MWEB Uncapped Subscribers Feedback

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Garyvdh said:
Nope. All weekdays are shaped. All ISPs do this.
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I am an existing MWeb subscriber (4MBps and 5GB cap). I was told on another thread by the MWeb represenative that I can stick to my existing package:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...cial-Q-amp-A&p=3720030&viewfull=1#post3720030

I was also told that MWeb uses advanced content caching technology:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...cial-Q-amp-A&p=3722884&viewfull=1#post3722884

Today (Mon 22nd, public holiday) my performance sucks, since I rebooted my modem to use the new MWeb backbone.

I'm currently getting 30KByte/sec on international downloads (MP3 via HTTP).

If I try to download the same file after it is cached, the download sometimes hangs. Once it went at 250KByte/sec. Now the same file got 'lost' by the cache, and its back to 30KByte/sec.

Something isn't right...
 
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Gordon_R said:
If I try to download the same file after it is cached, the download sometimes hangs. Once it went at 250KByte/sec. Now the same file got 'lost' by the cache, and its back to 30KByte/sec.

Something isn't right...
Click to expand...

I don't think ISP level caching works that way, they can't store every single file everyone downloads, they only cache the most popular content, probably a few TB's of it.

Are you sure it's not the specific download you're trying? Try something off a well known server or even local.
 
Alestorm said:
I don't think ISP level caching works that way, they can't store every single file everyone downloads, they only cache the most popular content, probably a few TB's of it.

Are you sure it's not the specific download you're trying? Try something off a well known server or even local.
Click to expand...

I think the BBC is a well known!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/drkarl

The same type of files used to be cached by the SAIX ADSL cache server, until I rebooted my modem. Its probable that the MWeb network is not caching files uniformly (its impossible to have one giant server for a million users).

Every operating system since the 1980s has included FIFO/LRU caching of disk drive content. (Keeps the most recent files accessed. Its not too difficult...)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_replacement_algorithm

Either that, or one of the international cables is broken?
 
had an mweb 5 gb account, before i moved over i downloaded a nzb file and it was coming down @ 300-400kbps, move over to uncapped and do a quick test so i download the same nzb file it now comes down @ 70kbps, i thought that weekends count as offpeak
 
Mr Feesh said:
had an mweb 5 gb account, before i moved over i downloaded a nzb file and it was coming down @ 300-400kbps, move over to uncapped and do a quick test so i download the same nzb file it now comes down @ 70kbps, i thought that weekends count as offpeak
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The way their shaping system works there aren't meant to be any peak or off-peak times like cell providers, it just depends on the capacity at the time. But still a public holiday should have relatively low usage so P2P should be almost full speed. Perhaps a lot of people are actually using the network at home today.. it is mostly newly uncapped subscribers exercising their new freedom at the moment. :)
 
If it sucks people will leave and go elsewhere. For an extra R1000-odd you can get totally unshaped - business ADSL.
 
Mr Feesh said:
had an mweb 5 gb account, before i moved over i downloaded a nzb file and it was coming down @ 300-400kbps, move over to uncapped and do a quick test so i download the same nzb file it now comes down @ 70kbps, i thought that weekends count as offpeak
Click to expand...

my downloads from astraweb have been at 350+. and that is on a computer connecting wirelessly to my router where the signal is pretty poor. nzb performance for me over the long weekend has been top notch.
 
Mr Feesh said:
had an mweb 5 gb account, before i moved over i downloaded a nzb file and it was coming down @ 300-400kbps, move over to uncapped and do a quick test so i download the same nzb file it now comes down @ 70kbps, i thought that weekends count as offpeak
Click to expand...

Alestorm said:
The way their shaping system works there aren't meant to be any peak or off-peak times like cell providers, it just depends on the capacity at the time. But still a public holiday should have relatively low usage so P2P should be almost full speed. Perhaps a lot of people are actually using the network at home today.. it is mostly newly uncapped subscribers exercising their new freedom at the moment. :)
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PeterCH said:
If it sucks people will leave and go elsewhere. For an extra R1000-odd you can get totally unshaped - business ADSL.
Click to expand...

I have the same experience at Mr Feesh, although I did not change my account (all I did was reboot my modem). I don't see how Jpeg via HTTP could possibly be shaped...

I would not be at all happy if for the same cost the new packages give worse service. I can't believe that the installed capacity has been used up by a few thousand (?) new users, compared to the millions of existing MWeb users.

Update: It is possible that all existing users (by default) are being throttled to a minimum of 384Kbps, until they upgrade their packages, or until network congestion lifts. That's what it 'feels' like for me...
 
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Gordon_R said:
I would not be at all happy if for the same cost the new packages give worse service. I can't believe that the installed capacity has been used up by a few thousand (?) new users, compared to the millions of existing MWeb users.

Update: It is possible that all existing users (by default) are being throttled to a minimum of 384Kbps, until they upgrade their packages, or until network congestion lifts. That's what it 'feels' like for me...
Click to expand...

Well it's not the same cost is it? These uncapped accounts are very cheap by our standards.

It is an entirely new network that is managed by MWeb as opposed to IS/SAIX who probably run their old capped accounts, so MWeb could just be messing up/testing on their network. There is no way that the capacity is being used up after-hours on a public holiday, so it is weird.
 
Alestorm said:
Well it's not the same cost is it? These uncapped accounts are very cheap by our standards.
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I'ms sure the uncapped accounts are cheap by SA standards, but for an 'average' user such as myself (4Mbps with 5GB cap), there seems to be little incentive to switch to uncapped at a lower speed. Except today I am getting the worst of both worlds (capped, and slow).
 
So what speeds are guys on 384k lines getting from the news servers? Also I read that they do not have specific hours during which it is throttled but what are you guys finding? Do downloads come through at full speed after 6 and before 7 during the week and over the whole weekend or are you finding it is less often than this?

My current local usage accounts will still be better for me if the NS's are unusable.
 
what is the mweb NS called? I'd like to test it. Max 2 connections right?
 
Signed up today, so far so good! Speeds were between 400-430KB/s on multiple http downloads, will be testing torrents shortly :D
 
Ok, im totally new to the whole mweb news server thing :/ How do I go about it? Ill use grabit :)
 
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