Axxess has recently moved their prepaid ADSL subscriber base from SAIX based accounts to Internet Solutions’ ‘Semi’ accounts. These accounts allow for unshaped bandwidth after hours and over the weekend which makes it more suitable for services like gaming and P2P traffic.<\/p>\n
“After extensive testing for nearly 10 months on the IS-SEMI accounts, based on customer feedback, we thought it would be a perfect replacement for our basic accounts. The big advantage is the currently shaped customers will now receive unshaped bandwidth during the evening and weekends,” says Axxess’ Franco Barbalich.<\/p>\n
According to Barbalich the ADSL vouchers available at Pick n Pay & Engen were converted to SEMI shaped accounts in the middle of last month. “The feedback we received from voucher customers overall was very positive and they welcomed the after-hours unshaped access, especially the gaming community.”<\/p>\n
Consumer backlash<\/strong><\/p>\n Some consumers were however outraged at the move, saying that the move caused downtime and that they were not notified about migration. “My workshop connection was down for nearly an hour while I tried to sort out the problem,” said Pctech, an Axxess subscriber.<\/p>\n “This really, really enrages me. It also explains why I could not connect to anything on the internet last night, this morning I also had problems, all the time thinking that the SAIX DNS server is on the blink,” said MFour.<\/p>\n There are also concerns from a group of consumers about the move to Internet Solutions (IS), saying that they would have asked for IS bandwidth if they wanted it. “If I wanted IS I would have gone direct to IS,” said the user Stoke.<\/p>\n Axxess responds<\/strong><\/p>\n Axxess said that they regret the fact that they did not notify their customers ahead of the change. Barbalich added that users can easily change back to SAIX based bandwidth if they wish to do so.<\/p>\n “Accounts currently on IS can be quickly changed back to SAIX by emailing support@adsl.co.za<\/a>, with your username, stating that you wish to change back,” said Barbalich.<\/p>\n According to Axxess, reseller accounts will remain on SAIX accounts and that their new custom realm-system will not be affected by the changes. Barbalich further reassured subscribers that there are no future scheduled changes and that their local and unshaped accounts will remain unchanged.<\/p>\n