Crystal Web ADSL performance feedback thread Part 3...

[Surv0]

DJ - Ive always wondered about the after hours usage, and have picked up the hourly update pattern from Telkom when I was with WA.

Im a little confused about the session starts though. lets say I never reboot my router, it stays connected for days on end. If I only start my downloads at 12pm, does Telkom see this as only beginning at 12pm? There will be little to no usage before this point.

 

[DJ...]

DJ - Ive always wondered about the after hours usage, and have picked up the hourly update pattern from Telkom when I was with WA.

Im a little confused about the session starts though. lets say I never reboot my router, it stays connected for days on end. If I only start my downloads at 12pm, does Telkom see this as only beginning at 12pm? There will be little to no usage before this point.

They update every hour, but not on the hour. So a session of usage and connectivity may start at 23:41:37 and the next at 00:43:28 (session end will be the same time as the new session start time). No way for us to know which usage there fell inside the window of off peak, so we only use session start, and add an additional session after as well. It balances things out quite nicely on that basis and is very fair. It's also the only realistic way of doing this as we cannot get radius updates from the exchange faster than every hour as standard, without a disconnect of the PPPOE session. We can initiate that remotely, but what if you're in-game and we DC you mid-game?

 

[Surv0]

They update every hour, but not on the hour. So a session of usage and connectivity may start at 23:41:37 and the next at 00:43:28 (session end will be the same time as the new session start time). No way for us to know which usage there fell inside the window of off peak, so we only use session start, and add an additional session after as well. It balances things out quite nicely on that basis and is very fair. It's also the only realistic way of doing this as we cannot get radius updates from the exchange faster than every hour as standard, without a disconnect of the PPPOE session. We can initiate that remotely, but what if you're in-game and we DC you mid-game?

If there were some software app available to kill the router PPPoE connection I would be interested in using it. Time it to force a reboot just before 12 or something.

 

[DJ...]

If there were some software app available to kill the router PPPoE connection I would be interested in using it. Time it to force a reboot just before 12 or something.

No, just after 12. And you can use a Mikrotik router for this, or a script for your router or PPPOE session you dial up. Or just schedule it from 1am if need be too instead? Makes life a little easier for you in all likelihood...

 

[MickeyD]

If there were some software app available to kill the router PPPoE connection I would be interested in using it. Time it to force a reboot just before 12 or something.

Set your PC clock forward by 5 minutes and then use a software scheduler to begin at 00:00. Some apps have built in schedulers... use them.

 

[Surv0]

Set your PC clock forward by 5 minutes and then use a software scheduler to begin at 00:00. Some apps have built in schedulers... use them.

Thats what Im using, but im trying to avoid Telkom looking at my session as being started before 12pm. I force a router reboot at 12, to create a fresh session, my apps will begin downloading automatically.

 

[DJ...]

Set your PC clock forward by 5 minutes and then use a software scheduler to begin at 00:00. Some apps have built in schedulers... use them.

Won't really help for sessions where the start time is, say 23:41:32. Next session update (without a disconnect) will be around and hour's time from then...

 

[XperiAnce]

If you'd like a breakdown of your usage, our support staff can provide you with this per day and hour...

Thanks DJ. I've received the breakdown and note some heavy daytime usage, I'll find the culprit device on my network and take care of it.

However, can I confirm by your statements that the below line item (as an example) is being tracked as Regular Time usage (and eating into my Daytime Cap):

23:44:56 00:50:29 01:05:33 54,26 2477,49 2531,75 <-- 2.5GB

 

[DJ...]

Thanks DJ. I've received the breakdown and note some heavy daytime usage, I'll find the culprit device on my network and take care of it.

However, can I confirm by your statements that the below line item (as an example) is being tracked as Regular Time usage (and eating into my Daytime Cap):

23:44:56 00:50:29 01:05:33 54,26 2477,49 2531,75 <-- 2.5GB

Yes, that session would have started (on Telkom's systems) at 23:44. Without a disconnect, these sorts of sessions that update mid-way through an hourly interval prove problematic. There's simply no way for any ISP to know what usage was used in what time-period, so the only fool-proof solutions are to: force a disconnect at 00:05 or to set the schedule from 01:00 for downloads to fire off to be 100% sure. I wish there was a way for us to control the exchange radius update intervals to get more granular control over this but as it stands right now, there's none, and there's no word of proposed changes to Telkom's AAA that I'm aware of (which if I'm honest is antiquated, but I can understand their reluctance to change such a pivotal aspect of their network)...

 

[hmadhi]

Any plans on small capped accounts? Eg 50, 100G anytime accounts?

 

[DJ...]

Any plans on small capped accounts? Eg 50, 100G anytime accounts?

Those are already on our site, under business premium capped. And yes, there are plans for this, and some interesting other products you guys will (hopefully) love...

 

[hmadhi]

Ah... Ok thanks... bit overpriced though compared to axxess and afrihost. For ordinary users like me its the price that matters.

 

[XperiAnce]

Yes, that session would have started (on Telkom's systems) at 23:44. Without a disconnect, these sorts of sessions that update mid-way through an hourly interval prove problematic. There's simply no way for any ISP to know what usage was used in what time-period, so the only fool-proof solutions are to: force a disconnect at 00:05 or to set the schedule from 01:00 for downloads to fire off to be 100% sure. I wish there was a way for us to control the exchange radius update intervals to get more granular control over this but as it stands right now, there's none, and there's no word of proposed changes to Telkom's AAA that I'm aware of (which if I'm honest is antiquated, but I can understand their reluctance to change such a pivotal aspect of their network)...

If I remember correctly, my usage between 11pm - 12pm and 6am - 7am with WA was allocated to Download Plus hours. That's how they dealt with sessions reported incorrectly, and just took the hit on behalf of the customer.

So with WA, the line item I quoted would've been allocated into the Download Plus hours. I noticed this on the 1st of some month when my hourly usage stated I went over into 7AM with a few GB, but my Normal Usage was just a few MB and the Download Plus amount was the sum of all data used between 12pm and 7am (despite DP hours technically ending at 6am)

Not saying you guys need to do that, just what I observed.

 

[Sinbad]

Any hints available yet on vuma prices/packages?
I'm applying tomorrow...

 

[DJ...]

If I remember correctly, my usage between 11pm - 12pm and 6am - 7am with WA was allocated to Download Plus hours. That's how they dealt with sessions reported incorrectly, and just took the hit on behalf of the customer.

So with WA, the line item I quoted would've been allocated into the Download Plus hours. I noticed this on the 1st of some month when my hourly usage stated I went over into 7AM with a few GB, but my Normal Usage was just a few MB and the Download Plus amount was the sum of all data used between 12pm and 7am (despite DP hours technically ending at 6am)

Not saying you guys need to do that, just what I observed.

While I cannot speak on their behalf, I am 99,99% sure that that is not how they allocate usage at all. They don't add usage from 11pm into the download plus hours. But only they can confirm. (FYI, we ran those exact same profiles up until about 2 months ago)...

 

[DJ...]

Any hints available yet on vuma prices/packages?
I'm applying tomorrow...

I'll PM you some details tomorrow - remind me...

 

[MickeyD]

Hey DJ... !!!

 

[DJ...]

Hey DJ... !!!

Put the record on?

 

[MickeyD]

Put the record on?

That too...



But this is your reminder to send that product info to Sinbad.

 

[OMB]

Put the kettle on?

Ftfy