OpenWeb ADSL Feedback Thread (Pt2)

[i.got~issues]

My experience with Gold (Original) 2Mbs is virtually the same as the forumite below.

It all started off great, but then from around September last year became unusable during the day. Magically after 5PM it all worked again.
Support queries were quickly responded to but nothing helped.
I had Telkom test my line and replace POTS filters. Nothing helped. I was looking at replacing all my ADSL equipment as a last resort.

I also had a backbone change but that too seemed to be speed-limited and the response was kinda live with this or go back to previous backbone. Even after-hours and weekends, this new backbone never broke the 60Kps mark on anything. I had others test my account, and they too had exactly the same experience as I did... so it ruled out my equipment or exchange.

I know something is not right when an ADSL account is unusable and support seems to think that this is acceptable for R399 a month.

I signed-up for an Afrihost Unshaped Business account... and have not regretted it one bit. It just works. Same equipment too.

I have cancelled my OpenWeb Gold in January and this will be my final notice-month... although I have not bothered using the OW account since signing with Afrihost.

So for me, Gold seemed shaped to death during the day and that was that.
Finish and klaar.

For me personally my Gold ( Power ) account has been very inconsistent. I don't know what to expect. Currently not downloading anything during the day as browsing becomes unusable, p2p is like the weather after hours during the week.

I must add support has been great always help full and quick to respond but currently I have had 2 port resets and 1 profile routing change ( dunno if its the same thing ) the only thing it seems to do is solve the 1 problem an create another.

PS. This past weekend by Gold account was super fast the whole weekend so no problems with my "setup" I'm sure its shaping that is the cause of most problems no matter what account. I feel shaping needs to be less on the gold accounts though at the least browsing should never be affected no matter what or when your downloading.

 

[MrR]

This has been my opinion for quite a couple of months now:

Absolutely enjoy the Gold account after 18h00 and weekends, but o' lawde, it's erratic and more confused than a chameleon on a smartie box during office hours (highly inconsistent). Have experienced this a couple of times myself, but the SO works from home more frequently than I do and is far more dependent on the internet than I am during office hours. And all she does is basically the same as diephoenix explained, namely surfing, streaming (Youtube, Skype, IM, radio), mailing and an occassional vpn. No ftp downloads, nntp or other P2P protocols in effect.

Since January's debacle (but going back to November already), I started buying 10GB-20GB capped data packages from other ISP's (thinking with the wallet n all), just to ensure that she can get stuff done during office hours. (Please don't bring the argument that we should upgrade to business accounts... just, dont... that argument is flawed.)

99% of the evenings (and weekends) are pure bliss; I can download at full speeds, stream 720p without a hitch, consistent latency playing games locally and internationally and http browsing is perfectly smooth. Sure, it hits a snag every now and then (like Monday's Western Cape IPC issue), but these are far and wide and usually resolved within a couple of hours.

So for me, based on my experiences and conclusions, Openweb's uncapped product range is an unthrottled, unshaped after hour service with a possibility of daytime usage at an acceptable level.

 

[EwaldHorn]

I have had very much the same experience, with excellent DSL service after 17:00, but virtually nothing during the day. That being said, I've only had great service from OpenWeb and would happily recommend them to anyone who needs DSL outside office hours.

I've since switched ISP's and am happy to report that my day-time internet usage is, once again, great.

My experience with Gold (Original) 2Mbs is virtually the same as the forumite below.

It all started off great, but then from around September last year became unusable during the day. Magically after 5PM it all worked again.
Support queries were quickly responded to but nothing helped.
I had Telkom test my line and replace POTS filters. Nothing helped. I was looking at replacing all my ADSL equipment as a last resort.

I also had a backbone change but that too seemed to be speed-limited and the response was kinda live with this or go back to previous backbone. Even after-hours and weekends, this new backbone never broke the 60Kps mark on anything. I had others test my account, and they too had exactly the same experience as I did... so it ruled out my equipment or exchange.

I know something is not right when an ADSL account is unusable and support seems to think that this is acceptable for R399 a month.

I signed-up for an Afrihost Unshaped Business account... and have not regretted it one bit. It just works. Same equipment too.

I have cancelled my OpenWeb Gold in January and this will be my final notice-month... although I have not bothered using the OW account since signing with Afrihost.

So for me, Gold seemed shaped to death during the day and that was that.
Finish and klaar.

 

[scrappy_coco]

Eh, I thought I was alone. Glad I've already cancelled my OW gold uncapped account

For me personally my Gold ( Power ) account has been very inconsistent. I don't know what to expect. Currently not downloading anything during the day as browsing becomes unusable, p2p is like the weather after hours during the week.

I must add support has been great always help full and quick to respond but currently I have had 2 port resets and 1 profile routing change ( dunno if its the same thing ) the only thing it seems to do is solve the 1 problem an create another.

PS. This past weekend by Gold account was super fast the whole weekend so no problems with my "setup" I'm sure its shaping that is the cause of most problems no matter what account. I feel shaping needs to be less on the gold accounts though at the least browsing should never be affected no matter what or when your downloading.

My experience with Gold (Original) 2Mbs is virtually the same as the forumite below.

It all started off great, but then from around September last year became unusable during the day. Magically after 5PM it all worked again.
Support queries were quickly responded to but nothing helped.
I had Telkom test my line and replace POTS filters. Nothing helped. I was looking at replacing all my ADSL equipment as a last resort.

I also had a backbone change but that too seemed to be speed-limited and the response was kinda live with this or go back to previous backbone. Even after-hours and weekends, this new backbone never broke the 60Kps mark on anything. I had others test my account, and they too had exactly the same experience as I did... so it ruled out my equipment or exchange.

I know something is not right when an ADSL account is unusable and support seems to think that this is acceptable for R399 a month.

I signed-up for an Afrihost Unshaped Business account... and have not regretted it one bit. It just works. Same equipment too.

I have cancelled my OpenWeb Gold in January and this will be my final notice-month... although I have not bothered using the OW account since signing with Afrihost.

So for me, Gold seemed shaped to death during the day and that was that.
Finish and klaar.

This has been my opinion for quite a couple of months now:

Absolutely enjoy the Gold account after 18h00 and weekends, but o' lawde, it's erratic and more confused than a chameleon on a smartie box during office hours (highly inconsistent). Have experienced this a couple of times myself, but the SO works from home more frequently than I do and is far more dependent on the internet than I am during office hours. And all she does is basically the same as diephoenix explained, namely surfing, streaming (Youtube, Skype, IM, radio), mailing and an occassional vpn. No ftp downloads, nntp or other P2P protocols in effect.

Since January's debacle (but going back to November already), I started buying 10GB-20GB capped data packages from other ISP's (thinking with the wallet n all), just to ensure that she can get stuff done during office hours. (Please don't bring the argument that we should upgrade to business accounts... just, dont... that argument is flawed.)

99% of the evenings (and weekends) are pure bliss; I can download at full speeds, stream 720p without a hitch, consistent latency playing games locally and internationally and http browsing is perfectly smooth. Sure, it hits a snag every now and then (like Monday's Western Cape IPC issue), but these are far and wide and usually resolved within a couple of hours.

So for me, based on my experiences and conclusions, Openweb's uncapped product range is an unthrottled, unshaped after hour service with a possibility of daytime usage at an acceptable level.

I have had very much the same experience, with excellent DSL service after 17:00, but virtually nothing during the day. That being said, I've only had great service from OpenWeb and would happily recommend them to anyone who needs DSL outside office hours.

I've since switched ISP's and am happy to report that my day-time internet usage is, once again, great.

 

[EwaldHorn]

As I said, for the average person, who only uses DSL after-hours, OW is still a fantastic option, with really great support (in my experience).

 

[PostmanPot]

As I said, for the average person, who only uses DSL after-hours, OW is still a fantastic option, with really great support (in my experience).

I agree, and I suspect this type of person makes up the bulk of the clients.

So, once again I ask:

We need some substantiation otherwise a vague answer is just vague.

Where is the evidence of Gold clients having a superior product? Without resorting to the "thousands of Gold clients who do not partake in this thread."

If Gold clients suffer equally during hours as other clients on lesser accounts, where is the superiority?

If Gold clients suffer more during hours than other clients on lesser accounts, where is the superiority?

If Gold clients and clients on lesser accounts generally become unshaped at 17h00 weekdays and on weekends, where is the superiority and benefit of having a Gold account?

 

[EwaldHorn]

Honestly, I was very happy with OW after hours, the support was great and the price was not out of line. I'd happily have continued on OW if I had not started to work from home a lot more. So my particular use-case is different, and, as you mention, definitely not the bulk type of client OW serves with their Gold Accounts.

As for the price differences etc., it didn't bother me, I had great, friendly support when I required it, great service after hours and no reason to complain until my circumstances changed.

 

[PostmanPot]

Honestly, I was very happy with OW after hours, the support was great and the price was not out of line. I'd happily have continued on OW if I had not started to work from home a lot more. So my particular use-case is different, and, as you mention, definitely not the bulk type of client OW serves with their Gold Accounts.

As for the price differences etc., it didn't bother me, I had great, friendly support when I required it, great service after hours and no reason to complain until my circumstances changed.

Absolutely. What's important here is establishing the following:

Why Gold, when cheaper accounts become unshaped after hours as well?

 

[Hecate]

That may be true with the normal accounts but when paying R738 a month you don't expect a after hours account on par with accounts that are half the price. That's why people on the gold accounts see others on cheaper accounts getting exactly the same speed they get, they tend to get a little irritated.

As I said, for the average person, who only uses DSL after-hours, OW is still a fantastic option, with really great support (in my experience).

 

[EwaldHorn]

Ah,

I understand. I was on a cheap-skate 2mb account, I don't think the price difference was enough to worry about.

That may be true with the normal accounts but when paying R738 a month you don't expect a after hours account on par with accounts that are half the price. That's why people on the gold accounts see others on cheaper accounts getting exactly the same speed they get, they tend to get a little irritated.

 

[madrynn]

I'm on the 4mbit Gamer's King, weekdays between 8:00 and 17:00 my general experience has been around 250kB/s.
Speedtest always seem to run 100% of course, but the rest of everything is pretty much half speed. Within reason, latency is always great.

I don't mind it, but I'm not a idiot either...

It would be great if ISP's would start being open about their specific contention ratio's on their products and immediate network traffic. The cloak and dagger (or marketing and obscure statistics) approach will always breed mistrust.

 

[Anakha56]

One last thing which I forgot that is very important. While I understand you are having a better experience, there have been posts here about people upgrading to Gold from lesser accounts, and getting worse performance.

The inconsistency is truly baffling when the advertising states higher priority and lower contention i.e. better performance.

Yeah that was me. I went from Gamers King where everything was brilliant to Gold and everything went pear shaped. After a lot of emails back and forth it is finally at a stage where I can use it during the day and night without a issue. I still do not really understand why it went pear shaped when I changed over but it was definitely not my Exchange because any of my test accounts performed at full speed whereas the OW account died. Just wish to reiterate that everything is working 100% now...

 

[Kensei2605]

Absolutely. What's important here is establishing the following:

Why Gold, when cheaper accounts become unshaped after hours as well?

I had a similar question previously and the answer was that if network is not busy then gold will get unshaped first
( OW correct me if im wrong). BUT lately my p2p only gets fully unshaped after 12 pm so I dont know how its been for the guys with the lower accounts.

Im not trying to bad mouth OW only had good service from them its just my experience with Gold account.

 

[Diabolix]

My speed after hours is a lot worse than what I get during the day.

With Speedtest during the day I get about 1.5Mb/s and at night (Anytime after 20H00) I get about 800Kb/s.

When I log a call with Openweb, they give me a new account and everything is fine for a few days and then its back to being a snail.

I was on the 1Mb Openweb gold package and my experience (Speed wise) was awesome, but after upgrading to the 2Mb Uncapped Leon Gold edition everything went to hell.

Does anyone else experience this?

 

[PostmanPot]

I had a similar question previously and the answer was that if network is not busy then gold will get unshaped first
( OW correct me if im wrong). BUT lately my p2p only gets fully unshaped after 12 pm so I dont know how its been for the guys with the lower accounts.

Im not trying to bad mouth OW only had good service from them its just my experience with Gold account.

Yip, which isn't entirely true, because people on all accounts state that they are unshaped at 17h00.

 

[Hecate]

Only the part where getting an account is nearly the same as playing the lotto you really got to pray you get one that is decent for more than week.

My speed after hours is a lot worse than what I get during the day.

With Speedtest during the day I get about 1.5Mb/s and at night (Anytime after 20H00) I get about 800Kb/s.

When I log a call with Openweb, they give me a new account and everything is fine for a few days and then its back to being a snail.

I was on the 1Mb Openweb gold package and my experience (Speed wise) was awesome, but after upgrading to the 2Mb Uncapped Leon Gold edition everything went to hell.

Does anyone else experience this?

 

[Chevron]

I'll have to be honest as well. I really love openweb's support.

This month though had to downgrade to the 4Meg Gold Power account and dota2 was u playable during the day yesterday. Steam would barely connect.

Signed up for a 3gig Axxess trial and all was well.

Not sure what's up with day time stuff. At night of course account flies.

 

[MrBEEP]

Kindly PM me so that I can take a look.

I'll have to be honest as well. I really love openweb's support.

This month though had to downgrade to the 4Meg Gold Power account and dota2 was u playable during the day yesterday. Steam would barely connect.

Signed up for a 3gig Axxess trial and all was well.

Not sure what's up with day time stuff. At night of course account flies.

 

[MrBEEP]

If your speeds drop between around 18:00 to 23:00 this generally indicates a Telkom congested exchange or similar. This is when most folks are at home in your area, maxing out their lines

My speed after hours is a lot worse than what I get during the day.

With Speedtest during the day I get about 1.5Mb/s and at night (Anytime after 20H00) I get about 800Kb/s.

When I log a call with Openweb, they give me a new account and everything is fine for a few days and then its back to being a snail.

I was on the 1Mb Openweb gold package and my experience (Speed wise) was awesome, but after upgrading to the 2Mb Uncapped Leon Gold edition everything went to hell.

Does anyone else experience this?

 

[MrBEEP]

Correct, Gold will be unshaped first.

The Western Cape IPC has been very busy over the last week though. It seems like alot more torrents are doing the rounds here. In order to maintain the overall network performance, this will be shaped first, irrelevant of whether you are on Gold or not. However, when shaping reduces, due to your priority over cheaper accounts, you will be unshaped first automatically. It is the mere nature of the priority system.

I had a similar question previously and the answer was that if network is not busy then gold will get unshaped first
( OW correct me if im wrong). BUT lately my p2p only gets fully unshaped after 12 pm so I dont know how its been for the guys with the lower accounts.

Im not trying to bad mouth OW only had good service from them its just my experience with Gold account.