Which ISP has fast service (both customer and internet)?

Just an update on the progress:
We've received a phone call stating that our line only supports up to 4mb (which I don't believe - screenshots provided).
They will phone tomorrow again so we can discuss the available options.

Router reports the following:
krkJrDk.png


Telkom reports the following:
ZJT98EH.png


We are currently stable on a 5mb connection at ~17db SNR. I am 100% certain we can maintain a stable connection at 10mb.

Can someone please give some insight?
 
Your SNR is fine, and your attenuation should see you manage a stable 8Mbps connection...
 
DJ... said:
Your SNR is fine, and your attenuation should see you manage a stable 8Mbps connection...
Click to expand...

I also took the time to phone 10210 and spoke to 3 different departments: fault, technical and sales.

They all confirmed that my line will be able to sync at 10mb.

Our area had some infrastructure upgrades recently, so I wonder if the data at the ISP might be outdated.

I will post the outcomes of tomorrow's phone call.
 
Ed! said:
Our Internet Services Provider is MWEB:

We've requested an upgrade to a 10mb line on the 28th of March (10 days ago). They stated that the process can take up to 10 working days.

After about 3 or 4 days, our line with telkom started syncing at 4mb (from 2mb).

We were curious to find out whether progress was made and phoned the following day. The consultant only looked at the date the upgrade was requested and stated that we have to be patient as the process can take up to 10 working days.

On about the 8th working day we phoned and requested an update on the progress in the hopes that we might be able to enjoy 10mb during the weekend. The consultant (different one) only looked at the date we requested the upgrade and stated that we have to be patient as the process can take up to 10 working days (again).

Today, on the 10th working day, we were very disappointed when we discovered that our line has not yet been upgraded.
Two of the consultants literally counted out loud on the calendar to confirm whether it was 10 working days before they considered following up on the status of the upgrade. It was then realized by the consultant that the department working with Telkom had not completed their part of the process.

We have been loyal customers to MWEB for about 6+ years now. Sticking with them through the nightmare of the free-peering-movement back in the day etc.
I would really like to see this relationship lasting for another 6 years, but lately there have been danger signals all over the place - Youtube and some gaming services are currently being throttled and/or blocked at some times. (Tested with other ISP)

Why did we need to wait 10 working days to take action on a fault that most likely occured 3 days into the process?

What would have happened if we didn't phone them to follow up?

How many working days does it take the other ISPs to process an upgrade request?
Click to expand...

Move to Crystal Web regardless. Their support is second to none, and the speeds are consistent and there's no throttling, only shaping when the network is very busy - I don't know when last my speed was shaped either.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Crystal Web...

16:54 - Me - Email sent 10 April 16:54 (A Sunday)

17:00 - CW - REAL person reply at 17:00 which is six minutes later. ON A SUNDAY.

19:41 - Me - from myself to them with diagnostic information, reply from them next morning at 07:26.

07:26 - CW - Next day.

08:05 - Me - Reply from me to them at 08:05 and a reply from them at 08:11.

08:11 - CW - Case closed.

Switch now, save yourself the drama.
Click to expand...

thats 100% my experience. Never had faster service anywhere ever.

Support guys are also not just there to answer the phone and ask you to reboot your router but are actually knowledgeable about connectivity issues.

Internet itself is also 100% unshaped all the time :-)
 
CW is the best. I have been with them from the time they started.
 
Got a trial account from CW last night. Did a live chat at 11:50pm last night. The guy or gal immediately responded to me, and I thought that was pretty impressive.

Did some tests and saw there was quite a high ping spikes to the exchange. Basically it seems something is wrong with my line or at the exchange somewhere, so it seems that doesn't matter which isp I go with, unless Telkom sorts out the exchange or the line somewhere, I'm going to huff and puff during the evenings when it comes to streaming.

I'm an Afrihost client, but I would reccommend Crystal Web to anybody who wants a great package from an end to end experience. You also won't get a better CEO than DJ who is actively involved.

Hopefully in the coming months wholesale will lower their pricing, and I can climb on board and join the CW family. But for those who can afford it, you going to get a fantastic experience.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
Got a trial account from CW last night. Did a live chat at 11:50pm last night. The guy or gal immediately responded to me, and I thought that was pretty impressive.

Did some tests and saw there was quite a high ping spikes to the exchange. Basically it seems something is wrong with my line or at the exchange somewhere, so it seems that doesn't matter which isp I go with, unless Telkom sorts out the exchange or the line somewhere, I'm going to huff and puff during the evenings when it comes to streaming.

I'm an Afrihost client, but I would reccommend Crystal Web to anybody who wants a great package from an end to end experience. You also won't get a better CEO than DJ who is actively involved.

Hopefully in the coming months wholesale will lower their pricing, and I can climb on board and join the CW family. But for those who can afford it, you going to get a fantastic experience.
Click to expand...

Have you done the normal line tests?

What do the SNR values look like on your line?
I know some say Zertops test is not deep enough, but it does show up line faults and some issues with the exchange.

Simple trace routes also can indicate where the issues are.

Then CW seems to fancy using winmtr to do tests, so do that as well. ( WinMTR measures packet loss, so it is a cheap and easy version of pingplotter).

You could even find that the issues in within your own LAN, so why not do some tests with a laptop connected directly to the ADSL router ( not via Wi-Fi) for a start.
 
What does it mean on WinMTR when hop #2 indicates a 100% packet loss?

Did Telkom disable ICMP reply on their side at the MSAN?

It always indicated a value in the past, which helped with troubleshooting, but about 2 months ago it just stopped replying.

I suppose they don't like it when the public can see the exchanges cannot handle the traffic.
 
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Kingofmybbknowitalls said:
What does it mean on WinMTR when hop #2 indicates a 100% packet loss?

Did Telkom disable ICMP reply on their side at the MSAN?

It always indicated a value in the past, which helped with troubleshooting, but about 2 months ago it just stopped replying.

I suppose they don't like it when the public can see the exchanges cannot handle the traffic.
Click to expand...

Trace routes, winmtr, all show no results for hop 2 as well as for hop3 most of the time. We assume that is because ICMP has been disabled. Whatever the reason, many ISPs and network operators block ICMP because of "security reasons", without understanding what it is they are doing ....

CW may be able to provide more insight into this practice .......







.
 
Phinix said:
Ed! If you are looking for fast support from people with knowledge, then go with CrystalWeb.

Yes Afrihost has a great Portal, but when I had issues with them it was anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours till I got a reply and their live chat is always offline when I needed them.

It was a big part in my decision when picking CrystalWeb specifically because there live chat is available till 12pm.
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Openweb used to be like this. Fast and efficient.

Hopefully CW can keep up the service and quality (without OW trickery) as they grow.
 
cpu. said:
Openweb used to be like this. Fast and efficient.

Hopefully CW can keep up the service and quality (without OW trickery) as they grow.
Click to expand...

I am extremely confident that they are most definitely the real deal. Been with them since they started and the best thing about them is that they don't BS you. I will happily pay what I am paying, because I know I don't need to worry about them pulling the rug out from under me (like OW). Dump MWEB op, it will be the smartest move you make. 10 working days for an upgrade? LOL! Got it done at CW in less than a working day.

All I ever see at MWEB is excuses. Like they are doing you a favour by letting you near their precious data. They can't even follow up on their promises.
 
Just a quick update on the progress (15th business day now):

We are back to syncing @ 2mb, but we are on a 10mb billing plan.

Edit: My post is lacking perspective

Last week on Thursday, we received a phone call in which we were promised that our subscription will be upgraded to 10mb (both data and line) regardless if the line will support it or not. Today, the line started syncing back at 2mb again after it was already syncing at 5mb for the past few days.
 
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daniellgr said:
Trace routes, winmtr, all show no results for hop 2 as well as for hop3 most of the time. We assume that is because ICMP has been disabled. Whatever the reason, many ISPs and network operators block ICMP because of "security reasons", without understanding what it is they are doing ....

CW may be able to provide more insight into this practice .......







.
Click to expand...
Hop 2 doesn't respond to ICMP requests but is an announced route, so shows up blank. This is the Telkom exchange in most setups, unless you have a second device on your LAN or even third, in which case it's can move down the chain. But basically, anyone on new Telkom infrastructure will see timeouts on this hop, while users on old infrastructure may still see it respond.

I can't say for certain why this has been implemented, other than to say that some ISPs were using this hop result as an irresponsible way to shift blame to Telkom. If this played any role, then it's a pity that a few bad apples spoil it for others...
 
cpu. said:
Hopefully CW can keep up the service and quality (without OW trickery) as they grow.
Click to expand...

Based on our latest analysis, we already have a far greater market share than them, by quite a long shot...
 
DJ... said:
Based on our latest analysis, we already have a far greater market share than them, by quite a long shot...
Click to expand...

Moving from Openweb to CrystalWeb has been like being emancipated from Josef Fritzl's basement. I still have some psychological scars but I'm on the road to recovery and I have the support of good people to help me reintegrate into the world.
 
SlinkyMike said:
Moving from Openweb to CrystalWeb has been like being emancipated from Josef Fritzl's basement. I still have some psychological scars but I'm on the road to recovery and I have the support of good people to help me reintegrate into the world.
Click to expand...

:D
 
cpu. said:
Openweb used to be like this. Fast and efficient.
Click to expand...

Funny. Everyone who has been with them give them a bad rap.

Of course, I cannot speak from experience as I have never been with them, actively avoiding them, because of the above. Rather safe than sorry.
 
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