Telecom's Big Time plan. How slow is it?

[sil3nt]

Searching for a new broadband package as we keep hitting our 20gig limit with Telecoms Adventure plan so for the same price we can get unlimited broadband but i am wondering how slow it is? Me the girlfriend and the other girlfriend (sidewinder) play Bad Company 2 online quite a bit which is why we go over our cap. Is it worth switching to Big Time or should we just change ISP....

[bogan]

i've always found the ping between nz and the game hosts to be the limiting factor for online gaming (on any isp), my brothers flat has big time and we've had it downloading at over 10mbits, peak time it goes a bit slower but still in the mbit range. One thing is big time limits transfer rates of well known file servers like hotfile rapidshare megashares etc.

[sil3nt]

Thinking of switching to xnet and just paying for what we use. We can get 25GB for the same price as the 20GB from telecom.

[bogan]

Thinking of switching to xnet and just paying for what we use. We can get 25GB for the same price as the 20GB from telecom.

yeh, pretty shit pings though IIRC about my flatmates ps3 gaming. If you mainly want it for online gaming, look up some nz gamer sites, as more data with crap speed won't get used, think about how fun it would be to play with half second pings, you pretty much have to nade exactly where it looks like they are to ensure the blast will still get them where they have already moved to :2guns:

[Mudfart]

online games dont use up your broadband width, only downloading files does. Movies, music, youtube, websites are the bulk of mine.
I am currently over my limit but my modern warfare works fine online.
Your slowness will be due to your ping (server response times) if you are playing servers in US or europe, and you need to make sure your hardware is up to the task, graphics card, processor etc.. The best servers to play are NZ or Aussie ones.
I am surprised at howmuch youtube bike shows I look at... damn the vmax, Mt-01, R1 and busas.

[Gremlin]

NZ or aussie servers are best because they are close. Our internet speed is shit once you leave the area (ie, request us/europe websites). Your own phone line will also affect speed. I can still do over 100gb a month on a shit line, barely going over 250 kb/sec

[sil3nt]

online games dont use up your broadband width, only downloading files does. Movies, music, youtube, websites are the bulk of mine.
I am currently over my limit but my modern warfare works fine online.
Your slowness will be due to your ping (server response times) if you are playing servers in US or europe, and you need to make sure your hardware is up to the task, graphics card, processor etc.. The best servers to play are NZ or Aussie ones.
I am surprised at howmuch youtube bike shows I look at... damn the vmax, Mt-01, R1 and busas.dont mean to be rude or anything but that is bullshit!
Online gaming uses quite a lot of bandwidth. Counter strike source uses 10-15kbs when playing. That adds up to quite a bit when playing for a few hours. Bad Company 2 would probably be worse with more people in servers.

Gaming when capped will work fine if you are by yourself. You trying surfing the internet on one computer whilst playing a game on another. Just wont happen!

I never complained of "slowness" in game because i know when my internet is capped just from checking my emails in the morning so i don't even bother with games. I am well aware of how to play games on oceanic servers.

[bogan]

dont mean to be rude or anything but that is bullshit!
Online gaming uses quite a lot of bandwidth. Counter strike source uses 10-15kbs when playing. That adds up to quite a bit when playing for a few hours. Bad Company 2 would probably be worse with more people in servers.

Gaming when capped will work fine if you are by yourself. You trying surfing the internet on one computer whilst playing a game on another. Just wont happen!

I never complained of "slowness" in game because i know when my internet is capped just from checking my emails in the morning so i don't even bother with games. I am well aware of how to play games on oceanic servers.

think you are confused about what bandwidth is, its the speed at which the line can go, not how much data you put through it, most ISPs off 2mbits as standard now, of which 10-15kbs is fuck all.

[sil3nt]

think you are confused about what bandwidth is, its the speed at which the line can go, not how much data you put through it, most ISPs off 2mbits as standard now, of which 10-15kbs is fuck all.Yeah its fuck all when your not capped....

This thread was asking if the Big Time plan is worth it for gaming.

[Ntoxcated]

A couple of months ago we got too close to our 40GB cap with over a week to go. I switched to BigTime for a month and then switched back. For normal e-mail and browsing it was OK. Video streaming was pathetic. Most downloads were reasonable, but the filesharing sites like rapidshare and megaupload were throttled beyond belief. CounterStrike ping times were pretty bad according to my son. It went from a usual 20ms ping to 350ms. Apparently WOW got hit as well - but handles it better. I run rFactor and the server search screen for an online race would take up to a minute to refresh rather than a second. I'm now back on the 40GB plan and have installed a Linux gateway server (ClearOS) so I can throttle the kids if necessary. Throttle their usage anyway. The added benefit is that it has an automatic caching proxy server that has saved us over 1GB from Facebook alone.
I did consider other ISPs, but I am a long way from the exchange, and Telecom are the only ones to have cabinetised their DSLAMs in our area. Switching would mean reverting to 3mbps from 16mbps.

Good luck with your decision making anyway :)

[Big Dave]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/816981928.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I find it quite satisfactory and can watch vids at 480 or better with no lag time. HD takes a few seconds of spooling.
This is about as slow as it gets for me. Some afternoons it dips a bit lower - not much. Upstream is prolly the issue with gaming.

[Slicksta]

Big time is alright it does depend what game im playing it and MW2 runs smooth online on the ps3. SC2 beta seems to lag on it abit tho maybe that is the location of the hosts. Have not picked me up a copy of BC2 but when I played it BF1943 used to run smooth.
Who ever you go with get interleaving turned off makes a massive difference to ping times....
Lots of good feedback about slingshot 50 bucks for 25gb+ unlimited downloading between the hours of 2 to 8am not a bad deal.

[Sentox]

I was on it for quite a while. Seems to have good periods and bad periods. What drove me away is that more often that not, come evening time, video streaming, gaming, downloading all went to hell. Became unusable for anything much more than surfing.

[Blackshear]

Fantastic for overnight torrenting - I managed to top 425GB one month without actually going at it hard.
The ping, not so great. Mine was tapping around 30ms, which is ok, but that's obviously only really local servers (You're fucked past Oz, in online games.)

Just my 2c worth.

[mashman]

You must be playing nearly 24/7 lol... I used to play Halo 2/3 online for 2 - 3 hours a night, plus my porn surfing etc... and never blew my 20gb wad... must be a hefty game... suppose it is a PS3 :shifty:

[sil3nt]

You must be playing nearly 24/7 lol... I used to play Halo 2/3 online for 2 - 3 hours a night, plus my porn surfing etc... and never blew my 20gb wad... must be a hefty game... suppose it is a PS3 :shifty:Is that at me?
Sidewinder plays on ps3 me and the GF play on PC.

20GB among 4+ people isn't that much!

[Sentox]

Is that at me?
Sidewinder plays on ps3 me and the GF play on PC.

20GB among 4+ people isn't that much!

Indeed it's not. I have 20gb at present, and refraining from pretty much all torrenting or major downloads, I can just make it last the month as the effective sole user.

[mashman]

Is that at me?
Sidewinder plays on ps3 me and the GF play on PC.

20GB among 4+ people isn't that much!

ahhhhhh sorry, didn't realise you were all using the same line... fuck i'm not really functioning very well today at all (if i ever do that is)...

[bogan]

Indeed it's not. I have 20gb at present, and refraining from pretty much all torrenting or major downloads, I can just make it last the month as the effective sole user.

fark, we have bout 8 people using our 20gig plan, I do a smidgeon of downloading, other month we only did bout 5 gig. Spose once kb is cached locally I'm good to go :D

[Sentox]

fark, we have bout 8 people using our 20gig plan, I do a smidgeon of downloading, other month we only did bout 5 gig. Spose once kb is cached locally I'm good to go :D

Damn man, sounds like you live in another dimension to me :laugh: Surfing, email, video streaming, skype, gaming, downloads... it just adds up.

[bogan]

Damn man, sounds like you live in another dimension to me :laugh: Surfing, email, video streaming, skype, gaming, downloads... it just adds up.

yeh, i should probably mention I do a lot of surfing at work, when i get home i usually work on projects (possibly that is ironic), and get my brother to download all my shows cos they're on big time.

[Mudfart]

as for multiple users on at same time i have no clue. are you using wifi or old skool ethernet router?
im gonna get a wifi, apparently cost means something for quality with wifi units.
the telecommunications groups that offer these internet packages will tell you which packages to use for gaming online.

[Lias]

I'm on Big Time and play lots of BC2..NZ servers (ON3) are fine.. Aussie servers vary but are good most of the time. You do get the occsional rage inducing random lag though.

[Ntoxcated]

You do get the occsional rage inducing random lag though.

Video games don't cause violence - lag does!!!

[Lias]

FWIW Telecom Today announced they are cancelling the Big Time plan.

[Sentox]

FWIW Telecom Today announced they are cancelling the Big Time plan.

They're lowering the cost of the Pro plan (40GB) to $79.95 (bundled with phone services). Yeah, Telecom, that really cuts the mustard.

[Gremlin]

well, that pisses me off. Have to find another solution. Was nice not to have to worry about limits or end up on dial up. Watch what you like, no worries.

[Ntoxcated]

They're lowering the cost of the Pro plan (40GB) to $79.95 (bundled with phone services). Yeah, Telecom, that really cuts the mustard.

What are they lowering it from? I thought I had been paying $79.95 for Pro already. I do hope they will eventually provide an option to slow down the connection when the 40GB is reached rather than the extortionate 2c/MB overage rate.

[Mudfart]

holy shit, lucky i aint with telescum anymore. 20c per Mb would put me really in the crap. we use 50-60 Gig a month.
shit 10gig over will cost you $2000?

[Ntoxcated]

holy shit, lucky i aint with telescum anymore. 20c per Mb would put me really in the crap. we use 50-60 Gig a month.
shit 10gig over will cost you $2000?

Sorry - got it wrong - it is 2c/MB => $20/GB

[Lias]

They are lowering overage on Pro to $2/gb

*edit* Yes I know thats still shit.. Best bet at this poitn is Sling or Xnet for naked DSL and resonably priced data (Xnet is $1/gb, Slingshot is $50/50gb block)

[Ntoxcated]

They are lowering overage on Pro to $2/gb

Much better. Not the cheapest around for sure, but far less punitive.