Best ADSL ISP for gamers

Unstable and slow Internet connections are never fun, especially when gaming online.

So we asked our local internet service providers (ISPs) what they are doing to ensure gamers get a first-class experience every time they log in, why their products are better than their competitors’, and which is the best package they offer for gaming needs.

Telkom Internet

“Telkom’s Do-Gaming product offers a R49.00 per month add-on that gives customers unlimited gaming traffic to all the major gaming servers. The Do-Gaming add on also prioritises gaming traffic,” said Telkom Internet.

This Do-Gaming product offers uncapped data usage to the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Battle.net, Steam, Origin, and do Gaming servers. This add-on will still run at full speed even when you are soft capped. Gaming downloads through Bit-torrent as a file sharing protocol are excluded from the do Gaming free data.

The add-on can be bolted to packages such as the “do Premium Plus (60GB cap at 10mbps)”, or the Telkom Internet uncapped offerings.

Telkom’s recommendation: “There are many variables to consider, such as how many hours are spent on gaming or whether games are downloaded, and so forth. However, serious gamers can average 70GB to 80GB with one purchased game per month,” said Telkom.

Afrihost

“Whether you’re on a capped or uncapped package, gaming is seen as a real-time service, so no matter what you are gaming you will see the best possible latency and given priority,” said Afrihost.

“Across all our packages; Capped DSL, Business DSL, and Uncapped, gaming is given the same priority levels as streaming or browsing.”

Afrihost’s recommendation: “Any of our packages are great for gamers. Mobile offerings are also becoming an option among some of our clients,” said Afrihost.

Afrihost recently dropped their pre-paid data prices, which may attract clients looking for an unshaped line.

MWEB

“We have a crew of gamers in the MWEB GameZone team that look after the interests of MWEB gamers,” said MWEB’s Desmond Kurz.

“This team is active on Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, as well as the MWEB GameZone forums and website so it’s easy for customers to access this expertise.”

“MWEB infrastructure provides for the hosting of over 280 game servers for more than 60 titles, including the first Dota 2 servers to be deployed in SA, and the first Battlefield 4 servers for PC in South Africa. That infrastructure also allows gamers to become their own administrators by renting servers from our partners, Gameservers and Multiplay.”

MWEB said gaming traffic receives the highest priority on their network, and gaming traffic is constantly monitored to ensure traffic prioritisation rules can be updated to be in sync with the gaming environment.

MWEB’s recommendation: “Our 6mbps Uncapped ADSL product delivers real value. Many 10mbps lines do not sync at their full potential, so this allows gamers to get a 50% speed boost ahead of a 4mbps line,” said MWEB.

OpenWeb

“We place special importance on gaming. After hours, all packages feature priority on gaming. During office hours, we have a specialist gaming package – Gamers King Uncapped – that allows for priority game play,” said Open Web’s CEO Keoma Wright.

The Gamers King Uncapped package offers uncapped, prioritised speed for gamers.

Open Web recommendation: “Currently, Gamers King Uncapped is not available to new clients, as we limit quantities to ensure a premium experience for clients. However, a little birdie told me that perhaps later this month there might be a few more available,” said Wright.

Cybersmart

“Prioritising” is just a nicer way of saying shaping. If one packet is treated differently from another packet you are shaping the traffic because in order to speed up a service you need to slow down another service,” said Cyber Smart’s Laurie Fialkov.

“The only protocols we prioritise above gaming are DNS, VOIP, and BGP, and this is consistent across all our uncapped services. Our capped services are not shaped at all so gaming has equal priority to everything else.”

Cyber Smart’s recommendation: Contention is more important than priority. So if you are a really hardcore gamer, a capped product will always be better for you as there is no chance of your game not being recognised. A very popular package with gamers is the 50Gig supersize capped product that gives a 50GB cap during normal time and a 1TB cap after hours.

Web Africa

“The Web Africa FreeZone offers gaming bandwidth used on the WAGE game servers for free,” said Web Africa’s Jeremy Wilkinson.

WAGE is Web Africa’s “Gaming Experience” Tier 1 network.

“Gaming traffic has priority on our Home and Business Uncapped, and our Home Capped products, a very high priority on our Home Capped and Uncapped Pro packages, and top priority on Business Capped Pro.”

Web Africa’s recommendation: The Home 60GB anytime + 60GB night time, or the Business 40GB anytime + 40GB night time package.

Axxess failed to provide comment by the time of publication.