Tiscali and Xbox 360 Live

[ACKman]

Ever since the getting the 360 at launch I've had problems with extremely slow download speeds using Tiscali. At first I put this down to my Router and Firewall but after months of messing around with all the settings on firewalls and opening ports its still the same. Doing a test on live reveals their are no NAT problems so everything shound be fine.

I recently found out that Tiscali block the use of P2P networks and I was constantly getting download speeds of 5kbps max on a 2 meg broadband. I think I must be getting similar speeds when downloading demos off live (It took around 15hrs to get the tombraider demo)

Does anyone else use Tiscali and have these problems or know of a fix before I cancel with them.

[Psyduck]

Dont know of a fix, but I was with tiscali and I think they're pretty rubbish, so I'd recommend that you switch anyway...

[Hulk Davidson]

ACKman, I'm with 2MB Tiscali and use 360 Live. Haven't had any problems with downloading content or playing games on Live, but did have problems getting the Tomb Raider demo. Not sure if it was Tiscali though since you can't see how fast the download is going from the dashboard.

As for P2P, I was getting very slow speeds (around 5kbps) a couple of months ago but these had vastly improved to max out the connection now. Though I'm fairly certain they don't block the use of P2P programs, but they do advise you not to use them at peak times (under their Fair Usage Policy).

Generally Tiscali's speeds do vary with time of day with their peak times being 6pm to 11pm.

[MattyD]

It could be your phoneline or local exchange. I used to live somewhere that still had crusty old machinery inside those green exchange hubs you get in the streets, and I could never get a good connection speed. If it was busy I might even get kicked off entirely. I've certainly noticed the difference since I moved.

[ACKman]

I've never had a problem with the connection in general, using regular internet is very fast. When I download things from the net which are not P2P I get fast speeds which I expect.

I occassionally download torrents and used to get fast speeds then all of a sudden I was getting speeds of 5k max. The fact the speed never went over 5k made me susspect someting funny and I pressumed it was some kind of port problem. I did a quick search on google and found lots of people complaining of the exact same thing and that tiscali block the ports P2P software uses and looks how packets are sent etc than limit you.

I certainly dont over do the downloading and would say I'm an average user but maybe I had a couple of good days so Tiscali tagged me. I wasn't to bothered about torrents as I didn't use them very often but I want to get all the latest demos for the 360, at the moment I hear people getting excited about the latest demo on offer and it takes me days to download it.

[goldenhawk]

tiscali slowed my connection down after xmas for over usuage.

torrents and p2p are crap now during peak times, i aint tried live yet.

[yosai]

A friend of mine also has their Tiscali bandwidth 'limited' between 18:00 and 23:00.

They had three warnings for P2P usage during those times, now they don't get a choice.

[MattyD]

I'm with them too, and their Fair Usage Policy says they'll prioritise other customers over anyone who uses torrents during peak times. They work your usage out monthly, you should be able to see your own usage by logging in to the Members section of tiscali.co.uk.

I know they're a pain in the ass for this sort of thing because if you want to bring up any complaints or technical issues, you have to call a premium-rate number that goes to... a call centre in India. Really helpful, that. I'd suggest emailing them through here to have you taken off the blacklist or whatever, and maybe cutting back on your downloads.

[ACKman]

Cheers for your help guys. It looks like on average I use around 8gig per month. I've used 1gig in the last 7 days and that includes the Tombraider demo. I dont think that amount of usage is too bad although Tiscali might not think so. My credit card details are due to be upadated so I've sent them an email telling them to sort it out or else I wont be updating my details and going elsewhere.

[MattyD]

That's way, way over your limit :O

If you don't want to shell out for a larger account I'd suggest Bulldog Broadband from NTL, you get an 8 meg line and a whopping-great bandwidth plan for udner a tenner a month.