Time to leave MWEB or stick around?

[gonzojournalism]

(Part 1)

Hi, I'm hoping someone with a bit more know how can help me out. I recently realised that I can quite cheaply upgrade my 2mb/s MWEB account to a 4mb/s (I've apparently had a 4mb/s line courtesy of Telkom for a while). But a few searches around this forum suggest this might not be a good idea because of MWEB's harsh throttling policy.

At the moment I'm not noticing any throttling. My 30 day usage is 155gb. Things like torrents and some P2P websites do run incredibly slowly during the day (only during the week).

My question is it worth it to upgrade and doubling my speed, or should I pick up a package with another ISP. For example, are Telkom's packages now worth it?

(Part 2)

If I was to make the switch to Telkom, what would be the best way to go about it. As it stands, MWEB is managing my account and my line (it's the all inclusive). Would I have to cancel my account and then wait for Telkom to reactivate my line and account?

Sorry if these are silly questions, but I am feeling a bit lost

 

[Drifter]

Rather the devil you know. I have been with MWEB forever and a day, contemplated moving a few times, but then I just see how much hassles there are with other ISP's.

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

Maybe the question should be standard account or premium / business account?

And that depends on consumption and affordability .....

 

[gonzojournalism]

Hey Textile Guy,

Whats the difference in terms of throttling between Premium and Standard?

 

[Deadmanza]

The time to leave MWEB was years ago already, when they implemented their draconian shaping policies, they are now bottom of the rung when it comes to performance, price and shaping polices.

Bite the bullet, upgrade and then move to a better ISP. Crystalweb and Afrihost are both top notch.

 

[gonzojournalism]

The time to leave MWEB was years ago already, when they implemented their draconian shaping policies, they are now bottom of the rung when it comes to performance, price and shaping polices.

Bite the bullet, upgrade and then move to a better ISP. Crystalweb and Afrihost are both top notch.

Which 4mb/s package would you recommend? And if you say its time to move because of the shaping, does that mean Crystalweb and Afrihost don't have the same throttling issues?

 

[Deadmanza]

Which 4mb/s package would you recommend? And if you say its time to move because of the shaping, does that mean Crystalweb and Afrihost don't have the same throttling issues?

AH has a 4MB uncapped package at R397 a month.

All uncapped packages will have some sort of acceptable use policy, however, MWEB really take it to the extreme with theirs.

 

[PostmanPot]

 

[Inky1980]

They are all the same, each with their own demons. You will never win unless you go Business Uncapped.....I'm on a 2 Mbps "Premium Uncapped" (psssh, please) package and my usage is relatively low compared to other users. If I download 50GB in a month then I really went overboard. I don't even leave my PC on during the day and all downloads are done at night, but lately my downloads hardly move before 00:00. I'm so gatvol, but what can I do? I'm downloading torrents and Mweb just gives me the "Torrents are lowest priority and can be set to that status when the network is taking strain" reply. I can't exactly complain about my illegal downloads not downloading can I? Internet in this country is STILL a joke.

 

[PostmanPot]

They are all the same, each with their own demons. You will never win unless you go Business Uncapped.....I'm on a 2 Mbps "Premium Uncapped" (psssh, please) package and my usage is relatively low compared to other users. If I download 50GB in a month then I really went overboard. I don't even leave my PC on during the day and all downloads are done at night, but lately my downloads hardly move before 00:00. I'm so gatvol, but what can I do? I'm downloading torrents and Mweb just gives me the "Torrents are lowest priority and can be set to that status when the network is taking strain" reply. I can't exactly complain about my illegal downloads not downloading can I? Internet in this country is STILL a joke.

Why Premium when your usage is well below what Standard offers?

There are other ISPs if you need torrents 24/7.

Unless you prefer quality over quantity, which is why you haven't left yet?

 

[PostmanPot]

I just fired up a Linux distro.

 

[Inky1980]

Why Premium when your usage is well below what Standard offers?

There are other ISPs if you need torrents 24/7.

Unless you prefer quality over quantity, which is why you haven't left yet?

Well that's the thing, if premium is this bad, I wouldn't even bother with standard. But yes, definitely quality over quantity thing for me. I don't like leaving my PC on if it's not doing anything, so all I really want is for my damn torrents to download properly when I do switch my PC on, usually in the evenings and weekends. I haven't left Mweb purely because I have other mailboxes with them and I don't feel like the mission. I am definitely going to look into it now though... I'm not getting quality or quantity at the moment.

 

[PostmanPot]

Well that's the thing, if premium is this bad, I wouldn't even bother with standard. But yes, definitely quality over quantity thing for me. I don't like leaving my PC on if it's not doing anything, so all I really want is for my damn torrents to download properly when I do switch my PC on, usually in the evenings and weekends. I haven't left Mweb purely because I have other mailboxes with them and I don't feel like the mission. I am definitely going to look into it now though... I'm not getting quality or quantity at the moment.

But the only difference between Premium and Standard is thresholds.

P.S. Please keep this discussion confidential and between you and me!

 

[Inky1980]

But the only difference between Premium and Standard is thresholds.

P.S. Please keep this discussion confidential and between you and me!

Ha ha don't worry, I won't tell...

Ja jong....So basically I'm still being throttled even though they say I'm not and won't be up to a certain point. I've had a look at my usage history and I think I've only once gone over 100GB, and that was because I was at home in December. My average is no more that 40 - 50 GB per month, and I'm being generous now.

I usually know something is up when I have to let my Youtube clips stream for a bit at 360p. Usually it will pretty much run on 480p without too much trouble.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and call another ISP. Maybe I should go capped, why bother with uncapped if I have no juice.

I might as well go this route with Web Africa: (It works out to about the same)

 

[PostmanPot]

Ha ha don't worry, I won't tell...

Ja jong....So basically I'm still being throttled even though they say I'm not and won't be up to a certain point. I've had a look at my usage history and I think I've only once gone over 100GB, and that was because I was at home in December. My average is no more that 40 - 50 GB per month, and I'm being generous now.

I usually know something is up when I have to let my Youtube clips stream for a bit at 360p. Usually it will pretty much run on 480p without too much trouble.

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and call another ISP. Maybe I should go capped, why bother with uncapped if I have no juice.

Without PMing MWEB Guy first for an account reauth/port reset? Or checking with Telkom for line test and port reset?

MWEB is not at fault 99.9% of the time in my experience.

I might as well go this route with Web Africa: (It works out to about the same)

Lol, good luck...

Remember that MWEB Uncapped performs better than capped bandwidth.

Not for torrents, however. Which I'm happy about. Don't need abusers deteriorating my experience for their gluttony.

 

[Inky1980]

Without PMing MWEB Guy first for an account reauth/port reset? Or checking with Telkom for line test and port reset?

MWEB is not at fault 99.9% of the time in my experience.



Lol, good luck...

Remember that MWEB Uncapped performs better than capped bandwidth.

Not for torrents, however. Which I'm happy about. Don't need abusers deteriorating my experience for their gluttony.

Oh I've done that many many times, I did that last week. I hardly abuse torrents. I'm not asking for the world here, all I'm asking for is for them to judge individually instead of throttling the whole country. Joe Soap is sitting on 150 Gb for the month, but I'm on 20 GB, yet I also get a download speed of no more than 2 kbps. But.....like I said before, torrents are what they are and we really have no foot to stand on.

 

[PostmanPot]

Oh I've done that many many times, I did that last week. I hardly abuse torrents. I'm not asking for the world here, all I'm asking for is for them to judge individually instead of throttling the whole country. Joe Soap is sitting on 150 Gb for the month, but I'm on 20 GB, yet I also get a download speed of no more than 2 kbps. But.....like I said before, torrents are what they are and we really have no foot to stand on.

Leave them to run overnight, they'll be done by morning.