Web Africa fibre sucks - Which ISP shoudl I use instead?

[Green Haze]

I need some advice.

We are paying Web Africa for 50Mb fibre and are getting nowhere near that speed, internationally.
We can hardly even stream.

On local speed tests we get well over 50Mb, But on international, during normal usage hours at night, we get 6Mb, on a good night. But lately, it's usually more like 2Mb to 3Mb, sometimes even less than 2Mb. Then laaate at night, after most of their customers have gone to sleep, it's super fast again.

That is totally useless to us.
We have rasied it with them, but they just lie to us and say it's normal for all ISP's to have slow international performance. Yet I just got 35Mb/s speed to London, tetherting my Vodacom 4G cell phone, just a few minutes WebAfrica got below 2.5Mb/s.

I belive WebAfrica actually use Internet Solutons for their backbone.
I don't know if InternetSolutions doesn't have the capacity, if they're over-subscribed, or just screwing WebAfrica.
Either way, WebAfrica are screwing us, and their fibre is just not worth it.

I used to be on BitCo, and they were the best service provider I've ever had (until a new building blocked my line of site to their tower). My 10Mb BitCo wirelss was atually much better than my 50Mb WebAfrica fibre! And it was always the same speed, even during peak hours.

So we now have a 100Mb Fibrehoods line to our home, and are using WebAfrica as our ISP.
But we are getting really poor international speeds from WebAfrica.
Who else should we try as our ISP?
We want 50Mb or 100Mb with fast international speeds so we can all use it at night, and good latency for gaming.

Who of you have fast reliable fibre and are actually getting the international speeds you're paying for?
You can test by setting your preferred server in speedtest.net to a London (or some other international) server.

Please advise.

Thanks

 

[Chevron]

Cool Ideas.

 

[Bryn]

I have 100Mbps Openserve fibre with Crystal Web and it's awesome. Unshaped as far as I can tell.

 

[TheTwo]

WebAfrica definitely sucks, am with them now and a 4mb fibre line is worse than my old 1mb telkom adsl

 

[cyberbob1979]

Well, the ISP would depend on who your Fibre provider is - there are plenty of ISP's across the providers but some don't have point of presence on some of the Fibre provider networks.

So that would help to know first.

Secondly, I concur with Chevron - I'm on Cool Ideas 20/20 and it doesn't have any issues - I even stream internationally (Upload) from my Plex server

 

[XenitXTD]

Crystal Web or Cool Ideas... Crystal web has a News Server which is a big plus with Premium which has 2k days retention...

 

[PBCool]

We don't mind giving you a free 2 week trial as well, just have fibrehoods switch your line over to us and we will issue you an account .

 

[sSslik]

I walked away from WebAfrica before completing the deal ... if their product resembled their service, there was no ways I would give them my money.

I eventually tried out Cybersmart as they were the cheapest 20/20 offering via Vumatel and had no shaping, no FUP, no throttling. Thus far ... I tend to always get 20/20 when I run speedtest and have had no performance problems (with my fibre connection that is!).

 

[Anthro]

I walked away from WebAfrica before completing the deal ... if their product resembled their service, there was no ways I would give them my money.

I eventually tried out Cybersmart as they were the cheapest 20/20 offering via Vumatel and had no shaping, no FUP, no throttling. Thus far ... I tend to always get 20/20 when I run speedtest and have had no performance problems (with my fibre connection that is!).

Same experience, I will never pay a cent to WebAfrica

 

[UssOP]

Everyone likes to cry about a service provider that's crap. A handful of a people out of THOUSANDS experience a problem and they become the worst. If the service is not right then troubleshoot, log a fault or just move to a different ISP that has no issues with bandwidth in your area. Saying that the internet was great up until one point but now it isn't is also another thing. Have you never been healthy one day and the next day sick? Nothing will still perfect forever. Its just a matter of maintaining.

 

[WebAfrica Helper]

Good Day

Thank you for your enquiry.


Please provide me with your customer code - would like to call and support the technical issue asap. We would like to run a few test to isolate where the packet loss is coming from , of which would be a ping test and trace route. We will test connection to both local and international sites to monitor the packet jumps from one core server to the next and see exactly where the international latency originates from.

Internet Solution are our upstream provider - they do have more than required capacity - in this intense - would like to troubleshoot - reconfigure some settings and test again . Would like to confirm this issue is one that is beyond your equipment and/or configurations.

Really sorry you feel the way you do- not sure how much that would mean after all you have been through . If at the very least you would allow us to call you and support you the way you deserve .

Its our objective and soul purpose to ensure you know exactly why you chose us to begin with - all we ask is one opportunity to change your mind and redeem your faith in Web Africa . Customer services is of our core values and its vital that even though these things happen - that you feel supported- always. As human beings we are not exempted from mistake - technology is not either. Please allow the chance to rectify a wrong . You are valued and sincerely request your time to ensure you know this.

Would like to contact you to ensure your enquiry is seen to asap - to ensure we are able to chat - please email hellopeter@webafrica.com or wahp@webafrica.com - looking forward to your most valued responses to the provided email addresses

Kindly note support is also available via @WebAfricaHelper and Web Africa Facebook page DM

Please PM me should you want assistance via MyBB

Once a email is sent to the above email addresses - you will receive a ticket number to track progress - please hold onto that ticket number as a reference to your enquiry.


Looking forward to your most valued response.

Regards,

Rafeeqah

I need some advice.

We are paying Web Africa for 50Mb fibre and are getting nowhere near that speed, internationally.
We can hardly even stream.

On local speed tests we get well over 50Mb, But on international, during normal usage hours at night, we get 6Mb, on a good night. But lately, it's usually more like 2Mb to 3Mb, sometimes even less than 2Mb. Then laaate at night, after most of their customers have gone to sleep, it's super fast again.

That is totally useless to us.
We have rasied it with them, but they just lie to us and say it's normal for all ISP's to have slow international performance. Yet I just got 35Mb/s speed to London, tetherting my Vodacom 4G cell phone, just a few minutes WebAfrica got below 2.5Mb/s.

I belive WebAfrica actually use Internet Solutons for their backbone.
I don't know if InternetSolutions doesn't have the capacity, if they're over-subscribed, or just screwing WebAfrica.
Either way, WebAfrica are screwing us, and their fibre is just not worth it.

I used to be on BitCo, and they were the best service provider I've ever had (until a new building blocked my line of site to their tower). My 10Mb BitCo wirelss was atually much better than my 50Mb WebAfrica fibre! And it was always the same speed, even during peak hours.

So we now have a 100Mb Fibrehoods line to our home, and are using WebAfrica as our ISP.
But we are getting really poor international speeds from WebAfrica.
Who else should we try as our ISP?
We want 50Mb or 100Mb with fast international speeds so we can all use it at night, and good latency for gaming.

Who of you have fast reliable fibre and are actually getting the international speeds you're paying for?
You can test by setting your preferred server in speedtest.net to a London (or some other international) server.

Please advise.

Thanks

 

[Green Haze]

Everyone likes to cry about a service provider that's crap. A handful of a people out of THOUSANDS experience a problem and they become the worst. If the service is not right then troubleshoot, log a fault or just move to a different ISP that has no issues with bandwidth in your area. Saying that the internet was great up until one point but now it isn't is also another thing. Have you never been healthy one day and the next day sick? Nothing will still perfect forever. Its just a matter of maintaining.

I don't like "crying", I am here seeking advice from other users.
We have logged calls, and done speedtests. This has been going for months - and has been consistently getting worse.
The bottom line is: We pay WebAfrica for 50Mb and we get < 3Mb on a typical night. The problem is with their capacity. That means it's effecting all of their customers. I gues they only keep the ignoranmt ones, or those who just do light browsing and e-mail. And you can see from other replies, that my experience is a typical WebAfrica experience.

At 2am the speed is much better, which proves it's just a capacity issue (too many customers sharing too little bandwidth during peak hours). But we need good speed at reasonable hours - the times we actually want to use our Internet service. If this was a temporary problem, and they gave an honest explanation, I would wait for it to be resolved. I am a reasonable and understanding person. But this is not temporary, and their only explanations have been insultingly dishonest.
Them pretending it's a technical problem, or that they want to help, is just window dressing.
They already treid to tell us that all service providers have slow international speed (not to be confused with latency), due to the great distances involved. This is obvously nonsense. I just got 35Mb to London on my Vodacom 4G.
So yes, I will move to better service provider.

The purpose of this thread is to find out, from other users, which service provider I should change to.
It will likely involve changing routers, and other issues that will affect devices at home... So I'd like to make the right choice the first time, find a good one, and stick with them.

 

[Green Haze]

Can anyone post a speedtest from SA to London, using Cool Ideas?
I'd like to see their true results.

Who owns Cood Ideas, and are they being bought by someone else?

 

[coop]

Can anyone post a speedtest from SA to London, using Cool Ideas?
I'd like to see their true results.

Who owns Cood Ideas, and are they being bought by someone else?

These three speed tests are all to UK servers, 2 in London and 1 in Maidstone. But I'm not sure what it proves. This is on a 100 Mb/s connection but from my desktop PC that is connected by Ethernet cable. During this test, 4 other people (wife, kids and mother in law) are using the network.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077906252 - London
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077915019 - London
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077924701 - maidstone

The tests to the same server are repeatable and always give approx. the same results (for the same server that is).

My wife is an avid Runescape player and [plays on UK servers. She thinks this is the best internet she has ever used.

I can't comment on the ownership of CISP or there sales plans (if they have any). Maybe ask PBCool that question.

 

[PBCool]

Can anyone post a speedtest from SA to London, using Cool Ideas?
I'd like to see their true results.

Who owns Cood Ideas, and are they being bought by someone else?

Cool Ideas is privately owned by 4 shareholders within the business, me being one of them. We are not being bought out but have had lots of offers.

 

[WebAfrica Helper]

Hi

Thank you for your response to my email.

We are here to support as best we can - the reason for this thread is understood - if ever - you would like us to help in any way- feel free to drop me a PM with your customer code - would really like to help you.

Have a great weekend.

Regards,

Rafeeqah

 

[WebAfrica Helper]

Good Morning,

Thank you for your response to my comment on the thread.

The reason for the thread you created is completely understood – we understand that if you feel like you are not getting what you are paying for - you would like the opinions others and their experiences with their respective providers.

We would like you to know that we are willing to support you - and will be here for your support. We realize that we can only help – if you are keen to be assisted. We respect your decision and hope you re-consider.

We will be here for you – and again, would like the opportunity to show you the extent we are willing to go to for our Web Africans.

Thank you all for your most valued feedback on this thread

Have a great weekend.

Regards,

Rafeeqah

 

[Green Haze]

These three speed tests are all to UK servers, 2 in London and 1 in Maidstone. But I'm not sure what it proves. This is on a 100 Mb/s connection but from my desktop PC that is connected by Ethernet cable. During this test, 4 other people (wife, kids and mother in law) are using the network.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077906252 - London
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077915019 - London
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6077924701 - maidstone

The tests to the same server are repeatable and always give approx. the same results (for the same server that is).

My wife is an avid Runescape player and [plays on UK servers. She thinks this is the best internet she has ever used.

I can't comment on the ownership of CISP or there sales plans (if they have any). Maybe ask PBCool that question.

It proves that you can get good, usable international speeds through Cool Ideas.

With WebAfrica, last night at 9:00pm, I was getting 1.2Mb/s to London. And that is becoming thier normal international speed on our 50M fibre package. We can't even stream with that.
Our SA speeds are very fast, but international is just about useless.

Usually when people post speed tests, they only show local (SA) servers.
I needed to see real-world international performace, which is what you showed me.

Thanks. That was very helpful.

I'm also an avid gamer, usually on UK servers. So good international latency is also paramount to me.

 

[Green Haze]

Cool Ideas is privately owned by 4 shareholders within the business, me being one of them. We are not being bought out but have had lots of offers.

Thanks, good to know.
It's sad how often the smaller, more agile companies that actually try harder, end up being bought by larger more sluggish entities... and then their quality is brought down to the level of the mediocre behemoth that swallowed them up.

 

[shel0319]

Hi,

So i just signed up for a WebAfrica fibre account on a Fibrehoods line and then stumbled upon this thread...

My primary usage will be gaming both locally and internationally with some streaming here and there, i'm concerned about the international speeds the OP mentioned.

Hoping for some feedback from other users who use WebAfrica & Fibrehoods please.

Iv'e used WA for DSL and cannot complain about the service i received.