Which broadband for gaming?

Well, I can't argue with the fact that some people get up on their high horses about ISPs a bit. I tend to about some ISPs, but Virgin isn't one of them (even though my opinion of them isn't stellar - they're fairly decent for most, but not the best imo). The only ISPs I'd seriously shout at people about would the likes of Tiscali/etc.
 
peetee said:
we're talking pings here, theyr not all that relevant for business work use, and if its for that you buy a business line.
Its not like theres much of a speed difference between ISPs is there, come on really thats a fairly poor arguement.
I agree sometimes it could be poor if you are too far away, but moving NEXT to the exchange on purpose is just plain sad as far as gaming goes, which is what this thread is supposed to be about.

We cant actually advice the OP on ISPs until we know where hes living, the postcode etc..

Virgin are bloody brilliant at both the places I use it, newcastle and hartlepool, but that doesnt mean im going to tell him virgin, because what if hes in a trouble spot.
All ISPs have bad patches etc, so dont say the whole ISP is rubbish just because you live in a bad area please.
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I personally never said Virgin was rubbish :) I just said that it worked out more expensive to get 20mb internet through Virgin than it was to get 24mb adsl through BE.

As for moving to a flat near an exchange, I cant say it was the only reason for moving here. The fact that work is a 6 min walk away is also rather convenient! As for me being sad for moving specifically near an exchange, just remember youre having an e-debate here on an online forum about which is the better gaming isp :) doesnt exactly make you mr cool!

As the other guy said, I was honest about where I live and what that means for my internet speed. I around 300m from the exchange and I would have been closer if I could find somewhere that was closer! Currently I get around 20mb down and 1.5mb up which im happy about. My gaming pings are 5-15 usually on decent UK servers.
 
I've been with VM for two years, no downtime what so ever. Except for last month, it was a bit slow during the daytim but everything seem normal now. I won't be swapping to another isp anytime soon.
 
I ve been with BT since 2002, no problems at all........ Playing games everyday, downloading DVD/B.DRip movies all time.

BT torrent full speed (8mbit) time:

1-1am - 6pm.

BT http full speed (8mbit time):

11pm - 6:10pm next day.
 
Thankyou very much to all that have contributed.

A few facts may help, i'm useing roughly 4.5gb a month (generally in peak time), and am prepared to pay around £20 a month, my postcode is BA15 - and area code is 01225.

Unfortunately BE and 02 do not have a line to my area. But Virgin media and demon do - these seem to be the the most viable of the choices so far. Not sure whether giganet (sp?) have a line to this area though.

THe virgin broadband and phone package does look cheap tbh, but the FUP policy looks a little vague and as i'm already being stung by the FUP by pipex at the moment i don't know if i should risk it.
 
antran said:
I've been with VM for two years, no downtime what so ever. Except for last month, it was a bit slow during the daytim but everything seem normal now. I won't be swapping to another isp anytime soon.
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its not about down time that makes VM so bad...i hardly ever recall a single whole day that i didnt have internet access when i was with VM and i was with them 10 years....but that doesnt mean i didnt have problems and its when you have problems and you need to call their customer support that you really find out what they are like.

i used to game a lot so many years ago and over the years VM just got worse and worse at peak times....i would play great at all times but peak times where my connection just suffered a lot more than other peoples(a lag meter visually confirmed this fact).

VM customer support was nothing but an absolute joke as what 1 support agent would say the next would contradict and even though they said they put notes on the computer the next agent said there was nothing there...only for another somewhere down the line to read those very notes....so they were only read when it maybe beneficial to them.

the tech guys were a lot better though they suggested i put a claim in to get a refund for the whole of the last year(this is their own tech guys) but instead i got offered free internet for a year which i accepted then 3 months later they denied offering me anything and said we dont have problems...we just gave you 3 months from good will.

i told them to cut my connection off and then "oh wait why do you want to leave?"....then i explain the whole story for 30 mins then "ok we will give you what was promised"(i knew they only agreed as they had notes infront of them)....3 months later i get billed for it all.

i know someone seems to be taking this very personal and insulting others for airing their views on VM but this is a forum for discussion and not everyones experience with VM will be as great as his
 
sidthesexist said:
Tbh it depends if it's virgins cable or adsl service, the cable is supposed to be pretty good, however the adsl is supposed to have major contention issues.
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iv heard this, the adsl is generally never classed as decent, but the cable is argued over, i think its great at the 2 places i use it, iether way it depends where OP is using it. At end of day all isps have problem, and whoever seems to think virgin has poor customer support. well you'v not had a problem with any other ISP, they all use the same program and same poor trained staff.. its all the same.
 
20 meg VM cable here. Excellent service, very little downtime and good speeds throughout.

Mind you, my options are quite limited.....

BBInfo.jpg
 
peetee said:
and whoever seems to think virgin has poor customer support. well you'v not had a problem with any other ISP, they all use the same program and same poor trained staff.. its all the same.
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actually i have rang BE there's customer support ...foreign but got the job done much more efficiently.

ive also been with ZEN and their customer support is better than anything ive came across.

virgin staff trained ? lol its more a case of throw numbers on the phones as long as phone calls are getting answered thats all that matters...staff will learn on the job. im speaking from experience btw as ive also worked for them(not at the time they were my isp).
 
peetee said:
At end of day all isps have problem, and whoever seems to think virgin has poor customer support. well you'v not had a problem with any other ISP, they all use the same program and same poor trained staff.. its all the same.
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My experience of Virgin customer service (at the time NTL) was enough to make me cancel my broadband, phone and TV by the end of the telephone conversation. The two times I have needed to contact ZEN, the first was dealt with before I even talked to an operator (voice message informing of an ADSL outage across the whole of the NW when there was a problem with the BT routing or somesuch) and the other was a very useful and very helpful call that identified the problem as a fault on my BT line.

Check the ThinkBroadband site with the ISP comparison and you will see that some ISPs have considerably better customer service than others.
 
Iv never had a problem with VM tech support, though I agree some departments are incompetent but you can usually use it to your advantage and claim you're leaving to get packages even cheaper.
My mate had zen a few years ago and I heard it was appauling, its usually just a case of who can you get through to, the general idea of throwing numbers on the phones and hope they learn on the job is applicable to a majority of call centres, well all bar one that I know of, and I know a hell of a lot locally.
Virgin also have pre recorded messages that will often let you know somethings gone dodgey, thats nothing new for any company, Iv found there engineers quite pleasant too, after having a few teething problems with our installation(not there fault, corroded wires etc)
 
Virgin's customer support is pretty bad, but then again, most ISP's have bad customer support (BT anyone?)
On the other hand Virgin's tech guys are great. They don't waste any time sorting out any problems you have. (A while ago, someone cut the cable on the side of my house, the tech guy came out the next day, and fixed it within 10 mins.)

I would recommend virgin still, just be carefull about downloading during peak times as you can be capped for 5 hours if you go over their predefined limit.
 
Biohazard said:
Do not go anywhere near VM.

They are abismal. I am booking a BT phone line this week so I can jump over to ADSL.

VM works fine 50-80% of the time, then randomly for days upon end you either have no connectivity or pings are floating around the stratosphere. Not only that, you have to phone up a premium number now for help on their crap network. They say they will repay you this plus some, but thats *******.
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what he said... my connection is usually good enough for gaming, and my pings are actually quite good in game most of the time.. but for downloading i dont think i have ever seen my connection get to the speeds i am paying for.. and is often much much worse
 
DJammyRasta said:
what he said... my connection is usually good enough for gaming, and my pings are actually quite good in game most of the time.. but for downloading i dont think i have ever seen my connection get to the speeds i am paying for.. and is often much much worse
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Id say that if you dont get the speed you pay for, this is probably related to how far you are from the exchange rather than an actual problem. Unfortunately there isnt much you can do about that since its all covered under the usual clause of 'Up to 8mb'.

Only if your speed is completely unreasonable compared to your distance to the exchange will they really do anything about it :\

If thats not the case then it could be down to your ISP being over subscribed etc or experiencing problems. If your connection gets faster offpeak etc then that might be a clue :P hehe
 
Phal said:
Id say that if you dont get the speed you pay for, this is probably related to how far you are from the exchange rather than an actual problem. Unfortunately there isnt much you can do about that since its all covered under the usual clause of 'Up to 8mb'.

Only if your speed is completely unreasonable compared to your distance to the exchange will they really do anything about it :\

If thats not the case then it could be down to your ISP being over subscribed etc or experiencing problems. If your connection gets faster offpeak etc then that might be a clue :P hehe
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I'd have thought that DJ Jammy was talking about VM given who he quoted. Cable != ADSL and all :)
 
Im currntly with virgin got the internet on a great package...... 4.50 for 20mb BBI and i get the full whack! Great PING times all day every day...everyone slanders it with the traffic management but i download a lot of files and have never been traffic managed.....its about the time of day u use it!
 
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