Why certain Afrihost customers will not get free speed upgrades

[Zuner]

The amount of people complaining about free stuff is too damn high..

 

[AfriNatic]

With all due respect, if a promotion requires walls of text to explain the conditions of the promotion (your post and the article burned a lot of words trying to explain the promotion), it is overly complicated and should be simplified, preferably down to a single unambiguous and concise sentence.

It's pretty straight forward though.

With vuma Reach we can't offer the double speeds because billing is done via PayFast.

With Legacy packages they can't qualify because the package doesn't exist anymore so if the client wanted to downgrade after the promo they would not be able to and clients might feel misled so they are excluded. They can upgrade to a qualifying speed first then opt in for the double speed promo.

Clients on the highest package can't go higher so they won't qualify for the package.

This double speed promo is run by Afrihost. The Opt in solution is purely based on the way upgrades and downgrades works with the Fibre network operators. If you remember the free double speed offered by them the line speeds changed automatically requiring no actions from ISPs. This promo is different and we will pay for the upgrade. That means each client that opts in needs an upgrade order placed with the fibre network operator.

We went with the opt in button because that queues a request via an API to upgrade on the Fibre network Operator system. Doing an automatic upgrade of all clients was just not possible due to the sheer number of clients so an email to everyone that did opt for receiving promotional emails were emailed about the promo.

 

[Yskasmetnstoof]

The nice thing with Rain regarding this sort of thing is that one is guaranteed speed fluctuations of note over time and some of them are bound to be increases. Like when your speed suddenly has the sheet throttled out of it and after a fair amount of bitching and screaming it gets restored to what you pay for. That technically is an increase, isn't it?

 

[Yskasmetnstoof]

The amount of people complaining about free stuff is too damn high..

There's "free stuff" and then there is "South African discounts".

 

[nishi]

No scam, my 20Mbps Pure Fiber account using Openserve is now running at 50Mbps.

I only had to reboot the ONT.

 

[Jodes]

What Frogfoot relief incentive?

 

[Totempole]

Morning,

If he is on a legacy package the solution would be to upgrade to the next package after the legacy package. Wait for that to complete then opt in for the double speed promo. This method will work however he will not be able to revert back to the legacy package after the promo.

Which is exactly why he won't be taking advantage of this promo as per my previous post.

 

[Totempole]

The amount of people complaining about free stuff is too damn high..

Free for most, but would actually come at a significant cost to people on legacy packages.

 

[Totempole]

Why not pay the R60pm more for 20mbps upload?

My current cost for 20Mb VDSL is only R535, because I'm not paying for the voice line.

Even with the +- R202 for the voice line, the 20/20 Vuma fibre package is almost R200pm more.

 

[koeks525]

This is interesting. Initially thought Octotel was not going to be part of the list. Nice that they on the list... thanks @AfriMan for the sweet, year end gift

Also I notice there is a price correction line item on the invoice... wonder why that is there

 

[AfriNatic]

This is interesting. Initially thought Octotel was not going to be part of the list. Nice that they on the list... thanks @AfriMan for the sweet, year end gift

Also I notice there is a price correction line item on the invoice... wonder why that is there

Octotel has had an increase in prices and speed changes so we are subsidising existing clients.

 

[AfriNatic]

On 2020-07-17 I received the following email from Afrihost:

We were on 10/10Mbps at the time with a free COVID-19 upgrade to 20/20Mbps and decided to go for the offer.
Sounded fair to start paying for the speed we were using.

Speed was upgraded, but I was invoiced the full amount for August.
Contacted Afrihost support, and was assured that this will be corrected, but it never was and I paid full price for August and the following months.
So keep an eye on your billing for this offer...

To add insult to injury, I later learned that our network provider (Frogfoot) was not ending the free double speed upgrade end July 2020 as some other network providers.

Now there is another upgrade offer, but this time round I was not even invited!
Not cool Afrihost!

Hi,

I'm sorry the mail has not been sent to you yet. Have you checked clientzone for the free upgrade? You should be able to find it under the Edit package section.

 

[pozmans]

It's a complete scam! Starts off pretending to be a gift of double the speed and then it sneaks in the fact that you will start paying for it in February. Very underhand and misleading.

Love it when people talk complete crap without actually having any proof! Are you really complaining about something being free?

It’s absolutely clear on the upgrade form that it’s free until end January and if people want to opt out, they need to do it by 15 January 2021.

 

[koeks525]

Octotel has had an increase in prices and speed changes so we are subsidising existing clients.

Could you elaborate on this further?

I do recall speeds were upgraded +- a month ago. These upgrades came with a price increase. Did Octotel institute another price increase after the line speed upgrades? I was on the 10Mbps plan (R597 a month); this was upgraded to 15Mbps at R667 a month. The invoice says R767 for the 15Mbps plan.

Nice that your team is absorbing some costs and giving customers a nice year end present

 

[AfriNatic]

Could you elaborate on this further?

I do recall speeds were upgraded +- a month ago. These upgrades came with a price increase. Did Octotel institute another price increase after the line speed upgrades? I was on the 10Mbps plan (R597 a month); this was upgraded to 15Mbps at R667 a month. The invoice says R767 for the 15Mbps plan.

Nice that your team is absorbing some costs and giving customers a nice year end present

Morning,

The the changes saw quite a substantial increase. We gave clients on the 10/5 only a R100 increase instead of the full R200 increase to the new 15/15 pricing as that increase might have been too much for clients. You should see the full invoice amount of R767 and then a discount to R676 if you were on the 10/5 line previously.

 

[koeks525]

Morning,

The the changes saw quite a substantial increase. We gave clients on the 10/5 only a R100 increase instead of the full R200 increase to the new 15/15 pricing as that increase might have been too much for clients. You should see the full invoice amount of R767 and then a discount to R676 if you were on the 10/5 line previously.

Thank you for the explanation. Hehehe Octotel isn't playing games.

 

[mountain_lion]

Hi,

I'm sorry the mail has not been sent to you yet. Have you checked clientzone for the free upgrade? You should be able to find it under the Edit package section.

Checked Clientzone, and yes the free Upgrade button is indeed available, but the problem is that I have already upgraded to 20/20Mbps in August as explained in my previous post. Don't want to double up again. We have no need for more than 20/20Mbps at present.

 

[AfriNatic]

Checked Clientzone, and yes the free Upgrade button is indeed available, but the problem is that I have already upgraded to 20/20Mbps in August as explained in my previous post. Don't want to double up again. We have no need for more than 20/20Mbps at present.

No problem. The option is there for clients on FrogFoot that has not been able to benefit from the FrogFoot double incentive like FrogFoot clients in PE and East London.

 

[mountain_lion]

No problem. The option is there for clients on FrogFoot that has not been able to benefit from the FrogFoot double incentive like FrogFoot clients in PE and East London.

Just leaves a bit of a sour taste. We took up Afrihost's offer in August, but did not receive what was promised at the time (one month extra free upgrade). Now we are excluded from the new and better offer because we opted to pay for what we were using since August.
But such is life I guess...

 

[AfriNatic]

Just leaves a bit of a sour taste. We took up Afrihost's offer in August, but did not received what was promised at the time (one month extra free upgrade). Now we are excluded from the new and better offer because we opted to pay for what we were using since August.
But such is life I guess...

Have you considered downgrading then taking up the double speed offer? I'm sorry you feel that you are left out.