ISP Review Thread | Compare Your Experiences

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Skowt

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With the recent flood of posts regarding jumping ship and making a change, I found myself yelling "abandon ship" with the masses. Working from home means that like most here, we need stable internet services 24/7.

That being said, I've had the "joy" of testing out 2 different ISP's as well as my own ISP I've been using for the past 3 months (Axxess) and have compared them below:

4JxRZUO.png


All tests were performed with the ISP's default DNS servers provided and downloading the same file, same YouTube video and various segments of a Steam game.

These tests were conducted during business hours as indicated and were all done under the same conditions (within reason). Wifi was disabled and only one computer was on the network at the time of testing (the test PC). Network activity was also monitored to ensure that no other processes were consuming bandwidth.

Below are 3 packet loss tests conducted:

AXXESS:
yEZG22k.png


WebAfrica:
Xp1hDQ9.png


VOX:
RHkwKoI.png


*Note: ignore the 100% loss from the second loop, that destination is clearly set to not respond to ping tests. And remember, 100% and 0% are fine, it's when you get something in-between that you should worry.

The VOX reading of Packet loss just from these tests can be a bit marginal. Granted I did see worse tests later on but didn't screenshot them. However, in comparison to the other ISP's, it shows the worst loss even though it travels through another network. I might be being a bit harsh but these are the results I got when testing.

Again these are all just my results and I'd like to make this thread open to others who specifically have used multiple accounts and can compare them and help everyone decide which is better.

It is also good to note the amount of data you typically download in a month, so we can establish if ISP's should be completely avoided or if just high usage users should avoid them.

Feel free to leave comments and let me know if I should add something.


Tests By Other Users:
#1 CrystalWeb - Capped [Good Results]
[URL="http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/710094-ISP-Review-Thread-Compare-Your-Experiences?p=15543466&viewfull=1#post15543466"]#2 Various Host Review - bgotapen
[/URL]
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Last edited:
The VOX reading of Packet loss just from these tests can be a bit marginal. Granted I did see worse tests later on but didn't screenshot them. However, in comparison to the other ISP's, it shows the worst loss even though it travels through another network. I might be being a bit harsh but these are the results I got when testing.
Click to expand...
Fudged your results a bit I think - 220/1 packets from Axxess/WA versus 338 from VOX?

... and no I don't use VOX.
 
MickZA said:
Fudged your results a bit I think - 220/1 packets from Axxess/WA versus 338 from VOX?

... and no I don't use VOX.
Click to expand...

Hey MickZA,

Yeah I thought that might get questioned. The tests weren't strickly timed but were done at around 5minutes. The point though is that there should be no packet loss at all. I do see what you're saying though, if I ran the Axxess and WebAfrica tests, would it have also shown signs of packet loss?

I highly doubt it as the Vox packet loss issues were detected quite early into testing. It might be best to compile a number of WinMTR tests to compare. (The point of this thread :P) .

We shall see how it goes.
 
Mweb:

I tried the mweb free trail. Had ping spikes and no reply from support - Jason mc gregor if anyone wants to check if he is still alive...

WA:

I had WA business... and it is poop. I will have to make a list.

3 day waiting time for support to answer you.
144p youtube buffering at certain times of the day.
browsing can be slow or even time out depending on how busy their network is.

It is probably the network issues they refuse to show on their main page that the network has ipc issues. Don't want to lose potencial customers you see... because all those new customers and them overselling their accounts caused the ipc issues in the first place

AH: Probably the worst isp in south african at the moment.

Support is useless. It will take you a week with their slow replies to convince them their network is at fault. They will waste another 2 with escalating the issue to a technician who I presume does not exist.

Then when you start to get angry at their horrible slow service(data and support) they will escalate you to "critical care"

They will waste a week retesting your line and so forth then escalate it to mtn and they will let you know when the isue is resolved. That is 6 months ago and still no word. Still packetloss at hop 7

So good luck with them.

Crystal web: tried them. they convenietly got massive issues the month I joined. Support is bad. Service was bad. I hear it is better now... I feel I paid them R400 for something I never got so not going to pay another R400 to see if they are functioning again.

Telkom: Sad to say their home uncapped has kept me alive the past couple of months. It works... well 99% of the time. Still around 50% more than AH or WA.

Vox is where I am heading now when my details i got start working....
 
bgotapen said:
Mweb:

I tried the mweb free trail. Had ping spikes and no reply from support - Jason mc gregor if anyone wants to check if he is still alive...

WA:

I had WA business... and it is poop. I will have to make a list.

3 day waiting time for support to answer you.
144p youtube buffering at certain times of the day.
browsing can be slow or even time out depending on how busy their network is.

It is probably the network issues they refuse to show on their main page that the network has ipc issues. Don't want to lose potencial customers you see... because all those new customers and them overselling their accounts caused the ipc issues in the first place

AH: Probably the worst isp in south african at the moment.

Support is useless. It will take you a week with their slow replies to convince them their network is at fault. They will waste another 2 with escalating the issue to a technician who I presume does not exist.

Then when you start to get angry at their horrible slow service(data and support) they will escalate you to "critical care"

They will waste a week retesting your line and so forth then escalate it to mtn and they will let you know when the isue is resolved. That is 6 months ago and still no word. Still packetloss at hop 7

So good luck with them.

Crystal web: tried them. they convenietly got massive issues the month I joined. Support is bad. Service was bad. I hear it is better now... I feel I paid them R400 for something I never got so not going to pay another R400 to see if they are functioning again.

Telkom: Sad to say their home uncapped has kept me alive the past couple of months. It works... well 99% of the time. Still around 50% more than AH or WA.

Vox is where I am heading now when my details i got start working....
Click to expand...

Going to try summarize this:

Mweb - [Bad - Ping spikes, No Reply from Support]
WA Business - [Bad - Long support delays, YouTube buffering, intermittent speeds depending on their network]
Afrihost - [Bad - Support useless, Packet loss issues]
CrystalWeb - [Bad - Support is bad, service is bad (tested a while ago)]
Telkom - [Average - Home Uncapped works well 99% of the time.]

Going to test Vox next.

Thanks for the insight bgotapen!
 
I'm on Web Africa Business Pro and everything is fantastic.
 
I never quite understand these threads. :)

Quality internet in SA is a prized commodity. Those who have it good rarely tell... First rule of Fight Club...
 
Chevron said:
I'm on Web Africa Business Pro and everything is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Do you mind possibly providing a WinMTR report for us to add to the list? Glad to hear you're getting good speeds!

=================

PostmanPot said:
I never quite understand these threads. :)

Quality internet in SA is a prized commodity. Those who have it good rarely tell... First rule of Fight Club...
Click to expand...

Exactly what we're trying to get rid of. A good ISP should be common knowledge. We can work together and get the best experience but there will always be those that want to keep it all to themselves. This thread is not for those people.
 
Skowt said:
Exactly what we're trying to get rid of. A good ISP should be common knowledge. We can work together and get the best experience but there will always be those that want to keep it all to themselves. This thread is not for those people.
Click to expand...

This makes zero sense to me, because as soon as something is perceived to be the best, in public, everyone jumps to it, degrading the general experience for everyone, particularly existing users.

I'm afraid your "working together to have the best" is a pipe dream. But good luck. :)
 
PostmanPot said:
This makes zero sense to me, because as soon as something is perceived to be the best, in public, everyone jumps to it, degrading the general experience for everyone, particularly existing users.

I'm afraid your "working together to have the best" is a pipe dream. But good luck. :)
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying. What could perhaps be done is that we look into a number of good hosts. E.g. we have a collection of hosts that people report success with and a collection that people hate.

MyBroadband does its own survey which shows SA's most liked web hosts, well having users on the forums provide their evidence and stories comparing ISP's would definitely benefit a lot of people.
 
Skowt said:
I understand what you're saying. What could perhaps be done is that we look into a number of good hosts. E.g. we have a collection of hosts that people report success with and a collection that people hate.

MyBroadband does its own survey which shows SA's most liked web hosts, well having users on the forums provide their evidence and stories comparing ISP's would definitely benefit a lot of people.
Click to expand...

Agreed, appreciate what you're attempting to achieve.

Surveys should be taken with a pinch of salt though, IMO. We've discussed some of the latest surveys (ISP), and how the results are the way they are.
 
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