What's wrong with Afrihost?

F

Fluttershy

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Durban, South Africa
Hello there! I just wanted to know WHY Afrihost has cut download speeds down by so much?
I don't even know why I upgraded my line speed, it's going at the rate of snails!
Is this supposed to be permanent?

- Fluttershy
 
So apparently I can stream and game just fine with my torrents going? I'm not sure if this is good or bad. is there some way that I can put the speed up when I ONLY want to download?
 
Our QoS is designed to give the best overall experience to all users, and torrents and downloads are causing high latencies and packet loss if they are not controlled. We're prioritising real time services, particularly so that a) the network is protected and b) clients can also have a reasonable experience while downloading at the same time.

We're constantly monitoring the network to see if there is additional capacity we can divert to downloads, and generally downloads run overnight seem to work just fine :)
 
AfriMan said:
We're constantly monitoring the network to see if there is additional capacity we can divert to downloads, and generally downloads run overnight seem to work just fine :)
Click to expand...

Q1) does the above policy apply to axxess users as well?

Q2) if the answer to Q1 is yes why were last nights speeds so appalling:

Axxess2Mb.png

... this mornings spike was when I switched back to TI capped (which I use during business hours).

I am/was prepared to live with a 1.6Mb limit on downloads/torrents but barely 0.5Mb on a 2Mb uncapped account? - no ways.
 
Zewp said:
In other words, there's not really enough capacity?
Click to expand...

We have more capacity than we did with IS, and that is demonstrated by the amount of bandwidth being moved.

It's not a question of capacity, but how it is managed and distributed. We're relatively inexperienced in this field, and we're working with local and overseas experts to offer the best overall experience. We've invested in the best hardware and software (same used by the major ISP's) so we're not cutting ANY corners. We'll definitely get there.
 
MickZA said:
Q1) does the above policy apply to axxess users as well?

Q2) if the answer to Q1 is yes why were last nights speeds so appalling:

View attachment 29626

... this mornings spike was when I switched back to TI capped (which I use during business hours).

I am/was prepared to live with a 1.6Mb limit on downloads/torrents but barely 0.5Mb on a 2Mb uncapped account? - no ways.
Click to expand...

I really can't comment much on how Axxess run their ADSL. We both run on MTN, and that's pretty much it. They have their own shaping methodology, and pretty much do their own thing. PM me though, and I can send your concerns on to their team.
 
AfriMan said:
We have more capacity than we did with IS, and that is demonstrated by the amount of bandwidth being moved.

It's not a question of capacity, but how it is managed and distributed. We're relatively inexperienced in this field, and we're working with local and overseas experts to offer the best overall experience. We've invested in the best hardware and software (same used by the major ISP's) so we're not cutting ANY corners. We'll definitely get there.
Click to expand...

Not with you guys, but I'd frown on being expected to pay full price for a guiney-pig service.
 
AfriMan said:
I really can't comment much on how Axxess run their ADSL. We both run on MTN, and that's pretty much it. They have their own shaping methodology, and pretty much do their own thing. PM me though, and I can send your concerns on to their team.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification AfriMan :) I think a lot of us are confused as to the relationship between the two companies given both moved to the MTN backbone at the same time.

I'll pursue my issues with axxess directly as they don't seem to have a presence on MyBB.
 
ClintonExsteen said:
how does QoS and shaping work, is it by line or by login? or just package?
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure, I think it's managed on various levels. I think it takes all of those issues into account, and it also tries to analyse the nature of the service being used. If the service has a Peer 2 Peer nature, it get's different priority.

I'll try and get more info on this, but it's more about analysing usage patterns and trying to separate usage into different categories and sub-categories, which needs a lot of data and analysis. To do trial and error would be extremely painful for clients, so we want to be sure we have the right information going forward.
 
As much as I am swearing at the slooooooooooooooooooooooooow download speeds, I just finished implementing QOS on my office network. IT IS A BITCH!
 
evilstebunny said:
Not with you guys, but I'd frown on being expected to pay full price for a guiney-pig service.
Click to expand...

Honesty is the best policy :D
Rather be straight up with the clients and say we're working on it than to say we are offering our best effort...
Give's us the client surety that we'll see better in the long run.
 
Keegan said:
Honesty is the best policy :D
Rather be straight up with the clients and say we're working on it than to say we are offering our best effort...
Give's us the client surety that we'll see better in the long run.
Click to expand...

Best effort service is a phrase I personally try never to use - it's always seemed to me to say what you see is what you get.

This is definitely not what is happening here. We are working on giving the best possible overall experience, and using every means possible to do this. We've had experts flown in from overseas, we hired several outside companies, and right now two of our directors (who could be out playing golf) are sitting in the boardroom demanding results. We as a company know that there is no future if we don't put our clients first, and that is exactly what we are doing. Saying we are doing our best is meant to indicate that we will continually strive to do better, and not that this is as good as it's going to get.
 
AfriMan said:
We have more capacity than we did with IS, and that is demonstrated by the amount of bandwidth being moved.

It's not a question of capacity, but how it is managed and distributed. We're relatively inexperienced in this field, and we're working with local and overseas experts to offer the best overall experience. We've invested in the best hardware and software (same used by the major ISP's) so we're not cutting ANY corners. We'll definitely get there.
Click to expand...

My experience with Afrihost pre MTN cut over was anything but this.

Despite what you say about having more capacity than what you had with IS, this is not being borne out by my user experience.

I am now running on 1/8 of my line speed - about 55KB/s as compared to yesterday where I was at 1/4.
And at night - it is only into the early hours of the morning that I see the 400KB/s make a rare appearance.

One question: What are you doing different now compared to when you had IS?
 
AfriMan said:
We have more capacity than we did with IS, and that is demonstrated by the amount of bandwidth being moved.
Click to expand...
You've got a rather nasty flaw in your logic there & I wouldn't be surprised if it is the cause of recent troubles.

Network A

Moving 10 gigs per day
Capacity 20 gigs per day.
Utilizaiton: 50%
Chance of congestion: Low

Network B

Moving 14 gigs per day
Capacity 15 gigs per day.
Utilizaiton: 93%
Chance of congestion: High

Numbers pulled out of thin air of course...just demonstrating that gigs moved and capacity isn't linked.

i.e. You can't extrapolate capacity from gigs moved unless you also no the utilization %. Its like extrapolating a cars top speed from its current speed. Just doesn't work.
 
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