BT, UKOnline or BE ? aiming for the best on-line gaming ping

[Le00N]

I'm in the middle of deciding which broadband to change from ntl to.

I'm looking for the best performance in 1)on-line gaming 2)downloading

for on-line gaming I expect from my connection 10-20ms (constant) to all uk servers and a bit above (around 40) to "near abroad" servers
I play CS so if someone have any idea of the game knows that low ping is essential

Anyone who lives in my area and have one of these?
(norht west London - Watford)

BT
22,99 (3 months) 26,99 after 3 months
8MBit Unlimited
Free Wireless Router
Ratio 50/1 (customers per line)

UKOnline
24,99/month
8MBit Unlimited
25 pounds connection fee
25 pounds for USB modem (buuu @ USB) or 60 pounds for router
Ratio 33/1

I need to order one of them on friday due to my ntl = ****test ever isp for online gaming (not mentioning "customer service" level) ... between 18-23 i just can't play at all .. I'm lagging out, getting loss and choke, ping 40 raising up to 400 every 10 seconds etc ...

BT has a much better deal imho but UKOnline has only 33/1 ratio (just to compare - ntl has 100/1 I think)

Anyone I've seen with UKOnline on any server was pinging @ 10-15ms, BT tho, I have no idea, only once i saw a guy on BT with constant 15, I have no clue at all about BeThere performance

If i will go for UKOnline tho i have to buy myself a good modem or router + 25 connection fee which is quite a lot comparing to no fees and a free router from BT.. but if I will be laggy again i rather to spend 50 pounds more and feel free from lag at last ...

and now the best part which sounds like a dream and that's why I fear it just won't be as perfect as it sounds.. BeThere

They have the best price -
up to 24Mbit Download/1.3Mbit upload (UNLIMITED!)
24 pounds/month
24 pounds connection fee
wireless router for free
and i really can't believe that but they say: RATIO 1/1 .. due to the new ADSL 2+ system..

and just look at that:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/co...commit=Compare

they actually have almoust the same scores as zen (zen is probably best but most expensive and without option of "unlimited")

one of my friends says that his friend has BE and everything is ok but his pings on servers are 30-40 :/ my exchange point is around 600-700 m from my house..

Whoever can give me any feedback, please help - i have only 2 days to make a decission, Thx

[SnoopZ]

Remember unless you live in a City you might not be able to get BE or UKonline. Also you need to be relatively close to the BT exchange to stand any chance of getting those download speeds.

You can check if you are able to get these by doing the postcode test on the relevant websites.

[Le00N]

Download speeds are actually not as important as ping .. 4Mbit is already quite enough for me, so even 8Mbit will be enough with new ISP.. my constant low ping is my most important target to reach

[SnoopZ]

Have you phoned Virgin and got them to check out your modem levels?

I personally don't have a problem with pings, but then i use an NTL:250 modem and if you're on an oldish modem it might be the cause.

[dcclanuk]

why not get SKY? UKONLINE is SKY!

so for £15 for 2 sky mixes, pay £10 for unlimited 16mb broadband... well 24mb really, but advertised as 16mb!

cheaper too! so if u can get UKO, why not get SKY?

cheaper as in u save a few pounds, but u get sky tv too!

[Carl J]

Nope Sky maxes out at 16Mbit, doesn't go any higher.

Be isn't 1:1, they contend same as everyone else just for practical purposes they may give the appearance of 1:1 (no speed loss at peak times).

UKOnline will probably give lower pings, Sky by default use the same interleave line profiling as Be which tends to give higher pings.

By the way this 'you need to be in a city to get Sky / UKOnline LLU' stuff is rubbish. Sky / UKOnline covers more of the UK population than cable now. If you can get cable you can almost certainly get Sky LLU, very few can't. Be aware of course though that ADSL is distance limited, however if low pings are what you are looking for and cable is congested and poor at peak times LLU ADSL is a good plan if you can get it.

[Le00N]

i had like 2 visits of NTL engineers in house already (they have no clue why ..) support center is ... well it's ntl support center so what can You really expect? ;]
i have ntl:250 as you do .. basically it's not hard to sort out what is the problem .. ntls ratio is 100/1 and i have this problem between 18-23 .. too many users online = my connection is going deeeeeeeeep down .. they refuse to switch me to other server so what else can i do? i already made my decission - i want to change, ntl is one of the worst providers when it comes to good broadband service .. i know 'cause i had them for 1,5 year now and finally it's enough.. they are fixing my problem for 4 months now .. can't be asked to wait longer to be honest..

dcclanuk - what You mean by SKY is same as UKONLINE - if they are why do they have such a big difference in price ? only 2 reliable ISP's when it comes to pings and i got feedback about are UKONLINE and BT (not always) so far.. and this time i really want to get the best one..


p.s. thx Carl, finally some words of wisdom :] Ofcourse I can get both UKOnline and SKY, already checked that i have exchanges in my area .. but I think You are right about UKOnline - it's the best one for pings performance so probably i will have to spend few more pounds for some good modem... any suggestions which one would be nice? Ethernet tho, not usb one as UKOnline suggesting to get from them .. Ethernet is much more stable and faster

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Carl J

Nope Sky maxes out at 16Mbit, doesn't go any higher.

Be isn't 1:1, they contend same as everyone else just for practical purposes they may give the appearance of 1:1 (no speed loss at peak times).

UKOnline will probably give lower pings, Sky by default use the same interleave line profiling as Be which tends to give higher pings.

By the way this 'you need to be in a city to get Sky / UKOnline LLU' stuff is rubbish. Sky / UKOnline covers more of the UK population than cable now. If you can get cable you can almost certainly get Sky LLU, very few can't. Be aware of course though that ADSL is distance limited, however if low pings are what you are looking for and cable is congested and poor at peak times LLU ADSL is a good plan if you can get it.

I think you will find very few towns/villages are able to get UKonline/Be/Sky. I live 8 miles from Cambridge and i can't get any of that.

[Carl J]

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

I think you will find very few towns/villages are able to get UKonline/Be/Sky. I live 8 miles from Cambridge and i can't get any of that.

Your exchange may not have them but Sky BB covers more of the UK than cable. Mr Murdoch's cash pays for a lot of exchange rollout.

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 22:53 ----------

Originally Posted by Le00N

p.s. thx Carl, finally some words of wisdom :] Ofcourse I can get both UKOnline and SKY, already checked that i have exchanges in my area .. but I think You are right about UKOnline - it's the best one for pings performance so probably i will have to spend few more pounds for some good modem... any suggestions which one would be nice? Ethernet tho, not usb one as UKOnline suggesting to get from them .. Ethernet is much more stable and faster

Ethernet. The absolute best for UKOnline are the Billion routers, but they are a touch expensive. Otherwise pretty much any router is fine, Netgear GT is ok

Here's my pings on UKOnline, via wireless so slightly high

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.224.113] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.113:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 7ms, Average = 7ms

3 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms fe3-0-3.ar11.bllon.uk.easynet.net [82.111.99.81]
4 * 8 ms 7 ms ip-89-200-132-53.ov.easynet.net [89.200.132.53]
5 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms te-3-3.r00.londen05.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [83.231.146.65]
6 194 ms 211 ms 208 ms xe-3-2.r00.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.46]
7 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms xe-0-1-0.r22.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.77]
8 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.thdoe.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
9 8 ms 7 ms 6 ms 212.58.238.153
10 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms www13.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.113]

[dcclanuk]

Originally Posted by Le00N;34222747
dcclanuk - what [B

You mean by SKY is same as UKONLINE[/B] - if they are why do they have such a big difference in price ? only 2 reliable ISP's when it comes to pings and i got feedback about are UKONLINE and BT (not always) so far.. and this time i really want to get the best one..

Sky bought Easynet..... which is UKOnline basically...

difference in price? probably to get ppl signed up to sky tv!

[Le00N]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/produc...age=1#prodlist

Any recomendations from the above ones for around up to 30 pounds?
Billion is ain't so expensive

Be Broadband to offer homes super-fast upload speeds

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/comp...fer-home-users

[Central]

Originally Posted by Carl J

UKOnline will probably give lower pings, Sky by default use the same interleave line profiling as Be which tends to give higher pings.

Be* can put you on fastpath to if you ask

[dragon]

Originally Posted by Carl J

Your exchange may not have them but Sky BB covers more of the UK than cable. Mr Murdoch's cash pays for a lot of exchange rollout.

---------- Post added at 22:56 ---------- Previous post was at 22:53 ----------



Ethernet. The absolute best for UKOnline are the Billion routers, but they are a touch expensive. Otherwise pretty much any router is fine, Netgear GT is ok

Here's my pings on UKOnline, via wireless so slightly high

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.224.113] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247
Reply from 212.58.224.113: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=247

Ping statistics for 212.58.224.113:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 7ms, Average = 7ms

3 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms fe3-0-3.ar11.bllon.uk.easynet.net [82.111.99.81]
4 * 8 ms 7 ms ip-89-200-132-53.ov.easynet.net [89.200.132.53]
5 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms te-3-3.r00.londen05.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [83.231.146.65]
6 194 ms 211 ms 208 ms xe-3-2.r00.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.46]
7 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms xe-0-1-0.r22.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.77]
8 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.thdoe.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.103]
9 8 ms 7 ms 6 ms 212.58.238.153
10 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms www13.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.113]

Heres the ping to the same server from my BT broadband connection, connection, router is a D-link G624t (running routertech firmware) and i'm on wireless from a macbook from osx

Its worth noting i have byte interleaving turned ON my line. Apparently you can request it be turned off to decrease ping.

dragons-computer:~ Dragon$ ping www.bbc.net.uk
PING www.bbc.net.uk (212.58.227.74): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=0 ttl=241 time=27.168 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=1 ttl=241 time=51.355 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=2 ttl=241 time=74.220 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=3 ttl=241 time=98.136 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=4 ttl=241 time=20.281 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=5 ttl=241 time=21.229 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=6 ttl=241 time=20.855 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=7 ttl=241 time=20.420 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=8 ttl=241 time=20.491 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=9 ttl=241 time=20.286 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=10 ttl=241 time=20.350 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=11 ttl=241 time=21.166 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=12 ttl=241 time=20.337 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=13 ttl=241 time=21.709 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=14 ttl=241 time=21.199 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.227.74: icmp_seq=15 ttl=241 time=21.052 ms
^C
--- www.bbc.net.uk ping statistics ---
16 packets transmitted, 16 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 20.281/31.266/98.136/22.443 ms
dragons-computer:~ Dragon$



Traceroute has started ...

traceroute to www.bbc.net.uk (212.58.227.74), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1 dragon.home (192.168.1.1) 3.394 ms 1.326 ms 2.020 ms
2 217.47.206.250 (217.47.206.250) 19.248 ms 18.158 ms 17.561 ms
3 217.47.206.161 (217.47.206.161) 17.978 ms 16.949 ms 17.927 ms
4 217.41.169.9 (217.41.169.9) 18.809 ms 17.965 ms 17.695 ms
5 217.41.169.66 (217.41.169.66) 18.616 ms 17.755 ms 19.268 ms
6 217.41.169.134 (217.41.169.134) 21.214 ms 18.442 ms 18.276 ms
7 217.41.169.54 (217.41.169.54) 19.116 ms 19.125 ms 18.405 ms
8 217.32.99.114 (217.32.99.114) 17.567 ms 18.622 ms 17.789 ms
9 core1-pos9-2.reading.ukcore.bt.net (194.72.0.245) 17.863 ms 18.070 ms 17.419 ms
10 core1-pos7-0.ilford.ukcore.bt.net (62.6.201.185) 22.309 ms 36.052 ms 20.098 ms
11 core1-pos9-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (62.6.201.118) 20.461 ms 20.238 ms 20.408 ms
12 194.74.65.6 (194.74.65.6) 25.980 ms 21.572 ms 23.785 ms
13 212.58.238.129 (212.58.238.129) 20.365 ms 21.110 ms 19.419 ms
14 212.58.238.141 (212.58.238.141) 19.315 ms 20.488 ms 19.416 ms
15 www.bbc.net.uk (212.58.227.74) 20.573 ms 19.874 ms 21.153 ms

[Le00N]

And this is why I'm going for UKOnline

few ms makes a difference (especially when it comes to on-line gaming)