Gaming with O2 All Rounder Package

christopherjk

I have a PS3, I play it about twice a week for 4 hours at a time (nerdish I know) and on top of that I use my connection to work (mostly looking at websites) and the occasional movie stream/download. I just want to get off Virgin, their prices have shot up a lot since I joined and they are unreliable.

Will this package do for me?
Any gamers/regular broadband users with them?

moneysavingkitten

If it is anything like my All Rounder package it will be painful. I have a lot of trouble connecting to servers when I am playing PS3, games quite often drop out too. PC gaming is just as bad.

O2 used to be very good, but not they have implemented really harsh traffic shaping. At the moment, I have to load webpages 3 or 4 times before they load and it is almost impossible to watch videos on youtube. Before the traffic shaping was in place, was happily getting 16mb. Support are not helpful about it, they will just try to find any way possible to tell you it isn't happening.

It's not even that it's just bad on peak hours, it's bad all the time, so it's not like you can get away with having heavy gaming sessions at night either.

Don't have an alternative sorry, still looking for one myself. Just wanted to warn you that the All Rounder package is not good broadband.

Rosco83

I've just had a rather interesting online chat with an O2 Broadband rep regarding online gaming via my All Rounder package.

I have not long joined O2 and tonight attempted to connect the PS3. I have been getting a speed test of 5-7Mbps from the laptop so was expecting something decent on the PS3. Download speed was... 230kbps. I suspected this would be to do with DMZ's, port forwarding, static IPs etc. tried them all to no avail.

So, i contacted O2 to ask if they had any preferred settings. After some time messing about, them trying to sell me the Works package, and also wrecking my 5-7Mbps speed (now maxing at 2.5!!), i was told that "Normally due to traffic management, we don't allow gaming on the Basics and the All Rounder package. It's only available for the Works package." WHAT?!?!

No mention of this on their traffic management pages whatsoever. In fact, it says they can distinguish between gaming and p2p and only throttle the p2p. So, i asked him to point me to where it says gaming is not allowed on the All Rounder. At this point, he tried to fob me off saying call the helpline and left the chat soon after.

Now my PS3 works intermittently at the already crap speed, my overall broadband speed has worsened and i feel like i've been lied to by their customer services. I asked the guy when they are increasing prices and he confirmed you will have an opportunity to back out of any contract without penalty should we not wish to accept the new pricing structure.

I've written a long email them with the chat transcript and will update on what nonsense they have to say about gaming.

spike7451

A lot of ISP'S don't support online gaming.Part of the reason traffic management was introduced was gamers,p2p ect was/is ruining the internet for everyone else.It'd be better if the internet infrastructure was better in the UK than other countries,but it isn't.

AnnieD_2

Interesting as I've only just moved to o2 and was told this package was perfect for my son's Xbox and PS3. So far so good anyway so fingers crossed.

woodhead

AnnieD wrote: »

Interesting as I've only just moved to o2 and was told this package was perfect for my son's Xbox and PS3. So far so good anyway so fingers crossed.

I'm considering moving to O2 and hoping for the same.

chanz4

I have been with them for a few years, only a couple of down/slow times normaly happens on a sunday when they are updating.

girth

I went with the £50 cashback offer as advertised on this newsletter before Christmas. I went for the Works with the Static IP option. So far it's been great and cheap. I play PS3. Before, i had TalkTalk and the signal kept dropping out - no good for gaming.

However, i have not heard anything since about the £50 cashback from the third party and O2 have lost me as a customer since i was told there should be no connection fee (after i questioned it) but if there was i would be contacted before anything happened to see if i still wanted to go ahead. No contact, then first bill with connection charge. In other words fobbed off. So when the year is up, that's it. And i've been a mobile customer for years, so sod em!

Gordon_Hose

I'd go with Sky unlimited (LLU) if you can. You can call them up and they'll put you on a "Gaming Profile" which reduces your ping.

Had them for over 2 years now, been fantastic. I have a PS3 and used to have an xbox.

phaze5

spike7451 wrote: »

A lot of ISP'S don't support online gaming.Part of the reason traffic management was introduced was gamers,p2p ect was/is ruining the internet for everyone else.It'd be better if the internet infrastructure was better in the UK than other countries,but it isn't.

Getting O2 BB and Homephone Tomorrow,live 600 m from exchange,hope its not as bad as everyones saying,as far as i know i have a 30 day cooling off period.........so fingers crossed

wapow

phaze5 wrote: »

Getting O2 BB and Homephone Tomorrow,live 600 m from exchange,hope its not as bad as everyones saying,as far as i know i have a 30 day cooling off period.........so fingers crossed

LOL! Youre screwed! Get virgin cable fibre!