Traffic Management Unacceptable for Online Games

[#1]

I think the title says it all. Plusnet, you really need to improve your traffic management or associated procedures when it comes to online games.
I have just submitted wireshark captures for the second online game in 6 months that has come off on the wrong end of your traffic management systems. I could understand having to submit wireshark captures for small obscure games that the majority of your customers will probably never play and haven't heard of. However, these were big AAA titles, one of them has even been named game of the year by TIME, IGN, PC GAMER and more organizations. The titles in question are Guild Wars 2 and Planetside 2.
Technically-apt customers do not want to be faffing about having to submit tickets with wireshark captures. Customers that aren't so technically apt won't know what is going on will no doubt be equally if not more irritated. Both groups want their games to just work. There is no reason they shouldn't "just work" with such large titles.
Furthermore, your procedure and documentation very far from perfect. The first time I submitted a wireshark capture this is (roughly as it was a while ago) what happened:
1) I follow community documentation to the letter and submit pcap/s.
2) Customer service: wireshark doesn't appear to be showing any problems even though traffic is being incorrectly assigned.
3) Submit new pcap.
4) Customer service: Now it magically does appear to be showing some problems. Even though I did it at the same time using the same procedure as the last capture.
5) Customer service: gets back to me and says please submit multiple pcap/s. If you need multiple why does documentation not say so?
3) Repeat process and submit again with multiple captures. Pain in the back-side as it can only be done at certain times of day.
4) Pcaps are too large this time. Even though I followed the instruction to the letter and only took a few seconds worth of captures. If they need to be of a certain size why does your documentation not say so?
5) System will not let me update the ticket as I changed my email address from @googlemail to @gmail. Can't be bothered any more and give up.
I'm sorry but I am severely frustrated with having to go through an unnecessarily aggravating process I feel should be unnecessary in the first place. This has put me off Plusnet so much I that I think I will be going to BT in March (when they complete their fibre rollout in my area), just so I won't have to deal with your traffic management system any more.

[#2]

Both of those games should have been sorted long ago.  It's not acceptable that they still aren't working.
I'll put pro on your account for free tomorrow.  This should push all gaming traffic into at least Gold and prevent major issues.  You'll need to be careful with P2P if you are on a usage limited product however.

[#3]

and yes the documentation should be updated if it doesn't explain what you've had to do to do it properly.  I'll get someone looking at it.

[#4]

I wish there was an option to get pro features for free if you are a gaming customer that doesn't have high usage.
I pay for plusnet extra fibre so that my broadband works as fast as possible. I just want low latency and fast speeds for gaming but I have to pay for a heavy usage package just to get decent priority, if I want a premium connection I have no option but to pay extra for pro as well.
I don't want to be doing wireshark captures to improve my connection for some games or pay extra for pro but don't seem to have much choice; apart from considering alternative s but I had thought plusnet are generally good value but maybe not so much for gamers now? How about not charging for pro for gaming customers who don't have a high download usage? Plusnet used to do a gamers package that offered better value than this! 

[#5]

Justin7 , Yes i agree with you i have my broadband mainly just for gaming , & if there is a problem i should not have go throught colecting data ie Pcaps that are always too big to upload  or are not allowed  to upload on the forum or a TBB graph  just to show i have a problem
PN should by now be able alto with BT out of reach connect to my line and collect required data themselvs  ,i do not understand pcap or have no real idea what to look for this is what i pay PN occasionall for
i understand at the moment they have problems with ping spikes on their networks and gateway problems  but all i want to do is play with a stable connection , without having to do someting to show i have a problem .
PN are fantastic for me over the  last few years  hope they keep it up and dont let their good reputation slip

[#6]

I know what you mean about the data captures, don't have time for all that either!
Hopefully plusnet will recognise that they need to do something to help gamers get a good value fast connection!

[#7]

Don't Plusnet have the resources to employ someone to test all the latest game releases across their network?

[#8]

£30 a PC game just to test it, worse for console games.  Do you want a gaming account but have to pay extra to cover the cost of all the online games released each year that PN would have to buy just to test them?
Playing any form of game online requires a certain amount of player knowledge, how to port forward required ports / how to add games to your firewall.  Plus with some ISP's how to use wireshark.

[#9]

Guys, whilst I understand the premise of this thread, the new Unlimited product should already put any incorrectly identified traffic (so new games) into one of the higher queues to stop lag problems occurring.
This replicates what the Pro product (and add-on) did for gaming traffic, which is why we've been recommending that people try without it and see how it goes.

Is it mainly in hte evenings that you're seeing a problem? If so then we are doing more work to alleviate the latency issues seen in the evenings.
What games in particular are you having issues with (I'm an avid gamer so may actually own them already)?

[#10]

Hi Chris, thanks for the reply. I'm on the fibre extra (70down/17up/14 ping)  and find ping times are not so great at peak times in the evening. I'm currently playing on pc, ps3 and 360. Current games Crysis 3, TF2, cod b ops2, halo4 and forza horizon. Connection great otherwise but I'm mainly playing in the evening and weekends!

[#11]

All the time?  Or just recently?
Can you grab up some data for comparison?  I.e. pings are 40ms at lunch, but 110 in the evening, and some speed test comparisons.

[#12]

hi kelly this is what happend to me 13/2/2013

[#13]

Quote from: Chris

This replicates what the Pro product (and add-on) did for gaming traffic, which is why we've been recommending that people try without it and see how it goes.

Please don't say im paying an extra £5 a month for the pro add on for a worse connection for my online gaming 

[#14]

for me the PRO add on made no difference 

[#15]

@ kelly tonite speed dropped again on  ptw-ag04