Webafrica VDSL priority profile

Thanks again Tinuva, will do. Will work at client premisses today, but will do tomorrow. My feeling from this month: international : bad, local : good, time of day : minor influence. But let me rather do tests to confirm.
 
Cool. Sure we can figure out what the exact problem is, then there is no reason to tell you to upgrade to higher prioritised accounts.
 
Tinuva said:
Cool. Sure we can figure out what the exact problem is, then there is no reason to tell you to upgrade to higher prioritised accounts.
Click to expand...

yeah there's no reason the normal capped account shouldn't work for you.

My guess is the businesses are causing congestion during the day.

Maybe also post day time line stats for comparison.
 
dits said:
A month ago I switched from Webafrica's Home Capped VDSL to Business Capped VDSL (20Mb). They claim http://support.webafrica.co.za/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1000/164/vdsl-qa "Business Capped VDSL: Platinum priority". When I switched I should have gone from Titanium to Platinum (http://support.webafrica.co.za/inde...rticle/View/669/0/bandwidth-priority-profiles) priority.

My effective performance however is less. All Websfrica is saying is I should upgrade to ADSL pro. I'm effectively paying more, getting less data, and - at the best - getting the same performance. After a month of battling with WA I'm getting fed up being treated like an idiot. Anyone got any suggestions for a viable alternative?

I currently use 100/150 Gig per month and I want a fast connection.
Click to expand...

Hi dits,

This is a very strange one as you should be getting a much better experience overall on the Business capped solution. I would like to take a look and get our Network guys on it.

PM me your account details and I will take it from there.
 
I'm in the process of comparing Webafrica, Openweb, and Afrihost from yesterday afternoon. Crystalweb never answered my email. Will publish results later today.
 
WebAfrica Helper said:
Hi dits,

This is a very strange one as you should be getting a much better experience overall on the Business capped solution. I would like to take a look and get our Network guys on it.

PM me your account details and I will take it from there.
Click to expand...

I will PM you my username and a link to the support thread, where I have been providing details of the problems since 6 October. What I would like to know from Webafrica, and what I still don't have an answer to is the following:

How is it that here: http://support.webafrica.co.za/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1000/164/vdsl-qa you claim "Business Capped VDSL: Platinum priority" and that, in my support calls, you simply say 'sorry you will only get gold priority'. Either you need to give me platinum priority, or you need to adjust your website, apologise to me for misinforming me, offer me to revert back my old account, and reimburse me for the extra cost. It's only a simple 'sorry we are wrong' and R 20, but it's principle that counts here. It's how you treat your customers (especially those that have been loyal customers since 2005).
 
dits said:
I will PM you my username and a link to the support thread, where I have been providing details of the problems since 6 October. What I would like to know from Webafrica, and what I still don't have an answer to is the following:

How is it that here: http://support.webafrica.co.za/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1000/164/vdsl-qa you claim "Business Capped VDSL: Platinum priority" and that, in my support calls, you simply say 'sorry you will only get gold priority'. Either you need to give me platinum priority, or you need to adjust your website, apologise to me for misinforming me, offer me to revert back my old account, and reimburse me for the extra cost. It's only a simple 'sorry we are wrong' and R 20, but it's principle that counts here. It's how you treat your customers (especially those that have been loyal customers since 2005).
Click to expand...

Hi Dits,

There was an error with that KB article as should have always been on 'Gold' as per the main bandwidth priority article here. Any Business capped account whether it be VDSL or not falls under 'Gold' and the only accounts that are on 'Platinum' would be the Business Capped Pro.

I believe Kevin did call you around this yesterday and explained the error.
 
WebAfrica Helper said:
Hi Dits,

There was an error with that KB article as should have always been on 'Gold' as per the main bandwidth priority article here. Any Business capped account whether it be VDSL or not falls under 'Gold' and the only accounts that are on 'Platinum' would be the Business Capped Pro.

I believe Kevin did call you around this yesterday and explained the error.
Click to expand...

Hi Wa helper,

1: Please read the support thread I sent you per PM. The very first post (24 September) says:
Browsing through your support pages I found that upgrading my current
Home Capped VDSL package to a Business Capped VDSL should upgrade my
priority profile from Titanium to Platinum (source
http://support.webafrica.co.za/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1000/164/vdsl-qa).

Based on this information I tried to upgrade my existing Home Capped
VDSL 240 GB @ R 399 / month to Business Capped VDSL 180 GB @ R 419 /
month. However, it seems the customer zone does not make provision for
VDSL upgrades. I would like this change to become effective per 1
October 2014. Can you please assist?
Click to expand...
Hence you could have corrected me a month ago and I would not have upgraded in the first place.

2: The 'main bandwidth priority' article fails to mention anything about VDSL.

3: Kelvin did not phone me yesterday. He responded in the support thread (on 17 October), understanding my confusion and frustration, stating:
We have send this ticket to our Marketing team to further address and currently awaiting there feedback.
Click to expand...

4: You could have corrected your documentation 17 October when your technical support advisor Emraan first noticed the error, in stead of yesterday.
 
Last edited:
Tinuva, Chevron,

Herewith the results of my speed testing (using http://speedtest.mybroadband.co.za/. First the cold facts, then the interpretation.


WEBAFRICA

International
Down: 2044 kbps, Up: 1548 kbps, Latency: 234 ms, 28 10 2014 14:26:25
Down: 4787 kbps, Up: 1554 kbps, Latency: 242 ms, 28 10 2014 14:26:57
Down: 9215 kbps, Up: 1680 kbps, Latency: 189 ms, 28 10 2014 17:16:24
Down: 12277 kbps, Up: 1723 kbps, Latency: 191 ms, 29 10 2014 08:06:10
Down: 6940 kbps, Up: 1649 kbps, Latency: 191 ms, 29 10 2014 16:01:05

Joburg
Down: 10071 kbps, Up: 1575 kbps, Latency: 19 ms, 28 10 2014 14:27:58
Down: 5385 kbps, Up: 1740 kbps, Latency: 67 ms, 28 10 2014 14:30:24
Down: 19045 kbps, Up: 1866 kbps, Latency: 18 ms, 28 10 2014 17:18:06
Down: 19003 kbps, Up: 1853 kbps, Latency: 18 ms, 29 10 2014 08:06:58
Down: 19098 kbps, Up: 1872 kbps, Latency: 16 ms, 29 10 2014 16:01:44

Capetown
Down: 3436 kbps, Up: 1793 kbps, Latency: 43 ms, 28 10 2014 14:29:09
Down: 1572 kbps, Up: 1774 kbps, Latency: 111 ms, 28 10 2014 14:31:18
Down: 19031 kbps, Up: 1861 kbps, Latency: 33 ms, 28 10 2014 17:19:00
Down: 19028 kbps, Up: 1855 kbps, Latency: 35 ms, 29 10 2014 08:07:51
Down: 19037 kbps, Up: 1858 kbps, Latency: 34 ms, 29 10 2014 16:02:33

/---------------------------------------------------------------------/

OPENWEB

Iternational
Down: 4909 kbps, Up: 1694 kbps, Latency: 181 ms, 28 10 2014 15:08:28
Down: 12636 kbps, Up: 1710 kbps, Latency: 181 ms, 28 10 2014 15:11:40
Down: 13864 kbps, Up: 1679 kbps, Latency: 182 ms, 28 10 2014 17:26:58
Down: 11890 kbps, Up: 1731 kbps, Latency: 181 ms, 29 10 2014 07:57:38
Down: 7787 kbps, Up: 1664 kbps, Latency: 181 ms, 29 10 2014 16:08:00

Joburg
Down: 18919 kbps, Up: 1867 kbps, Latency: 25 ms, 28 10 2014 15:09:57
Down: 16548 kbps, Up: 1738 kbps, Latency: 54 ms, 28 10 2014 15:13:16
Down: 19033 kbps, Up: 1873 kbps, Latency: 19 ms, 28 10 2014 17:28:08
Down: 19048 kbps, Up: 1869 kbps, Latency: 19 ms, 29 10 2014 07:58:42
Down: 18921 kbps, Up: 1875 kbps, Latency: 19 ms, 29 10 2014 16:09:31

Capetown
Down: 19056 kbps, Up: 1860 kbps, Latency: 33 ms, 28 10 2014 15:10:52
Down: 19044 kbps, Up: 1863 kbps, Latency: 37 ms, 28 10 2014 15:14:15
Down: 19064 kbps, Up: 1860 kbps, Latency: 35 ms, 28 10 2014 17:29:00
Down: 19040 kbps, Up: 1860 kbps, Latency: 38 ms, 29 10 2014 08:01:02
Down: 19041 kbps, Up: 1855 kbps, Latency: 36 ms, 29 10 2014 16:10:15

/---------------------------------------------------------------------/

AFRIHOST

International
Down: 2953 kbps, Up: 1583 kbps, Latency: 197 ms, 28 10 2014 15:35:23
Down: 1825 kbps, Up: 1645 kbps, Latency: 212 ms, 28 10 2014 15:37:52

Joburg
Down: 14798 kbps, Up: 1784 kbps, Latency: 39 ms, 28 10 2014 15:36:33
Down: 11864 kbps, Up: 1838 kbps, Latency: 37 ms, 28 10 2014 15:38:51

Capetown
Down: 1616 kbps, Up: 1661 kbps, Latency: 132 ms, 28 10 2014 15:37:15
Down: 9875 kbps, Up: 1841 kbps, Latency: 36 ms, 28 10 2014 15:39:43


As you can see I compared Webafrica, Openweb, and Afrihost. Afrihost offers a much cheaper service and and uses the MTN network. Traceroutes to international servers I used showed longer routes than the other two that both use Internet Solutions. Hence, for my use, Afrihost is not a suitable solution. I guess if you would need very affordable primarily local bandwith, it could however be suitable. I emailed Crystalweb as per Electric's recommendation to find out about test accounts, but they never answered my email. Webafrica I already had, and Openweb immediately offered me a 1GB test account.

As you can see from the results above Openweb scores consistently better on all aspects. Despite some fluctuations in international download, you can see the latency for instance is very stable at 181ms. The difference is really noticable while surfing. Webafrica sometimes scores excellent, but many times performance drops to a level that is not acceptable for me. An average of 7,053 kbps international download on a 20 Mb line, to me is disappointing being on a capped business account.

Since fluctuations at WA are slightly less on domestic tests and performance is clearly better outside business hours I suspect the WA capped business account is just not delivering the priority level one would expect. Although Openweb is slightly more expensive for the type of service I tested, it is still a whole lot less expensive than WA's Business Capped ADSL Pro. For this service Openweb has convinced me to move.

For the bunch of domains I registered and hosting services I manage for clients I'm still hapy with WA and I won't move. For data however my choice shifts to Openweb.
 
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