Gamer Ultra - is it actually better for gamers?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Gamer Ultra - is it actually better for gamers?

Paul1977

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#209049 10-Mar-2017 09:56

I keep hearing the ads on the radio about Gamer Ultra fibre, but is it actually any better for gamers than any other fibre plan?

I thought latency was the most important thing for online gaming, but I see no mention of the Ultra Gamer plans having better latency in their advertising. They just talk about the 950Mbps speed, but do games really benefit from that sort of throughput if the latency is the same as other fibre plans?

I don't game online, so I'm asking more out of interest.

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xpd

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#1734260 10-Mar-2017 10:05

Latency is the bigger one - sure, you can download games faster on gig, but thats it.

I have 60/10 VDSL, I get better pings to Overwatch most times that my mate who is on fibre. (Think hes on 200)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Paul1977

5046 posts

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#1734273 10-Mar-2017 10:29

xpd:

Latency is the bigger one - sure, you can download games faster on gig, but thats it.

I have 60/10 VDSL, I get better pings to Overwatch most times that my mate who is on fibre. (Think hes on 200)

So, does the Gamer Ultra have lower latency than other plans? Or faster routes to where most games servers are? Or is it just misleading marketing to make gamers THINK it is there best choice?

richms

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#1734275 10-Mar-2017 10:34

If you share it, then the added speed will reduce the jitter that you get when things start to queue up in the rate limiting at the lower speeds.

Even the initial buffering of a youtube video will hit that limit so if someone is watching videos when someone else games, it can screw it up.

I used to have a seperate connection just for gaming on and shoveled all the torrenting and FTPing out on a second connection because nothing I tried with QOS from my end would sort it out unless I seriously crippled everything else to 1-2 megabit type speeds. If you are not hitting the limit and queueing at the ISP end then no problems whatsoever. I really should have seen if the bigpipe priority stuff helped or not, but wasnt really gaming by the time it came out.

Richard rich.ms

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#1734276 10-Mar-2017 10:35

I'd be VERY careful around my Republic and their marketing claims.

Paul1977

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#1734283 10-Mar-2017 10:49

richms:

If you share it, then the added speed will reduce the jitter that you get when things start to queue up in the rate limiting at the lower speeds.

This makes sense, but doesn't clarify if it is better than any competitors 950Mbps fibre plans for gaming. I don't believe they make any specific claims about it being better than competitors, but by calling it Ultra Gamer it implies that it has some special benefit. In fact, apart from the induced static IP, how is it any different from their Pure Ultra plan?

I have no intention of changing to MyRepublic as I haven't heard good things, but misleading advertising annoys me so I was just interested to find out if this was misleading - or if it does have something that truly does make it better for gamers than other plans or providers.

Dairyxox

1594 posts

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#1734300 10-Mar-2017 11:31

I don't think my republic's network is any better setup for gaming than anyone else's. From evidence on the forums, and trunet results etc, it actually appears worse. Their routing and international bandwidth seems hit & miss.

The gaming focus of their advertising is more supported by "giving away" (its certainly not free) a PS4 or gaming keyboard with some of their plans.

xpd

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#1734317 10-Mar-2017 11:47

Paul1977:

xpd:

Latency is the bigger one - sure, you can download games faster on gig, but thats it.

I have 60/10 VDSL, I get better pings to Overwatch most times that my mate who is on fibre. (Think hes on 200)

So, does the Gamer Ultra have lower latency than other plans? Or faster routes to where most games servers are? Or is it just misleading marketing to make gamers THINK it is there best choice?

Faster routes would make a difference, but Id say 99.9% is marketing.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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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.

Dianeb1990

6 posts

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#1734339 10-Mar-2017 12:19

I wouldn't worry about the latency - the speeds drop off nightly after 8pm leaving your games unplayable anyway.

Do yourself a favour - pick a real provider. One who doesn't divert 9/10 calls to their receptionist.

Lias

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#1734407 10-Mar-2017 14:45

My Republic has a pretty terribad reputation, so I'd avoid like the plague.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.