Crystal Web (NEW ISP) ADSL Feedback

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I'm hearing lots of good things about Crystal Web, but I'm not sure if my household's usage would conform to their policies. We usually use 300-450GB each month, with 5 people doing Unotelly streaming, Steam and PSN downloads, large audio sample libraries, lots of HD Youtube etc. P2P downloads are present but represent a relatively small portion of data use.

If we moved to Crystal Web would we be shaped to hell, and if so, how so?
 
@Bryn26

I live in a household of 5, constant streaming, games, Skype, the works.
Put it simply, everything just works. Nothing else to say.
 
Bryn26 said:
I'm hearing lots of good things about Crystal Web, but I'm not sure if my household's usage would conform to their policies. We usually use 300-450GB each month, with 5 people doing Unotelly streaming, Steam and PSN downloads, large audio sample libraries, lots of HD Youtube etc. P2P downloads are present but represent a relatively small portion of data use.

If we moved to Crystal Web would we be shaped to hell, and if so, how so?
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Hop onto live chat and our support agents can go through it with you - line speed etc ...

We don't offer shaped to hell at this point in time and are investigating it as an option for customers who'd like suffering without relief at an appropriate price point -- see the earlier discussion
 
Bryn26 said:
I'm hearing lots of good things about Crystal Web, but I'm not sure if my household's usage would conform to their policies. We usually use 300-450GB each month, with 5 people doing Unotelly streaming, Steam and PSN downloads, large audio sample libraries, lots of HD Youtube etc. P2P downloads are present but represent a relatively small portion of data use.

If we moved to Crystal Web would we be shaped to hell, and if so, how so?
Click to expand...

Well, we don't have a "shaped to hell" profile at all. Hop on to live chat on our website and we'll assist with the best possible package for you. Current customers are pretty damn happy to be honest...
 
Woodlands said:
@Bryn26

I live in a household of 5, constant streaming, games, Skype, the works.
Put it simply, everything just works. Nothing else to say.
Click to expand...

That's encouraging to hear. Thanks for the feedback.

Crystal Web said:
Well, we don't have a "shaped to hell" profile at all. Hop on to live chat on our website and we'll assist with the best possible package for you. Current customers are pretty damn happy to be honest...
Click to expand...

We're currently on Afrihost 8Mbit Business. It's okay - not bad but not great. Streaming performance is average, as is gaming, and Afrihost is prone to authentication issues and IPC contention. It's R1197pm incl. line rental, and I see on the Crystal Web website that 10Mbps uncapped plus line rental is R1198pm. Paying R1 more for much improved streaming and gaming and an extra 2Mbps sounds great, but not if it means downloading goes out the window. Will your online chat facility disclose concrete figures about your shaping policies?
 
Bryn26 said:
We're currently on Afrihost 8Mbit Business. It's okay - not bad but not great. Streaming performance is average, as is gaming, and Afrihost is prone to authentication issues and IPC contention. It's R1197pm incl. line rental, and I see on the Crystal Web website that 10Mbps uncapped plus line rental is R1198pm. Paying R1 more for much improved streaming and gaming and an extra 2Mbps sounds great, but not if it means downloading goes out the window. Will your online chat facility disclose concrete figures about your shaping policies?
Click to expand...

I'll happily disclose disclose for you. We're not shy about it, nor coy and dishonest.

On 10Mbps uncapped we only shape large downloads - p2p, http, and nntp for example. But we give you hundreds of gigs before we even apply any shaping. It's an incredibly unique product. Most ISPs look at shaping from the outset. We don't. We try to unshape your connection for as much as possible as an added value offering. Once shaped, downloading of large files is shaped. i.e. full line speed for a certain duration, then the speed is lowered. Shaping is released after midnight though. This means that gaming, streaming, browsing etc always works. Essentially, we listened to what the market wanted and made it happen.

So go ahead and move over our side. There are no calendar month notice periods. ;)
 
Crystal Web said:
I'll happily disclose disclose for you. We're not shy about it, nor coy and dishonest.

On 10Mbps uncapped we only shape large downloads - p2p, http, and nntp for example. But we give you hundreds of gigs before we even apply any shaping. It's an incredibly unique product. Most ISPs look at shaping from the outset. We don't. We try to unshape your connection for as much as possible as an added value offering. Once shaped, downloading of large files is shaped. i.e. full line speed for a certain duration, then the speed is lowered. Shaping is released after midnight though. This means that gaming, streaming, browsing etc always works. Essentially, we listened to what the market wanted and made it happen.

So go ahead and move over our side. There are no calendar month notice periods. ;)
Click to expand...

I'll give you guys a try then. I just realised it's the 25th today, which is a real shame because I think Afrihost requires cancellation notice before the 25th of a month for service to terminate at the end of it. I'll check with them later today to be sure though. Worst case, I'll be trying out Crystal Web from November. Thanks for your help!
 
Crystal Web said:
I'll happily disclose disclose for you. We're not shy about it, nor coy and dishonest.

On 10Mbps uncapped we only shape large downloads - p2p, http, and nntp for example. But we give you hundreds of gigs before we even apply any shaping. It's an incredibly unique product. Most ISPs look at shaping from the outset. We don't. We try to unshape your connection for as much as possible as an added value offering. Once shaped, downloading of large files is shaped. i.e. full line speed for a certain duration, then the speed is lowered. Shaping is released after midnight though. This means that gaming, streaming, browsing etc always works. Essentially, we listened to what the market wanted and made it happen.

So go ahead and move over our side. There are no calendar month notice periods. ;)
Click to expand...

What do you guys define as 'large downloads'?
 
I currently have a 10Mps account with another ISP. It has a 75GB cap + 75GB Night time data, what does a similar account cost with Crystal Web, including line rental.? I cant find pricing on your web site.
 
Just cancelled my Afrihost 6mb business uncapped service and ADSL line, planning to move it to Crystal Web come 1st of October :)
 
SLicK said:
Just cancelled my Afrihost 6mb business uncapped service and ADSL line, planning to move it to Crystal Web come 1st of October :)
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Hey man, was thinking of doing the same but don't they bill you on the 25th(today)?
 
Does Crystal Web offer capped accounts? I can't find it on the website. I need like 20gbs to use by the end of the month.
 
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50-saint said:
Hey man, was thinking of doing the same but don't they bill you on the 25th(today)?
Click to expand...

I just spoke to their accounts department, they confirmed my data account will be cancelled by the end of this month and my ADSL will be moved back to Telkom at the end of October (not an issue as I'm still going to use it).

As soon as my ADSL line is back with Telkom, I'll be moving it to CrystalWeb as well :)

10mb uncapped account, here we come!
 
At R998 p/m for 10MB line, it's not the cheapest ISP out there. On a tight budget , and that is R300 p/m more than I am paying now.
 
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