What is THE BEST gaming ISP?!?!

[Robscure]

THE BEST!!!!

I've been searching for a straight answer all over the web and it's full of lies, ignorance, and deceit!

People getting paid to advertise Virgin Media as the best, when I have VM and I cannot play a game for more than 10 minutes without lagging and getting disconnected constantly.

So please tell me what is the absolute best internet provider for GAMING that money can buy.

I want the lowest pings and LOW JITTER.

Please only post here if you're certain of your answer! Thank you

Update

(From Post 40 http://forums.hexus.net/2027022-post40.html -- ) Sorry I haven't been on in a few days to respond.

Thanks for all of the responses.

I was told that I'm ordering Fibre Optic... I connect through a cable, not a telephone cord, what is it called--coaxial wire or whatever.

I use the modem that VM sent me, which is Netgear VMDG280... it is updated automatically to their latest firmware.

I've been on VM's cable forums, everyone is complaining of the same issues that I have on there... and by everyone I mean hundreds of customers at least... They are swamped with latency issue complaints. The best they can tell anyone is "We're working on it" and have given no dates or even an excuse.

When I log into WoW... I disconnect EVERY 10 MINUTES. Do you know how frustrating that is to a gamer? Lol

Well an engineer is coming out for the second time on the 5th... So we'll see how that goes. It better not be another guy who just comes in and does some generic test and says "Everything is fine" like last time.

Oh and by the way, when I said I'm 1km from "the exchange" I was referring to the exchange which Be* uses in my area... I don't know about VM. I just know that my upload speeds are crap (like 0.20 to 0.60 max) and my ping/latency and jitter are horrible at all hours of the day, even 03:00 in the morning...

I've just reformatted my PC, thinking maybe something was wrong on my end... I even changed cables around, used different sockets, repositioned my router, changed ethernet cords, moved wires around so they're not near anything.... I removed and replaced and tightened the coxial cable, I looked outside my window to see if anything was wrong with the cable... I've done everything in my power to ensure it was not something wrong that I could fix, and my speeds have only become worst or remained the same at best.... No improvements throughout the days.

Two months since I signed up with VM, and every day has been a nightmare for me as a gamer...

Download speeds are irrelevant to me, even if Be* Pro gave me 7Mbps download or less I would be happier with it without ping and jitter issues than with anything else.

Here is my event log inside my modem's control panel...

Mon Jan 03 21:40:07 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Sat Jan 01 23:03:56 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Sat Jan 01 20:26:51 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Sat Jan 01 15:00:03 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Sat Jan 01 13:26:38 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Sat Jan 01 12:37:23 2011 Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Sat Jan 01 12:31:01 2011 Critical (3) Received Response to Broadcast Maintenance Request, But no Un...
Sat Jan 01 12:04:34 2011 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Fri Dec 31 02:03:31 2010 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Tue Dec 28 13:03:05 2010 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Mon Dec 27 11:51:30 2010 Critical (3) Started Unicast Maintenance Ranging - No Response received - ...
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Mon Dec 27 10:39:30 2010 Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Time Not Established Critical (3) DHCP FAILED - Requested Info not supported.
Time Not Established Critical (3) No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out
Sat Jan 01 12:37:03 2011 Critical (3) SYNC Timing Synchronization failure - Failed to acquire QAM/Q...

And here is my line status...

Startup Procedure
Procedure Status Comment
Acquire Downstream Channel 315000000 Hz Locked
Connectivity State OK Operational
Boot State OK Operational
Configuration File OK
Security Enabled BPI+
Downstream Channel
Lock Status Locked Modulation QAM256
Channel ID 59 Symbol Rate 5360537
Downstream Frequency 315000000 Hz Downstream Power 0.0 dBmV
SNR 40.8 dBmV
Upstream Channel
Lock Status Locked Modulation QAM16
Channel ID 3 Symbol Rate 5120 Ksym/sec
Upstream Frequency 35800000 Hz Upstream Power 41.2 dBmV
Primary Downstream Service Flow
Downstream(0)
SFID 13809
Max Traffic Rate 20480000 bps
Max Traffic Burst 3044 bytes
Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps
Primary Upstream Service Flow
Upstream(0)
SFID 13808
Max Traffic Rate 768000 bps
Max Traffic Burst 3044 bytes
Mix Traffic Rate 0 bps
Max Concatenated Burst 1522 bytes
Scheduling Type Best Effort

Gateway status... I read that DOCSIS 2 is not ideal, but that it would be too expensive for VM to upgrade their equipment to DOCSIS 3...

Standard Specification Compliant EU DOCSIS 2.0
Hardware Version 1.05
Software Version V4.4.4R08

[azrael316]

I have Virgin and have no issues when playing games online.

Are you PC or Console gaming? The disconnects might be down to other issues than the ISP, config files, Router setup etc.

[sniperdude]

I never have a problem online gaming with virgin. your either in a high utilisation area
or you have problems on your line or power levels


have you checked your power levels and packet loss




erm apart from virgin the only other ISP I would consider is BEthere/O2

[sadbuttrue]

[Zak33]

Robscure.. would you mind aswering a question?

DO you get Virgin via Optical cable.. or via ADSL?

Because not everyone on Virgin is actually ON Fibre Optic... many people have old fashioned ADSL because Virgin offered it in their area.

If you DO only have normal ADSL (which is a BT infrastructure but which goes to the internet Service Provider for server capping/port throttling etc) then it's worth running a speed terst from someone reputable... a company which doesn't over state the potential of the ADSL line you're on.

http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/bro...d-checker.aspx

Use that... for an example if I use that to test my mother in law's telephone number it states the max she can get is 512mb.. about what she gets.

If you use Virgin's version of the same it tells her she can get up to 4mb.. which she can't.

[azrael316]

TBH< the speed test from Zen wiull be biased too. Any speed test from ANY ISP will be unreliable I reckon.

Speedtest.net is, iirc, an independent test, regardless of ISP, and pingtest is part of that group too.

THe only way. if you are on ADSL and not Cable. to fiond out which is the best ISP is to try them all, and as you more often than not have to sign up for a 12 month contract, that will take a while.

Its an almost impossible question to answer for you TBH. One ISP might be excellent for one [person but not for you due to many mitigating factors, distance from exchange, age of actual cabvles in your area etc etc.

While we can all give you opinions on OUR lines, we cannot tell you how good your connection with any particular ISP will be,. only YOU can answer that once its installed.

[spoon_]

If you play in UK then Multiplay hands down.

[Robscure]

Robscure.. would you mind aswering a question?

DO you get Virgin via Optical cable.. or via ADSL?

Because not everyone on Virgin is actually ON Fibre Optic... many people have old fashioned ADSL because Virgin offered it in their area.

If you DO only have normal ADSL (which is a BT infrastructure but which goes to the internet Service Provider for server capping/port throttling etc) then it's worth running a speed terst from someone reputable... a company which doesn't over state the potential of the ADSL line you're on.

http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/bro...d-checker.aspx

Use that... for an example if I use that to test my mother in law's telephone number it states the max she can get is 512mb.. about what she gets.

If you use Virgin's version of the same it tells her she can get up to 4mb.. which she can't.

Estimated Maximum Download Speed*: 7.5Mbps
Line enabled for "up to 20 Mbps": Yes

But this 7.5Mbps max shouldn't affect my gaming, my ping/jitter should be the same regardless if it's 7 or 20, I think.

And it doesn't affect upload either so much right?

I believe I'm using fibre optics.

The download speeds I get are fast, but the upload and the ping/jitter are bad.

I want 9ms ping and 0ms jitter like sadbuttrue, that is amazing bro...

I get 10+ jitter... My ping jumps around so much it's not even funny.

I literally cannot enjoy World of Warcraft at all. Whenever I try to hit someone, it takes 3 seconds or more for anything to happen. I am chasing someone and they appear infront of me but I cannot attack them because they could be anywhere else and it's not updating for me to see. Teleporting around from lag... it's horrible!

I'm ready to get Be* Pro unless someone knows a better ISP.

Multiplay? Anyone have results from them? It appears that Multiplay only provides hosting servers, not internet service (they're not an ISP)...



See how high my Jitter is? That means that games are unplayable, which they are.

Try playing with jitter above 6ms and you'll notice it...

I wouldn't want an ISP unless they gave me 1ms or lower.

It says 27ms latency here but in WoW my latency goes from 250-2000+ ms and literally I get disconnected all the time.

My wife starts browsing the web and pages don't load.... She tries to use hotmail and it wont' send.... She can't watch a video on youtube... It's really bad.

Here is what Virgin Media said to me:

We need to arrange for another engineer to call out to take a look at your connection as the amount of T3 timeouts shown is very high.

An engineer already came out to do tests and said everything was fine... Meh.

[Zak33]

right... you need a Zen Account.

I just did the same as you.. on a line that is at 4.5mb most of the time and got this



So.. go figure.

Proper service... not cheap... £25 per month. But you asked for the best,, and there's your answer.

I also use a £180 router.

[Terbinator]

That was with my brother playing on Xbox Live, we're on VM.

[Cozwin]

I think if you get a good Virgin connection in your area, Virgin hands down, even when BT roll out Fiber problems still going to be in place... main one being only Fiber to Cabinet... second being far to many people on isp per area.

[Robscure]

right... you need a Zen Account.

I just did the same as you.. on a line that is at 4.5mb most of the time and got this



So.. go figure.

Proper service... not cheap... £25 per month. But you asked for the best,, and there's your answer.

I also use a £180 router.

Well Virgin is £30+ per month

And Be Pro is £35 per month with an amazing phone line package included (free 0845 etc)

And look at sadbuttrue's test on Be*, it's far better than your Zen test.

I think if you get a good Virgin connection in your area, Virgin hands down, even when BT roll out Fiber problems still going to be in place... main one being only Fiber to Cabinet... second being far to many people on isp per area.

Hands down for download speed, at times, maybe, but they do traffic throttling and it's really bad.

For gaming, they still cannot be the best unless they give <1ms jitter, which they don't.

Jitter in gaming is what causes so much lag and problems. If your ping is low, that's great, but if your jitter is high, then even with an apparently low ping, it actually varies and causes problems whenever you try to do something instantly (which games require).

AMAZING sadbuttrue... If I could get that I would pay £50 a month lol

[Robscure]

VM said my utilisation in my area was fine.

VM said my line tests were fine. VM said my Signal to Noise Ratio (SnR) was fine...

[LuckyNV]

You don't need Be Pro, that is only for the extra upload, just go for the middle package and save a bit.

Enable "gaming mode" in your profile which removes some error checking on your line which reduces latency by quite a bit, if your line is not stable you may not be able to use this feature.

[Caesium]

Apologies if this is a silly question, but you're not using a wireless network to try and game over, are you? That will introduce no end of jitter.

[j.col]

Apologies if this is a silly question, but you're not using a wireless network to try and game over, are you? That will introduce no end of jitter.

thanks for the reminder, i had a noobie moment, i just ran the test. i got


but my son is on WOW on main pc.
daughter on facebook
and i am on a macbook over wireless

i will rerun the test later