Tutorial: Fix Afrihost YouTube problems (10/12/14)

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giggity

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Tutorial: Fix Afrihost YouTube problems (10/12/14) [FIXED]

This guide is for Windows only. This worked for me. It might not work for you, too.

1. Go to this location in your file explorer: %windir%\System32\drivers\etc
2. Copy the hosts file in there to your desktop.
3. Open the hosts file on the desktop with notepad (or another simple text editor -- NOT a rich text editor like Word).
4. Enter the following:
Code: 
196.23.168.147 www.google.co.za
196.23.168.147 google.co.za
196.23.168.144 www.youtube.com
196.23.168.144 youtube.com
or
Code: 
66.8.14.250 www.google.co.za
66.8.14.250 google.co.za
196.23.168.144 www.youtube.com
196.23.168.144 youtube.com
5. Save it
6. Copy the hosts file from the desktop back to %windir%\System32\drivers\etc.
7. Say yes to overwrite it.

Now open command prompt and enter ipconfig/flushdns.

Done! Should (hopefully) be fine if you followed the steps correctly. You can check if it is working by pinging youtube.com and see if the ping is low (indicating it is now local).

My results went from less than 800kbps to 3500kbps+ on 4mbps business uncapped.

Why this works:
Afrihost has been having issues lately wherein traffic to Google services (namely Google, YouTube, GMail etc.) is directing to international content delivery networks (CDNs) rather than the local ones, where data is cached for faster access. This fixes that.

EDIT: Using MTN Google CDN now, rather than IS (Thanks, Hummercellc)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for posting!

Just a note guys, this is definitely only a temporary issue with the lack of Youtube performance, so please do not feel obligated to use the above steps, and please only take the above steps if you are confident that you will not break something on your side.
 
DA-LION-619 said:
I'm sure I saw this somewhere on the forum before...
Click to expand...

Many fixes/tweaks like this have been posted before (I learned this from locallist back in the day with local cap). This is just relevant to Afrihost's current situation.
 
This works on my PC, but when I create a static dns entry in my mikrotik router, so that I can apply it to all PCs on my network I get this:

Untitled-1.jpg

Please AH, sort this out ASAP. It's killing me.
 
giggity said:
This guide is for Windows only.
Click to expand...

In linux you would be looking for /etc/hosts which you have to edit with root or equivalent privileges but I suspect most linux users already know this.

On OS X it would be /private/etc/hosts
 
Last edited:
ponder said:
In linux you would be looking for /etc/hosts but I suspect most linux users already know this.
Click to expand...

Yeah. It's the same location for Android, I think. But yeah, as you said, that anyone using those operating systems trying to do this would know their way around.
 
This works 100%

Proof:

98d8160f5b.png
 
Last edited:
It appears that Afrihost has fixed this issue.
With hosts modification:
A4KMNtz.png
Without hosts modification:
9wQF156.png
 
giggity said:
This guide is for Windows only. This worked for me. It might not work for you, too.

1. Go to this location in your file explorer: %windir%\System32\drivers\etc
2. Copy the hosts file in there to your desktop.
3. Open the hosts file on the desktop with notepad (or another simple text editor -- NOT a rich text editor like Word).
4. Enter the following:
Code: 
196.23.168.147 www.google.co.za
196.23.168.147 google.co.za
196.23.168.144 www.youtube.com
196.23.168.144 youtube.com
or
Code: 
66.8.14.250 www.google.co.za
66.8.14.250 google.co.za
196.23.168.144 www.youtube.com
196.23.168.144 youtube.com
5. Save it
6. Copy the hosts file from the desktop back to %windir%\System32\drivers\etc.
7. Say yes to overwrite it.

Now open command prompt and enter ipconfig/flushdns.

Done! Should (hopefully) be fine if you followed the steps correctly. You can check if it is working by pinging youtube.com and see if the ping is low (indicating it is now local).

My results went from less than 800kbps to 3500kbps+ on 4mbps business uncapped.

Why this works:
Afrihost has been having issues lately wherein traffic to Google services (namely Google, YouTube, GMail etc.) is directing to international content delivery networks (CDNs) rather than the local ones, where data is cached for faster access. This fixes that.

EDIT: Using MTN Google CDN now, rather than IS (Thanks, Hummercellc)
Click to expand...

Whether it works or not, it highlights the state of their international connectivity. You shouldn't have problem streaming internationally.
 
Oh hells yeah, I can't remember the last time I loaded a YouTube vid and it started streaming instantly and in 720p and @ 60fps even. TBH I didn't specifically check what it was like before I added those entries, but I will say it's never felt this fast before.
 
Chevron said:
Whether it works or not, it highlights the state of their international connectivity. You shouldn't have problem streaming internationally.
Click to expand...

It actually isn't Afrihost's fault that the international Google servers are slow for us. Google specifically buys fast (VERY fast) data from local ISPs or gets them to set up their own CDNs to save money. The servers' bandwidth isn't allocated for international use, but rather for fast local. This saves them money by not having to pay for expensive international data. The initial cost of setting up the CDNs is far less than what they would end up paying in massive bandwidth costs in the long run.
So, basically, if someone from overseas tried to use the South Africa Google CDN, it, too, would result in slow access.

CrazyBob said:
Oh hells yeah, I can't remember the last time I loaded a YouTube vid and it started streaming instantly and in 720p and @ 60fps even. TBH I didn't specifically check what it was like before I added those entries, but I will say it's never felt this fast before.
Click to expand...

Afrihost has fixed the problem now, though I have found that the IS cache servers are faster than the MTN for some reason.
 
ponder said:
In linux you would be looking for /etc/hosts which you have to edit with root or equivalent privileges but I suspect most linux users already know this.

On OS X it would be /private/etc/hosts
Click to expand...

Can use /etc/hosts on Mac OS also.

What happens though if these IPs change? Youtube is going to break.
 
giggity said:
Code: 
196.23.168.147 www.google.co.za
196.23.168.147 google.co.za
196.23.168.144 www.youtube.com
196.23.168.144 youtube.com
Click to expand...

If I enter 196.23.168.144 in my browser, it takes me to google, not youtube.
 
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