Help/Suggestions on Cable/ISP

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05-02-2012, 02:07 PM
CLW

Help/Suggestions on Cable/ISP

It wouldn't be a week in the TGT if I didn't post one of these help/suggestions threads. :nod:

My wife and I are "upgrading" our current apartment to a new apartment here at the beginning of June. It looks like I have two options for Cable/ISP: (1) AT&T Uverse or (2) Comcast Xfinity. I'm currently leaning towards AT&T just b/c of the better "bang for your buck" in terms of channels and net for the price but if their quality is poor I'd definitely consider Comcast b/c the difference isn't that much.

Any of you guys (especially you guys in the Houston area) have any experience with either provider?

Also, it's been awhile and I cannot remember what kind of speed/connection I am going to want to have to play the PS3 online with no lag. For AT&T it looks like my options range from 3Mbps to 24 Mbps downstream (3, 6, 12, 18, 24). Comcast appears to have similar options but goes even higher in speeds.

As always, the comments/suggestions are appreciated!
05-02-2012, 03:30 PM
gschwendt

Once you get over 3Mbps, speed doesn't really matter much in determining lag. It all is a matter of how quality of a connection you have to your opponent/provider. I've played games on my girlfriend's connection that is 1.5Mbps and I didn't really experience any lag at all.

The only issue I've heard with UVerse as far as gaming goes is that the more TVs you have connected, the slower your internet connection. It uses all of it as one pipe for both video & internet. If you're going to have 3-4 HDTVs connected, I'd consider going the Comcast route... though I'm certainly no expert as I'm on DirecTV and AT&T DSL.
05-02-2012, 05:22 PM
CLW

Quote:

Originally Posted by gschwendt

Once you get over 3Mbps, speed doesn't really matter much in determining lag. It all is a matter of how quality of a connection you have to your opponent/provider. I've played games on my girlfriend's connection that is 1.5Mbps and I didn't really experience any lag at all.

The only issue I've heard with UVerse as far as gaming goes is that the more TVs you have connected, the slower your internet connection. It uses all of it as one pipe for both video & internet. If you're going to have 3-4 HDTVs connected, I'd consider going the Comcast route... though I'm certainly no expert as I'm on DirecTV and AT&T DSL.

Are you talking about Ping? I'm not a techy but Google shows some complaints about bad ping from UVerse while gaming.
05-02-2012, 05:53 PM
gschwendt

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLW

Are you talking about Ping? I'm not a techy but Google shows some complaints about bad ping from UVerse while gaming.

Yes... ping is the general measurement of your quality of connection. You can go to pingtest.net to get a general idea of what you're getting now. I'm on AT&T DSL 6Mb in a small town and my ping is rated at 29ms.
05-02-2012, 06:19 PM
CLW

Quote:

Originally Posted by gschwendt

Yes... ping is the general measurement of your quality of connection. You can go to pingtest.net to get a general idea of what you're getting now. I'm on AT&T DSL 6Mb in a small town and my ping is rated at 29ms.

LMAO I knew my current ISP was awful but I just tested my ping and got 350ms for my ping. :smh:
05-02-2012, 06:25 PM
gschwendt

Quote:

Originally Posted by CLW

LMAO I knew my current ISP was awful but I just tested my ping and got 350ms for my ping. :smh:

Yeah... that's really bad. You might run it another time or two and see if it stays that high. Packet Loss is also important... that measures whether all of the data is getting to & from accurately.
05-02-2012, 06:30 PM
CLW

Quote:

Originally Posted by gschwendt

Yeah... that's really bad. You might run it another time or two and see if it stays that high. Packet Loss is also important... that measures whether all of the data is getting to & from accurately.

Yeah first test I did with a server in Maine. Tried another one in Texas and it was slightly better but still got an F grade but no packet loss.