped account to alternate, which will run at full speed. The throttle is on the data account, not the actual line.

Hope that answers everything :)
 
Thanks Afriman,

I will go and plot my usage when I'm home to see when things went pear-shaped and make my plans accordingly.

One more point of clarification please,
Is the throttling adjustment based on active usage or over pure time?
In other words, if I switch to a secondary uncapped account from another ISP, will it have an immediate effect on my throttling based on the rolling window or is the consideration based on my active usage on that account irrespective of actual time factors.

I might PM you later if I need assistance in determining my actual usage pattern.

I understand completely that you have to pay to play, so I'm just wanting to get the facts so that I can make an informed decision.

Thanks again.. :-)
 
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