Best ISP for gaming in my area

Hi guys, I'm looking for the fastest, lowest latency and most reliable broadband in my area.

I'm connected to the Manchester GATLEY Exchange, Cabinet 36.

The only Fibre option I have is Virgin which would appear to be a bad choice since if it's the only such service in the area, the contention ratio must surely be very high.

So speed is likely the least important factor here since its just going to be a DSL connection.

As for latency: My current ISP is Sky (used to be with BE until they were acquired by Sky) and I'm currently getting 45ms to UK and 60 to DE, which is unacceptable. It never used to be this high, I used to get 25ms to UK and 40 to DE which was perfectly reasonable. I'd be interested in knowing if there is an appreciable difference in latency when considering different ISPs in the same area, and if there is, how I can tell which is the best.

Reliability is the most important factor here, its the reason I didn't just up and get Virgin's FTTC product. I need to have a very stable connection 24/7 with a minimum of jitter and no throttling.

Oh and it should be uncapped as well.

There is a difference in latency between different suppliers (to a degree, depending on where in the UK you are)
Run a tracert to the site and post it back here as that will give a better idea on where the issue is.

Yes you would be correct in staying away from Virgin for gaming as cable broadband networks have issues with Jitter that DSL connections do not..

Have you spoken to Sky about your latency to see if they can put you on a Gaming Profile or lower Interleaving Depth, maybe even Fast Path?

Currently I would say the best ISP's for stability would be LLU but I'm not too sure, I'm with Plusnet Fibre and gaming is rubbish even though my baseline ping to Maidenhead is only 11ms.

Tracing route to www.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.130]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms router.asus.com [192.168.1.1]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 39 ms 39 ms 40 ms 0278095e.bb.sky.com [2.120.9.94]
4 40 ms 40 ms 40 ms linx-gw2.thdo.ncuk.net [195.66.236.240]
5 49 ms 41 ms 39 ms te1-1-1-31.core-rs2.thdo.ncuk.net [80.249.97.85]

6 39 ms 38 ms 38 ms www.thinkbroadband.com [80.249.99.130]

Trace complete.

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

Yes you would be correct in staying away from Virgin for gaming as cable broadband networks have issues with Jitter that DSL connections do not..

Have you spoken to Sky about your latency to see if they can put you on a Gaming Profile or lower Interleaving Depth, maybe even Fast Path?

Currently I would say the best ISP's for stability would be LLU but I'm not too sure, I'm with Plusnet Fibre and gaming is rubbish even though my baseline ping to Maidenhead is only 11ms.

I haven't spoke to BT yet. I currently have to share my connection with up to 4 different people each day, so I'm looking at getting a second line for myself only. Thus my current pings don't really need to be fixed as the other users don't notice/care.

I'm wondering, if Sky simply took over BEs network, would it still be LLU? I'm pretty sure that's what my old connection was, it was fairly solid considering the line length:

Line Attenuation Up : 28.5
Line Attenuation Down : 57.0

I can't recall seeing anyone post stats as high as those the few times I've browsed the forums. So 20 or so ping was pretty good considering, I believe, it's at least partly dependant on line length.

The old Be network was absorbed and destroyed as the kit was aging and running on a capacity limited platform.

Your ping looks OK but if your saying your sharing that connection with others and it's a slower ADSL line (pretty long that's for sure) then you will find its the usage of others ruining gaming performance..

I think contacting Sky and and asking if you can have another line installed or even apply as a new customer might be the best thing for you to do!

I think currently you could get 12 months free BB.. but as it's a 2nd line this might have to be done by phone...

FYI. If you do opt for this and it doesn't work out then you can always cancel within the cooling off period.

Changing provider in this case won't really help you much as you're on a long line... unless you opt for a fibre "based" solution such as Virgin Media (Which probably wouldn't be a good move for gaming)

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

FYI. If you do opt for this and it doesn't work out then you can always cancel within the cooling off period.

I don't think that applies once they have ordered from Openreach. Certainly not after installation.

Tripe.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 20-May-15 14:37:39)

From what Sky told me and the documentation I've read they do!

From Activation!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by mlmclaren:

FYI. If you do opt for this and it doesn't work out then you can always cancel within the cooling off period.

I don't think that applies once they have ordered from Openreach. Certainly not after installation.

In reference to www.sky.com/shop/b/broadband-talk/:

30 day Broadband and Talk Satisfaction Guarantee: Available within the first 30 days of all your services being activated. Refund applies to subscription charges only (not set-up charges or non-inclusive call charges) and is pro-rated. Statutory rights are not affected. Not applicable if you change your package.

That's good .

I wrongly assumed you were talking about the statute law cancellation terms.