What mobile broadband service is good for online gaming???

sean1141

Trevor451 wrote: »

Mobile internet is not suitable for on-line gaming. OP get a proper ISP like UPC or if that's not available in your area try eircom.

i use mobile internet for online gaming with very little problems. i have no other options do:(

beardo81

Trevor451 wrote: »

Mobile internet is not suitable for on-line gaming. OP get a proper ISP like UPC or if that's not available in your area try eircom.

Yes, in certain areas mobile internet is suitable for online gaming. Here's a speedtest I did today with Meteor dongle;



Sometimes I get a better ping too and its always fairly solid. Some people would rather pay €20 for a months access than €40+ to Eircom. So yes, mobile internet can be suitable for online gaming. Bleedin' fixed line nazi's....

TheMooseInNam

beardo81 wrote: »

Yes, in certain areas mobile internet is suitable for online gaming. Here's a speedtest I did today with Meteor dongle;



Sometimes I get a better ping too and its always fairly solid. Some people would rather pay €20 for a months access than €40+ to Eircom. So yes, mobile internet can be suitable for online gaming. Bleedin' fixed line nazi's....

Hi breado,

"fixed line Nazi's!" I love that, you made me laugh while drinking my morning coffee... my keyboard and screen are now covered in coffee! Thanks buddy!

In an effort to resolve this thread once and for all and actually get some solid info on the subject, I'm going to perform an analysis of both of our connections so everyone can see the exact difference between mobile broadband and a half decent alternative. I've a fixed wireless broadband from permaNET. I've the same upload and download speeds as you but to be honest, upload and download speeds are pretty much irrelevant when it comes to online gaming. If you connect to a server you require no more that 0.1Mb/s both up and down, if you plan on hosting a server then you'll require more, obviously.

The most important details about your connection when gaming are your packet loss, ping (latency) and jitter.

Packet loss is fairly self explanatory, how many packets of information get lost in transit on the inbound and out bound journeys.

Ping is how long it takes for your information to hit the selected server and return. Make sure you're pinging the same location as the game server you're connecting to. So, if you plan on playing on a server hosted in the UK, ping a UK site for your ping, like-wise for the US.

Jitter is how solid the connection is. You'll want a very low jitter, otherwise you'll have intermittent or inconsistent quality of a connection.

So, taking all that into consideration, lets compare your "mobile broadband" with my "fixed wireless broadband." To do this I've used www.pingtest.net, can you do the same?



So, let's assume we're both playing on an Irish hosted server who's located an equal distance from both of us.

Until I see your ping test, I can only compare our ping times. We have a difference of 100ms. That means I have a 100ms advantage on every action I take against you. That's 10th of a second. The average human reaction time is 215ms, let's assume we're both normal (although it's highly likely that due to being gamers we've trained our muscle memory to be far more responsive than Joe average). In any in-game situation, I'll react at around 245ms and you'll react at 345ms.

I'm no mathematician but the difference looks about 30% of an increase in reaction time for you. I don't know about you but I think me having a 30% of an advantage over your reactions times puts me at a distinct advantage in every confrontation.

As a gamer, some would say "hardcore gamer", I certainly wouldn't be happy with that disadvantage, I'd be interested to hear your views on the subject.

Now all we need is your packet loss data and jitter figures to access the rest of your connection. Then we can have a true comparison.

beardo81

TheMooseInNam wrote: »

Hi breado,

"fixed line Nazi's!" I love that, you made me laugh while drinking my morning coffee... my keyboard and screen are now covered in coffee! Thanks buddy!

In an effort to resolve this thread once and for all and actually get some solid info on the subject, I'm going to perform an analysis of both of our connections so everyone can see the exact difference between mobile broadband and a half decent alternative. I've a fixed wireless broadband from permaNET. I've the same upload and download speeds as you but to be honest, upload and download speeds are pretty much irrelevant when it comes to online gaming. If you connect to a server you require no more that 0.1Mb/s both up and down, if you plan on hosting a server then you'll require more, obviously.

The most important details about your connection when gaming are your packet loss, ping (latency) and jitter.

Packet loss is fairly self explanatory, how many packets of information get lost in transit on the inbound and out bound journeys.

Ping is how long it takes for your information to hit the selected server and return. Make sure you're pinging the same location as the game server you're connecting to. So, if you plan on playing on a server hosted in the UK, ping a UK site for your ping, like-wise for the US.

Jitter is how solid the connection is. You'll want a very low jitter, otherwise you'll have intermittent or inconsistent quality of a connection.

So, taking all that into consideration, lets compare your "mobile broadband" with my "fixed wireless broadband." To do this I've used www.pingtest.net, can you do the same?



So, let's assume we're both playing on an Irish hosted server who's located an equal distance from both of us.

Until I see your ping test, I can only compare our ping times. We have a difference of 100ms. That means I have a 100ms advantage on every action I take against you. That's 10th of a second. The average human reaction time is 215ms, let's assume we're both normal (although it's highly likely that due to being gamers we've trained our muscle memory to be far more responsive than Joe average). In any in-game situation, I'll react at around 245ms and you'll react at 345ms.

I'm no mathematician but the difference looks about 30% of an increase in reaction time for you. I don't know about you but I think me having a 30% of an advantage over your reactions times puts me at a distinct advantage in every confrontation.

As a gamer, some would say "hardcore gamer", I certainly wouldn't be happy with that disadvantage, I'd be interested to hear your views on the subject.

Now all we need is your packet loss data and jitter figures to access the rest of your connection. Then we can have a true comparison.

Haha the fixed-line nazi comment was tongue-in cheek, hope your keyboard dried off ok!!

Here's my ping-test;



Now it's not as good as yours obviously, but considering the probable price differences I think thats pretty respectful. Now I know I may be lucky with regards location, chances are I am, but I think it's a very respectful alterative for people who don't want a long eircom contract, the bloody bills and the wife running up a big phone bill too!! (or maybe that's just mine )

I enjoy my gaming, not hardcore I guess and don't know if I can blame my FPS skills (or lack of) on 100ms difference in ping times.

All I can do is tell the OP to try before you buy, most providers will give 7 days grace or so to hand it back, I know quite a few people with fixed-line and they dont have as good a connection as me.

TheMooseInNam

Wow, I'm stunned that it's actually that good. I assume it varies at peak times though. I have a feeling that you are the exception to the rule, ya lucky git

Now make sure to tell everyone else in your area that it's terrible and hope nobody else joins your cell

Where should I send the the invoice for the new keyboard?

beardo81

I know I probably am one of the exceptions, had 3 dongle before that and performance was pretty bad, it really is all area dependant. But sometimes it's a viable and cost effective alternative. Need to think of a new excuse why I'm crap at online MP games now though!!

siblers

I had eircom before but for 40 euros a week it was hardly worth all that money, am with three for 26 a month and get much fater DL speeds, ping is higher though but for the most part it plays the same as when I had eircom. If I was seriously into online gaming I'd go back to Eircom but Three seems to work quite fine.

DoctorStrange

Best to get the 7 day trial but any of them can be hit and miss. I've tried O2, meteor and 3. Found 3 the 'best'.




This is my record:

Test Date: Jun 29, 2010 15:07
Connection Type: WiFi
Server: Dublin
Download: 2.04 Mbps
Upload: 0.14 Mbps
Ping: 3026 ms

-=al=-

i find 3 fine for online gaming, but my meteor dongle with the laptop tethered to the xbox was the best... but in saying that 3 works perfectly fine for it... its all a bunch of variables but it works fine alrite, it's not ideal, but sure it works.

evolutionqy7

DoctorStrange wrote: »

Best to get the 7 day trial but any of them can be hit and miss. I've tried O2, meteor and 3. Found 3 the 'best'.

Thats pointless. Just take it out on contract and you wont have to pay the high deposit fee. You will have 14 days to return it. So if it works grand you keep it. If not just return it.

hobbit stomper

I wouldn't even use Local WiFI on my Xbox. Lan cable all the way!
You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make.

-=al=-

hobbit stomper wrote: »

I wouldn't even use Local WiFI on my Xbox. Lan cable all the way!
You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make.

this is true

i considered getting those homeplug cables to solve this issue

evolutionqy7

hobbit stomper wrote: »

I wouldn't even use Local WiFI on my Xbox. Lan cable all the way!
You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make.

Not all of us can have that luxury :S

The best way is obviously through a lan cable. Min lag and speed consistency. Let hope the 100m deal with BT Ireland will bring some better solutions to three to reduce the Ping and to up the speed with 4G and LTE technology.