ADSL for Gamers

I'm currently with Virgin Media, and after sticking with them through terrible service, I've finally given up. Although I did notice a slight improvement recently, I still get terrible pings for online gaming and VOIP which is my primary concern.

Can anyone recommend a solid ISP for gaming that will provide consistantly low pings? VOIP support is also required (ventrilo).

I don't tend to download much, and browsing is fairly casual.

Thanks in advance.

Do you have a budget in mind for your monthly connection?

Paul

As long as the service is good enough, I'm willing to pay for it.

One restriction is the quality of the phone lines in my area. I believe 8meg is the fastest I can get.

Hi,
Well our pings are on ave 10-12ms from our office (essex) to jolt, the network is set up to provide low pings for gamers and VOIP (our own phone system is over voip and run from one of our connections)
You could look at a home3 that would give you 3gb peak and 30gb off-peak for �16.50 per month, monthly contracts, so your not locked into any long contract if you wish to leave. Or if you need a bit more, the home 30, this would give 30gb peak and 300 gb off peak for �19.99

paul

Seems almost too good to be true after my previous experiences with ADSL.

How long does migration/activation usually take?

Thanks for the swift responses.

Migrations take 5 working days (so 7 day in reality)

It all depends on whether you have a BT line or not. If BT have to get involved, then you are looking at getting a BT line (I paid �125 for my installation, but I believe that you may be able to get it cheaper) and a BT contract.

After that, you will need to pay an activation fee (BT charge this to the ISP), I can't remember what it is (~�50) but you are on a monthly contract, which is why there isn't a free activation.

I trust you have a router that will work on a BT line.

After that, you are free to choose any of the EntaNet resellers (of which Vivaciti and UKFSN are but two). I use UKFSN (obviously) and I'm really happy with them. I get good speeds (slightly lower now after BT decided to disconnect me a few weeks ago) and my pings are excellent (sub25ms from Cheshire to the Gamesmajor servers).

You may also want to look at some of the other ISPs, IDNet, Sky, etc. It all depends on what you want from an ADSL connection. I find that UKFSN is good for me, but you may find that one of the others is good for you. The best advice we can give is to shop around till you find a good, reliable ISP that fits your budget and requirements.

Hope that helps.

Andy

Will I still have the connection with Virgin for those 5 days, or do they disconnect me as soon as I request the MAC code?

No, how it works, is you request a MAC (they have 5 working days to get it to you) you connections stays live until you migrate. On the day of migration the 2 service should overlap so as to not give you any outage. The only down time you should have is the amount of time it takes you to change your login details in your router.

Check out IDNET. Highly regarded by gamers and voip users.

www.idnet.co.uk

IDNet Studio, The Spirella Building, Letchworth, Herts SG6 4ET. UK
T: 08000 267 237 | E: [email protected]