WebAfrica gone sour

[TheLaggingShaman]

Sorry but it has to be said. WebAfrica used to be a beacon of hope for unshaped services in South Africa because they cared more than most about their customers but recently I don't know anymore. Unshaped connection speed and quality has been terrible since mid-April, they put it down to SAIX and now finally mid-May some improvement has been made. It's just an improvement but WebAfrica now state the problem as "fixed" and done with. It is not nearly the quality or speed we had before.

Without going into traceroutes which always differ depending on what you trace to, an example is my ingame World of Warcraft latency. It used to be a playable 300-400ms before April, then when the problem arose it jumped to 700ms+ and now that the problem is "fixed" I am only getting 420-600ms.

This is just my case but a lot of WebAfrica users are complaining about this and staff there seem to just shrug and brush us aside, as if they don't want to fix the problem or just can't be arsed.

Here's the official WebAfrica thread discussing the issue http://forums.webafrica.co.za/slow_speed-_saix_unshaped_accounts_1236-1.html

Notice how the only recent staff support was Werner who stated: "The Unshaped ADSL latency has being resolve."

 

[raVid]

WebAfrica just resell Telkom SAIX bandwidth. All the connectivity problems are, as usual, Telkom's fault.

 

[Nameite]

Yeah man, stop blaming it on the middle man.
Cant u think a bit in their shoes?

If u dont like the saix unshaped account they sell, then try something else...the ping would be impossible for them to fix if they're "re-sellers" u know

 

[w1z4rd]

As the two people mentioned above, its not their fault. Its telkoms.

 

[TheLaggingShaman]

Yes I'm aware of that - what I'm saying is that WebAfrica seem to be content with the package they are selling when it is not yet fixed. They have always provided top customer service and this just seems to go against that. It is Telkom's fault, it's aways Telkom's fault, but WA can atleast try and put pressure onto the monster to get things done and working - rather than stating that the problem is fixed and - seemingly - neglecting to acknowledge the complaints we are still making.

I like WebAfrica, I've been with them for a while and would prefer not to change. But if it comes to it, I will; and that would be WA's loss more than mine so once again its just not clear why they won't deal with this issue.

 

[BTTB]

Why should we phone Telkom to complain? It is the ISP's job not mine.

While we like to blame Telkom for everything, customers speak to their ISP's when service is poor and they expect that Service Provider to provide an answer and then hopefully a solution.
The general public are unaware of the complexities in the Telecom Arena and we would naturally lay the blame on the Company providing the service, in this case WebAfrica albeit they get their bandwidth through SAIX and are reliant on them.

ADSL is still one of the better services available in South Africa, but this service has deteriorated in regards to latency and speed especially during the daytime hours and since Per Gb Billing was introduced the price has actually gone up for anyone using more than 3 to 5Gb of data.

When if ever are the consumers of these products going to get a proper answer as to why ADSL is de prioritised during daytime hours, as we have paid for a service and expect it to work properly. I know where the blame lies, but it is up to Service Providers who take our money to challenge the status quo. Why should we/I phone Telkom with these issues.
MyADSL has petitioned and moaned and it looks like we will be doing so until the cows come home, but have the ISP's put in the same amount of effort as lets say Rudolf Muller has? Are ISP's championing the cause of the consumer. Many of these ISP's went to the MyADSL Hearings at ICASA and had their say. What is their status on the matter now? Is the matter put to rest or are the same issues still relevant. Things haven't changed. A small reduction in ADSL Line Access Rental and that's about all.

According to the Regulations in regards to ADSL, Local Bandwidth cannot be capped, yet it still is! Why is this so. Is it Telkom's fault again or are the ISP's happy with the situation. Probably both?
I know when I am capped I have to purchase more bandwidth as I cannot surf locally. I don't expect this situation to change and I haven't been notified to the contrary by my ISP's of which I have used 3 in the last month.
Not once has an ISP sent me an email with content challenging the current situation in our land and remain quiet on the matter.
They are making money with the Per GB Billing System and have no interest to change that situation.

 

[Necuno]

While we like to blame Telkom for everything, customers speak to their ISP's when service is poor and they expect that Service Provider to provide an answer and then hopefully a solution.
The general public are unaware of the complexities in the Telecom Arena and we would naturally lay the blame on the Company providing the service, in this case WebAfrica albeit they get their bandwidth through SAIX and are reliant on them.

ADSL is still one of the better services available in South Africa, but this service has deteriorated in regards to latency and speed especially during the daytime hours and since Per Gb Billing was introduced the price has actually gone up for anyone using more than 3 to 5Gb of data.

When if ever are the consumers of these products going to get a proper answer as to why ADSL is de prioritised during daytime hours, as we have paid for a service and expect it to work properly. I know where the blame lies, but it is up to Service Providers who take our money to challenge the status quo. Why should we/I phone Telkom with these issues.
MyADSL has petitioned and moaned and it looks like we will be doing so until the cows come home, but have the ISP's put in the same amount of effort as lets say Rudolf Muller has? Are ISP's championing the cause of the consumer. Many of these ISP's went to the MyADSL Hearings at ICASA and had their say. What is their status on the matter now? Is the matter put to rest or are the same issues still relevant. Things haven't changed. A small reduction in ADSL Line Access Rental and that's about all.

According to the Regulations in regards to ADSL, Local Bandwidth cannot be capped, yet it still is! Why is this so. Is it Telkom's fault again or are the ISP's happy with the situation. Probably both?
I know when I am capped I have to purchase more bandwidth as I cannot surf locally. I don't expect this situation to change and I haven't been notified to the contrary by my ISP's of which I have used 3 in the last month.
Not once has an ISP sent me an email with content challenging the current situation in our land and remain quiet on the matter.
They are making money with the Per GB Billing System and have no interest to change that situation.

exactly so.

why i started this thread:
isp - can you hear me?
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=74249

seems that we are all just debits to them, why should they care - they probably all enjoy nice speeds or just think wtf these kids complaining for 640kb is enough for every thing what possible can 60ms - 100ms
increase be ???

R125 unshaped - gzz that so little amount, but not if you can barley afford that with a 384k rental p/m + account + phone line...

...maybe its an issue of to many fat cats in the kitchen, starving staff and worthless peasant scum outside.

 

[Nameite]

While we like to blame Telkom for everything, customers speak to their ISP's when service is poor and they expect that Service Provider to provide an answer and then hopefully a solution.
The general public are unaware of the complexities in the Telecom Arena and we would naturally lay the blame on the Company providing the service, in this case WebAfrica albeit they get their bandwidth through SAIX and are reliant on them.

ADSL is still one of the better services available in South Africa, but this service has deteriorated in regards to latency and speed especially during the daytime hours and since Per Gb Billing was introduced the price has actually gone up for anyone using more than 3 to 5Gb of data.

When if ever are the consumers of these products going to get a proper answer as to why ADSL is de prioritised during daytime hours, as we have paid for a service and expect it to work properly. I know where the blame lies, but it is up to Service Providers who take our money to challenge the status quo. Why should we/I phone Telkom with these issues.
MyADSL has petitioned and moaned and it looks like we will be doing so until the cows come home, but have the ISP's put in the same amount of effort as lets say Rudolf Muller has? Are ISP's championing the cause of the consumer. Many of these ISP's went to the MyADSL Hearings at ICASA and had their say. What is their status on the matter now? Is the matter put to rest or are the same issues still relevant. Things haven't changed. A small reduction in ADSL Line Access Rental and that's about all.

According to the Regulations in regards to ADSL, Local Bandwidth cannot be capped, yet it still is! Why is this so. Is it Telkom's fault again or are the ISP's happy with the situation. Probably both?
I know when I am capped I have to purchase more bandwidth as I cannot surf locally. I don't expect this situation to change and I haven't been notified to the contrary by my ISP's of which I have used 3 in the last month.
Not once has an ISP sent me an email with content challenging the current situation in our land and remain quiet on the matter.
They are making money with the Per GB Billing System and have no interest to change that situation.

I dont agree, how do u know ISPs didnt try put pressure on telkom?
And even with ICASA and presi Mbeki pressuring telkom, I dont really see too much a change from them.
So what difference is a mere ISP gonna do?
And yes, they did start becoming an ISP to make money in the 1st place, obviously their 1st interest is making money.
And from this interest, they become aware of customer needs because they need customers to make money...
Personally I think webafrica is dong pretty well keeping this balance...

The guy said problem fixed, well maybe he wasnt lying...maybe he was told that by saix/telkom....wouldnt u wanna bring out good news to customers first thing before checking coz u're customer centric?
And why would he need to check coz he wouldnt expect saix/telkom to lie...

This is south africa, if u want anything, fight for it!
Stop relying on others for something u want...be a man

 

[BTTB]

Hi Naimete,

I am sure the ISP's have tried, but to no avail.
Remember I am an individual, whereas the ISP has hundreds of customers.
Has MyADSL given up the cause? No. MyADSL represents it's members interests here on this website.
Many ISP's have done their bit for the cause and they should as they represent their many customers, yet it would appear as if they are Ok with the situation of Per Gb Billing?
It is technically against the law as at the end of that usage the account becomes capped. The whole Per Gb System is designed to make money for Telkom and the ISP's. That is the bottom line.
ISP's as you say are there to make moola, so why would there be an interest to change Per Gb Billing. (Remember the 30Gb Account?)
I think that was my point in my post.

 

[Nameite]

I understand bro...
Best we can do is stay in myadsl and do what we can...its one of the reason why I'm here as well.
The point of my post is so we dont blast ISPs...being the middleman is a tough job. Got a mate working at a vodacom shop...and i feel sorry for the guy being shouted at everyday because some rich guy's sim doesnt work....
And this got nothing to do with the poor dude, he's just there to earn a living...

The best he can do is call vodacom centre...put on hold for 20min(sometimes 50) and nag them to sort out the prob...when that doesnt get done, he gets it from the customers again...

My point is, those big companys like telkom treats ISPs the same as us customers...we should try work with ISPs against telkom instead of placing them in the same boat as telkom.
Dunno how just yet though

 

[.geek]

I've created two threads regarding the unshaped latency issues:

SAIX: Unshaped latency higher than normal?

Web Africa - Unshaped ADSL latency

At the end of the day, we just have to accept whatever is deemed as "fixed". It's pathetic.

 

[DjStyles]

SAD Fact

...At the end of the day, we just have to accept whatever is deemed as "fixed". It's pathetic.

This pretty much sums it all up when Telkom is involved. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything anyone can do to change this fact.

Sad but True!!!

 

[TheLaggingShaman]

Well I'd still like an official reply from WebAfrica on the matter, whether or not they can help the situation. They reply to posts in these forums often enough, and a thread title like this one should not be too hard to notice.

 

[wamatt]

Hi All

I feel your pain, we have been fighting with Telkom on behalf of ourselves and all other ISP's. We have MULTIPLE FQ (fault queries) logged.

Werner posted a resolution in that it was a temporary fix Telkom put in place. He was merely forwarding on the info we received from Telkom to be as helpful as possible and not intending to say it was going to be the status quo.

Telkom unfortunately have a problem with equipment supply at the exchange ,which isn't some setting you can just tweak to make it go away. The "fix" that helped reduce the latency is not permanent and only a temporary solution until the new equipment arrives. We have been told speeds will return to normal once they install. As always we are not given ETA's.

As for proactive measures, I can just say we will be announcing soon to get around the problem regardless of what Telkom do. I can't say any more now but we will keep you posted.

 

[Nameite]

C what i'm saying?
They doing good...

By the way, to webafrica...do u sell verizon unshaped packages?
If not, why not move the unhappy unshaped customers to verizon and see how things are? Since the unshaped packages now, from what i hear, are worse than shaped ones.

Just a thought

 

[Necuno]

Hi All

I feel your pain, we have been fighting with Telkom on behalf of ourselves and all other ISP's. We have MULTIPLE FQ (fault queries) logged.

Werner posted a resolution in that it was a temporary fix Telkom put in place. He was merely forwarding on the info we received from Telkom to be as helpful as possible and not intending to say it was going to be the status quo.

Telkom unfortunately have a problem with equipment supply at the exchange ,which isn't some setting you can just tweak to make it go away. The "fix" that helped reduce the latency is not permanent and only a temporary solution until the new equipment arrives. We have been told speeds will return to normal once they install. As always we are not given ETA's.

As for proactive measures, I can just say we will be announcing soon to get around the problem regardless of what Telkom do. I can't say any more now but we will keep you posted.

thank you, now there is a torch in the forest

 

[dleerob]

Unfortunately that torch may be put out by the flood that is Telkom

 

[.geek]

The explanation wamatt posted, 4 days after a moderator on the Web Africa forums, Werner, said the problem has been resolved, would have been a better idea.

Saying it's resolved, when it clearly isn't, is what is disappointing. Transparency is the key here I guess.

To some extent, clients are aware of the Telkom <-> ISP relationship, so as long as we're aware of the situation, there's no room for any complaints towards an ISP.