MWeb Proxy >:|

[SabreWolfy]

A few weeks ago international browsing at my parents' place ground to a halt. I contacted MWeb and was told to put

dsl-cache.saix.net:8080

into the proxy settings for my browser. This solved the problem.

Today I experienced the same problem -- international browsing feels slower than a 9.6K modem. I contacted support and was told the same thing about the proxy. Putting this setting in solved the problem.

1. I was told there are no problems with any of the international links. If that's the case, why do I need the proxy setting?
2. I'm browsing international sites on my precious 3GB cap, but actually using local bandwidth?
3. Why do some people need the proxy and others not?
4. Why didn't I need the proxy last week or last month or last year?
5. What about other protocols like IMAP, SMTP, SSH? They're (often) local and don't really need the proxy? I haven't set the proxy system-wide and I don't want to.

Any comments? Confused.

PS: This site is blisteringly fast though ... nice!

 

[arf9999]

Okay...

Firstly a bit of background:
1. You always connect to international sites through a proxy. It doesn't matter if you use Telkom or IS or Vodacom. Usually you will connect to a "transparent" proxy which reduces the amount of international traffic by caching data that is requested often (e.g. the google logo). There are lots of these proxies in the Telkom network. How many? I don't know. But only some of Telkom's ADSL customers will be connecting through a particular proxy at a certain time.
2. Sometimes one of SAIX's transparent proxies goes titsup. It doesn't process requests correctly or gives gateway errors or is just really fscking slow. For some reason it often takes Telkom a few days to notice this, and in this period browsing is terrible. Because you can't actually see the proxy in a tracert, it's difficult to find out the reason for connectivity hassles. Sometimes disconnecting and reconnecting will connect you to another proxy that works ok, but more often not.
3. The dsl-cache proxy is similar to the transparent proxies (it caches the same data) except that it isn't transparent. The great thing is that it is controllable. Thus you can direct your data to that particular server.

 

[MWEB]

Today I experienced the same problem -- international browsing feels slower than a 9.6K modem.

Hi SabreWolfy, the problem is under investigation from our side.

Seems to be more systemic in nature, some preliminary tests showing much of the return (SAIX ADSL) traffic into SA from US & EU is being re-routed via Hong Kong (SAFE) instead of London (SAT3).

Will report back when I have some updates.

MWB

 

[fragtion]

Hi SabreWolfy, the problem is under investigation from our side.

Seems to be more systemic in nature, some preliminary tests showing much of the return (SAIX ADSL) traffic into SA from US & EU is being re-routed via Hong Kong (SAFE) instead of London (SAT3).

Will report back when I have some updates.

MWB

Please could you enquire with SAIX as to why their cache network limits each international TCP session to 512kbps essentially slowing down international browsing, especially for streaming stuff like YouTube.
All my personal efforts to contact them have been futile.

 

[MWEB]

Hi All,

We've received confirmation from SAIX that the international access/browsing issues (http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=191504) plaguing many last week have been resolved.

Should you still be experiencing any international problems with a MWEB account, please PM me to follow up.

MWB