Any recommendations

[Lazarus]

Well, this year looks promising with the installation of ADSL in the first quarter

However, only ever having 56k im at a loss as to the "Type" of connection to get.

Anyone have any recommendations on :

ISPs who are good for ADSL (gaming primarily)

What speed of connection I should get - does it make a big difference.

My aims are :

Online Gaming.
Downloading
Creating Personal Websites.

TIA.

 

[.Wilier.]

I recommend you go jump in a lake.

Git

AFAIK, Zen, Pipex and Nildram are at the forefront as ADSL providers, although I am no-doubt incorrect.

Have a look at this great mate. Tells you a bit about the three.

Git.

 

[Insane]

I'd pimp Nildram, but you'd only end up using my bandwidth

Zen is always highly rated, you can get 8 ips from themselves (and a suitable router) for standard prices and their support rocks, lot of people mention them.

Nildram automatically configures MTU across their whole ADSL network so its a lot smoother at times, they do the 500surf at £23 per month which is just plain access and a mailbox.

as a funny antidote, my lines ADSL enabled but the BT checker still believes it to be ISDN.. how strange

 

[Clown]

Nildram for gaming, I dunno how Bulldog is for pings tho, but you can get 2mb for about the same price.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

As willier said, ADSLguide are your best friends.

Off the top of my head though:

www.zenadsl.co.uk
www.nildram.co.uk
www.eclipse.co.uk

Edit: I have Zen business 1 meg at the moment, and had Home 512 previously. Absolutely bloody excellent both and no problems. Also excellent support on the one time BT cut the line to my house

Those 3 should sort you out with no probs. Oh and avoid "Home" 1 meg/2meg connections, for they are the spawn of satan and only serve as a way to say "I have one meg".

50:1 contention makes baby jesus cry

 

[Gurnox]

Well, this year looks promising with the installation of ADSL in the first quarter

However, only ever having 56k im at a loss as to the "Type" of connection to get.

Anyone have any recommendations on :

ISPs who are good for ADSL (gaming primarily)

What speed of connection I should get - does it make a big difference.
TIA.

I use Nildram and they are super-fast and very reliable. Get some ridiculous pings playing fps (29 for UT using UK servers! Sweeeet!).

If you want downloads and gaming, get as much bandwidth as you can afford. Simple really. Bear in mind that you will be 'contending' for this bandwidth with other ADSL users on your exchange. Business users get 20:1, home users get 50:1.

50:1 does indeed make baby Jesus cry....... How much of an issue this is tends to depend on where you live though.

 

[Clown]

I've not noticed any contention issues ever and I live in London. I get sub-20 pings on Q2 servers (BW/Jolt), sub-15 pings for BF1942, and playing games around Europe is no problem at all. But because I'm so good, I can adjust for whatever ping I have. That's why the Bulldog packages interests me so much.

 

[Gurnox]

But because I'm so good, I can adjust for whatever ping I have.

Nurse! The screens! uke:

 

[Gurnox]

I've not noticed any contention issues ever and I live in London. I get sub-20 pings on Q2 servers (BW/Jolt), sub-15 pings for BF1942, and playing games around Europe is no problem at all. But because I'm so good, I can adjust for whatever ping I have. That's why the Bulldog packages interests me so much.

That's pretty lucky. A colleague of mine lives near Wembley and gets buggered by contention. Unless he's lamed his setup.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Remember kids faster connection does not mean lower pings.

128k = ping of 23

2 meg = ping of ... 23

But yes for downloading obviously get the fastest you can. Just for the love of god not "Home" 1-2 meg.

 

[Gurnox]

My aims are :

[snip!]

Creating Personal Websites.

TIA.

Having your own web sever on the end of your ADSL connection isn't generally such a hot idea.

With ADSL connections, you tend to get less upstream (Where your website users will be) than you do downstream (Where you are). A typical connection might be 512/256. So you get 512 down and 256 up. If your website gets busy, you'll soon need more upstream bandwidth. If you go for 1024 downstream, chances are you'll only get 128 upstream. SDSL will solve this by giving equal up and downstream bandwidth.

Nildram do give you a user area where you can upload web pages (And not have to bother with your own servers). I think you get about 100Mb. Not sure to be honest as I've not bothered with it yet. Another alternative is to use a 'paid for' hosting service.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

If you go for 1024 downstream, chances are you'll only get 128 upstream. SDSL will solve this by giving equal up and downstream bandwidth.

ADSL is 256 upload for 512, 1 meg or 2 meg.*

*90% of the time

 

[Custodian]

Eclipse and Nildram have been top of the ADSL speed tests for many months. Zen, Pipex and a few cheaper ones (Freedom2Surf) have also been close. Probably any of those will be ok for general webby stuff. I have seen both Nildram and Eclipse recommended by games players as well.
Web hosting is available with many ISPs, although affects the monthly price. ADSLGuide normally has details of what services the ISP offers, if not just browse their web site. If you are serious about a web site I would suggest web hosting is a must, as you don't want loads of people using up your limited upstream badnwidth and risk being kicked off for overuse of the service.

 

[Clown]

Having your own web sever on the end of your ADSL connection isn't generally such a hot idea

Also because some ISPs T&Cs say you're not allowed to

 

[Dubbs]

Bulldog are good bulldogdsl.com and I've selected them for my business connections at 1Mb down 256kb up at 40:1 contention.

Be aware that most services are just BT's own re-sold and/or using BT DSL mux's before hopping onto the ISP's network. Try to find a provider who is taking advantage of LLU (local loop unbundling), this will allow them to put their own equipment at the end of your wire at the exchange. This allows for some fantastic speed/contention options (one of our users could have had a 6Mb connection! and SDSL an option!)

Always also factor in that the best connection to the ISP is great but make sure the ISP has good connectivity to the net. Tier 1 is preferred.

Have to say that my connection is working really well for all web stuff at present!!!

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Bulldog are good bulldogdsl.com and I've selected them for my business connections at 1Mb down 256kb up at 40:1 contention.

How much you paying for that? As it sounds a bit shit as far as business lines go. 40:1

 

[tRoG]

After a good year or so of tv campaigns, petitions and the like, BT have said that we may be getting our exchange BB-Enabled in May.

Oh, joy of joys!

 

[Lazarus]

Guys,

Thanks for the feedback so far - it has been much appreciated. I have kind of narrowed the search down to 6 providers :

Nildram
Pipex
Zen
Bulldog
Plusnet
Tiscali

which I am looking into in more detail. However, I have a couple of further questions:

Fot PlusNet, it claims "No Support for P2P applications or Binary Newsfeeds."

Can anyone shed any light on what this means. Does it restrict the access to such programs as Kazaa and other Peer to Peer applications?

Also, any recommendations on modem hardware - those good and bad, ones to avoid etc.

As usual, any advice is welcome.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Also, any recommendations on modem hardware - those good and bad, ones to avoid etc.

As usual, any advice is welcome.

Depends on the service you get. Most are wires only (No hardware/installation) but some do come with hardware etc at a cost.

How many computers? Uses of a network if a few are used? And distance apart, IE top of house and phone line at bottom

 

[Lazarus]

Depends on the service you get. Most are wires only (No hardware/installation) but some do come with hardware etc at a cost.

How many computers? Uses of a network if a few are used? And distance apart, IE top of house and phone line at bottom

hey DMW - thanks for the quick reply.

Only 1 full time Desktop PC although, on certain occasions I will also be using a laptop to do some "working from home"

Reason i ask about the modem hardware is that im not sure if the rules are the same for ADSL modems as they are for 56k; ie avoid software modems. PCI are good but not as good as external etc etc.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

They are dif hardware areas etc.

If you can at all avoid internal ADSL hardware (PCI modems) or USB connections I would recommend a router as best option, purely because i hate having to dial up everytime

If you want to use your Laptop on the net at the same time as the Desktop PC then a router should do as easiest/hassle free option.

Ethernet (Wires) would give the best speeds in terms of PC to PC but as they are wires you are resticted. Wireless is the other choice and is the same basic idea but without the wires

Or as a second option for your 1/2 Comps, is the good old USB/PCI dial up style modems. I personally would avoid these like the plague. As not only having to dial up it makes sharing the connection that little bit more complex.

So to sum up:

• Router : Wireless or Wired
• USB Modem
• PCI Internal Modem

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Wireless will be alot more expensive then Ethernet and not offer as fast transfer speeds PC to PC (Unless you get high end gear which will be very overkill).

There are of course other options *Waits for a unix geek to mention it*

But i wouldn't bother with them to be perfectly honest with you

 

[Xavier]

Zen > *



as to a router, the Draytek 2600 series are excellent, we use the 2600W which has both a WiFi access point and ISDN backup there's also a 2600We uni without the ISDN...

Xav

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Zen > *



Xav

He speakeh the truth.

Zen indeed are the daddy. And free static ips* if you are that way inclined.


*A few others do other them as well

 

[.Wilier.]

He speakeh the truth.

Zen indeed are the daddy. And free static ips* if you are that way inclined.


*A few others do other them as well

Pah.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

We have discussed this before.... move house

 

[Lazarus]

Pah.

....crap....

yeah - like we care?

 

[.Wilier.]

Adding insult to fooking injury, I was cut off my game of CS last night whilst they enabled the exchange.


Bastards.

 

[Insane]

willer, phone up BT customer services and discuss this, depending on the road and line layout of your house to the exchange they might be able to re-direct your line down a shorter distance, or even run some diagnostic tests to confirm the exact measurement

unless they changed how the checker works, most data is from line surveys and installation records dating back to when the line was put in, theres hardly any way it gets updated unless you talk to them and get a couple of line checks done.

who knows, you might have had line work done in the past 6 months and the records wernt updated (very few engineers do update the records because of the state of them) so get BT Broadband to do a physical check of the line and ask if they could tell you the results.

you might get lucky, or be stuck on 56k for quite some time.

 

[old.user4556]

I'm on Pipex, £23 a month, in-game ping (CS) can be as low as 10ms but around 20ms usually.

Been with them nearly two years and only had one outage over a weekend with them. Turns out it was at my end though.

G