Afrihost Weird Speed Test Results...

[qdelpeche]

Hi Everyone,

I have Fibre through Frogfoot and Afrihost, in Sunningdale Cape Town. I have a 400 Down / 200 Up package and I am noticing something really weird.

I run a Speed Test every day at Midnight and over the last few months I have noticed the following:

• Sat 22 Aug 2026
  • Download: 393.55 Mbps
  • Upload: 204.36 Mbps
• Fri 21 Aug 2026
  • Download: 83.28 Mbps
  • Upload: 76.81 Mbps
• Thu 20 Aug 2026
  • Download: 83.21 Mbps
  • Upload: 78.51 Mbps
• Wed 19 Aug 2026
  • Download: 85.11 Mbps
  • Upload: 76.96 Mbps
• Tue 18 Aug 2026
  • Download: 393.66
  • Upload: 204.59
• Mon 17 Aug
  • Download: 393.81 Mbps
  • Upload: 204.56 Mbps
• Sun 16 Aug 2026
  • Download: 83.91 Mbps
  • Upload: 78.90 Mbps

So this morning, I ran some tests directly. This is a Linux server plugged directly in to the router with no other devices connected inbetween. Something I have tried to explain to Afrihost support on numerous ocassions, but that is a story for another day.
Surely you should get what you pay for, or am I just being naive? I have tried raising this with Afrihost, sent them all my logs, but they insist there is nothing wrong when they test. Is there something going on here, are they charging us for something that they then throttle when no one is watching? Not trying to be conspiratorial or anything , but something weird is going on here.

Something just feels off here. Anybody have suggestions or ideas? Thank you for your time.

These tests are 1 after the other in a space of 5 minutes.

Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Webafrica Networks (Pty) Ltd - Cape Town (id: 69537)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.33 ms (jitter: 0.94ms, low: 2.54ms, high: 4.05ms)
Download: 82.73 Mbps (data used: 37.4 MB)
14.17 ms (jitter: 1.39ms, low: 4.46ms, high: 25.42ms)
Upload: -73786976294838.20 Mbps [| ] 0% - latency: 14 Upload: 77.71 Mbps (data used: 36.2 MB)
36.24 ms (jitter: 1.63ms, low: 8.46ms, high: 40.09ms)
Packet Loss: Not available.


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Tech5 Group Pty Ltd - Cape Town (id: 57315)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.02 ms (jitter: 0.25ms, low: 2.91ms, high: 3.53ms)
Download: 393.68 Mbps (data used: 177.8 MB)
14.83 ms (jitter: 0.97ms, low: 3.30ms, high: 22.14ms)
Upload: 204.46 Mbps (data used: 92.1 MB)
25.22 ms (jitter: 1.54ms, low: 3.35ms, high: 38.71ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Tech5 Group Pty Ltd - Cape Town (id: 57315)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.33 ms (jitter: 1.04ms, low: 2.22ms, high: 3.89ms)
Download: 393.12 Mbps (data used: 177.7 MB)
20.01 ms (jitter: 1.02ms, low: 2.28ms, high: 22.21ms)
Upload: 204.51 Mbps (data used: 92.1 MB)
33.63 ms (jitter: 1.51ms, low: 3.17ms, high: 38.87ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Webafrica Networks (Pty) Ltd - Cape Town (id: 69537)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 4.00 ms (jitter: 0.25ms, low: 3.65ms, high: 4.10ms)
Download: 80.19 Mbps (data used: 85.0 MB)
14.15 ms (jitter: 1.43ms, low: 2.99ms, high: 25.30ms)
Upload: 75.41 Mbps (data used: 85.6 MB)
36.01 ms (jitter: 2.33ms, low: 6.44ms, high: 67.02ms)
Packet Loss: Not available.


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Network Platforms (Pty) Ltd - Cape Town (id: 8453)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.99 ms (jitter: 0.21ms, low: 3.81ms, high: 4.29ms)
Download: 78.26 Mbps (data used: 53.8 MB)
28.45 ms (jitter: 7.27ms, low: 5.51ms, high: 288.87ms)
Upload: 71.93 Mbps (data used: 37.0 MB)
30.99 ms (jitter: 9.21ms, low: 6.07ms, high: 295.34ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: Atomic Access - Cape Town (id: 48238)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.87 ms (jitter: 0.21ms, low: 3.55ms, high: 3.98ms)
Download: 83.78 Mbps (data used: 40.0 MB)
21.05 ms (jitter: 1.28ms, low: 6.02ms, high: 29.51ms)
Upload: 71.44 Mbps (data used: 81.3 MB)
36.76 ms (jitter: 4.82ms, low: 5.99ms, high: 293.26ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%


Speedtest by Ookla

Server: RSAWEB - Cape Town (id: 71176)
ISP: AFRIHOST OTHER
Idle Latency: 3.54 ms (jitter: 0.87ms, low: 2.44ms, high: 4.23ms)
Download: 79.20 Mbps (data used: 42.9 MB)
30.89 ms (jitter: 8.09ms, low: 11.71ms, high: 284.13ms)
Upload: -73786976294838.20 Mbps [\ ] 0% - latency: 30 Upload: 74.93 Mbps (data used: 33.9 MB)
38.06 ms (jitter: 16.89ms, low: 7.33ms, high: 314.06ms)
Packet Loss: 0.0%

 

[qdelpeche]

Update, while going through the data, I noticed this:

Speedtest server	Download	Upload
Webafrica	82.73	77.71
Tech5	393.68	204.46
Tech5	393.12	204.51
Webafrica	80.19	75.41
Network Platforms	78.26	71.93
Atomic Access	83.78	71.44
RSAWEB	79.20	74.93

The fact that Tech5 repeatedly gives me almost exactly the provisioned 400/200, while several completely different Cape Town Speedtest servers cluster remarkably closely around ~80/75, tells us something important.

Your Frogfoot fibre line is clearly capable of delivering 400/200. That makes things like my Ethernet connection, Linux server, router port negotiating at 100 Mbps, ONT provisioning at ~100 Mbps, etc. extremely unlikely explanations. If any of those were the bottleneck, Tech5 wouldn't suddenly deliver 393 Mbps.

Afrihost explicitly says its Pure Fibre service is uncapped, unshaped and unthrottled, with no usage thresholds.

Their Fibre terms nevertheless say speeds are supplied on a best-effort basis, depending on the last-mile provider's constraints and demand on Afrihost's network. They specifically state that varying fibre speeds don't automatically constitute a fault.

So legally/contractually, I know I am probably not entitled to 400.000 Mbps 24/7 to every destination on the Internet.

But there's an enormous difference between that and what I am seeing. I'd consider 370–395 Mbps perfectly reasonable for a 400 Mbps residential connection. I'd even accept significant occasional variation caused by congestion.

But ~80 Mbps repeatedly on a 400 Mbps connection, while another local endpoint simultaneously gives 393 Mbps, deserves a technical explanation.

 

[PBCool]

This does look like an interface issue to be honest, do you have a 2nd device to run the test side by side?

 

[qdelpeche]

This does look like an interface issue to be honest, do you have a 2nd device to run the test side by side?

Yes I do. Let me try that.

I also have a second NIC inside the server ... let me run some tests and post the results here.