Best provider for gaming (low ping/jitter and stable)

I'm moving soon and I'd like to get the best service possible to support me playing Xbox online.

Currently I'm with Virgin Media on a 70/5 package which is okay but I'm wondering if there's anything better out there? My ping at the moment is about 20-30ms and I've heard that some services can provide a better ping, which in turn would likely improve my gaming experience online apparently.

I've seen plusnet recommended a few times but apparently whilst they start off with a low ping they can creep up over time. Does anyone know much about this?

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

I assume you know the address you are moving to. Better still, the existing phone number if it has one.

If so please enter (preferably the phone number) into this checker. Phone is best, Address nearly as good, pure Postcode not safe.

Then copy and paste the contents of the table or post a screen shot somewhere and give us a link. We need the line above the table as well, but make sure you erase the phone number or full address. We need to see the exchange and cabinet number from that line.

That tells us what is available to you and a rough idea of the speeds.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 15-Sep-16 16:07:02)

Ping isn't necessarily something that someone can lock down for you.

Ping is dependent on where you are. On where you are connecting to. On the technology used to connect. If FTTC or ADSL then on the characteristics of the individual line (such as fastpath, interleaved, etc). On how heavily utilised your connection is. On how heavily utilised the various parts of the ISP network is.

There are so many variables to a "ping" that one person saying they have 10ms and another saying they have 20ms is pretty much meaningless unless you know all of the variables involved in the test.

Thanks for the reply!

This is what I got back:

http://imgur.com/ndiQnO8

Edited by deleted (Thu 15-Sep-16 17:08:55)

In reply to a post by mib2347:

Thanks for the reply!

This is what I got back:

http://imgur.com/ndiQnO8

I generally find a BT based connection over FTTC such as BT Infinity much better for gaming than virginmedia. The pings are consistently much lower and the jitter is far less.

That said, every line is different.

Virginmedia have a bad reputation for gaming. Headline speed is not everything.

I too find the same thing, I had 200Mb VM and Sky FTTC 38Mb, did all my gaming on the sky connection due it being very stable, all other devices that did not need such a stable connection I put on VM, for example son's you tubing, facebook, wifes netflix, etc.

At least we know you can get FTTC, at or near maximum speed as well. If you fail to get the full speed, assuming you go for a 76/19 service rather than a 54/9 or 38/9, then we could probably help you sort that out.

Bear in mind what has already been pointed out - the connection speed is no real guide to latency/ping. That is much more down to how the ISP routes from the BT Openreach (or BT Wholesale) handover point.

Checking out the exchange we also see this. That means you have your choice of all almost all ISPs. We can't tell from the exchange print whether VM Cable is available to you, but from the estimates we can see FTTC definitely is.

Not important, but was that result from the new premises' phone number or its address?

Based on what everyone has said I'm looking at BT quite seriously now. Their 76mb with a TV package has the same channels my partner likes from our current VM subscription for marginally cheaper, so we'd both be quite happy with BT potentially.

On our second viewing of the place I noticed there wasn't a Virgin socket installed and the current owners had a HomeHub. I don't know the phone number though so that test was based on the address.

My partner's brother actually works for BT as an engineer so is there anything that I could ask him which might be useful to me?

"BT based" does not necessarily mean BT Infinity. There are other providers such as PlusNet, AAISP, Sky, Xilo, etc, etc. In fact there are 100's so there is lots of choice out there all using the BT technology but with potential differences in price and service (some may have better support or spend more on their own networks which could make a difference).

Saying all that I have been on BT Infinity for a few years now and have not had an issue. Others have different experiences with them.