Best ISP For Gaming ? Currently with 2D want to change.

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heretohelp

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#323969 10-Feb-2026 13:32

Good Day.

Thank you for any replies in advance.

Essentially I play REDM which is an RDR2 Role Play launcher.

Most of the servers I would play on would be Westcoast US

The current server I want to play on is hosted in westcoast US confirmed.

Ping is through the roof around 340 I normally get around 180 - 200 for west coast US Redm Servers.

I have traced it back to the 2degreese routing. If I get on Proton VPN and get a US VPN host My Ping that particular IP goes down to about 160ms

Essentially I want to change ISP.
2D bought out my republic a while back and they dropped my 1GB/1GB connection down to some other BS and raised the price.
Ontop of this their routing seems to be bad.
I have logged a ticket with 2D but they claim everything is ok and " Good News " you are not having any issues with other services or IP's. Pretty much just brushed me off with flaky positive reply.

I also don't want to be behined Carrier-Grade NAT (CGNAT) if I can help it as I have had issues with this in the past .

If somebody could suggest an ISP with good routing.
Primo wireless ( fibre ) Is local to me they are more expensive and I know they use CGNAT but I also have working relationship with them through the MSP I work for.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

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#3460213 10-Feb-2026 14:01

@heretohelp Have you requested a static IP address to see if that helps? This will take your connection off CG-NAT

edit: Review this thread

For the Gamers: Thinking of switching from 2Degrees Fibre - any suggestions?

heretohelp

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#3460214 10-Feb-2026 14:18

Linux:

@heretohelp Have you requested a static IP address to see if that helps? This will take your connection off CG-NAT

edit: Review this thread

For the Gamers: Thinking of switching from 2Degrees Fibre - any suggestions?

Thanks for your reply.

My static IP was grandfathered across from My Republic.

In this cas CG-Nat is not applied. I mentioned CGNAT in my post as it was one of the reasons I got a static IP with my republic.
I did not want to swap to an ISP that was using one or had not option to get a static.

Thanks again.

Edit reviewed thread.

TraceRT was one of the things I was looking at before I went to my ISP to explain the issue

2D seems to use Tranzpeer which the poster was talking about as well. Seems the Tranzpeer maybe the problem ?
As mentioned Several other IP's int he same area have no issues so it seems to be a routing issue off Tranzpeer now I have compared the traceroute with the above.

ssamjh

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#3460218 10-Feb-2026 14:48

I'm quite a fan of Quic. If you have an IP to test to, feel free to hop onto Globalping and set the location as "Vetta Online" to test latency. Quic also don't do CG-NAT at all.

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michaelmurfy

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#3460219 10-Feb-2026 14:50

Linux: Have you requested a static IP address to see if that helps? This will take your connection off CG-NAT

You shouldn't have to pay for a Static IP to get out of CG-NAT. Other ISP's offer a public, dynamic IP address free of charge.

"Best ISP for Gaming" is also subjective. There is no correct answer. You may shift to an ISP that may be great today, rubbish tomorrow due to the nature of how the internet works. Routes, latency and even packet loss don't stay the same.

Many people here would say Quic are pretty good especially in the sense they do have a Discord and do listen to their customers.

If you have an IP address to test to then I could run a Ripe Atlas test showing latency between all providers however I expect this to be within an arms length between all providers. A few ms isn't really going to make a difference when you're dealing with US servers and so if latency is important to you then a service like ExitLag should be used in these instances as this is their entire business model and why they still exist.

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heretohelp

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#3460404 11-Feb-2026 06:51

ssamjh:

I'm quite a fan of Quic. If you have an IP to test to, feel free to hop onto Globalping and set the location as "Vetta Online" to test latency. Quic also don't do CG-NAT at all.

Check my signature for a discount coupon if you do decide to join :)

Thanks I will give that a shot.

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

heretohelp

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#3460407 11-Feb-2026 06:55

michaelmurfy:

Linux: Have you requested a static IP address to see if that helps? This will take your connection off CG-NAT

You shouldn't have to pay for a Static IP to get out of CG-NAT. Other ISP's offer a public, dynamic IP address free of charge.

"Best ISP for Gaming" is also subjective. There is no correct answer. You may shift to an ISP that may be great today, rubbish tomorrow due to the nature of how the internet works. Routes, latency and even packet loss don't stay the same.

Many people here would say Quic are pretty good especially in the sense they do have a Discord and do listen to their customers.

If you have an IP address to test to then I could run a Ripe Atlas test showing latency between all providers however I expect this to be within an arms length between all providers. A few ms isn't really going to make a difference when you're dealing with US servers and so if latency is important to you then a service like ExitLag should be used in these instances as this is their entire business model and why they still exist.

Thanks for the feedback.

As mentioned my static IP was grandfathered over from My republic from well over 10 years ago.
I initially paid $10 one off fee for the static IP and 2Degrees don't charge me monthly - I believe this maybe because it was from My Republic I will look at quic now as you and another person mentioned.

The game I play Redm does not require super performance even 50ms is not going to make a difference unless the ping pushes past 260ms and then the game will have trouble loading your character hence why I am frustrated with a 400ms ping when I hit a VPN it goes down to 160ms.
The game is not really about shooting and being super competitive on that side . It can be but depends on how you choose to play it it is more role play.

Edit: Also yeah 2dgreese puts everyone behind CGNAT unless you have a static IP or are on a business plan. 2degrees IP Addresses | 2degrees

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SpartanVXL

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#3460433 11-Feb-2026 08:56

Rather than change ISP, why not keep using your VPN?

As mentioned above, ISP can change routes occasionally. To US generally they don’t but if you’re want guaranteed routing then use a service which does that.

michaelmurfy

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#3460437 11-Feb-2026 09:05

heretohelp: As mentioned my static IP was grandfathered over from My republic from well over 10 years ago.
I initially paid $10 one off fee for the static IP and 2Degrees don't charge me monthly - I believe this maybe because it was from My Republic I will look at quic now as you and another person mentioned.

Quic do have a great Discord community. I'm not going to say they're the best (as I said, that's subjective) but I really like them along with many others around here. Also once off cost for a Static IP or a free Dynamic.

The game I play Redm does not require super performance even 50ms is not going to make a difference unless the ping pushes past 260ms and then the game will have trouble loading your character hence why I am frustrated with a 400ms ping when I hit a VPN it goes down to 160ms.
The game is not really about shooting and being super competitive on that side . It can be but depends on how you choose to play it it is more role play.

Yeah in that case I think any ISP will suit. Keep your VPN around because these are handy when game servers are quite far away as they can engineer routes often quicker than an ISP can. I have not used it myself, but many gamers swear by using ExitLag - https://www.exitlag.com/

darylblake

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#3460973 12-Feb-2026 12:19

To be honest, if you are on fibre, you will notice a minimal difference. Yes some networks might peer better and you will get better latency to some places. But others might be slightly worse.. and we are talking a few MS here in most cases.

Game on a cabled network on fibre. If your gaming on WIFI then you have the potential for more problems than the ISP.

I would be more inclined to shop around for a better deal (financially).

cddt

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#3461005 12-Feb-2026 14:37

darylblake:

To be honest, if you are on fibre, you will notice a minimal difference. Yes some networks might peer better and you will get better latency to some places. But others might be slightly worse.. and we are talking a few MS here in most cases.

Per OP he is seeing ping of 340 ms which drops to 160 ms with a VPN. Routing can definitely cause this, and it's a big enough difference for a game to be playable or not.

(Remembering that 200-250 ms was a dial-up connection to domestic servers 25 years ago. And that was bad enough.)

MichaelNZ

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#3461105 12-Feb-2026 22:41

I work in the internet industry engineering this stuff so In will tell it straight.

What you want is an ISP which uses a T1 carrier which connects directly to the USA ie: not via Australia.

The general rule of thumb here is you get what you pay for. Pay more and hopefully the ISP will have better connectivity.

However, the cold hard reality is noone caters specifically for gamers because there is no good way to do this. Thinking of my approach I engineer for reliability and scalability. The traffic takes whatever path it takes and I am not going to change that. In actuality I have a policy to not engage with geeks and gamers on traceroute issues. I build for 99% of users and weighted for profitability its more like 100%.

What you call a "flaky reply" is same the same you would get from me.

But even if an ISP was prepared to try and offer some special routing policies for gaming servers (it has been tried before) this is only one half of the equation. While they can control which exit the data uses from their network, they can't control the routing decisions made on the other side.

So I suggest just get a UFB connection with whichever ISP you want and work with that or find a closer gaming server.

If the VPN IP addressing happens to coincide with improved routing then use that.

FWIW I am seeing circa 160ms to the West Coast on our best path.

WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers | ZL2NET

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cddt

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#3461121 13-Feb-2026 05:22

MichaelNZ:

I work in the internet industry engineering this stuff so In will tell it straight.

What you want is an ISP which uses a T1 carrier which connects directly to the USA ie: not via Australia.

To help OP here, do you know ISPs off the top of your head which do this?

michaelmurfy

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#3461129 13-Feb-2026 06:51

cddt: To help OP here, do you know ISPs off the top of your head which do this?

To be honest, I don’t know why it was even mentioned in the first place. All providers that would be likely considered fall under the category of having multiple “T1 carriers”…

xpd

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#3461135 13-Feb-2026 07:48

There is no perfect ISP for gaming.

The game you play now, may perform flawlessly on ISP ABC, but what about when you give up that game and go to another game but the route is different and performance isnt as good - going to switch to ISP XYZ ? And so on....

Just best to find a solid ISP and stick with them.

XPD / Gavin

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#3461136 13-Feb-2026 07:55

Have you logged a ticket with your ISP indicating your experience, so their helpdesk / NOC has a chance to have a look?

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