Which ISP for gaming

[Benny]

Hi Folks,

I'am looking for a Broadband ISP who is going to be ideal for gaming.
I currently use my flatmates who gets hers via work so it is free and has been great. Now I have to choose one for myself. I used to always go with BT but their packages seem a little on the pricey side now. Also bundled with a load of junk I don't need and rubbish monthly usages. It leaps from 6gb to 40gb. I have heard mixed reviews regarding tiscali (though they are cheaper). I dont want to be bound to a 12 month contract and have endless trouble. Which is why I have always used BT. As they have always been reliable and I have never had any grief. Quite a few of my mates use tiscali and have had problems and report the customer support as muppets.

I game quite often at least 3-4 nights a week for about 4-5 hours. Sometimes more at the weekend.

Could anybody recommend a decent ISP? Im located in SW London

Cheers B

 

[1337z0r]

Check if you can get BE in your area which is 24MB broadband. If not UKFSN seem really good atm with very goos usage not throttling.

 

[iMacMart]

I'd like to know what the pings are like with 'Be' ???

My NTL 10meg I get around 40-50

But I would imagine that with 1.33meg upload the pings would be not too shabby??

 

[Benny]

to be honest I don't really need more than a 2mb line, thhat is what I have been using and I have had no problems with it. I have done the line check gubbins with BT and Tiscali and my exchange only offers 5.5 mbs. That might be a guesstimate I dunno. 5mbs would do me.

How much do you reckon you use whilst gaming (generally it is only small packets of data), I don't use any peer to peer software and rarely download any sizeable files. Other than game demos and patches. BF patches can be large at times. Though I would not consistantly down huge files. I'am trying to calculate a realistic usage. I will look into BE and UKFSN. Though I want to get oonto an ISP asap, I fear I may become ill If I don't have the net at home. I need to game.

I guess your ping times are dependent upon your relation to your local exchange. I get 24-40 pings on a 2mb line. I gues again this is also dependent upon which games servers you use anndd their location.

:/

 

[Trifid]

I am with Aquiss who resell Enta (same as UKFSN). I'll let this speak for itself.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 10ms, Maximum = 11ms, Average = 10ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>tracert www.jolt.co.uk

Tracing route to www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 3 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms katsura.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.8]
3 11 ms 10 ms 9 ms telehouse-east.dsl.enta.net [87.127.229.1]
4 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms gi2-6.telehouse-east.core.enta.net [62.249.192.1
21]
5 10 ms 10 ms 11 ms te5-2.telehouse-east2.bdr.enta.net [87.127.236.3
4]
6 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms te4-1.telehouse-north.core.enta.net [87.127.236.
38]
7 10 ms 11 ms 10 ms if-7-2.core1.LDN-London.teleglobe.net [195.219.4
8.181]
8 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms te1-3.cr05.hx2.bb.pipex.net [195.66.226.29]
9 11 ms 10 ms 10 ms v3952.cr05.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.137.9]
10 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms g2-48-5.er01.tn5.bb.pipex.net [62.72.140.14]
11 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms ge-0-0-0-3801.jolt-gw.cust.pipex.net [212.241.24
1.14]
12 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms secure.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]

Trace complete.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>

(1km from the exchange and sync at 6400k with a 5500 profile.)

 

[tolien]

But I would imagine that with 1.33meg upload the pings would be not too shabby??

Your pings don't (significantly) depend on your upload rate.

That might be a guesstimate I dunno.

It is, and it's your line that's estimated to do 5.5Mbps, not your exchange.

I'am trying to calculate a realistic usage.

Excellent idea.

I guess your ping times are dependent upon your relation to your local exchange.

No. But they do mostly depend on where in the country you are, the route your data takes to get to your ISP, and where your ISP is.
Which makes comparing ping times almost completely pointless.