Since the release of Sony's new Playstation 3 (PS3) gaming console we've been noting a growing number of related complaints from Tiscali's customers.

Owners complain that the PS3's online gaming network (PSN) "usually" works until Tiscali's peak period kicks in, after that many find their connections to PSN simply drop. This may be partly related to the ISP's use of traffic shaping technology, but it's unclear.

Sony's own EU Community PSN Forums have a number of topics on the subject, as do other PS3 related gaming forums around the Internet. The issue appears to be affecting a fair few people. Thankfully Tiscali do appear to be aware and have been issuing the following statement to customers:


According to the late-February 2007 topic on Tiscali's forum, the issues appear somehow related to the ISP's migration of IPStream (BT based) ADSL users to their Datastream or unbundled (non-BT) platforms.

Tiscali appears to blame a "known congestion problem" on the IPStream platform for the issues, although the precise details of this are unclear. The prospect of the problems on Tiscali's IPStream platform being fixed seems uncertain, with migration appearing to be the only promoted solution.

IPStream users experiencing related difficulties at Peak times have been told they can request their migration code if so desired:


We'd love to hear from any users suffering related problems. It's understood that the issue impacts a number of other areas as well, such as access to secure websites and further online gaming systems (e.g. XBox Live) etc. It's usually worth spending a little extra on a higher quality ISP if you're considering multiplayer gaming.