Questions about gaming lag, virgin & infinity... - Page 5

DaMac · 23-09-2013, 18:45

I'm put of contact and i could go to infinity 2, i don't want to sign into a new contract till i know hat i'm doing is correct, here is my test
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedt...10451910560488
it says my latency is 29ms

Sephiroth · 23-09-2013, 19:08

I run the Thinkbroadband quality monitor 24x7 and my latency there is around 18 ms. So 29ms is high.

I can see why, - it seems that you have upstram congestion.

What is the latency when you test inside the VM network using speedtest.net and selecting a Virgin Media host? If that drops to 10 or 12 ms then the bottleneck could be at the interconnect/peering point out to the internet.

DaMac · 23-09-2013, 19:26

ive tried baguley, manchester and wolverhampton and they are all 12-13ms, so does this mean there is nothing physically i can do?

Sephiroth · 24-09-2013, 09:10

Your result tells me that the congestion lies outside the VM network or at its peering point with the gaming site and indeed with the TBB site. Not much you can do about that other than to badger VM for months.

BT Infinity looks like a rosier option IMO.

adzii_nufc · 24-09-2013, 15:01

Just to jump in late and say after flicking through and seeing all this about Host's on Call of Duty series and FIFA lag. I've yet to experience a problem hosting a black ops game. Infact we're a trio of gamers with 120mb x2 and 1x BT Infinity line and it's fine whomever pulls host. I've played FIFA 13 on both Xbox and PC this time round and yet to experience any significant in game lag with that either.

If you ask me it's just a hit and miss with these things. The last big problem I remember with such things were World of Warcraft and Virgin Media numerous times.

DaMac · 24-09-2013, 19:55

Only thing I'm bothered about going to infinity2 is I want my router in another room to where I want the phone socket, do they charge extra for that?

Sephiroth · 24-09-2013, 20:21

They might run their twisted pair to another room for you for free if you negotiate it right for BT to win you over.

qasdfdsaq · 25-09-2013, 12:40

No. They currently* supply a separate modem and router and you get a free "data extension kit" of up to 25m anywhere in the house. Basically it's an ethernet cable that allows you to put the router wherever you want. The modem has to be within a couple metres of the phone socket but you're free to do whatever you want with the router.

* This may change in future

[Edit]
Just jumping in on the previous comments, as a national average, Virgin Media's ping is *slightly* lower than BT Infinity on *some* packages, and although theoretically the speed you're on shouldn't affect ping, in practice the evidence suggests otherwise - that said the differences are slight, within single digit percentages in all cases. And in spite of the slightly lower ping, VM's jitter is still about 80x higher than BT. Although that does mean if you're lucky enough to have low jitter, your minimum ping could well be significantly lower.

pip08456 · 25-09-2013, 12:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

No. They currently* supply a separate modem and router and you get a free "data extension kit" of up to 25m anywhere in the house.

* This may change in future

30m qas. That 5m might make all the difference.

DaMac · 25-09-2013, 14:05

I take it it is good quality cat 6? Would they run this up the outside wall and into the room above?

Sephiroth · 25-09-2013, 14:14

While you're awaiting Qasi's sound advice, the ethernet they'd supply is internal grade and not weatherproof.

You can always pay to have the BT point of entry moved to wherever you want it. I'm about to do that to have my Infinity & VM ingress in the same room.

Kushan · 25-09-2013, 15:00

Or you could pay to have someone do a professional job of wiring CAT6 around your house.

If I had my way, every room would have an ethernet Socket in it.

qasdfdsaq · 25-09-2013, 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaMac

I take it it is good quality cat 6? Would they run this up the outside wall and into the room above?

Not sure as I've not used it myself, my install was basically a case of "Give me the box and I'll sort out the rest myself" and the techs were competent and obliging.

TBH it doesn't matter what category it is and as I've said dozens of times Cat 6 is pointless (not just for these purposes). The modem ports are 100M only and that's technically handled just fine by Cat 3 cable.

In any case, as above it'll likely not be outdoor rated but in my personal experience even cheapo 99p ebay indoor cable works just fine for outdoor use in rainy ol' Scotland if you take the proper precautions.

If you want the actual phone point moved (not advisable if it's further away) then that's another matter, it'll *usually* cost unless you know your way around the system and will probably degrade your signal so just using the ethernet extension is usually the better option. Unlike VM cable, VDSL phone lines can see significant degradation just by running a few extra metres of it around your house.

Kushan · 25-09-2013, 15:52

Really? The VDSL modems currently in use only have 100M ports? I'm surprised at that. I know the 80Mbit limit is fine on that but still. What happens if/when vectoring rolls out? New modems for everyone?

DaMac · 25-09-2013, 16:44

Thanks for the replys, certainly things to take into consideration, it's probably swings and roundabouts, if I change to BT and it isn't all that then I'm locked for 18 months, what a nightmare!