US Cable Support > Time Warner Internet Services > [TWC] Stay, or Jump Ship? [Speed Questions!]

[TWC] Stay, or Jump Ship? [Speed Questions!]

5mpbs upload is plenty as most online games today use very little bandwidth. Take for example the samknows testing units AKA whiteboxes, all the online games ive been playing so far use so little bandwidth that it doesnt trigger its hey stop testing this line because someones playing an online game switch and we down here in corpus are still on 20/2 for extreme till D3 is switched on. During the day there are 3 PCs online and i have a ps3 and xbox which i dont turn on that often. The consoles might have a slight latency issue but i can't confirm that since i dont play online console games unless its some sort of racing game i really like.

reply to dw3bb10
Lets remove the name of the ISPs.

ISP A, your with and have no problems.

ISP B, unknown and I suggest reading their forums.

A has 50/5 and B has 25/25.

As far as gaming, you should see no difference in the two IPs, maybe 10-20ms difference in ping times. The upload of 5 for gaming is plenty, even for 10 people gaming at the same time, try a bandwidth monitor to see how much data your transferring during a online gaming, you'll be surprised.

If you guys download heavy, lean toward the 50/5, 25/5 is plenty if you do slim to moderate.

If you guys upload heavy, lean toward the 25/25.

reply to dw3bb10

reply to dw3bb10
This should solve your problem.

»Exclusive: FiOS Speed Hikes Coming Soon

Fiber is king for low latency. A QoS router will protect your gaming from roommate activity with either provider.

--
AT&T U-Hearse - RIP Unlimited Internet 1995-2011
Rethink Billable.

reply to chamberc

When playing Xbox Live my router shows about 58Kbps upload then like 128Kbps download when i'm playing with like 5-8 people on the other side.

Your plan at 5Mbps or 5096Kbps is more than enough for about 50 people to play and not worry about upload speeds, remember people used to play Doom on 56K now.

Bumping to the 50Mbps plan makes more sense to me, mostly because you'll be using downloads a whole lot more than uploads, even in gaming. But at least everyone can split the 50Mbps and enjoy good speeds all around vs paying for 25Mbps upload that you'll probably never really use.

reply to dw3bb10
get FIOS trust me

reply to dw3bb10
Yeah, no question, get FiOS. If the rumor is correct the 25/25 plan will be moving to 50/25 next month

Do you know anyone in the neighborhood you're moving to who has TWC? If the node over there is overloaded then I hope you enjoy prime-time latency and slowdowns. It's a real crap shoot and you won't know for sure until you're hooked up.

/M

reply to dw3bb10
I think it's time to quit being a cord cutter, suck it up, and admit that cable television is still pretty awesome to have.

Why are you evaluating Internet only options for A HUNDRED DOLLARS a month when with smart bundling that's how much you could pay for 30/5 + Full Digital Cable TV from Time Warner or 32/25 (that's how much the 25/25 tier is provisioned at for FiOS subscribers who bundle TV) + Verizon's Extreme HD TV tier.

There is no reason why you should be paying $100 a month for Internet access only.

reply to dw3bb10
Man, by all means if you can get FiOS and are willing to deal with the nonsense Verizon has in store for people at times, by all means go for it. They're boosting speeds in a week to 50Mbps/25Mbps for their second slowest tier that is advertised so it's certainly worth it. Of course, if Time Warner's not been a problem for you, you can always stick with them, nothing wrong with that. If you're actually willing to get two Internet connections, why not get Verizon and Time Warner in? I find that depending on the server, each provider can destroy the other when it comes down to routing, which is great for gaming in general when you have a few routes to play with.

I believe Hobgoblin has both FiOS and Time Warner Cable Internet at his home. As to which connection he uses the most is a mystery I'm sure.

But yeah, unless you're on a game console or you're hosting a game server from home, games don't consume a lot of upload. Maybe 8KB/s is the most they will consume even with VoIP overhead. They typically consume about 20KB/s on download at peak for most real-time games, and if a game is physics heavy or like Minecraft where you're loading chunks it might spike to 70+KB/s but either way each ISP you have to choose from has no issue with pushing that data to you.

reply to dw3bb10
Was a happy camper on TWC, except for its escalating bundle price's hidden extra after 12 months, when we ditched VZ's pathetic DSL & old copper analog dial-tone services 18 months ago - we're NOT in an over-subscribed node and with turbo, speed was good for our Triple Play at 20/.768 (bumped up to 20/1.5 this March) on old Docis 2.0 plain modem & our own N router - $161/mo with 2 HD boxes.

Waited 2+ years for Fios but dreamed about it for 5+ years, ordered this Feb. when it was finally available on our block & installed 20 days later - with 25/25 plan, actually at 30/20+ mostly with extra "fluff" for HDTV - free install & free multi-room DVR & free SD-STB for life deal - billing is accurate, and our next regular monthly bill is about $108 (MR-DVR & 2 extra HD-STB + 1 free STB) with all the discounts & should be valid for 21 months (2 year contract) - that translated into a saving of about $1,200 or getting an extra 12 month free over TWC. Equipment fees will go up higher, regardless of provider, as posted here - especially when out-of-contract & not locked in with month-to-month billing. Basic HD STB at TWC is $10 to $15 ++ vs. Fios's $5 to $7 for HD STB.

We get very poor cellular reception inside the house (both GSM for AT&T/T-Mo & CDMA or VZW) so having VOIP or digital voice from Big Red is fine for backup and it has 6 to 8 hours of UPS-battery backup (and the entire installation/ONT is inside the basement, shielded from the elements) - as others said, we will be in extra "joy" next month if we get the automatic boost from 25/25 to 50/25 at no extra cost. Once you experienced the extra reserved speed, you find it hard to go back to slower & lower tiers - now, with SkyDrive, My Drive from Google & Dropbox running - the extra upload speed is really making a big difference when moving/saving videos & photos to cloud storage and for backup use. (It was okay but ... slow on TWC's speed tier.)

We have 7 PC's, 2 or 3 iPads, 1 tablet & 5 smartphones, and 4 STB's with 2 wireless routers balancing the loads, and some video streaming - so this is really, really excellent return on investment/spending each month - and, virtually maintenance-free.

Interesting enough, whereas inSSiDer scanning a few months ago shown mostly typical "G" cable modem installation with WEP security, it's now showing more & more Actiontec N routers with WPA2 security ruling the airwaves ... trends of an exodus with very aggressive (Fios) marketing & special pricing/promotion targeted for our area. TWC just mailed us their ultimate "come back to cable" offer, $79.99 for Triple Play for 12 months ... unadvertised & by "invitation" only deal that "retention" dept. simply refused to pull up. Oh, well - the costs for 4 similar boxes like Fios & modem rental fees + taxes/fees/surcharges would still result in a much higher net bill each month (so, going to "file" it away for future reference) as we are going to stick with 25/25 vs. 20/2 with the speed/turbo boost.

When I'm in the office, on field assignements and traveling/staying at various places - I still deal with DSL, cable & business class connections/T1's & T2's - and, if one has the choice or option for Fios: Go for it & RUN to catch it

Addressing this via 5 ms latency Fios connection @ home office ...

reply to Smith6612
I'm not sure where people are getting these bandwidth numbers for online gaming. An average source engine game with the settings changed properly to support your connection (or any modern broadband connection) will use at least 15-20KB/s upload if not more. When playing L4D2 I regularly see spikes of up to 40KB/s on just the upload side. P2P gaming (like Modern Warfare 2 or 3, etc) will just eat through your upload since it has to send player information to everyone constantly.

I would go with more upload honestly, if a couple of those computers decide to download updates for software or if your room mates are downloading a lot, it will saturate that upload quick (you gotta send to receive, always keep that in mind.) Plus cable has the downside of being shared between your neighbors and night time slowdowns can happen (even if not in download/upload speed, definitely with latency which is what happens with me)

reply to twcuser

reply to dw3bb10
Thanks everyone for the input. I got super sold on Fios based on what you all said. Unfortunately, looks like I have to stick with TWC because Fios isnt even in the area in which I plan to move -___-. Atleast yet.

So now it comes down to the 50/5 package or the 30/5 package, but ill probably end up just sticking with the 30/5 speeds I have now, mainly because of price.

Does TWC have any plans to increase upload speeds?

Thanks All, much appreciated!