Internet issues

I know a few of you guys on here are very much up to speed on this kind of thing so I thought i'd get some feedback if I may?

I have a PS3 (Playstation 3 to those not in the know!) and after 5pm I cannot connect to some online games. I went on a PS3 forum and it seems that games produced by EA have issues connecting with AOL after 5pm???

Now I know my connection works because I can go on the net on my pc and I can connect to other online games (though sometimes still suffer disconnection and freezing) but the EA games won't even load a list of servers at all full stop. Before this time, I can get full access and if I stay connected after 5, all seems fine but if I come off and try to re-connect it fails.

I understand peak internet useage start around 5pm and I can sort of comprehend that the EA servers may require more bandwidth to allow connection which it seems AOL struggle with after 5pm.

Given the above, I have a few questions;

As I'm really fed up with AOL's (in an indian accent) "I have no idea what you are talking about but can I sell you AOL talk phone package" attitude. I'm going to get rid of them anyway but can anyone reccommend an ISP? I am looking at going with Sky as their package gives me cheaper phonecalls and better broadband plus I think their cusomer service is better, any thoughts or bad experiences of sky?

I have had a line test done and Sky tell me my line can only handle 512kps??? WTF!!!!!!    could this be true and if so, why is my line so out of date? I thought the minimum was around 2mbps?  Is there anything I can do to get my line upgraded?

Any thoughts would be appreciated as on the PS3 forum no-one seems to have been given an answer. EA insist it's an AOL problem, AOL deny there is a problem but there are over 30 posts on the topic with seperate people with the AOL/EA problem, so it's not a one off!

I know you guys are pretty intelligent so I thought I'd give you a go!

Cheers

Mike

540 V8 wrote: As I'm really fed up with AOL's (in an indian accent) "I have no idea what you are talking about but can I sell you AOL talk phone package" attitude. I'm going to get rid of them anyway but can anyone reccommend an ISP? I am looking at going with Sky as their package gives me cheaper phonecalls and better broadband plus I think their cusomer service is better, any thoughts or bad experiences of sky? I have had a line test done and Sky tell me my line can only handle 512kps??? WTF!!!!!!    could this be true and if so, why is my line so out of date? I thought the minimum was around 2mbps?  Is there anything I can do to get my line upgraded? Mike

Mike, all 'normal' ISP's rely on BT's cables, so the speed you will get depends on your BT line in, number of users, and how far from the exchange you are.

IMHO the only ISP to use is cable. Although the speed you will get still again depends to some extent on the above, due to their infrastructure they offer a minimum speed of 10mbps, and it can be upto 50. (I'm on a 10mb line and have just got 9.85 using this test and this is normal for me.)

Of course you may not have that option in your area, in which case you're stuck with BT, and then it won't really matter who you go with for the actual performance, only for the after-sales service part

p.s. I can sometimes be lucky with my cable support because as well as our indian friends, they also have two UK based centres, but they are like any business - when they are good they are very very good, but when they are bad they are diabolical   

Good Luck!

Well I have done my own line tests and the max download speed I get is 1mb if I'm really lucky

What do you mean by contention ratio Killian?

Thanks for your replies so far chaps, helpful as usual!

Mike

Mike

 We are with AOL too , they are a nightmare when it comes to online games with the ps3 . We upgraded to thier 8 meg service and still makes no difference .

 Have you tried resetting your router when the online games fail to load ?. Im hooked on cod4 and waw and every time i want to get online with them i have to reset the router.

 next time it fails to work try this

 get the game on and loading

when the downloading game setting's screen appears or searching for servers screen , switch off the ps3 with the switch on the back

unplug the power lead to your router and leave for 30 seconds then plug it back in

wait a few minutes the turn the ps3 back on and try the game again

 this rigmarole allways works works for me so hope its the same for you .

The problem is not limited to AOL , i know several people that are on sky , bt and virgin that have the same probs