Broadband recommendation for online console gaming

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tyagi

23 posts

Geek

#19197 8-Feb-2008 23:13

Could anyone recommend an ISP and plan which has given good online gaming experience with both XBox Live and PlayStation Network services?

I'm currently with Xtra, on Go Large, (yes, yes, I know, but I'm in a 1-year lock-in), but can change provider in the next few weeks.

The time when broadband performance matters most is when I'm trying to connect, and stay connected (!), to XBox Live and Sony PlayStation Network services. Also, when in online games on these networks. My experience with Xtra is that XBox Live performs quite well, but online gaming performance is very average. PlayStation Network performance is, however, just truly dire, and practically unusable. I'm constantly getting logged out of PSN, disconnected from online games etc. Even using the online Sony Store and downloading content is unreliable. This is just totally unacceptable.

So, I'm in the happy position of choosing a new broadband provider. XNet is currently top of the list based on various forum feedback and their plan structure. However, I'll consider any ISP that's been shown to give good performance for these apps.

n00dy

482 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#109376 8-Feb-2008 23:29

I am on xtra with a 3 gig plan, i get between 3 to 4.5mps download and 680kb upload, i can compete quite well online and have no problems, I play about 3-4 times a week for about 2 hours a time and on average never exceed my cap this includes a pc & laptop downloading crap from time to time. I use 360 elite and many play GRAW

cokemaster

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#109378 8-Feb-2008 23:48

Go Large may well be your cause as its using 'managed traffic'. You may wish to look at one of the other plans unless you are truely using massive amounts of data (which is difficult to find another all you can eat plan (even shaped) at that price).

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tyagi

23 posts

Geek

#109379 8-Feb-2008 23:50

cokemaster: Go Large may well be your cause as its using 'managed traffic'. You may wish to look at one of the other plans unless you are truely using massive amounts of data (which is difficult to find another all you can eat plan (even shaped) at that price).

Yep, I'm not going for an "unlimited, traffic managed" plan again at the moment.

cokemaster

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#109383 9-Feb-2008 00:00

See if you get better performance on one of Xtras non 'managed' plans if you are going to change in a few weeks anyway... You'll probably be surprised.

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Studentkyle

33 posts

Geek

#115203 7-Mar-2008 14:02

on a related issue: what upload speed is needed for gaming. Thinking of getting broadband, and then thinking about going on xbox live so was wondering how fast a connection am i going to need..eg. FS/FS, or FS/256 etc. What could i get away with not what is better (cos obviously FS/FS is best)

Gigs

95 posts

Master Geek

#115217 7-Mar-2008 14:34

I'm on Slingshot 256k plan, with a PS3. (No 360 so I can't give a view from that point sorry)

But playing warhawk is fine, signing in and staying on has never been a problem. Downloaded a couple of larger games from PSN. Hard to say if they were getting full rate (and this bugs me about the downloaders) since it only ever shows you percentage complete, not the rate it's downloading at.

Size of the total downloads was a gig, and this didn't seem any slower than it would normally take to download something on a PC or other medium.

But as stated, other plans should perform better than go large.

tyagi

23 posts

Geek

#115238 7-Mar-2008 16:03

I've now chosen an ISP and went with XNet on their Flood plan (full speed up/down).

Fantastic DSL service which gives very good gaming performance on XBox Live and Sony PSN. Very good gaming experience as well as for content downloads. All the issues I did have with Xtra have gone away.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

heretohelp

360 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115911 11-Mar-2008 10:40

no problems with xnet here only tried it with xbox live, half the lag of xtra and much faster speeds. thing to look for is an isp that will take off the interleaving protocol, to long to explain what it is basicly reduces lag, suggest you do a search on google for a more indepth explination.

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16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

pebbles

741 posts

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#115943 11-Mar-2008 13:27

I have a ps3 and play Call of Duty 4 near constantly, I am on Telstra cable - I know it's not available to everyone, but if you can get it it's worth it, I consistantly have a higher ping than any of my friends who use different providers, but failing that xnet in some areas can be really good, they're also really helpful if you ring them, they'll explain to you the best settings, and products for you to use to achieve greatest pings while gaming online

Detruire

1772 posts

Uber Geek

#115967 11-Mar-2008 16:07

pebbles: I consistantly have a higher ping than any of my friends who use different providers

Don't you mean lower pings?

rm *

pebbles

741 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#115989 11-Mar-2008 18:47

Haha, ok so I'm still pretty n00bish, yes constantly lower pings, more pretty green bars :P