The Truth behind MWEB's uncapped

[medicnick83]

Okay, so here is how I see it.

MWEB shape the hell outta people during the day and evening for as long as possible.

Okay, so according to my logging (FACTS being delivered here - not guessing and such)
Speeds start GRADUALLY increasing from 1am (100KB/s), with 200KB at about 3am and at 6am, you getting 400KB/s (on a 4MB line) so if I left my connection going all day, I'd do about ±10GB

Now, today, I had a chat with MWEB (they called me) to explain why I get slow speeds during the day.

The guy kept on stressing "the bandwidth is given on 'availability' " and MWEB "buy bandwidth as often as needed" this lead me to think the following;

So... let's think about it;

MWEB work out that they'll need XXX for the month of "insert whatever month here" but... now it gets a bit more interesting.

If they limit (and really limit us) say to 10KB/s (let's say anything from 10KB to 20KB) then open up the ports early in the morning, they'll need XXX amount.

So they only purchase XXX amount and have to stick to that.

They clearly don't want to buy more bandwidth so this, the truth is as follows;

They limit us HEAVILY during the day and at night to keep us "downloaders" within a acceptable limit.

We have (what MWEB advertise as uncapped) uncapped internet, but it is shaped so heavily, any sort of protocol that can do downloading (of any sort)

Ultimately, it's not really UNCAPPED, but a 300GB account per person (±10GB a day) (Also, if I'm not wrong, this has been mentioned before)

They don't really shape HTTP and E-MAIL because they can't really... but just let someone find a way of doing this and this will really screw MWEB's plans - I CHALLENGE SOMEONE TO FIND A WAY TO USE HTTP AS A WAY OF DOWNLOADING!

Now, MWEB's Free The Web South Africa fan page seems to have alot of 'haters' (These are people who really use their accounts to the best of their ability) and 'lovers' (who don't) but clearly, those 'lovers' don't really do downloading or heavy use - honestly (IMO) I don't think they know how because if they did, they'd join the 'haters' category and demand a service from MWEB.

When people complain on the Facebook group, MWEB request contact details, I think it's so they can call the user and BS the user about how things work.
Passing details onto the technical team so they can do what?!? They can't do anything.

MWEB have claimed that there might be problems with my ADSL line... yes MWEB, go try that BS story on someone 'stupid' - I'm sure you'll find someone, you have 18,134 people who 'might' fall for it.

Comments? Thoughts?

I've found a really good way of making the most of your MWEB & Telkom (SAIX) account: Read here

Wanna keep people happy?

Give users 100KB/s during the day, I think that's acceptable.
At 8pm (that's 3 hours AFTER OFFICE HOURS) open the ports to 200KB/s and at say, 11pm, 400KB/s till 8am

I really think this is a acceptable solution.

 

[Side Effect]

Try use the DigiChilli or w/e account. You might be grateful that you're able to connect. And seriously. Why are you constantly monitoring your downloads. It's like watching paint dry. Get out and do something else, like working.

They do offer uncapped internet. They also said they would shape during the day. Check and uhm...check.

As for the lovers part. They fixed their network on a public holiday. If your boss told you to come work on a public holiday at 21:00 you would also complain.

If you are unhappy. Go to AfriHost and use their high usage packages at R9.50p/gb

Remember, you get what you pay for.

I am happy. They provide a service. It works.

 

[medicnick83]

Why are you constantly monitoring your downloads. It's like watching paint dry. Get out and do something else, like working.

I want to know everything, MWEB, Telkom, everyone... they do it... I'm just clever enough to do it too.

I log everything, web sites I visit, etc etc etc.

 

[Side Effect]

There is always somebody smarter than you. Remember that. In this case it's MWEB, Telkom, Neotel and quite a number of other people, then you.

 

[medicnick83]

There is always somebody smarter than you. Remember that. In this case it's MWEB, Telkom, Neotel and quite a number of other people, then you.

If you were with Neotel, you wouldn't say that... trust me and maybe they think they are smarter, but I've figured them out or I'm at least, very close.

 

[turbine]

I use a seedbox from Aerovps and get about 200kb during peak times- 400kb after hours: see if that works for u. The support is great, so mayb find out from them if it'd suit your needs before buying in... just a friendly suggestion.

 

[Looney]

Okay, so here is how I see it.

MWEB shape the hell outta people during the day and evening for as long as possible.

Okay, so according to my logging (FACTS being delivered here - not guessing and such)
Speeds start GRADUALLY increasing from 1am (100KB/s), with 200KB at about 3am and at 6am, you getting 400KB/s (on a 4MB line) so if I left my connection going all day, I'd do about ±10GB

Now, today, I had a chat with MWEB (they called me) to explain why I get slow speeds during the day.

The guy kept on stressing "the bandwidth is given on 'availability' " and MWEB "buy bandwidth as often as needed" this lead me to think the following;

So... let's think about it;

MWEB work out that they'll need XXX for the month of "insert whatever month here" but... now it gets a bit more interesting.

If they limit (and really limit us) say to 10KB/s (let's say anything from 10KB to 20KB) then open up the ports early in the morning, they'll need XXX amount.

So they only purchase XXX amount and have to stick to that.

They clearly don't want to buy more bandwidth so this, the truth is as follows;

They limit us HEAVILY during the day and at night to keep us "downloaders" within a acceptable limit.

We have (what MWEB advertise as uncapped) uncapped internet, but it is shaped so heavily, any sort of protocol that can do downloading (of any sort)

Ultimately, it's not really UNCAPPED, but a 300GB account per person (±10GB a day) (Also, if I'm not wrong, this has been mentioned before)

They don't really shape HTTP and E-MAIL because they can't really... but just let someone find a way of doing this and this will really screw MWEB's plans - I CHALLENGE SOMEONE TO FIND A WAY TO USE HTTP AS A WAY OF DOWNLOADING!

Now, MWEB's Free The Web South Africa fan page seems to have alot of 'haters' (These are people who really use their accounts to the best of their ability) and 'lovers' (who don't) but clearly, those 'lovers' don't really do downloading or heavy use - honestly (IMO) I don't think they know how because if they did, they'd join the 'haters' category and demand a service from MWEB.

When people complain on the Facebook group, MWEB request contact details, I think it's so they can call the user and BS the user about how things work.
Passing details onto the technical team so they can do what?!? They can't do anything.

MWEB have claimed that there might be problems with my ADSL line... yes MWEB, go try that BS story on someone 'stupid' - I'm sure you'll find someone, you have 18,134 people who 'might' fall for it.

Comments? Thoughts?

I've found a really good way of making the most of your MWEB & Telkom (SAIX) account: Read here

Wanna keep people happy?

Give users 100KB/s during the day, I think that's acceptable.
At 8pm (that's 3 hours AFTER OFFICE HOURS) open the ports to 200KB/s and at say, 11pm, 400KB/s till 8am

I really think this is a acceptable solution.

Uhhh... dude.... there are already 2 companies that I know of that have figured out a way of downloading rapidshare/torrents through http... I think perhaps you should search these forums and you might find the answer.

 

[medicnick83]

Something that is not EXCEPTIONALLY complicated, I know a few of them but they all complicated.
Besides, I don't really want to spend all day downloading, I only have a 1TB drive, but my point is, just be honest with us and tell us they don't want us downloading all the time... but instead, they do what Neotel did to me, they BS you as much as they can, till you figure them out (like I did Neotel)

Some of you see me as a big complainer, but I helped ALOT of Neotel clients by all my complaining and digging and such.

MWEB, great service - uncapped is awesome, but it's not really uncapped is it now!??

Time to be honest and just lay the facts out and ya... stop telling people 'something wrong with your ADSL line (which they did to me)' to explain the horrible slow speeds... when it's obviously AGGRESIVE shaping.

 

[Looney]

Something that is not EXCEPTIONALLY complicated, I know a few of them but they all complicated.
Besides, I don't really want to spend all day downloading, I only have a 1TB drive, but my point is, just be honest with us and tell us they don't want us downloading all the time... but instead, they do what Neotel did to me, they BS you as much as they can, till you figure them out (like I did Neotel)

Im sorry but your statement is false. MWEB DID tell us right from the beginning, when they launched their uncapped accounts, that these accounts are not meant for 24/7 downloads. They DID warn us that there will be certain protocols that are shaped and certain protocols given priority, they DID stress that it is a shaped account. For someone with 16,885 posts, I would assume that you were clued up on this. While I do agree that there are times when MWEB's service is totally pathetic and that there shaping policies are messed up. However, having said that, be thankful for what you are able to do using these accounts. Not long ago you were sitting with capped accounts and you were wasting lots of money for it. Be thankful that for R539 p/m, you are able to download well over 300gb p/m (if you have a 4mb line).

 

[Fudzy]

Im sorry but your statement is false. MWEB DID tell us right from the beginning, when they launched their uncapped accounts, that these accounts are not meant for 24/7 downloads. They DID warn us that there will be certain protocols that are shaped and certain protocols given priority, they DID stress that it is a shaped account. For someone with 16,885 posts, I would assume that you were clued up on this. While I do agree that there are times when MWEB's service is totally pathetic and that there shaping policies are messed up. However, having said that, be thankful for what you are able to do using these accounts. Not long ago you were sitting with capped accounts and you were wasting lots of money for it. Be thankful that for R539 p/m, you are able to download well over 300gb p/m (if you have a 4mb line).

Exactly, I think it's unfair to blame Mweb for giving business time priority. I'm pretty sure that make a lot more money from the corporate clients than from the überleechers.

 

[Looney]

Let me give you an example of where Mweb's service is lacking. During the weekend, when Mweb went down due to seacon, I changed to my telkom account. Stupid of me, I forgot my login details (password) for my Mweb account. I called Mweb saturday morning to have them reset my password. Instead of them resetting my password over the phone, they emailed me a document which I had to print out, fill in and fax back to them, JUST so they could reset my password. This was the biggest load of rubbish I had ever come across. Any other ISP would ask you over the phone for proof of identity, ask you a couple of questions to confirm you are who you say you are. But alas, I had to sit and waste my time waiting for a form to be sent to me so that I could have my password reset. It wasted 3 hours of my day, where it could have been a simple process and taken less than 5 minutes. THAT is where Mweb's support is currently lacking.

 

[3Com]

I can transfer my rapidshare download to a local server and download from there at 400kbps and up with no problems, i can give you access, but going to cost you a bit extra

 

[Auntpol]

The Crappy thing for me about MWEB is getting 100+latency on a local CSS server @ 22:00 with nothing but CSS using the internet... In the beginning it was fantastic with 10-30ms all day long , but now its just sad.

 

[mk1]

I am on 384 MWEB uncapped.
I download 1 - 1.5GB per day.
Downloads at night does not run full speed, I jumps randomly sometimes but browsing and things like Skype are fine.
Yes downloads are slow during the day, but browsing are fine and so are Skype, Youtube and the rest.

30GB odd a month for R219 - bargain in my eyes.

So in the end if you looking for "uncapped" and will be happy with download 30GB per month, go for MWEB.

 

[LazyLion]

um, didn't I warn you when they announced these accounts that they are not ideal for downloading?

So why are we having this discussion?

 

[gregmcc]

Easynews www.easynews.com is the answer to that one --- you can download usenet files files over http(s). Not free though.

+1

It works great!!

 

[semaphore]

Okay, so here is how I see it.

MWEB shape the hell outta people during the day and evening for as long as possible.

Okay, so according to my logging (FACTS being delivered here - not guessing and such)
Speeds start GRADUALLY increasing from 1am (100KB/s), with 200KB at about 3am and at 6am, you getting 400KB/s (on a 4MB line) so if I left my connection going all day, I'd do about ±10GB

Now, today, I had a chat with MWEB (they called me) to explain why I get slow speeds during the day.

The guy kept on stressing "the bandwidth is given on 'availability' " and MWEB "buy bandwidth as often as needed" this lead me to think the following;

So... let's think about it;

MWEB work out that they'll need XXX for the month of "insert whatever month here" but... now it gets a bit more interesting.

If they limit (and really limit us) say to 10KB/s (let's say anything from 10KB to 20KB) then open up the ports early in the morning, they'll need XXX amount.

So they only purchase XXX amount and have to stick to that.

They clearly don't want to buy more bandwidth so this, the truth is as follows;

They limit us HEAVILY during the day and at night to keep us "downloaders" within a acceptable limit.

We have (what MWEB advertise as uncapped) uncapped internet, but it is shaped so heavily, any sort of protocol that can do downloading (of any sort)

Ultimately, it's not really UNCAPPED, but a 300GB account per person (±10GB a day) (Also, if I'm not wrong, this has been mentioned before)

They don't really shape HTTP and E-MAIL because they can't really... but just let someone find a way of doing this and this will really screw MWEB's plans - I CHALLENGE SOMEONE TO FIND A WAY TO USE HTTP AS A WAY OF DOWNLOADING!

Now, MWEB's Free The Web South Africa fan page seems to have alot of 'haters' (These are people who really use their accounts to the best of their ability) and 'lovers' (who don't) but clearly, those 'lovers' don't really do downloading or heavy use - honestly (IMO) I don't think they know how because if they did, they'd join the 'haters' category and demand a service from MWEB.

When people complain on the Facebook group, MWEB request contact details, I think it's so they can call the user and BS the user about how things work.
Passing details onto the technical team so they can do what?!? They can't do anything.

MWEB have claimed that there might be problems with my ADSL line... yes MWEB, go try that BS story on someone 'stupid' - I'm sure you'll find someone, you have 18,134 people who 'might' fall for it.

Comments? Thoughts?

I've found a really good way of making the most of your MWEB & Telkom (SAIX) account: Read here

Wanna keep people happy?

Give users 100KB/s during the day, I think that's acceptable.
At 8pm (that's 3 hours AFTER OFFICE HOURS) open the ports to 200KB/s and at say, 11pm, 400KB/s till 8am

I really think this is a acceptable solution.

err now i hate the shaping on the home accounts, but i did well over 300GB last month, however this month the service has been terrible so far.

 

[cavedog]

Dude you have like a grudge against Mweb.... Anyways spend some extra time researching ways to download via http and I bet you my uncapped account that you would not have created this topic. Most http is not shaped. There are plenty of ways to download at full speed during the day. I have posted it at a large community and every 1 that uses Mweb are able to download stuff at full speed. So just do some research.

EDIT: Mweb never mentioned that you are not allowed to download with the account. In fact some of their ads are about unlimited downloads. That said. They did say downloading hundreds of gigs of pirated stuff via torrents is not what the account is for. If you bought a movie digital download it will most likely be via http and/or ftp which is not shaped. So Mweb never misled anyone. Just remember that....
Every one seems to want to draw their own conclusion. But the fact are the same. You are allowed unlimited legal downloads. Pirated downloads are not allowed. So the fact they allow it is a added bonus and no one can really complain...
If you want to complain go and use a Basic IS Uncapped account.

 

[KaMoS]

err now i hate the shaping on the home accounts, but i did well over 300GB last month, however this month the service has been terrible so far.

Likewise, and I'm really happy. However, I must admit that recently MWEB's QoS has been decreasing ;/

Also, the shaping is not RANDOM...from my stats I've noticed that it starts @ 07:00 (15%), continues to 23:00 (50%) and opens up completely @ 01:00 (80-100%).

There isn't another provider that can provide 300GB+ of data a month @ R549. Nuff Said...

 

[SabreWolfy]

um, didn't I warn you when they announced these accounts that they are not ideal for downloading?

So why are we having this discussion?

Agreed. I think there are two reasons why people are frustrated with uncapped accounts. Firstly, MWeb marketed the product strongly as "uncapped" -- download as much as you want -- and created the perception that this would be possible. Secondly, because of the limited accounts (capped) in this country historically, the sudden availability of uncapped accounts seemed like the answer everyone was waiting for. Uncapped means that you can download and browse and whatever as much as you want without having to "budget". Because of the reasons I've just mentioned, many people have interpreted uncapped to mean "suck down all of the interwebz" in a month. Then they get frustrated because this is not possible -- on a shaped account. We need to move away from trying to download as much as possible to just downloading what we need and enjoying the fact that there is no limit. If something takes a while longer, let it download for a while longer. There is tomorrow and next week and next month and it's unlimited.

It's a matter of changing perspective about what "uncapped" means. It means you can use as much as you want, rather than you HAVE to continually download at maximum speed for the entire month to get your money's worth. I get the feeling that for many people, if their downloads are not running at 400kbps 24/7 they feel cheated. The account was not meant for heavy downloading and is shaped. Of course this means that it is "capped", but even if it were NOT shaped, it would STILL be capped. So with shaping the cap on a 4MB line is what -- 300GB per month -- as opposed to 1.3TB if it were unshaped? 300GB a month for the price is UNBELIEVABLY cheap. Buy 300GB in 1.5GB boosters for R99 and pay R20000 per month rather? Or just go for one of the unshaped accounts. Still cheap at the price. No, I don't work for MWeb.