OpenWeb ADSL Feedback Thread (Pt2)

manib said:
I'm a long-time openweb client (>3 years) on Gold 2Mbps and I finally decided to call it quits and cancelled my account. I thought in the interests of consumer activism I would add my voice to the number who have posted here following a similar path (I've read the forums over the years but never registered to post until now). Short summary: During most of those 3+ years I was quite happy with openweb even though i thought their methods (frequent account changes, vague answers on shaping/contention, "only 133 account left!" etc) were a bit unorthodox. I often got full line speed for weeks at a time... until this year.

The main thing I want from an ISP is reliable browsing, quick download of small (up to 20-30 MB) files and to be able to leave large downloads / torrents on 24/7 and i'm perfectly OK if they get shaped to say 10% of line speed most of the time (though SOME of the time I expect closer to 100%) and even less than that as long as its not too often. Considering the premium price paid for a GOLD account, this all seemed reasonable.

Here is my current experience: daytime internet is useless on ALL protocols. Sometimes just slow, sometimes too slow for pages to even load. Everything runs "OK" at night and on weekends, but still, I notice that my line speed might as well be theoretical because I NEVER get that, even in short bursts. This doesn't seem to me like "shaping", i.e. where SOME protocols are given lower priority, it is more akin to what I would call "throttling", i.e. an overall reduction in maximum bandwidth. Definately nothing that could be described as "premium" or "high-priority" network access. At the very least, it seems that openweb doesn't provision enough bandwidth for their customer base.

So I finally decided (after months of hoping that it will get better by itself) that the situation is intolerable. I emailed their support complaining, they ask for a traceroute and a speedtest.net test. Now here I think is some deviousness on their part: speedtest.net gives me full line speed, but other speed tests, including my own web server on a http download gives about 10% of line speed. The lesson: DON'T BELIEVE SPEEDTEST.NET on openweb accounts - it seems to be prioritised for fast speed. When I persisted in my complaint they basically told me that "they shape during busy times" (i.e. i have unrealistic expectations) and recommended that I get an capped unshaped account. So, no joy or even hope of improvement, and I cancelled. Too bad I'm stuck with them until the end of December, given that I failed to cancel before 25 October.
Click to expand...

So who are you going to go with now..?
 
manib said:
I like what I'm hearing about crystalweb (bar a few snags). But i'll see how it pans out over the next two months..
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I got my uncapped account on 31st October, Cancelled 3rd November - cuz it was terrible account.

When is the account actually cancelled and i stop paying?
 
Any advice on how good the Openweb Capped Unshaped accounts are.

Can you view usage online and upgrade between packages online?
 
Day 5.

I'm not that happy/optimistic anymore, connection is getting worse and worse.
My line started syncing at 4Mbps earlier today at least, so I can start my proper testing. Today Tekom is super fast, OpenWeb not so much.
I still have to test how fast these actually go in off-peak hours though.

It might just be another bad day for OpenWeb, maybe not - still have some more testing to do.

As it stands now though, I'm considering moving to either a Telkom 20GB/50GB capped package and keeping my downloads at night, or an uncapped Telkom account. (I will most probably pick this one)

The only thing that sucks with Telkom's Uncapped is you will get a bad rating if you use it during weekends as it's not considered off-peak... however, the daytime speeds I'm getting with OpenWeb is just not working out.
I might honestly consider rather having good speed during most of the day than have full speed downloads during weekends.

a 4Mb account shouldn't be throttled this badly - I have only downloaded during the night and on the weekend so far, which afaik is considered off-peak with OW.
 
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manib said:
I'm a long-time openweb client (>3 years) on Gold 2Mbps and I finally decided to call it quits and cancelled my account. I thought in the interests of consumer activism I would add my voice to the number who have posted here following a similar path (I've read the forums over the years but never registered to post until now). Short summary: During most of those 3+ years I was quite happy with openweb even though i thought their methods (frequent account changes, vague answers on shaping/contention, "only 133 account left!" etc) were a bit unorthodox. I often got full line speed for weeks at a time... until this year.

The main thing I want from an ISP is reliable browsing, quick download of small (up to 20-30 MB) files and to be able to leave large downloads / torrents on 24/7 and i'm perfectly OK if they get shaped to say 10% of line speed most of the time (though SOME of the time I expect closer to 100%) and even less than that as long as its not too often. Considering the premium price paid for a GOLD account, this all seemed reasonable.

Here is my current experience: daytime internet is useless on ALL protocols. Sometimes just slow, sometimes too slow for pages to even load. Everything runs "OK" at night and on weekends, but still, I notice that my line speed might as well be theoretical because I NEVER get that, even in short bursts. This doesn't seem to me like "shaping", i.e. where SOME protocols are given lower priority, it is more akin to what I would call "throttling", i.e. an overall reduction in maximum bandwidth. Definately nothing that could be described as "premium" or "high-priority" network access. At the very least, it seems that openweb doesn't provision enough bandwidth for their customer base.

So I finally decided (after months of hoping that it will get better by itself) that the situation is intolerable. I emailed their support complaining, they ask for a traceroute and a speedtest.net test. Now here I think is some deviousness on their part: speedtest.net gives me full line speed, but other speed tests, including my own web server on a http download gives about 10% of line speed. The lesson: DON'T BELIEVE SPEEDTEST.NET on openweb accounts - it seems to be prioritised for fast speed. When I persisted in my complaint they basically told me that "they shape during busy times" (i.e. i have unrealistic expectations) and recommended that I get an capped unshaped account. So, no joy or even hope of improvement, and I cancelled. Too bad I'm stuck with them until the end of December, given that I failed to cancel before 25 October.
Click to expand...

Your experience reads so similar to mine it's actually scary
 
waynehooper said:
Any advice on how good the Openweb Capped Unshaped accounts are.

Can you view usage online and upgrade between packages online?
Click to expand...

Account is going good so far for me, streaming is epic, news server downloads full speed, browsing also top notch.
Usage is emailed, can't see upgrade option unless I'm being blind ...
 
waynehooper said:
Has anyone done 12-6 downloading and seen if the tracker distinguishes between normal cap and 12-6 cap .....
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It seems to work, did a 3 GB download between 12 am and 5:55 am and it counted towards "late cap" Will schedule some downloads between the time period and relay tommorow.
 
JvanD said:
It seems to work, did a 3 GB download between 12 am and 5:55 am and it counted towards "late cap" Will schedule some downloads between the time period and relay tommorow.
Click to expand...

Please do. I am unable to schedule any late downloads at the moment. Would be great to see if we can keep track of what is allocated where...
 
I got my Android box setup to do some damage from 12 am onwards till 5:55 am.
Will let u know
 
@waynehooper here is an extract of last nights log:

Comment: Peak: 9333/102400MB Late: 3383/1024000MB

So it works
 
WTF is this?
Can't even open/load facebook YET speedtest.net maxes my line instantly? It's 10:40PM FFS :mad:
 
JvanD said:
I got my Android box setup to do some damage from 12 am onwards till 5:55 am.
Will let u know
Click to expand...

I need to get myself a low power machine to do some downloading as well. My PC draws way to much power to leave on 24/7..

Might have access to a QNAP NAS in the near future. Has a download manager and can handle torrents. Just need to get some drives for it first.
 
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