MWEB Uncapped ADSL - Official Q & A

[Moodtec]

Hello people - i'm on the 4MB uncapped with MWEB and my speeds are excellent - 400KB/s and above - sometimes it even hops up to 500KB/s. Perhaps the degradation has more to do with line signal quality than anything else. I'm close to my exchange and i've never had issues with my MWEB connection. When i was signed up with Telkom's DoBroadband i had nothing but absolutely crappy service though and line sync issues etc etc etc.....Telkom sorted my line sync issues the day i moved over to MWEB so i dont know if my initial issues with Telkom was more so a line issue or a service provider issue. All in all though i'm cruising with my MWEB connection.....here hoping it will NEVER change (and if it does change, i hope its only for the better)

+1

 

[Tanya35]

Let me make sure I understand. MWeb's master business plan was to enter the ADSL market however-many years ago and offer a reliable capped service while they waited patiently for cheap Seacom. As soon as it arrived, they then put their plan into motion. They retail cheap uncapped bandwidth to the country and provide only some customers with a good experience so as not to raise suspicions. Then, they randomly select other users whose connection they block or cripple in order to save bandwidth. They plan carefully to ensure they purchase too little bandwidth for their projected customer-base -- and they refuse to bring more bandwidth online -- so that people will not be able to use the internet effectively. They would rather have unhappy, complaining customers and more profit. They continue to do this -- risking sanction from ICASA or ASA or whatever -- and post reps on forums like this to divert suspicion. They market the product as shaped upfront in order to allow them to mess with some users' connections.

I didn't absorb all your odd reasoning, but you would be surprised what companies get up to. They have been quite cute with their 'viral' marketing (Facebook) and the establishment of a base of free customers to add to their compliment tally. The bottom line is a very compelling motive, but they need to think it through. A perfect example of not thinking at all is Afrihost. Just look at what they did. Do you think THEY intended to upset the public. I guess your question is answered ...

 

[Valerion]

Wolfy, we've all told you time and again that many of the ISP's, including MWEB, have changed their marketing to suit their austerity measures. They are creating disgruntled customers by sharp marketing tricks. Their CEO even alluded to a better experience after business hours, which every MWEB uncapped subscriber knows is utter BS. Their network has been terribly unstable, even if we don't take the Seacom disaster into account. Their technical support may as well not exist, because they don't do much, even weeks later. If you are happy with that state of affairs, then don't get tetchy when the rest of us try and improve things.

I frequently get 400kB/s + on MWEB, after hours. 27GB and it's midway through day 2 of the month, using virtually only torrents. I think that's quite decent for 1.5 days of downloads. Their support line may be hard to reach if the queue is long, but they have always managed to answer my questions. And MWEB Operations here as well.

Shaping is one thing, but selectively blocking certain sites and ports is definitely in the throttling realm.

Please show me which sites are blocked? I found some blocks during the SEACOM outage, but this has been restored recently.

If you're on 4Meg, then the impact of these shena****ns is less and those people cannot fathom what it's like on 384.

I've been on DC during December and Screamer during Feb/March. I know exactly what you mean. Yes, I can imagine it's bad on MWEB. I would not recommend such a slow broadband connection for use on an uncapped account.

 

[SabreWolfy]

Oh please, that would imply intellegence on their part which with the continual lack of forethough on their part...I doubt they posess, the truth is they are merely complacent enough because of their secure market share to care more about quantity than quality.

What? So they're too stupid to plan their evil greed? They just bumble around and happen to rip us off?

 

[SabreWolfy]

I didn't absorb all your odd reasoning, but you would be surprised what companies get up to. They have been quite cute with their 'viral' marketing (Facebook) and the establishment of a base of free customers to add to their compliment tally. The bottom line is a very compelling motive, but they need to think it through. A perfect example of not thinking at all is Afrihost. Just look at what they did. Do you think THEY intended to upset the public. I guess your question is answered ...

What odd reasoning? I'm not saying a great conspiracy theory is impossible -- only that it is unlikely and that if MWeb were being evil, they are doing it very badly and very openly. Everyone who believes there is a conspiracy needs to carefully and systematically gather reliable evidence and data. Anecdotes and hearsay are no good. Valerion has downloaded 27GB in two days. Why would MWeb cripple their 384kbps users?

 

[Rosaudio]

Tanya, please leave and take your BS with you.

I promise you MWEB is MUCH better than whatever ISP you work for

 

[Tanya35]

I frequently get 400kB/s + on MWEB, after hours. 27GB and it's midway through day 2 of the month, using virtually only torrents. I think that's quite decent for 1.5 days of downloads. Their support line may be hard to reach if the queue is long, but they have always managed to answer my questions. And MWEB Operations here as well.



Please show me which sites are blocked? I found some blocks during the SEACOM outage, but this has been restored recently.

If you're on 4Meg, then the impact of these shena****ns is less and those people cannot fathom what it's like on 384.

I've been on DC during December and Screamer during Feb/March. I know exactly what you mean. Yes, I can imagine it's bad on MWEB. I would not recommend such a slow broadband connection for use on an uncapped account.

By blocking I mean reducing the speed to such low levels that it is measured in Kb instead of Mb, as a deterrent. That's a classic throttle. See RS, Hotfile, etc. Gaming is also affected, but to a lesser degree.
Oh, and don't bother using speedtest.net, because that won't show the true situation.

 

[Tanya35]

What odd reasoning? I'm not saying a great conspiracy theory is impossible -- only that it is unlikely and that if MWeb were being evil, they are doing it very badly and very openly. Everyone who believes there is a conspiracy needs to carefully and systematically gather reliable evidence and data. Anecdotes and hearsay are no good. Valerion has downloaded 27GB in two days. Why would MWeb cripple their 384kbps users?

I gave you an example of Afrihost. As I said, they are in business, but seem to want to antagonise their customers and get up to false advertising tricks. This is contrary to your argument that essentially says a company wouldn't do that. Ha!

Valerion is on 4Meg.
384 is crippled by the same extent (in percent). ADSL was NOT designed to be slowed to dialup levels because after that things don't function. It becomes a different product.

 

[rambo919]

What? So they're too stupid to plan their evil greed? They just bumble around and happen to rip us off?

now ur sounding a tad condecending u know that? you must get beaten up a lot in real life so here you think you have a reason to be a jerk because no one can get to you?

 

[AntiThesis]

I gave you an example of Afrihost. As I said, they are in business, but seem to want to antagonise their customers and get up to false advertising tricks. This is contrary to your argument that essentially says a company wouldn't do that. Ha!

Sorry, did you just say "Ha!" in an argument?

I have nothing to add (because I know arguing on the internet is pointless) but that's cool

 

[SabreWolfy]

Seacom Bulk Bandwidth and DoS

How would MWeb make money (aka the greedy MWeb argument) by blocking / throttling sites? Surely they've paid "upfront" for a certain capacity on Seacom whether it's all used or not? They purchase a given capacity in bulk and then sell it to us. If it's used or not makes no difference. Or do they pay Seacom on a "usage" basis?

 

[rambo919]

What odd reasoning? I'm not saying a great conspiracy theory is impossible -- only that it is unlikely and that if MWeb were being evil, they are doing it very badly and very openly. Everyone who believes there is a conspiracy needs to carefully and systematically gather reliable evidence and data. Anecdotes and hearsay are no good. Valerion has downloaded 27GB in two days. Why would MWeb cripple their 384kbps users?

You do realise of course that this country has a recently aquired history of rampant curruption right? In ALL levels. And of course you dont need to be "evil" or intellegent to do it either, thats been proven well enough by said recent history.

 

[Tanya35]

Sorry, did you just say "Ha!" in an argument?

I have nothing to add (because I know arguing on the internet is pointless) but that's cool

Yeah, I have to stoop to his level to 'win' an argument. The trouble is getting him to admit he's lost.

 

[SabreWolfy]

now ur sounding a tad condecending u know that? you must get beaten up a lot in real life so here you think you have a reason to be a jerk because no one can get to you?

You do realise of course that this country has a recently aquired history of rampant curruption right? In ALL levels. And of course you dont need to be "evil" or intellegent to do it either, thats been proven well enough by said recent history.

In light of your first comment above, I see no purpose in continuing this discussion with you.

 

[Tanya35]

How would MWeb make money (aka the greedy MWeb argument) by blocking / throttling sites? Surely they've paid "upfront" for a certain capacity on Seacom whether it's all used or not? They purchase a given capacity in bulk and then sell it to us. If it's used or not makes no difference. Or do they pay Seacom on a "usage" basis?

It's easy. You/we forget that not all users want to use RS, torrents, games etc. Any ISP would love to have 99% casual surfers.
They have spent an allocated amount on bandwidth, but they do control the user level (contention). It is very tempting not to buy more, but to increase their customer base.

 

[SabreWolfy]

Yeah, I have to stoop to his level to 'win' an argument. The trouble is getting him to admit he's lost.

I have decided to no longer engage in discussion with you.

 

[rambo919]

Yeah, I have to stoop to his level to 'win' an argument. The trouble is getting him to admit he's lost.

I'm beginning to think he does not even take this seriously and only keeps on going because he finds it fun.

 

[Tanya35]

You do realise of course that this country has a recently aquired history of rampant curruption right? In ALL levels. And of course you dont need to be "evil" or intellegent to do it either, thats been proven well enough by said recent history.

You have a valid point. There are many examples of a lack of business ethic in this country, even if we don't look at corruption. When regulations (ICASA) and enforcement are weak, this will tend to occur.

 

[Tanya35]

I have decided to no longer engage in discussion.

Thanks for bowing out gracefully.

 

[rambo919]

You have a valid point. There are many examples of a lack of business ethic in this country, even if we don't look at corruption. When regulations (ICASA) and enforcement are weak, this will tend to occur.

This is unfortunately a country where "impulse curruption" is fast beconging a national hobby hahaha