In simple terms, conventional dedicated hosting may have fixed access to resources, but cloud infrastructure makes additional resources instantly available to dedicated hosting clients. Cloud products are far more flexible and scalable, with minimal downtime (if any) during upgrades or changes. As more infrastructure is added (cloud blades), the total processing power is increased, for the potential benefit of all hosted servers.

Our Cloud infrastructure also makes dynamic use of three storage options: Solid State (SSD), Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). The Cloud controller dynamically manages file storage on servers according to the amount of requests to ensure that popular content is more quickly and easily accessible.

Cloud hosting also has better backup features and vastly improved redundancy over its conventional dedicated predecessor. New cloud servers can be deployed in less than an hour, while physical servers can take up to 48 hours to be configured and physically connected to data centre infrastructure.

Using the cloud's blade infrastructure, hardware failures can immediately be mitigated by failing over to other blades (which are also easily replaced) - while physical server failure requires the physical replacement and possible reconfiguration of components, resulting in unnecessary downtime.

In line with our future vision for hosting, we will be offering a more expansive range of Dedicated Cloud solutions, as well as revising our current offerings to cater for a wider range of options from personal to corporate requirements. Our brand new Enterprise-Grade Cloud products offer superior technical specs to current physical dedicated packages - at a fraction of the cost.

We will also be sweetening the deal by slashing excess web traffic and disk space charges on Cloud Hosting packages. Additional Web Traffic usage will now cost only R3.50 per GB*, reduced by 50% from the current rate of R7 per GB while Excess Disk space will be cut by 64% from R2.50 per GB to 90 cents per GB, bringing our rates well within international standards.

As an additional benefit to existing Cloud Hosting clients, current Gold and Platinum Cloud clients will be upgraded to Enterprise Cloud Bronze and Gold respectively to enjoy more resources and better performance, while still saving R100 per month! We will also be dropping their Management fee for both regular and enterprise cloud hosting from R1,000pm to R500pm.

*(for new and existing clients who are hosted at MTN data centres)

Click here for more information and technical overviews of our Cloud products.

As of 1st May, we have completely removed excess bandwidth charges on all our Shared Hosting products. This means that clients will no longer be charged a per GB fee when their bandwidth usage exceeds the package limit, effectively removing all web traffic limits on Shared Hosting products. For existing clients, all excess usage after the 1st May will be zero-rated.

We are extremely confident that this will make our Shared Hosting offering an extremely attractive option to SA Web Hosting clients, while saving many of our existing clients a little extra on their monthly fees. After all, sharing is caring.

Our prices are up to 56% lower than our closest rivals, with savings on some products ranging between R1500 and R2700 over other major competitors.

We will be offering a full suite of VDSL products, including Line Rental, Uncapped Bandwidth and Bundles, which will be available at Consumer and Business levels. Our Capped DSL is already VDSL capable. 

Uncapped VDSL accounts will follow similar business and shaping policies to their ADSL counterparts, with Uncapped VDSL products being semi-shaped (according to available capacity), while Business VDSL Packages will be guaranteed unshaped during office hours. Turbocharge sessions will also be available to Consumer Uncapped VDSL accounts.

Our VDSL products will be available for sign up on our website by the end of next week.

Uncapped VDSL Packages

Business VDSL Packages

Despite offering the cheapest monthly ADSL product on the market at R0.00 for 1GB, we will now be giving our paid Capped DSL clients DOUBLE the amount of bandwidth for the same amount of money, effectively slashing our prices by 50%!  We will be adding 100% more data to ALL our paid Capped DSL clients' accounts. So a client who currently pays for R29 for 2GB, for example, will get a second 2GB added onto their account each month at no extra charge. We will also continue to honour and offer a FREE GB on all capped accounts (which can be activated in ClientZone). This means that a client paying R29 for 2GB will actually receive 5GB in total each month for the duration of the promotion.

Capped clients will now be paying from as little as R4 per GB on higher packages, the lowest per GB price on the SA broadband market. New clients can sign up for the packages from today, and existing clients will receive the additional data as of 1st May.

The offer will run until the end of July 2013 at which point it will be revised or extended.

For more information on Afrihost's Capped DSL promotion, click here.
 

From 8Gbps to a bigger and whopping 13Gbps, ADSL clients can now enjoy greater bandwidth capacity, faster internet and much improved throughput.

As of February and March 2013, Cape Town and Durban’s respective dedicated IPCs went live. We've also upgraded our city to city links between Cape Town/Johannesburg and Johannesburg/Durban, with the Cape Town/Port Elizabeth link due to be completed soon - this will improve our local network and ensure the best connectivity between cities, resulting in more efficient routing of traffic, which is now within the MTN core network as opposed to Telkom’s national network.

We have contracted Multi-Gbps connectivity on both of our primary cables EASSy and WACS, resulting in lightning quick international speeds and better throughput for users. Further to this our newly minted network also boasts multiple international redundancies, with capacity on several undersea cables.

As of March 2013, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban respectively enjoy 8Gbps, 3Gbps and 2Gbps dedicated IPCs with the new network upgrades. The entire 13Gbps network is fully operational.

For more information click here

Turbocharge adds a new dimension of speed and convenience to our Uncapped product, which already offers excellent value for money. As a semi-shaped product, the network automatically gives highest priority to real time services - which always run at full speeds, while downloads are sometimes shaped to provide the best overall experience to all users on our network.

Now, as a value added service, Uncapped users can activate Turbocharge, which will completely unshape their Uncapped connection for 60 minutes at a time. During this time all traffic shaping protocols are removed from their profile, allowing them full unshaped use of their ADSL connection for that Turbocharged session. Once the session expires, their ADSL will return to our normal Uncapped management policy. In simple terms, if you want that download now, Turbocharge to make sure you get it at the fastest speeds possible.

The great news for our clients is that every single client will be granted 300 minutes (or 5 sessions) automatically each month. Clients will also be able to top up additional Turbocharge sessions for just R29 - applicable minutes will depend on the client's package. The following table illustrates how much R29 will purchase on each tier:

Unused sessions will expire at the end of the month (similar to data topups) and a new allocation of 300 minutes will be loaded on the first of every month. We aim to continue to raise the bar for ISP services by anticipating client's needs and developing tools to give them more out of our products. Turbocharge is yet another awesome gadget available to our clients in their ClientZone arsenal.

In the spirit of giving back to the nation, we’re once again teaming up with the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) to help hospitals and clinics in providing them with much needed blood supplies for blood transfusions.

Pop into our offices on 26 March between 10am and 1pm, and we’ll offer you a free Boerewors and Cold Drink just for being part of our blood drive and helping our country with this great gesture.

Please make sure you’ve had something to eat before hand so you can give blood. You can check the SANBS website for their basic blood donor criteria.

Send us an email on donateblood@afrihost.com, to make sure that you book a place to take part in this worthy cause.

All you need to know:

Place: 2 Bentley Office Park, Corner Wessel and Rivonia Roads, Rivonia

Date: 26 March 2013

Time: 10am until 1pm

Remember to bring your blood

Always on the hunt for the next big thing in the evolving internet service market, we’re excited to introduce our new Business ADSL Bundles.
For the first time with Afrihost, our Business ADSL clients no longer need to pay separately for their ADSL line and ADSL data. Clients can now have one package that covers both their line and data, all handled by us at a discounted line price.

The Business Uncapped Bundles still come with the same powerful unshaped and unmetered internet data along with all the other benefits of having a regular Business ADSL account from us. Prioritised business services, such as VOIP conference calls, emails and downloads, will all be given the best possible speeds. Because businesses can’t afford to be down or loose connectivity, Business Uncapped Bundled clients can be rest assured knowing that with Afrihost’s robust network, they have the best redundancy and failover of any ADSL ISP in the country.

Existing clients with Business ADSL products will be able to bundle their Telkom line and data at the new rate. New clients can sign up directly for the new Bundled packages.  

For more information please click here.

The additional Top Up was absolutely free and clients were under no obligation to do anything further to claim the reward.

Emails were sent to thousands of clients over a 48 hour period, which has now transpired, and many of our clients made sure they cashed in on the FREE extra bandwidth. But we have some awesome news for those who missed the email or didn't take the necessary steps to claim the bonus. We have done it for you. We have awarded FREE additional capped data to every single Capped ADSL account on our network. So it doesn't matter who did it (or if the butler didn't do it) - Our Capped clients are guaranteed FREE bonus bandwidth in March. 

As a result, we have allocated just under 1 Whole Petabyte (1 Petabyte is 1,024 Terrabytes and over a MILLION Gigabytes) of additional capped bandwidth to our loyal clients in March - absolutely FREE. That amounts to an accumulated value of several MILLION Rands, given back to our clients.

Every single Capped ADSL client will receive a mail, inviting them to claim their Mystery Bonus. Following the link will initiate a random draw, which will calculate a percentage of their normal ADSL bandwidth, which will be added onto their monthly data allocation. The percentage awarded can be anywhere from 50% up to an incredible 240%, potentially resulting in a client having more than triple their bandwidth for the month - at no cost to them.

So, for example, a 10GB capped account holder could get another 24GB added to their account - absolutely free (if they get the maximum bonus award).

As with the previous promotion, the additional data is added as a topup to the client's account, and unused data will expire at the end of March. The difference is that we will now be rewarding our entire Capped client base within the next 48 hours, rather than over a 2 month period as we did previously.

With the recently completed IPC upgrades to our ADSL network adding significant additional capacity, we are determined to make sure that our Capped clients get the most out of their FREE mystery reward.

We have been very busy in recent weeks with upgrading our ADSL network from the initial 8Gbps capacity we had when they first moved over to MTN, which was already approximately 30% more capacity than we previously had on the IS network.

We then quickly saw the value in acquiring an additional 60% capacity to deliver the best Capped and Uncapped ADSL experience. With our 2Gbps Durban IPC now going live, and our 3Gbps Cape Town IPC already performing well, our entire 13Gbps network is now fully operational. Aside from the upgraded performance, our new state-of-the-art network boasts multiple international redundancies, with capacity on several undersea cables, which is why Afrihost clients were, for example, not impacted by recent Seacom outages.

The upgraded network is already performing at excellent levels, and we have decided to completely unshape all Uncapped ADSL traffic for the time being. The decision to do this is mainly intended to thank and reward our Uncapped clients for their patience and support while the upgrades were in progress. The second objective is to demonstrate the capabilities of the upgraded network - in terms of delivering exceptional throughput and a low latency ADSL experience. We are confident that our additional capacity will more than handle the additional traffic, and after a week has passed we will re-assess our current shaping policies. We will be absorbing the cost of additional unshaped bandwidth completely.

We are confident that our network is now performing at premium levels and urge Uncapped clients not experiencing good speeds and pings to contact us and allow our support to team to troubleshoot their problems - which could be a result of other infrastructure or software issues.

One in four South Africans are affected by cancer personally or through family and friends. To show solidarity for those affected, we’ve decided to throw caution, or should we say our hair to the wind and take part in this symbolic event and we invite our valued clients, friends and family to join us in making a heartfelt gesture to those who are suffering from cancer and shave our heads.

We're well aware that there may be people who aren’t so keen on letting go of their hair,and for those of you who aren’t, you have the option of spraying your hair with vibrant colours or gelling it instead.

Donations or a Bail Out Fee- for those who don’t want anything done to their hair- of R25 will be collected on behalf of CANSA. Even though you may not want to do anything to your hair, giving a bit of your money can be just as meaningful. For every donation we receive, Afrihost will gladly match the amount. CANSA uses all the funds collected for cancer research, education and support programmes that benefit those who are in need.

So come join us at Afrihost HQ, for a braai and a new look.

What you need to know
Date: 1 March
Time: 10am-3pm
Venue: Afrihost HQ
2 Bentley Office Park, Corner Wessel and Rivonia Road
Donations: R25

Note: If you can't make it to Afrihost HQ but are still taking part in the Shavathon, please send through your before and after shots for our facebook page or mail them to socialmedia@afrihost.com! 

We are due to install new IPC's in Cape Town and in Durban. Telkom have committed that this additional capacity will be installed by no later the 25th February 2013. Until the new IPC is live, we will also be revising our QoS system to give the best overall experience, particularly with regard to HTTP downloads, to allow for higher priority for these vital services.

Our national network infrastructure upgrades are almost complete. The JHB-CPT link has been upgraded to a 10Gbps fibre link, and the JHB-DBN link is due to be completed soon. The additional international capacity on EASSy has been provisioned and should be live within the week.

We will be looking at every available solution to deliver the best possible service, and to alleviate any issues experienced by Uncapped users, until the additional IPC goes live. We will inform all of our clients of any new developments, or as we achieve each milestone in the process.

For more information on how we're upgrading our network, please click here.

Why move to MTN?

Afrihost is one of the fastest growing ISP's (and IT sector businesses) in the country. As such, our demand for premium upstream services necessitated the move to a bigger provider. Another major reason for our move was the need to more directly manage our products and our clients; and to offer more personalized products and service, as well as better value, to our clients. MTN have recently invested heavily in their Broadband capacity, not only nationally, but internationally, with improved access on multiple undersea cables. MTN is also a company focused on the future. Aside from delivering state of the art Hosting and Broadband Services, MTN are pioneering amazing environmental and socially responsible projects throughout the country.  

What do Afrihost ADSL Clients currently enjoy on the MTN Network?

We have a large amount of IPC capacity nationally on the MTN network, with more than 20Gbps of international capacity over SAT3, WACS and EASSy undersea cables. In terms of national core network infrastructure, MTN have more than 10Gbps (and more in implementation) between Johannesburg to Cape Town and more than 10Gbps linking Johannesburg to Durban.  Added to this, with the National Long distance segment to Durban in its finale stages, capacity between Johannesburg and Durban becomes virtually unlimited. The IPC capacity is split between MTN's Switching Centres in New Doornfontein and Randburg (with a dedicated fibre link between them). Both Switching Centres have state-of-the-art systems, with 100% redundancy should there be any equipment failure or maintenance required to any component. The system is run by multiple traffic management systems, each individual unit capable of managing 32Gbps bandwidth. State of the art systems from the global leader in internet traffic management  used by leading ISPs in America and Europe have been implemented. MTN have multiple switching centres located all over the country, so their network is fully redundant and is extremely unlikely to ever go down completely. MTN also has direct peering links to JINX (The Johannesburg Internet Exchange), the primary open peering point which most major South African ISPs use, as well as CINX in Cape Town.  MTN also peers directly with many International ISPs in London (at LINX) and Amsterdam (at AMS-IX). 

What's still in store for Afrihost Clients?

We are still in the process of rolling out the full network we have planned with MTN. Even though many of our clients are already reporting a much improved service, our fully deployed network will be completely mind blowing!! For the less techno savvy, here is the gist of what follows. Greater bandwidth capacity nationally, as well as local infrastructure in Durban and Cape Town, to improve service to local sites and servers. Improved international service on multiple overseas cables (based on your location) to give the best speeds and latency.  Better city to city links, more efficient routing of traffic within the MTN core network, as well as a host of network upgrades and new equipment. It's Pure Internet Joy - made even better. 

MTN will be installing significant amounts of local IPC capacity in Durban and Cape Town. As subscribers located in Cape Town and Durban will automatically migrate to local IPC capacity, additional capacity will become available in Johannesburg. International capacity is currently being upgraded with MTN being the first EASSy shareholder to light a 10Gbps service on the system, while WACS has already been upgraded to STM-64 (10Gbps)- this all ensures ample dedicated and guaranteed capacity for our clients. 

MTN will also be continually enhancing their national infrastructure, in the short term they are adding additional capacity as follows:  10Gbps between Johannesburg and Cape Town has just been completed and another is in implementation, 10Gbps between Johannesburg and Durban is expected to be completed in December  as well as 10Gbps between Cape Town and Durban expected in the first quarter of 2013.

For the best possible international service, ADSL routed via Johannesburg and Cape Town will be directed onto the WACS cable near Cape Town, while East Coast traffic will "break out" directly onto the upgraded EASSy cable near Durban. 
 
MTN will be implementing a transparent caching system, which is widely regarded as the best platform for scalable video, media, P2P and web caching solutions, reducing network bandwidth and time to view or acquire commonly accessed media. MTN will also be introducing additional caching capacity in Cape Town, making services such as YouTube™ much more accessible and responsive for our clients. They are already in the process of deploying a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web content and applications. MTN will also introduce new BGP route reflectors to reduce downtime in the case of failure anywhere on the network to mere milliseconds.

You'll find a detailed page on the current and planned network infrastructure here.

Some more awesome stuff you may not know about MTN
 
We are learning more and more everyday about our network partner, and when it comes to a vision for South African IT and Telecomms, they are truly unsurpassed. With the biggest telecomms network in Africa, everything they do is geared toward the future. Here are some examples of the amazing innovations they are involved with.
 
MTN's Headquarters are located at their Innovation Centre in Fairland. The entire facility, including its state of the art next-gen Data Centre, is powered by their Trigeneration (TRIGEN) power plant. The R22 million project delivers 2.6 Megawatts of clean, green energy - minimising the load on municipal power, with little or no impact on the environment. Gas piped in from Mozambique is converted into electricity, as well as cooling and heating for MTN's utilities, with increased energy efficiencies of up to 85%. The Trigen project has prompted other major businesses (including banks, airports, hospitals and shopping malls) to look into cleaner, more sustainable energy. MTN's next project will be to build a similar facility at their New Doornfontein Data Centre, which houses Afrihost's main IPC and bandwidth servers, and is the soon-to-be home of Afrihost's internal system servers. The facility will represent a significant investment into downtown Johannesburg, hopefully signaling other corporates to do the same. The TRIGEN, along with other high-tech investments, put MTN's centre into the Tier 4 category (which is the most stringent and highest level of service provision) as they have a fully operational, 100% backup system - as well as diesel generators for additional failover, each capable of an additional 1.6MW of power. The plant is certified Silver Level by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), an internationally recognised green building program. 
 
MTN's Data Centres are built to the highest possible standards, and exceed those standards significantly. MTN aims for 100% redundancy/failover on their systems. Where most providers work on the N+1 principle, e.g. if two network components are required, a provider has one spare - MTN has 2 units to spare for any possibility in this scenario. They also conform to highest security standards, as demanded by banks and credit card companies, with state of the art biometric, computerised monitoring and cameras (which are administered locally and remotely) and 24 hour security teams. Just one of their Data Centres pumps over 20,000 litres of water per day, through multiple cooling towers, to ensure that temperatures are consistent. The same facility has 3 x 1.6MW generators (originally designed to power ships!), where only one would be needed to power the entire facility. 
 
To top it all off, MTN's Innovation Centre, as the hub of their development, testing and live environment is encased in a electronic interference resistant shell. At an incredible investment of R100,000 per square meter, MTN have ensured that their facility, and your hosted data and MTN network services, are protected from any electronic interference. In fact, should an EMP weapon ever be launched in the area, the MTN facility (and services housed there) will be unaffected! Regardless, MTN have favoured redundancy over aggregation in their approach to their network layout, so in the unlikely event that an entire data centre or switching centre should go offline, services will be uninterrupted. What some would call overkill, MTN call an essential requirement.
 
We're truly proud to be partnered and associated with MTN, and we look forward to many years of awesome service from them.

The MyBandwidth Widget is the perfect way for Apple Mac users to stay in complete control of their ADSL products. You can quickly and easily monitor your bandwidth usage for all the ADSL accounts on your profile. If you have multiple ClientZone profiles, simply add another widget - you can have as many as you like. With quick links to Top Up your ADSL or access Afrihost Support, it's everything you need keep the Pure Internet Joy flowing!

Click here to read more about the MyBandwidth widget and download it! Give it a try and tell us what you think!

Technology Fast 50 is a Deloitte competition that takes place annually in several countries around the world. The award recognises the 50 fastest growing technology companies, based on a variety of factors, including percentage of growth over the last 5 years. Fast 50 Awards recognise growth driven by leading intellectual property and are a celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. The winner receives recognition from their peers and industry experts for having achieved sustainable success over the last five years.

Already in it's 15th year in other countries like the UK, this year was SA's first competition. The Fast 50 winners are also entered into the Deloitte Fast 500 competition of fasting growing technology companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

We relished the opportunity to measure ourselves against our competitors and other innovative companies in the technology sector. It was also a chance to compare our vision of empowering our clients and delivering world class service against the driving values of other competing companies.

Afrihost is extremely proud to have placed 1st in South Africa's Fast 50 division (and to be the very first SA winner of this award), and 168th in the International Fast 500 competition.

Our CEO, Gian Visser, said “This award is a great compliment to the other awards we have received, but we also hope it will inspire other companies in our sector to start looking at their clients differently, and changing the way they structure their services and business models.”

This award is a testament to the service and work ethic of the entire Afrihost team - whose dedication to our clients is the cornerstone of our business. Well done to everyone at Afrihost HQ!

You can read more about the SA Fast 50 here

With this mission in mind, we're proud to deliver fantastic self-management tools in our improved ClientZone. It's not just a facelift, it's a reinvention of the client experience and nothing short of awesome!

Our new ClientZone is slicker and more streamlined than it's predecessor, with a more intuitive user interface and better integration with our core systems than ever before. For example clients were previously restricted to submitting support requests to our team and then communicating by email, whereas they will now be able communicate directly with us via ClientZone, including a full history of multiple interactions. The new interface is optimised for Tablets (and we'll be doing the same for Smartphones in the coming weeks), enabling clients to stay informed at all times, wherever they are. The new ClientZone is initially available for the latest versions of popular browsers, and we'll be enabling support for older variants in the coming weeks. For now you'll need to have one of the following browser versions or later (best to get the most recent anyway!)  - Google Chrome 20+, Firefox 10+, Internet Explorer 10 (we'll be adding IE 8 & 9 soon), and Safari 5+.

ClientZone 2.0 contains all features you've come to love like Fix My Line, as well as other new and improved ways to manage your Afrihost Products, from viewing your ADSL usage to managing your Web Hosting. We've also introduced very cool ways for you to stay in touch with the latest developments from the Afrihost Team. We'll be broadcasting vital information like Network Updates and Promotions through our new Message Centre, as well as useful client-specific information regarding your account (like billing issues, upgrade information, etc) - all the data you need to make sure you're getting the most of your Afrihost products. This is just the beginning though, we'll be adding new features continually as we have plenty more in store!

The old ClientZone will still remain active for now, and you will be able to switch between the two versions effortlessly. This is an open Beta so there will be no limit to the amount of initial users who can try it! Speaking of Beta, the new ClientZone will feature a Bug Reporting facility so you can alert us of any technical issues. We'd also love to get your impressions, ideas and criticisms on the new ClientZone, so please comment on this article (or even better take our poll below). At some point a few months down the line, once we are satisfied that the new ClientZone is fully stress-tested, we will decommission it's predecessor and send it to the big server in the sky (with much fanfare and appreciation).

Simply hit the button below to check out the awesome new look and get more info on all the new features!

Tell us what you think (and you could win some free bandwidth)

Sheepy was uber-excited to get first hand experience of the best that SA Gaming had to offer. First things first though, Sheepy had to get the Afrihost stand ready for the 25,000 plus visitors who would be passing through over the weekend. Luckily the good folks from El33tonline were around to help out, and pretty soon the stand was pumping with excited expo-goers, swarming to win amazing prizes. Sadly, someone had the terrible idea of throwing Sheepy into the crowd, and luckily Sheepy had the foresight to bring his own stunt double. So our fluffy little friend watched as Afrihost and El33tonline gave away 3 Xbox Kinect Bundles, a Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Limited Edition Games, New Releases, T-Shirts, and all sorts of freebies. Sheepy was amazed at the amount of excitement generated at the Afrihost stand, and was certain that the chants of "AfriLeet" could be heard throughout the Dome!!

But by the second day, Sheepy wanted to go out and explore, and see what the world of rAge had to offer. Although Sheepy felt that Afrihost's stand was among the most interesting, there was no doubt about the amount of care, detail and effort that had gone into each stall to make this one of the most impressive experiences anyone on two (or four) legs can have in the Southern Hemisphere. Ranging from Console Vendors, PC hardware, Software, Game Houses, comic books and paraphernalia, the entire video game, card gaming and comic book community had put their best foot forward. Sheepy then made his way to the strategy gaming section when players were facing off in everything from Magic to Warhammer and other tabletop strategy/war games. The  intense concentration was amazing, but Sheepy was happy that many of the players still took the time to chat and explain their games to him, and pose for the occasional photo.

Next it was off the the LAN gaming area, where some of Sheepy's friends from the Afrihost support team were blasting away on the network. With Afrihost being the Official Internet Sponsor, Sheepy was given an all access pass to visit his buddies and get a sense of the other side of rAge that most expo-goers were fenced away from. And what better guide than Geoff, NAG's Online Editor and All Purpose Game Fundi. Over 2,500 gamers gathered in one area is more than enough to blow the socks off of any uninitiated lamb! What's more, there were beds, mattresses and sleeping bags all over - gamers slept at the venue from Friday to Sunday to ensure they got the most out of their rAge experience. While Sheepy did let off a few shots here and there in Counterstrike and Call of Duty, he had to concede in the end that this was a pursuit for only the most dedicated gamers.

Lastly it was off the the press room, where Sheepy got to meet some of the gaming journalists and personalities, who were enjoying the comfort (and fast ADSL bandwidth) provided by Afrihost. Sheepy also got to meet the awesome team from NAG magazine who are responsible for putting rAge together. It was real pleasure for him to be introduced to Michael and Jacqui, who are the main forces behind making sure that rAge is a resounding success every year.

So all in all, it was a great experience for our woolly little buddy - he had an awesome time giving away amazing prizes, and got his picture taken with just about all of the most colourful characters at the expo. And all Sheepy can think about now is rAge 2013!

Be warned, you are about to have one of those moments ...

Afrihost, fresh from winning back to back MyBroadband ISP of the Year Awards, has been in the news recently since they moved their entire ADSL network onto MTN. While many were skeptical, there can be no denying the glowing reports from users of faster, more stable Internet across the board. Afrihost decided to start passing savings to their clients straight away, and is set to delight Unshaped Uncapped ADSL users with the lowest Business Uncapped prices to ever hit the SA market!
Afrihost will be smashing it’s own record prices by up to 60%! They are also unilaterally upgrading 384kbps, 512kbps and 1Mbps clients to better speeds at even better prices! 384kbps and 512kbps will be upgraded to 1Mbps Uncapped at an incredible R297pm, while existing 1Mbps users will now receive 2Mbps service for just R397pm. While other prices will drop significantly, 10Mbps is clearly the showstopper from R2,497pm to R997pm!! That’s a saving of just over 60% at R1,500!!

New clients signing up will benefit immediately from the new prices, and existing clients will be billed at the new rates as of 1st November. Afrihost could not wait any longer to pass their savings and appreciation onto their loyal clients, who are truly the ones who deserve the credit for making this possible.

Afrihost will also be introducing Fixed IP addresses for Business ADSL very soon - details to be announced.

Sign up now for the best value Business DSL in the Market!