General DSL FAQs

General Questions

How can you be so cheap? What’s the “Catch” here?

We decided to take the money most companies usually spend on advertising and use it to subsidise our DSL packages. We decided to use this monthly marketing budget to expand our network capacity and pass the extra bandwidth and savings onto Afrihost Clients.

Do I Have to Sign a Contract to Get Afrihost ADSL?

Afrihost doesn’t believe in tying people into long-term commitments, which is why we offer a month-to-month service. No contracts, No catches and No strings attached.

Does Afrihost offer 24/7 support?

Yes. Afrihost is committed to giving the best service ever. Use the 'Get Help' dropdown at the top of our website to view all our availble support platforms.

Will I get an email account with my DSL subscription?

Afrihost will provide you with your very own @afrihost.co.za email address.

Getting Connected

What do I need to have DSL?

You will need 3 things:

- A Telkom line with DSL service enabled (If you have a phone line, we can get it DSL Enabled for you)
- A DSL modem or router (If you don’t have a DSL Modem you can purchase one from us)
- An Afrihost DSL Data Package

Do I need to have a separate telephone line to get DSL?

DSL allows you to share an Afrihost high speed internet connection & your voice calls over the same physical telephone line.

Can I install DSL on a prepaid telephone line?

The DSL service is only supported on phone lines with a monthly subscription from Telkom.

Is my telephone line enabled for DSL service already?

Please contact Telkom customer services to confirm. If it is not then you need to ask Telkom to enable it for you.

Can Afrihost make my telephone line DSL ready?

Yes we can, simply sign up for an Afrihost DSL Line.

How long does it take for my DSL Data to be activated after I signup?

Afrihost will activate your DSL account within 24 hours of receiving your signup. Generally within 5-10 minutes. If you are a first-time Afrihost client, you will just need to send us a copy of your ID for verification.

How do I check if I have DSL service in my area?

Check if your phoneline is DSL compatible.

Bandwidth

Can I use the bandwidth anytime? Or is it limited i.e. only 6 PM to 6 AM?

The bandwidth is applicable 24 hours a day and there is no specific time limitation as to when you can use it. You can use it at any time of the day or night and it will cost you the same.

We do, however, include additional FREE zero-rated data for use during certain times of the day, which doesn’t count towards the data you pay for. Please refer to your specific package for more information.

Can I use this bandwidth for both local and overseas websites?

Yes - the bandwidth can be used for both local and international sites and downloads.

Is my IP address always the same if I have an Afrihost DSL account?

Your IP address will change every time your modem connects to our DSL service. On our Business packages we do offer the ability to sign up for a Static IP address at an additional cost.

Data Usage and topups

Where can I see how much Data I use?

Your bandwidth usage is available via the Afrihost ClientZone - along with tools which help you to manage every single aspect of your Afrihost experience.

What Do I Do if I use up all my Data?

Afrihost provides a top up service which you can use to load more data onto your DSL account.

Will My Unused DSL Data Roll Over Into The new month?

Monthly Data will only expire at the end of the NEXT month. This means that if you haven't used all of your monthly data by the end of the month, it will rollover to the next month. For example, if you get 10GB per month and you have 3GB left at the end of February, this 3GB data will rollover to March, giving you a total of 13GB to use until the end of March.

All Data Topups purchased only expire at the end of the following month. For example, if you buy a data topup on 5 February, your topup data will only expire at midnight on 31 March.

Line speed and shaping

What Speed Should I Get?

We’ve put together a great interactive tool to answer exactly this question.

What Broadband Speed Should I Get?

How do the different DSL Line Speed Profiles work?

Due to the fact that upstream and network services are provided by Telkom, Afrihost offers a "back-to-back" SLA with the applicable Telkom SLA. The terms of this SLA are set out below.

The following DSL profiles are available


ADSL up to 2Mbps

Downstream - Minimum 416Kbps and Maximum 2Mbps

Upstream - Minimum 64Kbps and Maximum 512Kbps


DSL up to 4 and 10Mbps

The up to 4Mbps and 10Mbps DSL services have sub-profiles, which are used to stabilise a client's service that experience re-syncs (service interruptions) on their DSL lines due to a variety of factors, such as last mile distance, noise and attenuation. Therefore subscribers that experience problems on the service may be accommodated on any of the secondary profiles below


DSL up to 4Mbps Secondary Profiles

A - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 4Mbps

B - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 3Mbps

C - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 2Mbps

D - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 1Mbps



DSL up to 10Mbps Secondary Profiles

A - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 10Mbps

B - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 8Mbps

C - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 7Mbps

D - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 6Mbps

E - Minimum Sync Rate of 640Kbps and Maximum Sync Rate of 5Mbps



What the above entails is that if a subscriber does not sync at the profile listed in A above they will be accommodated on B, C or D (etc.) depending on the line sync speed.

Subscribers will automatically be upgraded to the highest speed possible on the service that they applied for as per the profiles above. Where the DSL service is unable to connect (sync) at the speed applied for due to factors such as line length or quality, it will be accommodated down from the service applied for in 32 kbps decrements, but not lower than the minimum download speed, until the service connects (i.e. syncs successfully).

Where a subscriber's line syncs at a certain rate and at a later stage the line degrades, the service will also be accommodated down in decrements until sync is re-established, the downward synchronisation due to line quality will happen automatically within the profile parameters.



VDSL up to 20Mbps

Downstream - Minimum 11Mbps and Maximum 20Mbps

Upstream - Minimum 1Mbps and Maximum 2Mbps



VDSL up to 40Mbps

Downstream - Minimum 21Mbps and Maximum 40Mbps

Upstream - Minimum 1.25Mbps and Maximum 3Mbps

Which Products are Shaped and Unshaped, and How Does Shaping Work?

Afrihost provides a variety of world-class broadband connectivity products which are catered to various client needs. We have both Shaped and Unshaped solutions for our Capped and Uncapped DSL Packages. For more information, please visit our Network Management Page.

Will I always get my maximum line speed all the time?

We provide the best internet experience we can. Unfortunately, sometimes this involves factors outside of our control, like the quality of the copper on your DSL line or high demand on your local Telkom exchange, as well as demand on our network. So while we'll do our absolute best to give you the very best speeds possible at all time, performance may vary from time to time, depending on the factors mentioned as well as others.