Screamer ADSL

Now that our full range of Unlimited ADSL services have been operating for a month I thought it was a good idea to create a thread where we can efficiently update our forumite clients on developments iro our ADSL services.

We will try to repond to all comments and queries that are not already answered elsewhere on this thread or on our ADSL FAQ page (http://www.screamer.co.za/faq_adsl.php). Any questions on our other services such as WiMAX, Voice, Hosting, etc will still be addressed on threads under the appropriate sections on this forum.

I have taken the liberty of reserving a few posts at the start of this thread that we will be updating from time to time with new developments so that you don't have to search through this thread for important updates.

We would really appreciate feedback on the service your are receiving and once a month every member's name who has posted a speedtest to speedtest.net's local and one international site will be placed in a draw and the first name drawn will receive a 6 month credit on the service package they have with us.

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PROGRESS

Introduction
Screamer was the first South African ISP to launch across the board unlimited and hopefully affordable ADSL packages. Even though we tested the services extensively before the launch on the 14th November we knew that real world volumes and pent up demand for unlimited and affordable ADSL would place extreme demands on our service.

This was evident in the first 3 weeks of our launch and because there were no precedents for this service we had to "learn as we went". There was some unhappiness from certain clients who were not able to use our service as they needed it and so we offered to refund all clients who were not happy with the initial launch service without question.

We were however convinced that a service like this was viable and necessary in SA and so we persevered and happily we have now got to grips with the service and most of our clients are now receiving between 70% to 120% of their package speeds depending on the time of day. We are constantly striving to improve this service and create innovative new services which we will keep you abreast of on this post.

13 Dec 2009
We have noticed that some clients are experiencing the odd disconnect every now and then and we have traced this to an upgrade which needs to be conducted on our core. This will be completed during the week of the 14th Dec.

The bandwidth that we allocated to our ADSL services is reaching 90% utilisation at peak times and so in order to ensure that our services are not overcontended we are not connecting any new clients until this bandwidth is upgraded. We expect this to be completed in the next 2 weeks.
Any applications we receive in this period will be reserved and as soon as the additional bandwidth is available we will contact those clients on a first come, first served basis and connect them.

24 Dec 2009
We have completed the bandwidth and core upgrade to handle the huge volume of clients using our ADSL service and all should be receiving full speeds (a much as your ADSL connection will allow up to your speed with us). We will start processeing the applications we held back on Monday 28th Dec and you will be contacted before we connect you.

14 Jan 2010
I am afraid that the additional bandwidth that we allocated to these ADSL services was very quickly snapped up and we are again in the process of upgrading the resources to be able to supply new connections but until further notice we are not activating any new clients. Again the moment we have additional resources we will start activations starting with the first queued applications we received.

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DYNAMIC IP's

13 Dec 2009
We initially launched our ADSL service using a NAT'ed network which meant that clients who require IP's for Dynamic DNS'ing and other services were not able to use it for such services. We are currently awaiting a new allocating of IP's to cater for our large ADSL client base and the moment this is received we will switch off our Nat'ed network and provide dynamic IP's to all our clients.
We are currently expecting this to happen towards the end of DEC 2009.

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SHAPING

13 Dec 2009
We have found that torrents place a tremendous demand on our resources, especially the uncapped ones. We have therefore developed a system that monitors torrents and ensures that they do not impact on the usage that 95% of our clients require the internet for and that is normal business usage, browsing and normal downloads including downloads from news servers. None of these services are shaped.
You may find from time to time that your torrents speeds are not the same you receive on browsing and normal downloads and this is as a result of this prioritisation.

24 Dec 2009
We have now provisioned all our packages and services with additional bandwidth and no longer prioritise torrents. So we dont shape any of our bandwidth and all services are provisioned at full speed.

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CALL CENTRE

Due to the sudden and increased volume of calls on the new ADSL service you might find that some of our call centre agents are not 100% up to speed on any advanced questions you might pose them. They are continually undergoing training but if you hit a snag with this please feel free to PM me your question and I will make sure you get a response.

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RAS!

Looks like its been posted by a screamer bot.

RAS - Thread should be deleted as spam.

gregmcc said:

RAS!

Looks like its been posted by a screamer bot.

Click to expand...

LabAnimal said:

RAS - Thread should be deleted as spam.

Click to expand...

Ha ha

It didn't take long for the oppositions trolls to find this thread and try and derail what I think is a brilliant idea.

How on earth can this be a bad thing, unless of course you didn't think of it first.

Thanks for taking the effort of keeping us updated. My Screamer connection is still flying. Well done for the initiative guys.

Good on you Howzit for giving decent feedback and admitting where Screamer is experiencing challenges. But I reckon you should put these on your website as well, especially the NAT and call centre issues, so that prospective new customers know exactly what their buying, without having to head over to myBB. This is a good effort for better transparency but not 100% spot on yet.

Wow.. so full 384 speeds, No throttle of news servers? (don't care about torrents)

Frieking sweet!!!

LabAnimal said:

RAS - Thread should be deleted as spam.

Click to expand...

Providing feedback to your clients is NOT spam.
Great idea.

Mind if I borrow it too?

CambodiaDave said:

Providing feedback to your clients is NOT spam.
Great idea.

Mind if I borrow it too?

Click to expand...

Of course you can.

Well done Screamer

A really innovative idea for keeping us up to speed and thanks for the frank and honest disclosure.

So far I am happy! Done 13gigs at this point so roughly a gig a day! Yeah the Nat'ing is a bummer for now, but its temporary... Keep up the good work, and +999999 for this thread!