Before the "emotional brand supporters" try to distract from the issue(s) at hand, let me state:
I utilise, Afrihost, Altech, BCS Net, Cybersmart, FNB Connect, iBurst, Telkom and Web Africa on a daily basis (in the past I have also utilised; MWEB, Vodacom, MTN, RSA Web, Gamco, etc. - given up on these, for a host of reasons) supplied either directly by the ISP, or from resellers like Open Web & TRL Tech and a few others I do not wish to mention as these forums disgust them, (with good reason I might add).
From the above, Cybersmart (no shaping, since my last test a month ago) and Web Africa (heavily shaped) are the best of a really bad bunch of ISP's (this is no compliment). I am of the opinion that most consumers and bushinesses are badly mislead into purchasing products that they do not understand, nor have they taken the time to investigate the true state of affairs and therefore they deserve the poor service offerings they receive. There is also a case to be answered by the ISP's concerned, as they are actively restricting or promoting inaccurate (false) information about their products. Then tech jargon is used like, shaped, throttled, prioritised (all the same) - however as some terms have a negative connotation some ISP's prefer to use terms like Bronze, Silver, Gold & Platinum which sounds much better, however it all the "same" - you are being cheated.
Lastly, I am not a "
fanboy" of any ISP, however it frustrates me that many on this forum would accept everything that is presented by these ISP's as fact, without taking the time to obtain the true state of affairs and utilising the "
herd mentality" and actually agreeing with the one that "shouts the loudest" and can post the highest level of insults, no matter what the actual facts indicate.
Further to the issue, I am actually trying to respond to (apologies for being long-winded):
Currently these ISP's are experiencing consistent throughput issues: Afrihost, Altech, BCS Net, Cybersmart, iBurst & WebAfrica - therefore, I would assume it is a Seacom related issue, that is yet again not to be mentioned.
The above statement is factually incorrect, check your facts.
Verify your actual international connection speed:
1.
http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools#tool2 &
2.
http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools#tool4 &
3.
http://www.measurementlab.net/measurement-lab-tools#tool5
Review this:
http://www.measurementlab.net/resources
Report your ISP:
Once you have obtained the results; save the link, then you can lodge a case of false advertising here:
http://www.asasa.org.za/Complaint.aspx; you will be required to include this link:
http://www.afrihost.com/site/product/adsl_capped, mentioning the heading; "Unshaped Connection" & "** The speed of your connection is dependent on the speed of your Telkom ADSL Line. Up to 10mbps supported." as part of the proof of false advertising.
Example of successful case against another ISP:
http://www.ideate.co.za/2007/07/29/asa-nails-iburst-ideate-sits-back-and-smiles-wryly/
As for accuracy of speedtest.net:
Any ISP that promotes the use of the above "test" to measure actual bandwidth throughput is actively misleading their subscriber(s).
Speedtest.net at best will test the connection from your device to their server (local) and from your ISP to "another" (international)
Review:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/939072
"Why are people using Speedtest.net to test their speeds? You know when you use that site to test, it actually tests the connection based on the speed and ability to download a test file off the server providing the Speedtest service. So you are getting the speed result of the server, and therefore is not your actual service speed."
I will try my best to shortly post some links to a few technical discussion documents that will verify this (with the company names redacted) , however I am dependant on the cooperation of others that are also of the opinion that this fraudulent practice should stop.
Regards & apologies to those I might have offended.
