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What internet is best for gaming in my area?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dominic Wild
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Dominic Wild

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Right, I'm looking for a good internet for gaming right now, currently I have got virgin media which is good for my computer, but apparantly those in my household have numerous problems with it going slow. I don't get that problem often. I get really low pings and around 60mbps download and 5mbps upload, which is great. But the cost brings it down and is the main reason why people in my household are considering changing. plus the fact of being slow alot to them.

So I was wondering what ISP gives low pings and can handle up to 4 people on the internet at the same time, these 4 people will probably be me on a game, 2 others browsing the internet, and one person on his ps3 playing fifa and stuff like red dead redemption. The ps3 owner gets most of the issues even when no one is on btw, I think it maybe something to do with the ps3, as he has it hooked it up to a Ethernet cable also, he mainly uses the Ethernet cable. So yeah what ISP is realiable for this sort of thing? Or should we stick with virgin media?

I live in kirkham, which is near preston. For the record
 
Virgin Media are sadly well known for their gaming woes as their cable platform does appear to suffer from higher latency than even some older ADSL solutions on BT's platform, although they're good for downloading and raw speed.

So what you need is a service with fast speeds that isn't cable but does deliver low latency, which is probably hard to get via the Kirkham exchange as FTTC won't arrive there until sometime this year (not sure when). In the meantime you'd be stuck with ADSL2+ from either a BT based ISP, Sky, TalkTalk or O2/BE but not Cable and Wireless LLU.

If there wasn't so much doubt over BE/O2 right now then I might recommend them, although Aquiss and some other ISPs do have multiplayer friendly services. But a big unknown here is what kind of speed you can expect from an ADSL2+ service on your particular phone line?

Stick your phone number in here (without spaces), wait a minute for the check to work and then see if it reports anything.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/checker/

If your line has always been Virgin then it probably won't return a result, in which case you could try testing with a nearby neighbours number (assuming they're not also on virgin), which will give you some idea of local capability. On the other hand if it does return a result then let us know what you got for the ADSL2+ speed estimate nearer the top?

The SamKnows version of that same check is here:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker
 
Yeah basically just with low latency, Virgin media is unreliable at times. Since we are inevitably changing I just wanna change to one that will be as good as virgin in terms of latency.

This is what I got from the test you gave:

"Your number ************* is connected to the Kirkham (PR42TP) telephone exchange (Code: LCKHA). Please check the results against our Broadband ISP Listings page to find the best provider for your given service choice.

Your telephone exchange is classed by Ofcom as being Market 3 (does not apply to residents of Hull).

* Market 1 - Areas covered by exchanges where BT is the only operator (less competition, higher prices).
* Market 2 - Areas covered by exchanges where there are 2 or 3 ISPs (average prices).
* Market 3 - Areas covered by exchanges where there are 4 or more operators (lowest prices)."

"Standard Fixed Line Broadband Service Availability (NOTE: 1024Kbps = 1Mbps)

YES - Standard ADSL @ up to 2Mbps (BT Wholesale / 20CN)
Estimated Best Speed (Kbps):
LineCode:

YES - ADSL MAX @ up to 8Mbps (BT Wholesale / 20CN)
Estimated Best Speed (Kbps):
LineCode:

YES - ADSL2+ @ up to 24Mbps (BT Wholesale / 21CN)
Estimated Best Speed (Kbps):
(some lines do not yet have a speed estimate)"

"Superfast Fixed Line Broadband Service Availability (Cable and Fibre Optic)

YES - Virgin Media @ up to 120Mbps
Virgin Media's cable (DOCSIS / EuroDOCSIS3) network covers roughly 50% of the UK.
Reader Reviews | ISP Details

NO - Smallworld @ up to 60Mbps
Smallworld's cable network is predominantly focused in North England and Scotland.
Reader Reviews | ISP Details

NO - Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) @ up to 80Mbps (BT Wholesale)
Estimated Download Speed (Mbps):
Estimated Upload Speed (Mbps):
Availability (Service ETA):

Unbundled (LLU) Fixed Line Broadband Service Availability (Explain)

NOTE: LLU services are usually cheaper, though most of the listed ISPs will still offer more expensive solutions via BT's national network.

YES - Carphone Warehouse (TalkTalk)
ISPs Using This Supplier: TalkTalk

NO - Tiscali Wholesale (TalkTalk)
ISPs Using This Supplier: TalkTalk, PlusNet

NO - Cable & Wireless
ISPs Using This Supplier: Fluidata, Virgin Media (ADSL), Aquiss

YES - Be Unlimited (O2)
ISPs Using This Supplier: O2, BE Broadband

YES - Easynet
ISPs Using This Supplier: Sky Broadband

YES - AOL LLU (Carphone Warehouse)
ISPs Using This Supplier: AOL UK

YES - Orange LLU
ISPs Using This Supplier: Orange

NO - Smallworld LLU
ISPs Using This Supplier: Smallworld

Wireless Broadband Service Availability

NO - LTT Broadband (Now defunct)

NO - Now (UK Broadband, PCCW)

NO - OnLincolnshire

NO - Urban WiMAX

NO - Kijoma Wireless Broadband

NO - EMNET Nottingham Wireless (Wireles service defunct)"
 
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Hope you don't mind but I removed your phone number from that report as it had been included when you pasted it and such data is best kept private.

As expected the checker couldn't return an estimated speed result because your line has probably been virgin for a while, although BT based and LLU alternatives are available (note that if you switched you'd probably have to pay for a new line install fee too, which can cost up to around £100 with some ISPs).

My advice would be ask your closest neighbours whether they're with virgin or somebody else, if it's somebody else then they're probably BT based and thus speed testing their line should return a result that would be in the ballpark of what you could expect (no accounting for problems with individual home wiring though). uSwitch also has a checker that displays local speed tests from people at street level, which may or may not help you.

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/speedtest/streetstats/

But my worry is that you might well end up receiving a far slower service via ADSL2+ over BT infrastructure than Virgin's and we don't really have enough information for a definitive answer. As four of you are sharing then it might be best to wait for FTTC to arrive.
 
One thing to be aware of when using uswitch is they only show an ISP if that ISP has paid them to be listed so will be a little bias and other providers will be able to supply you even though they are not listed on uswitch.
 
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