Xbox 360 live ISP??? No PC just Xbox 360.

[Frazer]

Hi,

My Brother in-law is looking for a good ISP so he can play my Xbox 360 Live. He doesn't have a PC so only needs it to play online gaming.

Who should he go with?
Will it use a lot of bandwidth?
He won't be downloading demo's etc... just gaming.

Thanks
Frazer

[36Degrees]

Go with Virgin Broadband if you're in a cable area, that'll be easiest (imo) - £10/month for the first 12 months for 2mb - no limits and cable at it's best gives far better ping times and smoother games than ADSL.

[lentini]

Bandwidth wise you're looking at around 20-25MB per hour

[Frazer]

Hi,

Just checked and don't get cable on his area, Virgin only have 2 non-cable packages, upto 1Mb £14.99 and upto 8Mb £17.99.

Would 1Mb be enough for Xbox 360 Live?

Frazer

[anephric]

It looks like that Virgin 1mb has a 3gb cap, which is pretty measly. If he does ever download a demo (which can be 1gb+) that's a third of his bandwidth gone.

From what I've read, Virgin's non-cable broadband is pretty atrocious, so if there's another ISP he can use, I'd go for that, tbh. Don't use Sky, though. Worst. Pings. Evar.

How much is he looking at paying? I think BE offer pretty decent packages with decent dl speed/pings and no cap. What you also need to be aware of is that Xbox Live games rarely have dedicated servers - it's all host-served games, meaning that the host's upload speed controls how many players can play and the quality of their game. Hence the 40kb up of most ADSL connections can be a bit crappy.

[Frazer]

Can't get BE broadband in his area.

Well he was going to go with BT Broadband option 2 at first so would be paying around £23 per month after the special offer period was up, but I would rather shop around and find someone other than BT for him.

Frazer