hi all can anyone help with this problem i'am with (virgin media) i'am looking isp for gaming what should should i be looking for should it be download or upload for streaming and playing games need to stop paying £50 a month i live in scotland if that helps any for any isp coverage thanks james
Low ping really, which is not directly related to absolute download or upload speeds. Distance to cabinet is the main thing, which will be the same for all providers unless they're offering some fancy special expensive cable to the door option.
Welcome to Hexus. Read his post perhaps?Originally Posted by joemeow
Last edited by kalniel; 27-09-2016 at 04:57 PM. Reason: ignore this post now - reply to post that's gone.
You've really got three options:
Virgin coax
BT FTTC
BT ADSL
Virgin's tech is theoretically the best, providing 200mbps connections directly to your door. But as an ISP they're terrible.
BT Wholesale provide ADSL and FTTC technologies that you can get through any ISP and there are some good ones out there that provide decent latencies etc - but they usually cost more. Both these technologies are reliant on your distances being low, but less so with FTTC.
You may be lucky, but I doubt it, to have BT's Fibre-On-Demand service available where you can get fibre plumbed into your house with 330mbps and a hefty installation cost.
Well I use BT infinity and when i play with me friend i got lower ping that my friend that user virgin, the only 2 thing i don't like about BT is 1 the router/modem don't have QoS on it, and it has a coil whine sound when using the 5Ghz wifi. they got a new version that i haven't try, mine is the Home Hub 5.
You don't have to use the BT router, you can plug any in.
I don't know if you will be able to save much in the end for what you want. Of course you can go with really cheap options, but then your gameplay quality suffers.
Did a quick search and came across this, which outlines some deals from BT and Virgin. Although from the look of it, they are student deals, so may not apply. That's all with highest speed (over 50 MB). Could be worth looking through the site and seeing if you can find yourself a good deal.
As has been said the choice are limited to cable and FTTC but for gaming. The cheapest option is to move to a Fibre to the cabinet deal like BT. But don't sign up direct go via a cashback site. Then make a note notify of termination in 11 months (its a 12m contract) if the notice period is 30 days etc.
Its a pain I have to switch ISP each contract as after the offers have run out the prices go up. I had Virgin they are really poor in my area, they penalise folk with high use and have stupid traffic shaping etc but for gaming they are fine.
Don't trust the Oookla speedtest etc these are all rigged and provide false fast speeds. On my Virgin line it was reporting high speed but it was due to the test server being hosted by Virgin!
Thinkbroadband to a free remote broadband monitoring tool (nothing to setup in your house its all cloud based, just enable ICMP on your router) http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping
Things to consider around costs:
- Cost is driven by incentives to sign up new customers
- so you need to select a service that works for gaming and has incentives
- Remember to use a cashback site like top cashback
- Also look at deals on moneysupermarket
- HotUKDeals is a good site for Broadband deals
- There are companies to avoid (TalkTalk, SSE) slow and under provisioned
I have a BT Openreach Fibre modem and an ASUS router so when I move ISP I just need to change the username password on the CHAPS auth on the ASUS. This allows me to switch from BT to Plusnet with just a software change. I've done this a few times PN, BT and now back to PN.
A couple of final points
The latency on LTE is really low worth checking this in your area with some providers. This might be cheaper than broadband just for gaming but you do not mention if you have downloadable content or what platform you are gaming on.
Get a Ethernet setup not WiFi if you can, especially if you have other devices on the WiFi or setup a new AP just for gaming. If you are going the WiFi route then go for a top end AP like ASUS and priorities the gaming traffic.
I use my connection for streaming netflix and gaming, with BT I think they are offering £150 mastercard reward card, if you use that in combination with Top Cashback, you'll reduce your monthly repayment by a hefty amount.
you also may use vpn services, for example hma vpn.
It's also worth pointing out, that for the most part whomever you go with for FTTC... it'll end up using BT Openreach anyway so comparing most ISP's is not that helpful unless they have their own policies on traffic shaping etc.
There's very few regular fibre companies out there other than BT that use their own tech in the exchange, Sky being one of them.
Two things to point out.
1. If you are going to use BT and are going to take BT TV with it, then you (vaguely) need to have the official router in the room with the TV. In my case this has proved to be a pain in the neck as I wanted the internet in the router in the office - but for some reason BT TV requires a physical cable to run between your TV and the router. Note if you use Sky then you don't have the same issues their broadband TV works wireless - obviously their satalite tv requires a satelite dish.
2. Get some cashback. If you are not familiar with cashback sites let me know and I can give you some more details. Signing up for a new broadband connection I'd expect in the region of £100 just for signing up.
BT Wholesale is different from BT Internet and it's important to make the distinction. BT Wholesale provide the physical line as well as broadband technology to whoever. Optionally, with LLU, ISPs can install their own kit at the exchange to provide the broadband tech - in my experience, BT Wholesale do that bit better.
Traffic shaping and all that jazz is entirely down to the ISP, nothing to do with it being on twisted pair in a BT exchange/cabinet, with BT DSLAMs.
I use ee .. never had a problem in 3+ yrs but I do pay £40 a month .. but that includes line rental and calls .. and I get 65 down and 30 up
What does it matter now if men believe or no?
What is to come will come. And soon you too will stand aside,
To murmur in pity that my words were true
(Cassandra, in Agamemnon by Aeschylus)
To see the wizard one must look behind the curtain ....
Vodafone have some good deals and from the exchange back use all their own equipment, utilising the C&W network which they now own. The only part that's owned by BT which they use is the copper into your home from the exchange. However they force you to use their router and its not easy (nigh on impossible) to get the PPoE username & password that allows you to use your own equipment, so bear that in mind if you're considering them
I've had absolutely horrific experiences with BT routers in the past - haven't been with them for nearly 3 years so I don't know if their newest ones are better. I'm with Sky at the moment and I'm looking at Virgin for next year (student housing). From what I've heard they generally have low ping and their speeds are pretty good due to it being fibre to the door. Only issue is apparently their customer service is horrific, but in my experience most ISPs offer the same standard of support (i.e. trash tier).
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