UPC Fiber broadband and gaming on the PC, PS3

ger101

A couple of guys came around this morning and installed some fiber wire (Or whatever) for UPC's broadband. After searching UPC on the 'net, they seem pretty good for online gaming.

I'm currently with Eircom and they're doing my head in with their crappy router and constant connection issues, so I'm thinking of switching over to UPC.

Now, my question is this: Which package is best for gaming? The 30MB one or the 100MB one? Also, for those of you who are using UPC, how is playing online on the PS3 and PC? Any lag?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: One last thing: How easy is it to change over to UPC from Eircom? Also, do I need a phone line to use UPC's broadband?

jor el

Speed is largely irrelevant for gaming. 1Mbps is generally enough, and you certainly don't need anything near 100Mbps just for gaming. The ping is going to be crucial. UPC 10Mbps, or any of the higher packages, will generally be fine.

UPC has nothing to do with eircom or their network, so there is nothing to changing over, as you don't actually change anything. It's a separate install, but you can port your phone number over if you wish to keep it.

matt1.oc

Have to agree with the above, using upc fibre 10mb with xbox360 and works fine nearly all the time, low ping on upc 30-40ms.

ger101

Thanks for the replies, guys.

@matt1.oc: How's your connection? Does it disconnect at random times or anything? I ask because that crap happens with Eircom (From what I've read, it's due to the router which Eircom won't replace) and it's extremely annoying.

Ger101, I'm on 20Mb UPC and its great for online gaming. My pings are generally between 10-30ms depending on where I'm pinging...

While it rarely drops, it does drop connection. But maybe only once every 1 or 2 weeks, so its grand and when it does drop it normally back online in 2-3 mins.

A said above, speed doesn't really make a huge difference when gaming, its all ping time to the server (and is the game is P2P then it mostly depends on the host connection).

You don't need a phone line for UPC, however if you don't take out UPC TV with your broadband, you have to pay a standalone charge of €7.75 applies.

Hope that answered most if not all you questions

Nollog

My connection was great for gaming over steam(60ms ping on 15mbit), but the last month it's been unusable.
With them for about 6 months.

It looks to me that the network wasn't ready for the speed upgrades.

matt1.oc

@ ger101

I was with Upc when it was ntl and the connection was pretty poor. Left them them for a while and joined again when they were offering the fibre power, seems a lot better now. Have been using it since last April and haven't had any major disruptions when gaming. The odd bug but nothing too major, using a 5 year old netgear router and its working ok, not too sure what the eircom one is like but usually the free routers are fairly basic.

Reg'stoy

I got the bloke from UPC to put their box behind the TV (I think most do?) but don't let them use the TV point have them run a seperate cable. The good thing about having the router near the telly is I've connected my PS3 directly to it by ethernet cable, although in fairness the wireless connection was never that poor.

Have watched both RTE Player and 4OD and both streamed with no lag but 4OD was much better picture quality. Have played Call of duty and tiger woods on-line with no problems but then again never did with the wireless (eircom).

I'm currently on the 10mb package with phone so got their wireless router as the phone line connects to it. I, fingers crossed hopefully shouldn't go over the 120mb limit as we're not torrent users and don't stream a whole lot of telly.