MWEB Uncapped ADSL - Official Q & A

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MWEB said:
Hi Pilgrim,

Essentially were saying the same thing.

Technically the shaping rules are active at all times, but due to the reduced demand for priority protocols in off-peak hours, all excess capacity will be made avaliable to non-priority protocols and the service will behave in a completely unshaped manner. In other words the rules are always active but only effective when demand exceeds supply (for priority bandwidth).

MWB.
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Thanks for the reply, but please see my other post as to why this is important to me:

Pilgrim said:
Exactly my point. There is a difference between "it should not apply and it will not apply".

Here is why it is important to me:

If you play an online game, and no shaping is happening and the network is under a bit of pressure (lets say tons of people are watching youtube, facebooking, etc) the average latency will go up a bit across the board. If, however, shaping rules kicks in, your online gaming traffic will be the first to be dropped, so instead of having slightly higher pings, you will have dramatic ping spikes.

So, is it "UNshaped", or is it "shaped,-but-you-will-probably-not-notice-it,-we-hope"
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There is a reason gamers want unshaped accounts. No matter how busy the network gets, they will have the same priority as everyone else. I fully understand what you mean when you say that after hours the shaped account "should" be exactly the same as an unshaped account, but the truth is that it will not be. If there is a bit too much load after hours, you will still shape gaming traffic. That means that gamers will more regularly feel the effects of strain on your network.

It is easy to say that this will not be the case, but how sure are you that your network will be so idle after hours (and weekends) that shaping will never happen, and as such, all traffic will seem unshaped?

I am very excited about this product, and I am not trying to bash you, but please be very, very careful when your CEO claims unshaped while in reality it is shaped. ;)

Up till now if you wanted the best of both worlds, unshaped for gaming and cheap for downloading/browsing, you had to buy two accounts and switch between them. The idea of having an uncapped account that is also unshaped after hours is very, very appealing.
 
Hi MWEB,

On the face of it you have done an extraordinary thing, may you reap the benefits of the whirlwind whatever those may be. I would like to ask some specific questions.

I am a freelance developer, I run a web service for clients to test new releases of web-based software, a mail server for my own personal web-site (which I also host) and an FTP server for the few clients that I have to update files on the test environments. I do not run any gaming related sites or bulletin boards or any sorts of software that might generate a lot of traffic, however, your terms and conditions expressly forbid the use of server software and un-attended use for the "consumer" account, and your "business" account is simply out of reach financially, I am just a small operator.

My questions are, given the environment explained, and using a "consumer" account rather than a "business" account:

Are any incoming ports completely blocked, i.e. will my mail, ftp and web server stop working if I switch to your "consumer" account from my SAIX account?

Will the the use of server software be allowed if the usage is low and does not contravene your "abuse" TOS terms or cause hassles on your network?

I thought that disconnecting an ADSL account was against the law as per the terms of the most recent Telecommunications act (not that that document is of much consequence). A 24/7/31 connection should be exactly that; if you disconnect a user and re-assign IP addresses just because of inactivity, surely that contravenes that act?

Kind Regards
Phaedrus
 
This is a good move, but telkom's prices for ADSL and line rental is still ripoff, R550 for only 4mbs? 1st world prices for 3rd world service. 384 is a joke today and not classed as broadband anymore.
 
Here is my question on the 4096 uncapped offering will your downloads only kick in full speed @ nite and finish the next morning or is this true uncapped for the advertised amount?
 
Tharaxis said:
MWEB:

What steps have you taken to ensure this doesn't turn into another Verizon/UUNet uncapped situation whereby it starts off great and as time goes on becomes worse and worse performance-wise (keeping in mind you guys are using more powerful hardware and DPI stuff to help manage your network better than they were). I would hate to sign up today and in 2 months time it's turned into an absolute mess and you guys can't sustain the quality/performance.
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Hi Tharaxis,

Well were staking the reputation of our company/brand on it. Unlike our previous local uncapped offering, which was clearly positioned as a trial, this is the real deal.

MWB.
 
MWEB : Sorry if you answered this question already, but what are you guys deeming fair usage and where is the limit before speed cut etc? and also is it the same as AXXESS with 1 concurrent connection?
 
Hi there,

All ready to sign up ... but the question on the previous page. Some users have been reporting your support staff saying that if they exceed 20GB in the 1st two weeks they will be throttled.
I understand your contention ratio, but 20GB is a very fixed, and not very uncapped number being thrown around.
If this is true can you state out the policy here.

I upload content and could use 20GB in the 1st two weeks, and then 5GB for the rest of the month, depending on my work load.
 
PsyWulf said:
Will the Business 4mbps solution require the Cisco router ( free on 12month contract )
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Hi PsyWulf,

Yes the MWEB Business Uncapped products do require (and are bundled with) a Cisco router. Some of the reasons include;

  • Provide the ability to have static IPs (5)
  • Greater robustness in harsh environments
  • Allow for the various failover options
  • Better remote supportibility
  • Enables throughput graphing

Should not be too difficult to load-balancing traffic between the Ethernet interaces of 2 or more of the bundled Cisco routers. Alternatively if you contact MWEB Business we can provide you with a proper ADSL bonded solution using a single router.

MWB.
 
Hi Mweb

Please can you answer a few questions...

Q: What constitutes abuse, according to MWEB?

Where the activities of any one user have a detrimental impact on the user-base as a whole.
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1.
This is a very vague answer. Please can you define the activities you deem to be detrimental.
IMO an uncapped account would not be attractive to anyone but so called "heavy" users.

2.

Is there a contract period for this service?

3.

Please can you clarify all the questions around whether or not the service will be throttled after a certain amount of usage.

Thanks

Madman88
 
mcclod said:
How will MWEB's uncapped service compare to the poor performance experienced from other uncapped players in the market. What have you done that will set you apart?
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Hi mcclod,

All I can say we've done it properly ... best-of-breed equipment & systems, best-practice design principals & thorough capacity planning.

MWB.
 
From the replies I've read in this thread on the topic of "abuse", it seems that whether specific use is "abuse" or not is based on the current state of the MWEB network.

How is a user supposed to know what the state of the network is?

Does MWEB make available live statistics regarding the current state of their network to enable a user to ascertain whether an action taken by them would be seen as "abuse"?
 
I somehow have a feeling that Afrihost wont be capable of competing with this and still survive... would love to be proven wrong though... @MWEB if all feedback is positive then i think i will switch, as long as your definition of abuse is not something like 50gigs...
 
I find the incessant "abuse" questions rather stupid and annoying given the original statement.

All you need to know is that if the total network usage increases beyond a certain threshold at any given moment (eg. a critical link goes down and total available bandwidth is significantly decreased), then Mweb might consider cutting off connectivity to people who breach the guidelines specified in the TOS. It's that simple. People asking for exact figures are being stupid. The only way you can get anything close to a definite answer is if they said something like "If at any moment the total available bandwidth drops to below X%, we will consider cutting off connectivity to people who have used over Y gigs in a period of Z days". And even that won't be useful to anyone because X can fluctuate for any reason, and MWEB certainly isn't likely to reveal their infrastructure to the public.

Just understand that the more bandwidth you use, the more likely you are to be cut-off in the event that network resource become scarce. It's that simple.
 
Ilitirit said:
I find the incessant "abuse" questions rather stupid and annoying given the original statement.
Click to expand...
Yes FARK people *** **** dammit... stop die nagging jirre man. The product hasn't even launched yet. Mweb is 'n moerse player man hulle weet waarvoor hulle hulself in laat.
 
come on okes abuse does not equal x megs.....

If you are running a download service from you pc at home and people are pulling files from you 24/7 mabey someone will complain... its not a threshold but a way of doing things.....
 
The terms and conditions are no more onerous than any other ISP (ie Axxess Express). But these are legacy T&Cs from previous products. They have already said they will look to update them to bring it more in line with their new uncapped offering.
 
Dear MWeb,

1) Will the client have full admin access to the router supplied in the Uncapped Business deal?

2) Why the need for shaping on the capped accounts. The account is already restricted by bandwidth allowance, so why the need to restrict how the client uses his bandwidth? Think about it - it just does not make sense!

3) Are any bigger packages going to be available (eg 5GB, 10GB) for the capped accounts?
 
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