[cymruoasis]

I'm with AOL at the moment, and while I have no problems getting online now, it was a nightmare when I first got the PS3. Took a month of numerous phone calls to get it sorted.

Anyway, I'm looking to move to someone else as their speeds at night time are very slow and customer service is very poor the majority of the time I have phoned up.

What do people recommend? I need to make sure that they're good for online gaming too.

[Br0ken]

I've only ever been with 1 service provider ever since broadband first emerged.

I had Blueyonder, which became Telewest, which is now Virgin Media.

Can't fault them in the 8 or so years I've been connected with them.

They've had only 2 or 3 days downtime in those 8 years!

I am a downloader, but I don't think I download anywhere near enough to be called a "heavy user" so I haven't ever been capped.

Always have good speed.

Have gamed with xbox 360 and ps3 through Virgin Media and have to say its been good. Any problems like connections, dropouts etc I think have been more to do with the game/game servers/ports on my router rather than the Virgin Media network.

I would say if you can get Virgin Media in your area it's a good choice.

[cymruoasis]

Yeh I've been hearing good things about them.

The thing that really annoys me with AOL is I'm on a up to 8mb connection, I can receive up to 5mb in my area, and the best I've had from them is about 3.5mb.

Now this itself I can except, though I'm not happy about it, but what really gets to me is when my internet is really slow sometimes at night, I run a speed test to see I'm getting under 1mb. But get this, when I ring to query it they say this is "perfectly normal"

[cris1502]

o2 ,excellent cs, uk based call centres, my speeds increased after leaving bt & joining o2.good price too.

[derek1971]

I moved from Virgin media to Be because i found Virgin worse than useless. That was using their adsl sevice rather than cable. I would regularly get download speeds worse than dial up and pings through the roof - in excess of 3000 to uk servers!

I left for Be around 18 months ago and haven't looked back. The best speed download i ever got on Virgin was 2meg and that was only ever possible early in the morning until about 4pm - great when you are working 9-5 - but now i get a constant 10meg 24/7. Not bad when you consider i have a line attenuation of 43db.

Also my pings are rock solid any time day or night. If i ping eg jolt.co.uk i get 24-27ms.

The other good thing about Be is that you also get a better upload speed than many providers which is ideal for gaming. On virgin my upload was 256kb but on Be it is 1.3meg.

Virgin may well have improved since i left and from what i read when i was with them the cable service was good but if it is available at your exchange i would certainly look at Be.

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by derek1971

I moved from Virgin media to Be because i found Virgin worse than useless. That was using their adsl sevice rather than cable. I would regularly get download speeds worse than dial up and pings through the roof - in excess of 3000 to uk servers!

I left for Be around 18 months ago and haven't looked back. The best speed download i ever got on Virgin was 2meg and that was only ever possible early in the morning until about 4pm - great when you are working 9-5 - but now i get a constant 10meg 24/7. Not bad when you consider i have a line attenuation of 43db.

Also my pings are rock solid any time day or night. If i ping eg jolt.co.uk i get 24-27ms.

The other good thing about Be is that you also get a better upload speed than many providers which is ideal for gaming. On virgin my upload was 256kb but on Be it is 1.3meg.

Virgin may well have improved since i left and from what i read when i was with them the cable service was good but if it is available at your exchange i would certainly look at Be.

I've never heard of Be, but thanks for that I'll definitely look into them

[derek1971]

Originally Posted by cymruoasis

I've never heard of Be, but thanks for that I'll definitely look into them

Be are now owned by O2 although they each offer slightly different deals. Have a look on samknows website. It will tell you if Be/O2 have unbundled your exchange.

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by derek1971

Be are now owned by O2 although they each offer slightly different deals. Have a look on samknows website. It will tell you if Be/O2 have unbundled your exchange.

Only ADSL available in my area apparently.

O2/Be are listed as not available in my area under LLU operator presence, whatever that means

It also says that wireless is not available in my area, how can that be when we have wireless in the house?

[derek1971]

Thats a shame. LLU is local loop unbundling - basically the ISP putting its own equipment in the exchange.
In so far as wireless is concerned it is talking about commercial wireless suppliers and not your own wireless network at home.

Not sure who to recommend as an ADSL provider. You could always look at the ISP ratings here and see what deals are on offer for the top rated ones.

If you click on the user comments for the ISPs listed there are usually a good few comments about how good each of them are as gaming ISPs.

Good luck

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by derek1971

Thats a shame. LLU is local loop unbundling - basically the ISP putting its own equipment in the exchange.
In so far as wireless is concerned it is talking about commercial wireless suppliers and not your own wireless network at home.

Not sure who to recommend as an ADSL provider. You could always look at the ISP ratings here and see what deals are on offer for the top rated ones.

If you click on the user comments for the ISPs listed there are usually a good few comments about how good each of them are as gaming ISPs.

Good luck

Great, cheers I'll take a look at that!

According to that SamKnows site BT Wholesale WBC has set an enablement date of 31/03/2010 for my area - also listed as '21CN WBC status:
RFS date set : 31/03/2010'

Is that good? Sorry I'm quite clueless with this it seems

[derek1971]

21CN is short for "21st Century Network" and is basically BT upgrading their core network, it doesn't immediately mean any changes for broadband provision in the UK as such.

WBC is short for "Wholesale Broadband Connect" and is a product from BT Wholesale that ISP's can "buy" to allow them to offer speeds up to 24Mbps rather than the standard 8Mbps.

Like standard ADSL, WBC still slows as distance from the exchange increases.


Hope that helps

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by derek1971

21CN is short for "21st Century Network" and is basically BT upgrading their core network, it doesn't immediately mean any changes for broadband provision in the UK as such.

WBC is short for "Wholesale Broadband Connect" and is a product from BT Wholesale that ISP's can "buy" to allow them to offer speeds up to 24Mbps rather than the standard 8Mbps.

Like standard ADSL, WBC still slows as distance from the exchange increases.


Hope that helps

It does, thanks

We're quite behind the times round my way then!

[jwalsh82]

Originally Posted by cris1502

o2 ,excellent cs, uk based call centres, my speeds increased after leaving bt & joining o2.good price too.

+1

And I am still on Access for another week and still not had problems with them.

[Miguel Sanchez]

You sound as if your in the same sort of area as me, bundled exchange and forced to have either a BT service of a repackaged BT service sold on by someone else. I'm with virgin over ADLS and am desperate to get away from them but I've got 5 moths left on my contract. I have serious problems gaming at night aswell routinely times out of PSN and sometimes I just get kicked for no reason.

My brother who stays in the same area switched to IDnet.net they buy a better quality of service off BT which is not throttled at busy periods, it's a bit more expensive (£25 for 30G/m)and I don't think you get a free router but he raves about it very stable.

One of my friends also of the same area is with Orange and he always hosts our games as his connection is great so they are maybe worth a look too.

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by Miguel Sanchez

You sound as if your in the same sort of area as me, bundled exchange and forced to have either a BT service of a repackaged BT service sold on by someone else. I'm with virgin over ADLS and am desperate to get away from them but I've got 5 moths left on my contract. I have serious problems gaming at night aswell routinely times out of PSN and sometimes I just get kicked for no reason.

My brother who stays in the same area switched to IDnet.net they buy a better quality of service off BT which is not throttled at busy periods, it's a bit more expensive (£25 for 30G/m)and I don't think you get a free router but he raves about it very stable.

One of my friends also of the same area is with Orange and he always hosts our games as his connection is great so they are maybe worth a look too.

Not really looking to spend that much, but thanks for letting me know

With how things are in my area would I be better off with BT then?

I've ran a speed test for the last few days and have been getting an average of 1.5mb download speed (I can get up to 5mb in my area I think) I was averaging 3.5mb last year most of the time, but recently it's been very slow.

If I try and play COD4 online with friends now and don't host the game I get an awful connection which makes the game unplayable, and if I host the game it's unplayable for my friends. Really fed up, need to get away from AOL.

[sid77]

Originally Posted by Br0ken

I've only ever been with 1 service provider ever since broadband first emerged.

I had Blueyonder, which became Telewest, which is now Virgin Media.

Can't fault them in the 8 or so years I've been connected with them.

They've had only 2 or 3 days downtime in those 8 years!

I am a downloader, but I don't think I download anywhere near enough to be called a "heavy user" so I haven't ever been capped.

Always have good speed.

Have gamed with xbox 360 and ps3 through Virgin Media and have to say its been good. Any problems like connections, dropouts etc I think have been more to do with the game/game servers/ports on my router rather than the Virgin Media network.

I would say if you can get Virgin Media in your area it's a good choice.

I agree with the above! Been with Telewest/Virgin since the dawn of broadband with hardly any issues whatsoever. The only downer is their Tech Support "helpline" is worse than useless but luckily I hardly ever need to call them. They are the only ISP which use Fibre Optics to carry the cable so its a winner!

[cymruoasis]

Any thoughts on who would be the best between Sky and BT broadband? Bearing in mind how far behind the times my area is connection wise (see a few posts up)

[Wingsurfer]

Do sky or BT have a fair usage policy? If they do does it affect online gaming & would heavy gaming & psn downloading be enough to get it kicked in?
I'm in a similar situation to cymruoasis, where only ADSL is available in my area.

[cymruoasis]

Originally Posted by Wingsurfer

Do sky or BT have a fair usage policy? If they do does it affect online gaming & would heavy gaming & psn downloading be enough to get it kicked in?
I'm in a similar situation to cymruoasis, where only ADSL is available in my area.

Both Sky and BT have unlimated plans it seems, the BT one being more expensive.

Sky: Sky.com - Sky Products>Broadband>Prices and Options>Sky Broadband Unlimited

BT: BT Total Broadband – wireless UK broadband Internet for less

Who are you with?

[Wingsurfer]

Originally Posted by cymruoasis

Both Sky and BT have unlimated plans it seems, the BT one being more expensive.

Sky: Sky.com - Sky Products>Broadband>Prices and Options>Sky Broadband Unlimited

BT: BT Total Broadband – wireless UK broadband Internet for less

Who are you with?

Tesco & their super dooper 1mb service

I'm not overly keen on leaving them, in the 3 years we've used them there has never been any downtime at all, it's just the speed. A lot of the time I can go online with the ps3 into games no probs, when the probs start happening though................... as the zombie guys can testify to. Seems to be about once or twice a week that my connection truly plummets

[cymruoasis]

I'm leaning more towards Sky's unlimited package now, as it's cheaper than BT and they don't throttle the service at peak times on that package (apparently)

[Jamie]

Sky have 2 service though

Sky Max is for areas that have Sky LLU. If you are in an area that doesn'ty have Sky equipment in the exchange you'll only get Sky Connect.

I'm on Sky Max and its brilliant. Don't actually play much online but the times I have have been problem free.
My mate is on Sky Connect and is having nothing but problems in the evenings. He's just moved from BT where he was getting 2M, He still gets 2M during the day with Sky but after 5pm speeds are dropping to dial-up sort of level

[Workshed]

I'm with ADSL24 at the moment and they've been fantastic!
Due to bad experiences with previous providers (*cough* Demon *cough*) i would personally steer clear of anything with a contract longer than a couple of months and bear in mind that you generally get what you pay for.

[cymruoasis]

Switched to BT now, should be all sorted by next Monday. The thinking behind it is that they provide the line and sell it on to other companies so they should be better, and surely can't be any worse.

[cymruoasis]

Just thought I'd update this thread to say my switchover to BT went through on Monday, I played COD online with friends tonight and ... it was all good . 4 green bars, no lag.

[Neolithian]

Originally Posted by cymruoasis

I'm with AOL at the moment, and while I have no problems getting online now, it was a nightmare when I first got the PS3. Took a month of numerous phone calls to get it sorted.

Anyway, I'm looking to move to someone else as their speeds at night time are very slow and customer service is very poor the majority of the time I have phoned up.

What do people recommend? I need to make sure that they're good for online gaming too.

I just want to point out to all people who like playing fps games e.g. Cod 4 type, you need to use a provider that supports a FASTPATH connection as opposed to interleaved - interleaved uses a form of error checking which slows down the data speed whilst it checks and corrects errors. If your line is very long this may not work for you but is always worth trying as you can always reverse back to interleaved.
Not all providers will allow you to use a fastpath connection, and some that do may require you to be on a more expensive package (BE are one of those).
BT does allow fastpath but you have to request it, telling them that you want it set permanently also needs mentioning as the automated system can sometimes move you back to interleaved.
Virgin cable on fibre optic does not use interleaving according to a member of staff, virgin ADSL more than likely will use interleaving, but you should make enquiries with virgin at time of ordering and base your decision accordingly.