Uncapped shaping: between a rock and a hard place

[aktor]

Hehe, thanks MWeb Guy - you do realise I will quote you on this if I do stay with MWeb and end up getting throttled though, right?
Thanks for the reply. This brings me to a question, however:

You say based on my usage patterns, I shouldn't get throttled. By that do you mean my 200GB total traffic per month? Is this per month, or per day (as in 200GB / 30)? Please, please please can we get some numbers here - at what stage WOULD I get throttled then? I think that's what we'd all like to know, and uncertainty is what's driving us away.

 

[TheGuy]

Evening aktor,

With your usage patterns you should not be affected by throttling on your MWEB account.

I know that due to us choosing to enforce our AUP differently has made you opt for an alternate account.

The change was made for clients like you to obtain a better all round experience on our network.

Sometimes we search for things we've had in our lives all along

Not true my usage for last month on mweb was 70GB on a 2mb line and I'm shaped to death still today. Best part is we hardly torrent it's just 6 people in the house using the Internet

 

[aktor]

Got the following email reply from MWeb (I asked them about 200GB per month on a Premium Uncapped 4mbps specifically, and whether that will get me throttled):

Thank you for taking the time to contact MWEB.

I can understand the importance of your request and will gladly assist.

The calculation is done over a 30 day rolling window and is updated on a daily basis. If your usage becomes very excessive, your speed will be limited until it falls back into normal ranges.

If you do feel that you are a power user that pushes the limits of what your internet connection can handle (and what your hard drive can store) then we suggest that you keep a watch on your daily usage and try and manage yourself to stay within the boundaries. You can always check your usage via the My Account pages. You will also be able to see your service status there to see if you have been speed limited.

I hope this information has helped. Please contact me if you have any further technical difficulty.

What "within the boundaries". What ARE THE BOUNDARIES?! That's what thousands of people asked you and you keep on evading the answer. So, err, no, this information did not help. Obviously. Not that I actually expected a straight answer, but how do they get it past their conscience to give such BS answers :/

MWeb Guy, what gives? Can you all at least get on the same page and give the same answers? Preferably specifics and not this vague crap? I've always been a fan of MWeb's services, and I've been a customer for years (since the Icon days in 1996). I'd love to stay with MWeb, but can you not understand that we cannot stay with you under these circumstances? Even if we're not "heavy users", because we DO NOT KNOW what that means, according to you?

 

[vicv]

Mweb is not going to disclose any numbers because they want to make it a "best effort service".

 

[aktor]

Aren't they under obligation to provide numbers upon request under the PAIA and CPA acts?

 

[aktor]

In fact, I'm fairly sure there is a case for requesting the numbers to be disclosed under the information act, but more importantly - we're not getting the service we're being sold (under the CPA act).

 

[mr_norris]

I had two accounts with Mweb, one is still going on my parents line. Both are 1 meg non-business accounts. I changed one to AfriHost (the one I'm using).

It seems that overall speeds are brilliant with Afrihost, until you're shaped. Mweb seemed to be just a tad slower, all month. Was pretty constant for me.

With AfriHost I reached relatively high download speeds during the day and night. Mweb only sped up after hours.

Now on my AfriHost account, I'm sitting with this:

Data Used: 27.95 GB
Average Daily Usage: 3.99 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 123.77 GB

Account Status: Account Active
Shaping Policy: 25% Download/ 12.5% P2P
Latest IP Address: 105.236.7.130

While I happily jumped ship because of AH's better service, ClientZone and control - I'm glad I left the other account with Mweb.

 

[killerbyte]

Data Used: 84.66 GB
Average Daily Usage: 12.09 GB
Projected Monthly Usage: 374.93 GB

Thats what you can expect on a business uncapped 2meg account from Afrihost. Those numbers were correct as of 2pm today.

 

[TJ99]

What "within the boundaries". What ARE THE BOUNDARIES?!

They'll never tell you. Ever. Because if they did, we'd all instantly realise they're bull****ting about that too and throttling people under the "boundary". And we'd realise when they dropped the limit suddenly.

but how do they get it past their conscience to give such BS answers :/

I'm guessing the piles and piles of cash do the trick pretty well.