Ping/Latency issues with O2 access, need to move ISP

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
Posts
23,897
Location
South East
Hi all,

I have been on O2 Access (because our exchange is not LLU enabled) for a few weeks now.

At first it seemed great, download speed was acceptable and pings when playing games, day or night, were good.

Over the past few nights I have noticed that pings in the evening are considerably higher. I can't get anything less than 150 when playing games like Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty, and pinging bbc.co.uk brings back similar results.

After a bit of a search it seems this is a common problem between 5:30pm - 3am on O2 Access. As far as I am concerned, this is unacceptable and so I would like to move to another, less congested, ISP.

I think BT might be the only other better option, but surely as O2 are just using the BT line it will be just as bad? Or will BT have access to more equipment at my exchange? (I know this probably is a very non technical way of putting that question but I am not particularly savvy with ISPs etc.)

Thanks in advance.
 
Ok cool, I just want a decent ping after 5pm. It was fine for a while but as I am in my first 30 days I want to change now if possible rather than have to wait a year.
 
mp260767 said:
yeah deffo get out now rather than after the 30 days.

adsl24 offer a 1month contract from what i've seen on their site, so should be worth a look/trial for a month at least giving you more time to check out other options if needs be.
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How will the switch over be?

I am living with my Mum at the moment, who works from home and so needs a net connection. If I got a MAC from O2 and signed up with ADSL24, what is the process?
Would it be a couple of hours downtime?

EDIT: Just read the FAQ on ADSL24's website. Looks all good to me, just need to convince my Mum this evening!

Looks like I'll need to buy a router as well as O2 will want theirs back. Any recommendations?
 
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tolien said:
You'd still be using BT Wholesale but there are loads of ISPs who do that and the problem you're seeing isn't related to the BTw part of the connection but rather to the ISP's. Changing ISP would almost certainly fix the latency issues.
It's got nothing to do with your exchange and BT Retail don't have any different level of access to O2 at that level - they just spend more money on the network connections between their and the BTw network.
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So are you saying to avoid BT Broadband?
 
Well I am being switched over to ADSL24 this Thursday, so I'll let everyone know how it goes.

One bonus is that it is only a month to month contract, so if this is crap, then I can move.

To be honest, I'm not HUGELY fussed about traffic shaping effecting download speeds, I just cannot handle high latency at peak times, as it renders gaming completely pointless!
 
Final Speedtest from O2 tonight before I get switched.



Bloody joke!!!

From 11am



From 3pm



GregI said:
Having identical problems on Access.

I have been on the 02 forum and some people have gotten out of contract (without even paying the £50 cancellation fee) due to the bad service. Just keep calling and emailing constantly.

Why should you be stuck with service that does not deliver? I actually would not mind if 02 halfed my download speed (they actually did worse on Monday night. Capped me at 28kb......) and gave me great pings after 5pm. That would actually be a decent service.

Squirrel, looking forward to reports of peak time pings. ADSL24 might be supplying me to if all is good from your reports. :)
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Same here. I just want good pings. I haven't played any games for a month now and it sucks! :(

mp260767 said:
just so ya know squirrel, i've been on adsl24 since monday, had a couple of minor glitches with the ping going over 100, but literally only for a refresh or 2 of the ping in game.

while o2 access was consistantly sitting at 130+ for a whole gaming session.
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That's good to know.

I see that ADSL24 let you control interleaving as well. Switching it off apparently stabilises your connection and gives you more consistently low pings, although actual download speed might be lower.

GregI said:
I'm guessing these good reviews about ADSL24 are not just from LLU? The Home option is the same?

Now i come to think of it, i don't quite understand this. When i search for my exchange it says that i cannot get LLU yet. When i type in my phone number on sign up page, i get this.

8 Mb ADSL Max - Can select
24 Mb ADSL2+ - this will be available at your exchange shortly. Please choose another option above for now
24 Mb ADSL2+ Premium LLU - I can select this.......

What is the difference?
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ADSL24 seemed to let me sign up to the LLU package as well. I know that my exchange hasn't been unbundled and I didn't want to risk delays in migration so I simply signed up for the non-LLU service. I'll try and upgrade it once I am up and running and see what happens :)
 
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Azuse05 said:
If an isp says you can get llu then you probably can. Independent checkers, samknows etc. are usually behind, sometimes by quite a bit. In fact according to every site except Be*s my exchange still isn't unbundled, despite me being connected for over two months.
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Well, I'll wait until I'm up and running and then send through a ticket and see if the LLU service is available.

When I signed up for O2 though, the LLU wasn't available, otherwise I would have just transferred my exisitng account when I moved house (was on O2 LLU at my old place)

GregI said:
I signed upto their forum. I'll PM the manager (after they verify me) and get him to give me a straight answer on LLU availability or not.

I just don't like that 30GB cap i will have to put up with. Checking my laptop that has been on for 10 hours, it's about 320MB download and 343MB upload. Have not even downloaded anything. That is not counting the bandwidth my mum uses from her constant ebay browsing on other PC. No idea on how much bandwidth PSN will consume.
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That's a point. My Mum's PC is on 24/7, so God knows how much bandwidth that will eat up!!
 
Last night was perfect, the ping is the only thing I really care about a great deal, and it was low as it should be all night and is fine this morning. THANK YOU ADSL24!!

Download speed is great, but as you say that should drop off a little.

From this morning:

 
I am on a non-LLU package for around £18 a month with ADSL24.

I contacted them about the LLU thing and after double checking it is definitely not available.

Connection so far is very stable at around 6.95Mbs with very low latency. Very happy indeed! :)
 
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