Wireless ISP for Gaming

[Keydogg]

Hi guys,

Has anyone got any recent experience with a wireless broadband supplier and gaming? I say recent because I know it used to be terrible, but technology has now moved on, and the amount of wireless ISPs out there now that claim to provide good gaming pings, I would like to ask if anyone has any actual first hand recent experience.

I'm looking at changing ISPs from Sky (7down/1up on LLU) to a local wireless ISP that are based in my village and can offer up to 60down/40up (for £35 a month. I know a few people who use them but they don't game so I can't get an idea on ping/jitter. On the ISP's website they say <25ms ping and <5ms jitter. Is this acceptable, and also is it realistic? We have a wireless ISP at work (a different one) and I have tested the ping as 30ms with 8-9ms jitter, but we're only on a basic package (15/15) so I can't really take this as a measurement.

On my current ADSL2+ connection I get ~40ms which is fine but very little jitter obviously, so I'm weary about going to a wireless ISP without advice.

 

[Addicted]

Good luck, in fact all the luck in the world, but latency imo has not been improved enough, only speeds.

Tbh it entirely depends what type of game you play, if latency is an important aspect (FPS like CS:GO), then it will never satisfy you.

 

[Keydogg]

Yeah CS:GO is my main game. My current pings of ~40 (UK servers) aren't great so I'm wondering if wireless can realistically match that. If it can then I'll make the leap as there's lots to be gained in download speed!

 

[Addicted]

Easiest way to find out would be to just get a simcard or something for your chosen providers, and tether.

I had to tether earlier in the year as we had no internet for a month in a new build, and it was absolutely dreadful!

I presume in this instance mobile is the way you'd go for wireless? Depends where you're located for speeds I guess.

 

[Keydogg]

Nononono, wireless internet is broadcast to a dish on the side of your house, which is wired to your router via the WAN port.

 

[banther]

That'll teach you for living in the sticks :wink:.

Up until 6 months ago my mum lived in Patrington (Nr. Withernsea) and the BT internet was very very good despite not being fibre optic. They had Sky for a bit but found out they use the BT line so switched and the difference was phenomenal.

No idea what the ping rate was though. So probably no help.

 

[Brand86]

I live in the middle of Hertfordshire in a brand new house, and they didn't bother upgrading the lines so currently have a 1mb connection, and this is something I was thinking about. However, couldn't find a service which seemed worth the money. I would gladly pay up to about £20 on top of my Sky to get some good internet speed as on PVP I get so frustrated with it, I can't really play it. Destiny on PVE is about as good as it can get

 

[Keydogg]

That'll teach you for living in the sticks :wink:.

Up until 6 months ago my mum lived in Patrington (Nr. Withernsea) and the BT internet was very very good despite not being fibre optic. They had Sky for a bit but found out they use the BT line so switched and the difference was phenomenal.

No idea what the ping rate was though. So probably no help.

Living in the sticks ftw! :smiley:

Funny you should say that because I was on BT but switched to Sky because they enabled LLU on the Ryehill exchange and it was miles better, but Patrington works off the Withernsea exchange so maybe that's why BT was better there!

 

[Addicted]

Living in the sticks ftw! :smiley:

Funny you should say that because I was on BT but switched to Sky because they enabled LLU on the Ryehill exchange and it was miles better, but Patrington works off the Withernsea exchange so maybe that's why BT was better there!

Good point, probably worth OP checking where his exchange is for each ISP (usually theyre the same but as above not always), and go for the closest, or at least the one with the shortest route.

 

[Brand86]

My exchange is about 3 or 4 miles away, but the street along has another one which is much closer. Very annoying!

 

[DrR]

Wireless ISP? Surely any isp is wireless if you use a wireless router? I've used talk talk and they're fine.

 

[Keydogg]

Good point, probably worth OP checking where his exchange is for each ISP (usually theyre the same but as above not always), and go for the closest, or at least the one with the shortest route.

I am the original poster, lol! Yes I've done all the checks (samknows, BT whenandwhere, etc). The exchange which we are attached to is going FTTC soon but not our cabinet unfortunately which is why I'm exploring these options. 7mb on Sky's LLU just isn't cutting it with me anymore.

Wireless ISP? Surely any isp is wireless if you use a wireless router? I've used talk talk and they're fine.

LOL no. See post #5 or Google wireless broadband.

 

[Darren S]

Yeah - it's still not good unfortunately. One of directors here is on satellite broadband as he too lives out in the sticks. It's fine for his document transfer and system access - but pretty much useless for his kids when they were online with the XBox. But given what satellite broadband involves, its little surprise that latency is still an issue.

I guess anything wireless still has a long way to go yet....

 

[Addicted]

I guess anything wireless still has a long way to go yet....

Literally

 

[Greeny.]

Really don't think this is the way to go for latency heavy dependant games like CS:GO, fine for average joe but not for the FPS gamer.

 

[Waitey]

That'll teach you for living in the sticks :wink:.

Up until 6 months ago my mum lived in Patrington (Nr. Withernsea) and the BT internet was very very good despite not being fibre optic. They had Sky for a bit but found out they use the BT line so switched and the difference was phenomenal.

No idea what the ping rate was though. So probably no help.

You never said you were from round there.....

Will pay your mum a visit this weekend. Cuddles ahoy.

 

[banther]

You never said you were from round there.....

Will pay your mum a visit this weekend. Cuddles ahoy.

Yeah thats where I grew up then moved to North Yarkshire.

 

[DannyR]

Sat broadband your looking at ping times of 700ms or 1s if it's cloudy!

 

[Keydogg]

Sat broadband your looking at ping times of 700ms or 1s if it's cloudy!

Lol it's not that bad. But as others have said it's probably not advisable with my gaming needs

 

[DannyR]

It is!

His son uses the ADSL for gaming on a 0.7 Mbps connection as its a better connection due to the ping time.

 

[Darren S]

Maybe for the short term - limit your online sessions to turn-based games!

 

[Keydogg]

It is!

His son uses the ADSL for gaming on a 0.7 Mbps connection as its a better connection due to the ping time.

That's weird. At work through our wireless ISP I never see more than 35ms on speedtest.net or pingtest.net!

 

[DannyR]

That's weird. At work through our wireless ISP I never see more than 35ms on speedtest.net or pingtest.net!

Really? Who is your provider?

This was using Tooway.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Really? Who is your provider?

This was using Tooway.

Sat broadband and wireless broadband are two different things, hence the differing results!

 

[Addicted]

Even so, I'd be surprised if it was a true 35ms ping, you will still experience packet loss which you don't want when gaming imo.

 

[DannyR]

Wireless broadband I can't find any tests, but we had a customer and it was around 300ms I believe.

The one with the small aerials on top of churches etc...

 

[Goodj]

if you like losing with all the lag, go wireless.

 

[Keydogg]

This is the result from our wireless broadband at work which is what leads me to think it might not be that bad. I might just bring my home pc in one day and have a game and see what happens....

That's with other people using the network too.

 

[Keydogg]

Ok so I went home and brought my PC to work to do a ping / reg test on CS:GO, and I was actually quite impressed.

Have a look at the video below from a random UK deathmatch AWP server, for reference my name was "Clint Beastwood" (so you can see how quick my shots register), please excuse my aim as I'm using a work's mouse and had to use on board graphics so was running at s**t fps, and these work monitors are dump. :smiley:



So there you have it. 37ms, reg not too bad at all. It could be better, but it's very playable, and I'm on a 20/20 connection whereas I'm looking at getting a 60/40 package so it may be better anyway.