Afrihost Uncapped ADSL Feedback

[AfriMan]

AfriMan, can we get straight answers to these simple questions please?

Straight answer is that there are many Cape Town clients getting service that they are happy with. We recognise that there are some clients unhappy with their service, especially gamers, but we feel that while IPC installation will improve this, our recent changes to QoS should have vastly improved this and we are receiving feedback that at the moment this is the case.

Please remember, even though we have had a significant number of complaints here on MyBB and on social media, we have thousands of clients in Cape Town and neighbouring areas or that route via Cape Town, so the context is very different for us.

 

[MrGray]

Rolling limits and thresholds apply to throttling, when we take your full throughput down due to usage. Applying quality of service across the network which prioritises protocols and torrents get slow as a result is a completely different thing.

The other thing to remember is that this is only applicable to Uncapped. If you really need that Linux distro right now at max line speed, capped accounts will give you any priority you want as it's not shaped.

Well at least with the rolling limits on IS (which I was not a fan of because they were a mystery) you got full speed on everything until you hit your mystery limit at which point you could cool off and leave it for a few days or live with the gradual throttling. Not ideal, but better than now, where everything just seems to be equally throttled from the outset.

Anyway, prioritising "real time services" on uncapped makes absolutely no sense and is completely illogical. If all I wanted was snappy "real time services" for browsing, gaming or YouTube, then I wouldn't need an uncapped account because I wouldn't be using all that much data in real time, but you know that full well, don't you? So the excuse of prioritising "real time" services is PR balderdash, as is your claim about greater total usage. I'd like to know how this greater total usage is possible, given that it seems just about everyone, especially your second class Cape Town users, are complaining that they can't download anywhere near as much as we could before your failed network change.

 

[Grep]

I do feel for Afriman, but we can all read between the lines. How is to possible to now have more capacity but it can't handle the load whereas before the IS network was able to?

 

[lucifir]

ok .. I'm tired of the BS ... time to move on .... any1 care to recommend the closed match to the previous AH and IS combo?? I was happy with that for the price and performance I got.
Would like something similar in terms of price and performance ... so open to suggestions.

btw ... its not just cpt users .... I am durbs

 

[AfriMan]

Hey AfriMan,

I am really unhappy with what I am experiencing right now. Speed tests are brilliant, but actual through-put is beyond terrible. From just after midnight Tuesday morning till around 8pm Tuesday night (around 20hrs), I was only able to download 12gbs of data off the PS network before eventually deciding to put the ps3 off and give it a rest. Last night, I could not even watch youtube videos. Lets not even talk about the downloads from news servers. I have a 4mb uncapped line. (just in case you were wondering, none of these were running concurrently)

I signed up 2 family members to your network before this whole debacle and a third was waiting for their account to be cancelled with MWEB. Now I have daily calls about when is this going to get better, why did I sign them up with Afrihost and so on. Highly upsetting to have to go through this everyday.

Right now, it just seems that you guys moved to MTN to get better pricing and not actually a better network. It would seem that you guys either could not sustain your new ADSL pricing and decided to move or that the pricing came about because of the move to a cheaper network. This is the feeling I am getting of this whole situation.

How do ISPs work? Is the throttling/prioritization/contention and all those things mentioned to be at fault on the MTN network handled by the ISP or the network owner? If it is handled by the ISP, how could this not just be copied from the old IS network setup and then tweaked for the "better MTN network?" If it it handled by the network owner, why not have it in place before the move?

I haven't been following this thread for a few days so don't know what has been said in the last week or so, but how long do you think this is going to take? Once it is up and running, are we going to have equal to or better experience than when we were on the IS network? Don't you think it would be fair to rebate all the affected clients a certain percentage, lets say 50%, on their monthly accounts until this is resolved. This is really not fair. I am sure if people wanted to take this legally you guys would just fall back on the fact that it is an up to whatever speed you signed up for and you cannot guarantee a certain through-put. But that is not the right way to treat customers.

I will PM you my details as I know you will ask, but when will this be finalized? Right now I am sure everyone else is tired of we are doing our best to get it sorted. I am sure NASA could get a space shuttle built, launched to the moon and have it back on the ground in less time if they were in the crunch situation you guys currently find yourselves in.

So please, just give us an honest I don't know or 10 days or 3 months, whatever the case may be, so that we can decide whether to stick around or abandon ship. Also let us know whether you guys will rebate/discount or accounts until this is fixed.

Thanks

It's difficult to answer definitively without knowing the full context and running tests to determine all the factors. But off the top of my head, to get 12GB off a 4Mbps line in 20 hours doesn't seem too horrible, especially since PSN can be pretty slow at times, and we are instituting shaping and QoS to limit downloads.

We can't simply cut and paste QoS from one network to another. Firstly we never had control over this on IS, and it's a complex, and dynamic process. It takes an incredible amount of time and resources to implement, there is software and hardware involved, and it's not about having rules set in stone, but a system which is reactive and proactive to usage patterns and trends. However, will only 4 weeks of data, it's hardly enough to base the entire system on. So many things happened in the month, ADSL lines were being upgraded, bandwidth usage patterns are constantly changing, making this a very complex process. Our reasons for moving were partially to get better prices, so that we could pass these savings onto clients. Our mission has always been to deliver the most affordable quality service, and we still believe that we will achieve this in the long run to a much more significant degree than if we had stayed with IS.

 

[4saken]

This is an email I sent Afrihost regarding the shaping

"So you are telling me that at 23:00 in the evening the network is under congestion? Because this statement - on an hour to hour basis depending on the performance of our network at that time - basically means that around 23:00 the network was heavily congested and the nntp protocol had to be shaped, for a few hours that is. Despite the fact that ALL businesses are closed then, the Afrihost network is under more strain at night (after 10pm) then during the day? I cant believe that. I just want an answer as to why I am being shaped. I would rather have the truth then some story.

Even Mweb allows for unshaped downloads after hours. And they are the worst ISP out there."

Their reply was this thread

 

[who.is.michael]

ok .. I'm tired of the BS ... time to move on .... any1 care to recommend the closed match to the previous AH and IS combo?? I was happy with that for the price and performance I got.
Would like something similar in terms of price and performance ... so open to suggestions.

btw ... its not just cpt users .... I am durbs

Moved all my Cape Town uncapped clients to https://www.plugg.co.za/?_page=product_cat:t_Multi Column Table&id=54&showtable=true - and thank goodness they are now all happy, gave the MTN accounts away - as it is still useless (very poor throughput), even though the issue (s) is apparently resolved...

 

[twicode]

Hi afriman.

I sent my PM regarding the 30KB throttling on my 1Mbps line irrespective of time. My youtube and browsing is great and does not get impacted by downloads
However downloads (for most hosts not all) irrespective of time of day(e.g. 2:00AM) do get throttled to a total of 30KBps irrespective how many downloads

For example
http://dl4.htc.com/managed-assets/support/software/htc-sync/htc_sync_setup_3.3.10.exe

Could you test the above file speed from your connection and verify if you also get throttled to 30KBps?

 

[MrGray]

Just out of interest, which protocols are shaped and which are not? Because on my 4mbps uncapped account in Cape Town I don't seem to get more than 1mbps max on ANYTHING and this has mostly been the case since the switchover.

 

[TheBossMan]

+1 Join them to Plugg.co.za

I have already moved and cancelled my Afrihost on the 6th November.. Damm great investment payn R400 for 6day uncap account which was useless all 6 days. Hope my money burns a hole in your bank account b!tches.

Moved all my Cape Town uncapped clients to https://www.plugg.co.za/?_page=product_cat:t_Multi Column Table&id=54&showtable=true - and thank goodness they are now all happy, gave the MTN accounts away - as it is still useless (very poor throughput), even though the issue (s) is apparently resolved...

 

[grim]

I'm going to defend AH on this, I've setup complicated QOS on networks before, it's not the easiest thing in the world to get 100% correct ever.

I've done 90GB this month so far on my 10Mb account, I, unlike a lot of you, am not trying to download the whole damn internet every month just because I have an uncapped account, that's not the point of uncapped. Yes there have been problems, but they have been trying to assist where they can and they've been very forthcoming with information around the problems, you won't find that with a lot of the other providers.

My NNTP is working just fine:
http://tinypic.com/r/2rykqrl/6

Torrents the same:
http://tinypic.com/r/11kifes/6

Another thing is that these accounts are all contented, that's why they can provide them at the price they are. This means that you SHARE bandwidth with other people, if you want to be able to download at full line speed 24/7/365 get a dedicated line.

The cost to provide uncapped ADSL in SA is ridiculous:
Telkom IPC: R1200 per Mbit per month
International Bandwidth: Roughly R700 per Mbit per month

So to provide a single dedicated 10Mb user with enough bandwidth it costs (R1200x10)+(R700x10)=R19000/m

Stop bitching cause you can't pirate every single TV show/Game/Movie/pr0n and whatever else you feel like for R500/m

Other than a small hiccup this morning my account has been running great since they did the software patch.

Remember just because it's uncapped doesn't mean you have to download the whole internet.

 

[MrGray]

However downloads (for most hosts not all) irrespective of time of day(e.g. 2:00AM) do get throttled to a total of 30KBps irrespective how many downloads

This seems to be the crux of the problem. You get throttled regardless of usage.

 

[grim]

Hi afriman.

I sent my PM regarding the 30KB throttling on my 1Mbps line irrespective of time. My youtube and browsing is great and does not get impacted by downloads
However downloads (for most hosts not all) irrespective of time of day(e.g. 2:00AM) do get throttled to a total of 30KBps irrespective how many downloads

For example
http://dl4.htc.com/managed-assets/support/software/htc-sync/htc_sync_setup_3.3.10.exe

Could you test the above file speed from your connection and verify if you also get throttled to 30KBps?

Getting around 800KB/s on that file.

 

[TheBossMan]

Yo Noob technically I can still b!tch on this forum, because my account only gets cancelled end of the month although I could not use it the whole month. Well yeah if you like paying premium rate for *****ty service enjoy it. I sure as hell don't like to pay premium for Beta testing a cr@p server.

And no I don't rape my account and download the whole damn internet. I hardly manage to get 4.5GB from a 4MB line and usual usage 35GB - 55GB a month

If you've left, why are you still on this forum?
I'd rather hear the feedback (good and bad) of actual users.
I still have hope in AH that they will get everything sorted. I'll personally wait it out till the IPC arrives in Durban in Feb.

 

[FapCop]

it's not a question of throttling, it's priority and best Quality of Service. We want to make sure that all real time services are running at full speeds (or best possible) and that flying torrents don't cost decent pings and low latency on gaming, which gets higher priority and it seems to be working in general now.

Rolling limits and thresholds apply to throttling, when we take your full throughput down due to usage. Applying quality of service across the network which prioritises protocols and torrents get slow as a result is a completely different thing.

The gaming issue is resolved, yes, and I am VERY thankful for that. Just want to point something out. I don't think it is a wise course of action to say that p2p and nzb's is "shaped ". The reason why I say that is because if it really was shaped, we would see varying download speeds. For example one minute something would download at 100KB/s, later on at 70KB/s, later on at 110KB/s and so forth as the day rolls on since different things are going on all over the network at different times, resulting in the priorities shifting around. What we see going on in actuality is downloads sitting at a constant 29.4KB/s. Nothing higher, nothing lower. This tells a whole different story. This shows throttling. When support says one thing and the customer sees something else, people get annoyed.

Don't get me wrong, though. I was very pissed when I just saw things happening slowly. But now that I finally know what is going on, I can put up with it knowing that I can still game online and browse. You gotta do what you gotta do, but people want to know what you're doing if it effects their activities.

 

[MrGray]

Getting around 800KB/s on that file.

Well, I'm getting 70KBps on that file on a 4mbps account. And my usage for the month isn't even 20GB on this line, i.e. definitely NOT the entire Internet. So if you were getting this kind of performance would you still defend them?

 

[htpc]

@AfriMan, you should get the network fixed before the school holidays start, currently all the kids are writing exams, so not to much gaming xbox/ps3/pc etc. Once the holiday starts all the kids are jumping onto their gaming consoles, and if the network ain't working they are going to kill what ever bandwidth is available.

Remember these guys play 24/7

 

[twicode]

Well, I'm getting 70KBps on that file on a 4mbps account. And my usage for the month isn't even 20GB on this line, i.e. definitely NOT the entire Internet. So if you were getting this kind of performance would you still defend them?

I am on a 1Mbps line so it equates to less than a third of my line speed (30KBps) that it gets throttled to. I do understand throttling and the need for it I would just like the policy transparent so I could know after what usage will I get throttled and why it the throttling when the network is not congested.

 

[wingnut771]

4MB Uncapped Account

Test conducted on 15 November 2012 13:34
Download Speed: 909 kbps (113.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 350 kbps (43.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 230 ms

total usage till today 9.550GB - dont understand why its so slow....

One word: Oversubscribed

 

[MrGray]

I am on a 1Mbps line so it equates to less than a third of my line speed (30KBps) that it gets throttled to. I do understand throttling and the need for it I would just like the policy transparent so I could know after what usage will I get throttled and why it the throttling when the network is not congested.

1/4 to 1/3 seems to be the prevailing throttled limit - I'm getting about 1/4 of rated speed in Cape Town on a 4mbps account and on a 2mbps account in JHB about 1/3 of rated speed. As far as I can tell there is no "shaping" or QOS, just pure throttling of total line speed.

Oh, and I should add, I haven't downloaded anywhere near previous average monthly data usage on either account.

I work back and forth between CPT and JHB so this is very frustrating - find widely varying latency to JHB as well - can range from 50ms to 3000ms randomly.