Massive outcry about ADSL capping

moggie said:
You are missing the point. Why must the uncapped users be throttled to hell if it is the uncapped users that are allegedly abusing their product?
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I'm missing the point? All I'm saying is that these new accounts are creating a lot of problems for the ISPs, and the teething problems will be here for a little while. It may also be that some are operating at a loss for now, and are throttling users in order to keep these accounts above the water. I also see capped users are suffering the same throttling, so somewhere along the line a few buttons were pressed incorrectly. I get that this would frustrate a lot of users (it would grate me as well) but I don't think it'll be this way for too long. Bandwidth becomes cheaper with each new pipeline into the country, so I expect things will improve massively towards the end of the year, perhaps sooner.

Frankc said:
I only use the internet for WORK and don't download torrents or such things and with the internet connection being my bread and butter it's critical to stay online. After just one "session" with Telkom it already happened that 3 trucks arrived when my line is down but unfortunatelly I switched to a NORMAL, 10GB Afrihost ADSL connection a few months ago and got much worse connection and services.

Either SA ISP's charge us third-world prices for third-world services or they charge us first-world prices (and more) for first world services but they however seems to charge us first-world prices for third world services and you than defend the third-world services?? Not fair is it?
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Frankc said:
Oh really Wesley?

Please be honest with us all and tell me what would YOU do if you pay somebody for ADSL connection, never misuse such service and it's your bread and butter but the ADSL connection that you PAID for is down for long time? (I am by the way a single dad that cannot count on my wife's salary and unlike you I cannot grab the phone and shout at Afrihost so I must wait and wait for their support staff to fix things after 3 senseless responses)

On top of that it's MONTH END and it's usually a critical time for any business, even more for an ONLINE business.
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Look, here's the thing: you complained without giving any background information that tells us why you are complaining. Your opening post just sounded like a rant, and I interpreted it as such.

Perhaps your location is just a piss-poor one, and you've got last-mile problems, or your exchange is run by idiots. You've now added that you run an online business, and that gives you a good reason to complain - your money comes from the internet and having an intermittent connection doesn't help things; I know, I've been there before. In fact, I'm still relying on the internet for a portion of my salary.

Also, I pay Vodacom for my internet - I use my 3G cellphone, and generally cough up R289 a month for 1GB of data, sometimes more. I know how unfair the internet market is right now, especially when Telkom doesn't change line rental prices for quite some time. I get line drops too. I get unusually high pings, poor signals, and a lot of crap from the useless Vodacom staff. I'm planning to move to ADSL this year, and I'm going with either Mweb or Axxess - Mweb for their service, Axxess for their close location to my residence.
 
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NAG - Wesley said:
I'm missing the point? All I'm saying is that these new accounts are creating a lot of problems for the ISPs, and the teething problems will be here for a little while. It may also be that some are operating at a loss for now, and are throttling users in order to keep these accounts above the water. I also see capped users are suffering the same throttling, so somewhere along the line a few buttons were pressed incorrectly. I get that this would frustrate a lot of users (it would grate me as well) but I don't think it'll be this way for too long. Bandwidth becomes cheaper with each new pipeline into the country, so I expect things will improve massively towards the end of the year, perhaps sooner.
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No problem - you missed my earlier post regarding researching a product prior to bringing it to the market...

moggie said:
Ek stem 100% saam met Frank. As jy iets belowe op 'n produk, dan moet jy die beloftes nakom. Hulle moes tog hulle navorsing gedoen het voordat hulle dit bemark het!
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Perhaps your location is just a piss-poor one, and you've got last-mile problems, or your exchange is run by idiots
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The problem is that you just jump to some conclusions without enough information and did it in fact again with above. It's NOT last-mile or exchange problems, it's Afrihost side problems and it's now almost 5 hours since the last response from their support despite emails being send to Gian, Moshe and others too.

As for just the sake of complaining I ALWAYS contact the appropriate company to inform them, explain the problem and try to work with them but if they ignore it or don't fix it even then, I start loading more pressure UNTIL they eventually fixed their problems. Problems is one thing and happens but ignoring problems and customers is another issue altogether.
 
copacetic said:
You seem to have been around awhile, you're not surprised surely?
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Nope, not at all surprised really but still interested if there was perhaps a new hidden meaning/point to that post that I overlooked. I wish mods would pick up early on these threads and either just close them or merge them with the original threads.
 
It's appealing that they cannot provide the service for which they were already paid? Lol. That made my day. Thanks. :D
 
http://www.ispa.org.za/code-of-conduct/complaints-form

I logged a complaint at the Internet Service Provider Organization.

It's however not specific against Afrihost but against the use of the terms "uncapped" and "unlimited" in general that ISP's are so fond to use as marketing tools to mislead the public while their terms and conditions have clauses that clearly show there is no such thing as uncapped and unlimited.

I hope that the ISPA would make a ruling about this so that capped is capped and uncapped is uncapped and BOTH ISP's and their customers know what is what. I myself only use 10 - 20 gb a month and regard the 1 TB users as crazy but even then it's unfair to offer UNCAPPED accounts just to show them the middle finger and actually cap it.

At the same token it's also unfair to let 10 gb users pay the same as 1 000 gb users so I hope that in the future all users are threated equally. I simple cannot see why the normal people and users must always pay for the crazy ones.
 
Khanya said:
Gramatical errors all over Mr. Coetzee's quotes...
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Khanya is right. Your post is fraught with basic grammatical errors. It is all and well if you stand up for consumers' rights, but if your grammer is that bad, your message will get obscured and the reader will lose focus.
 
A thread started and written in the form of an article, where the OP quotes himself from another thread where he complained... I miss the point of this thread as well??
 
J0n0 said:
A thread started and written in the form of an article, where the OP quotes himself from another thread where he complained... I miss the point of this thread as well??
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And besides all the confusion, a debate on his grammer use develops which made him retort in Afrikaans in a pretentious way. Not a very sensible thread, but at least it is entertaining.
 
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NAG - Wesley said:
And you're another one of the complainers? I must admit, the amount of people here with little patience for an esteemed company such as Afrihost is astounding. These uncapped packages are less than a month old, and already people are complaining about throttling (which still has to be sorted out), Fair Usage Policies (which state nowhere that you will be capped, only throttled) and connection problems. (FFS, its still new!)

To all those complainers: honestly, you jumped ship too early. You're the first wave of adopters of the "cheaper" uncapped accounts, and you expected everything to be hunky dory? I think we should be less surprised at how companies tend to screw us over, and more surprised how people have unrealistic expectations of our internet infrastructure - we're not a first world country, we can't keep up with the likes of America or Europe because they have had a big headstart.

Please, quit your whining, and grow some patience. If this means downloading less torrents, ISOs, or podcasts this month, then so be it. Some of us are overwhelming the smaller ISPs with our ridiculously high usage and usage expectations, and they haven't had a chance to formulate a market strategy like Mweb has. None of the others has a network like Mweb, nor the financial clout of a parent company such as Naspers, or a direct link to Seacom - most just resell IS bandwidth, putting them almost at an immediate disadvantage.

Also, its not just Afrihost; everyone everywhere is having connection/throttling/speed problems with different ISPs. It will take some time for all these issues to be ironed out. In the meantime. have patience, and watch/play/read/listen to a bit of the stuff you've managed to download in the last month. Get out a bit. Read a book, or listen to the radio.

In the meantime, for those of you who absolutely need the internet for whatever reason, keep your ISP informed of your problems. Be mindful that they are struggling with the new load and some aren't staffed to an appropriate capacity. be nice and cheerful, even if your ping is horribly high and keep getting mauled by noob Medics in TF2. A lot of the time these people work hard for your enjoyment, and would appreciate some respect and a smiley, or a "Thank you". Its not that hard, really.
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Yeah and the bread cartel only wanted to make a living, nevermind they screwed the consumer out of a bunch of cash.
After all they deserve our respect, they're the biggest millers and they have so many wonderful people working for them and they have shiny trucks with such nice logos etc.
GTFO are you for real?
 
Lol @ this thread, and the OP's attempt at an article where he quotes himself and then labels it an outcry. Can't say that I've seen this happen before on the internet :D
 
cozinsky said:
Khanya is right. Your post is fraught with basic grammatical errors. It is all and well if you stand up for consumers' rights, but if your grammer is that bad, your message will get obscured and the reader will lose focus.
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I think you mean grammar. Watch your spelling if you don't want your message to be obscured and your readers to lose focus. ;)
 
The thread continues...

When responding to a thread on mybroadband one poster said "Lol @ this thread, and the OP's attempt at an article where he quotes himself and then labels it an outcry.". Things then got quiet after when the reply was finished off by Smooth Criminal saying "Can't say that I've seen this happen before on the internet :D"

Of course a lot of us are a little down with the changes to the AUP from Afrihost - it started off so nicely from an ISP that we came to trust (their initial R29 offering took a beating from various people when launched initially yet it held up in the performance department) and then it just felt like we were lied to because of these changes taking place after we had signed up. I'm still with them at the moment however I can't say that I feel quite as impressed with the offering anymore especially when there are other ISP's out there with similarily priced packages.
 
evilstebunny said:
Yeah and the bread cartel only wanted to make a living, nevermind they screwed the consumer out of a bunch of cash.
After all they deserve our respect, they're the biggest millers and they have so many wonderful people working for them and they have shiny trucks with such nice logos etc.
GTFO are you for real?
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Not every company out there aims to be evil and/or draconian in order to make as much cash as possible out of you. Afrihost is one of the few ISPs who have a record for really caring about their customers, and trying to do the best/right thing wherever possible.
 
Wait, don't telkom and most ISP's offer products aimed specifically at business users? If Telkom and your ISP consider you to be a residential user they're going to treat you as such - ie:you'll get "best effort" but no guarantees.

The business accounts cost a little more but come with SLA's (and no port shaping).
 
Frankc said:
The answer is easy. Honestly.

I own a hosting company with a LOT of happy clients and unlike most other ISP's (Internet service providers not always offer internet access) none of our hosting plans include the term "unlimited" because there is no such thing.

It's just NOT honest to scream unlimited and uncapped to gain customers but then refer to the terms and conditions to limit and cap at whim.
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Agreed. Same here. There are no free lunches. Nowhere. You can't get uncapped Eskom for one low monthly fee or unlimited bread or anything else so why should bandwidth be any different.

Fact is, everything costs money and if a provider offers uncapped, they must have a user base of low bandwidth users to financially support the heavy users or they can't sell it as uncapped. Somebody always has to pay. That's bookkeeping 101.
 
So where are all the ASA complaints? If guys are so unhappy and convinced they have a case then file a complaint with the ASA.

If you are willing to wait a month or two then wait a month or two.

If you really don't like the product, then cancel and go with someone else.

If you want true uncapped, then fork out more money for a proper uncapped account.

Simple really... I dunno why we have all this standing around and whining. Do something.
 
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