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Best ISP for a movie streaming family

Dec 10, 2013 6:39PM PST

Basically I have a big family and there's always someone in the house watching movies and it brings my ping up to 8,000 when I'm playing some sort of game.

I'm just wondering what kind of internet plan would help me with this problem?

Something that's specifically for this?

Discussion is locked

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Basically ...
Dec 10, 2013 6:47PM PST

you need a faster connection or more than one connection. None of the two are free, alas.
But it might be cheaper than going to the cinema Wink .

Kees

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Gaming.
Dec 11, 2013 12:53AM PST

What can help is to be sure the PC, XBox or such is wired. Because of how WiFi works, a gamer would get wired.

That's cheap compared to getting your own connection.
Bob

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more info
Dec 13, 2013 11:44AM PST

hello DiamonDust.

for anyone here to be able to give you an honest answer, you will need to provide more information.

:How many devices are in the home, include all smart phones, game systems, laptops, tablet computer, etc.

:How many of those devices are WiFi only?

:Who is your current service provider? And what speed of service are you currently paying for?

:When there is no other connections running, how fast is your connection (hard wired) on average?

:How old is your WiFi router?

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Shop Around
Dec 14, 2013 2:59AM PST

There are some services that provide greater bandwidth but you arso have to ask about bandwidth caps. Like with cellphone plans, you can buy 8 GB of data but they slow you down after 1 GB, I'm sure some providers do that too. Some use packet shapers to reduce your bandwidth for certain types of data, such as streaming.

So, when shopping around, ask a lot of questions and get guarantees, in writing. For technologies, I'd avoid most DSL. Cable is good depending on the provider. I hear that Verizon FIOS is good but you don't get the speeds that they announced before they started installing those systems plus there may be some construction work involved at your home that you may not want. The best bet here is to ask your neighbors! We can give you advice based on what we see locally at our homes but it may not relate to what is available for you. I used to know that satelite internet providers used to be slow because of the technology (not sure about DirectTV, etc.).

Once you look at what is available to YOU and have made an informed decision based on bandwidth guarantees and any throttling, remember that wi-fi has not kept up with hard-wire speeds yet. Games are also graphic intensive so you have to watch what your PC performance is vs. what your wired bandwidth is. Unless you are doing a lot of intensive Internet games. Pings of 8000 is really slow. If that is milliseconds, then the ping response is 8 seconds! Terrible!

So, for the best ISP, find out what choices you have first. Talk to then about their guaranteed bandwith and if there are any caps on how much you use or the type of use. Some make you pay extra for more bandwidth. Avoid streaming over slow WiFi.

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try bandwidth management
Dec 16, 2013 3:15AM PST

Streaming video, even HD, doesn't really take all that much bandwidth, at least compared to some of the faster broadband choices. If you already have a fast-enough, but perhaps borderline, internet connection, you might benefit by setting a bandwidth limit for each user so no one can hog the connection. You might be able to do it by changing settings on each device. Also, some managed ethernet switches allow you to set hard bandwidth limits for each user. Last, have everyone use some common sense. Watch some stuff in standard definition. Is it really necessary to stream in HD to a four-inch wide iPhone?

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More bandwidth + QoS
Jan 14, 2014 2:51AM PST

As others have said, you should first look at how much bandwidth you are currently paying for, and how much you are actually getting, by running a Speed Test.

For a household with multiple heavy internet users - multiple people streaming movies simultaneously, and gaming - you should probably be looking at something like 20 Mbps, minimum. You can't get those kind of speeds with DSL, so if you haven't already, you should take a look at the cable internet providers in your area.

If you think you have enough bandwidth to do all the things you want simultaneously, the next thing to look into is a router that supports QoS (Quality of Service). QoS lets you tell the router how the bandwidth should be divided. For example, you could set a minimum amount of bandwidth to be reserved for your game, so that if two other people in your house start streaming Netflix at the same time it won't use up all the available bandwidth causing your ping to go through the roof...

Hope that helps.