Best ISP for gaming?

Hi

I'm currently with BT infinity on 33 download 6.5 upload (this is my max even on 80/20 due to being 900-1000m from the cabinet but only 700m from the exchange...which doesnt make sense why im connected to the cabinet...but anyway.

I'm thinking about changing ISP, the connection will be used 90% for gaming so im just really interested in trying to find out who out of SKY, BT and PLUSNET, route their traffic better through their network, giving lower ping times. My ping times on BT to BBC range from 22-28ms which is ok, but im just looking for a change away from BT if i can possibly get a better service in terms of ping times and jitter etc for the same or less £££.

On a side note, i have heard that the Plusnet router is pretty bad so any recommendations on a good 3rd party router, not looking to spend any more than £60 on it, wireless quality is of no importance, must have at least 1GigE port and have the option to place a device in a DMZ. (Anyone with any experience of the homehub 5 as this is only £45 and also replaces the need for 2 boxes)

Anyway, all help is appreciated.

Thanks.

You may find it depends on which games. The routes to different game servers are likely to act differently (depending on peering arrangements) so one ISP may be good for one game but not so good for another.

The thing is, what i've noticed with BT from trace routes is even when connecting to servers in london (i also live in london) they route it through their network from london up to Sheffield and back to london again. It seems on the BT forums that this is an issue that alot of people have noticed with BTs silly routing, i just wanted to know if all ISPs follow the same routes or if they vary in the way they manage and direct their traffic

Look at a traceroute and you will probably find the majority of that time is spent in the VDSL2 segment, i.e. is a factor of the level of interleaving on the connection and won't change much better providers.

Chasing the lowest ping is reasonable, but better to have a 100% stable ping for gaming.

You'll need to mention your exchange.

A lot of the difference in latency comes from the way in which you are routed through the BT core network; places close to London can have lower latencies than ones further away.

This is mine, based on a Plusnet line running at 80/20 without FEC/interleaving. I'm currently on PN gateway ptn-ag02, into Telehouse North:

$ ping www.bbc.co.uk

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.93] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.246.93: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=56
Reply from 212.58.246.93: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=56
Reply from 212.58.246.93: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=56
Reply from 212.58.246.93: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 212.58.246.93:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 14ms

My TBB BQM usually shows 12-13ms. My cabinet/exchange rarely shows any sign of congestion whatsoever.

Can't comment about gaming though.

im on the Cricklewood exchange (North West London)

Pinging www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.92] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.246.92: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=51
Reply from 212.58.246.92: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=51
Reply from 212.58.246.92: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=51
Reply from 212.58.246.92: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 212.58.246.92:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 27ms, Average = 26ms

They won't but core network transit like this should have minimal effect on the latency, unless it is very wobbly or going through an awful lot of switches.

Results on most ISPs will vary depending on whereabouts you are in the country, due to the backhaul routing, but give us a couple of sites to ping and I'll do one, and I'm sure others will as well

Try a traceroute this can reveal where time is spent e.g.

tracert www.bbc.net.uk

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.244.69]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  RT-N66U [192.168.0.1]
  2     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  telehouse-gw4-lo1.idnet.net [212.69.63.98]
  3     8 ms     7 ms     7 ms  212.69.63.78
  4     8 ms     7 ms    10 ms  rt-lonap-a.thdo.bbc.co.uk [5.57.80.90]
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7     8 ms     8 ms     8 ms  ae0.er01.telhc.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.109]
  8     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  132.185.255.149
  9     8 ms     7 ms     8 ms  bbc-vip114.telhc.bbc.co.uk [212.58.244.69]
Trace complete.

Shows its the first hop past router where I lose my time.

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms BTHomeHub.home [192.168.1.254]
2 13 ms 13 ms 13 ms 217.32.145.239
3 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms 217.32.146.30
4 18 ms 18 ms 18 ms host109-159-244-154.range109-159.btcentralplus.com [109.159.244.154]
5 18 ms 18 ms 18 ms 213.120.180.173
6 20 ms 18 ms 18 ms 217.41.169.107
7 18 ms 17 ms 20 ms acc1-xe-5-2-2.sf.21cn-ipp.bt.net [109.159.251.119]
8 26 ms 22 ms 25 ms core1-te0-5-0-7.ealing.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.251.21]
9 25 ms 23 ms 57 ms peer2-xe4-1-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [109.159.252.25]
10 23 ms 23 ms 23 ms 194.74.65.42
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 27 ms 27 ms 27 ms ae0.er01.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.93]
13 25 ms 25 ms 27 ms 132.185.255.165
14 27 ms 26 ms 26 ms bbc-vip013.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [212.58.246.92]

Trace complete.


Theres a traceroute if that shows up anything, im clued up to a certain extent but passed that im clueless lol