Shopping for a new ISP

Paparazzi said:
From my understanding is... they only shape NNTP if you're in the top 20% or top 50% or do they shape it 24/7?
Click to expand...

For 4 and 10Mb we shape p2p if your usage falls within the top 50% of users. The shaping is tiered, so very heavy users will be shaped harder than lighter users.

Same applies to 2Mb, but only if your usage falls within the top 20% of users. And again, only p2p is shaped - we do consider nntp to be p2p. It's also dependent on time of usage - if you use your allocation at night, it will impact your shaping far less. We're also soon going to be introducing night-time free-time - so usage between 00:00 and 07:00 won't count towards shaping policies.

But for early adopters over at least the next month, we are effectively unshaped and uncapped on the network as an early-bird special offer...
 
Last edited:
fingerprintz.mgr said:
My Crystal Web account will be activated from 1 July :D

The shaping policy sounds too good to be true for the price! :D Only shape P2P and nothing else - if you're in the top 20% of users for 2 Mbps and top 50% of users for 4/10 Mbps uncapped accounts.
Click to expand...
NZB is counted as P2P. I presume gaming also?

This 20% thing is what Axxess did, but nobody could work out when the shaping would kick in because customers couldn't see and verify the figures. Ultimately it was very good for the first so many Gig then VERY bad for the rest of the month.
 
Taranis said:
NZB is counted as P2P. I presume gaming also?

This 20% thing is what Axxess did, but nobody could work out when the shaping would kick in because customers couldn't see and verify the figures. Ultimately it was very good for the first so many Gig then VERY bad for the rest of the month.
Click to expand...

Gaming is not considered p2p on our network.

We're looking at ways to make this more transparent. After evaluating numerous shaping methods we came to the conclusion that this is by far the most fair way to implement it. We only shape p2p, and it's dependent on usage, and the time of day that the usage occurs. So heavy daytime users will have their p2p speeds shaped more than a heavy night-time user, and it makes it easy to manage on our end.

Once our night-time usage is integrated to not count towards shaping this will mean that the only time your internet experience is ever actually affected is during the day, and only on p2p, and you'll still be able to go balls to the wall on nntp and torrents in the evening. So great day-time experience, great night-time experience, and you won't be stuck in a predicament where you can't actually download something. It may however run slowly if you're shaped on p2p during the day...
 
Crystal Web said:
For 4 and 10Mb we shape p2p if your usage falls within the top 50% of users. The shaping is tiered, so very heavy users will be shaped harder than lighter users.

Same applies to 2Mb, but only if your usage falls within the top 20% of users. And again, only p2p is shaped - we do consider nntp to be p2p. It's also dependent on time of usage - if you use your allocation at night, it will impact your shaping far less. We're also soon going to be introducing night-time free-time - so usage between 00:00 and 07:00 won't count towards shaping policies.

But for early adopters over at least the next month, we are effectively unshaped and uncapped on the network as an early-bird special offer...
Click to expand...

I will be joining you guys at the end of June. I'm more than happy for you to shape P2P (heavily if necessary) as long as services like streaming, gaming, and browsing are fast.
 
Crystal Web said:
For 4 and 10Mb we shape p2p if your usage falls within the top 50% of users. The shaping is tiered, so very heavy users will be shaped harder than lighter users.

Same applies to 2Mb, but only if your usage falls within the top 20% of users. And again, only p2p is shaped - we do consider nntp to be p2p. It's also dependent on time of usage - if you use your allocation at night, it will impact your shaping far less. We're also soon going to be introducing night-time free-time - so usage between 00:00 and 07:00 won't count towards shaping policies.

But for early adopters over at least the next month, we are effectively unshaped and uncapped on the network as an early-bird special offer...
Click to expand...

Thanks that clarifies things and is perfect, most my stuff download between 00:00 and 06:00
 
zolly said:
I will be joining you guys at the end of June. I'm more than happy for you to shape P2P (heavily if necessary) as long as services like streaming, gaming, and browsing are fast.
Click to expand...

We don't touch them. Some games update via p2p and this can cause an issue on our system though. But in terms of actual gaming performance, if there's ever a degradation in the service, let me know and I'll fix it. It may have been a prioritisation error on our end...
 
Crystal Web said:
For 4 and 10Mb we shape p2p if your usage falls within the top 50% of users. The shaping is tiered, so very heavy users will be shaped harder than lighter users.

Same applies to 2Mb, but only if your usage falls within the top 20% of users. And again, only p2p is shaped - we do consider nntp to be p2p. It's also dependent on time of usage - if you use your allocation at night, it will impact your shaping far less. We're also soon going to be introducing night-time free-time - so usage between 00:00 and 07:00 won't count towards shaping policies.

But for early adopters over at least the next month, we are effectively unshaped and uncapped on the network as an early-bird special offer...
Click to expand...

I don't want to consult my crystal ball to know how and when I'm shaped. Is there at least going to be an indication of these in my account control? Else it's back to my previous uncapped account which doesn't require magick to know what's going on with what. This was the whole reason I signed up with crystal web under the impression that only p2p is shaped during business and now all of a sudden it's 20% this and 50% that which is rather a load of horse **** if you never know when you are which as with mweb's ***...
 
From my side I feel it is fair to shape P2P - otherwise world+dog will leave their PC's at home on 24x7 torrents, degrading network performance for businesses.
 
The_Librarian said:
From my side I feel it is fair to shape P2P - otherwise world+dog will leave their PC's at home on 24x7 torrents, degrading network performance for businesses.
Click to expand...

Sure, but don't be mystical about it... Again I don't want to perform magick to know my status otherwise it's just as pointless as any other hidden shaping system we don't know when is wich... All my PMs and emails from crystal web never mentions the top x users. I feel an annulment coming on.
 
Necuno said:
Sure, but don't be mystical about it... Again I don't want to perform magick to know my status otherwise it's just as pointless as any other hidden shaping system we don't know when is wich... All my PMs and emails from crystal web never mentions the top x users. I feel an annulment coming on.
Click to expand...

We're looking at ways to make this fully transparent through the account status page. Currently the account status will indicate the shaped or unshaped status of the account, but not the extent. Give it a test, see how it performs for you though, and send me some feedback. If it's not up to scratch we'll always try to resolve it...
 
I am wondering if Supersport streaming will also buffer every 2 mins for like 5 seconds on Crystal Web? I have tested various ISP's with Afrihost receiving the worst Supersport experience. whereas on Mweb themselves you get zero buffering (as they host this). How does Crystal Web peform in this aspect? Might be a selling point for me :)
 
Just had a chat with our developers and transparency into the depth of shaping is on the plan to be introduced into the account status page moving forward, so you'll be able to see this from within the Crystal Customer Portal...
 
Wackyza said:
I am wondering if Supersport streaming will also buffer every 2 mins for like 5 seconds on Crystal Web? I have tested various ISP's with Afrihost receiving the worst Supersport experience. whereas on Mweb themselves you get zero buffering (as they host this). How does Crystal Web peform in this aspect? Might be a selling point for me :)
Click to expand...

Actually MWEB don't host this at all. it's hosted by their CDN partner level3, who MWEB I think peer with directly. We can always look at prioritising this traffic as it tends to happen after hours and weekends. if there is a problem.

The way this business works, if you have an issue, you call support, if they can't resolve it or it requires authorisation, it comes to me, and I'm very fair in what everything that will result in a better experience for our customers. Within reason, of course...
 
Crystal Web said:
Actually MWEB don't host this at all. it's hosted by their CDN partner level3, who MWEB I think peer with directly. We can always look at prioritising this traffic as it tends to happen after hours and weekends. if there is a problem.

The way this business works, if you have an issue, you call support, if they can't resolve it or it requires authorisation, it comes to me, and I'm very fair in what everything that will result in a better experience for our customers. Within reason, of course...
Click to expand...

As long as nowvideo.sx works I am happy. Like supersport it is flawless on Mweb, Afrihost not so much. Like this link for instance. http://www.nowvideo.sx/video/4ac7486db4568 Same link I sent AfriMan and he got it fixed for 1 day.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X