FLOW vs BLINK (for use with PSN)

[suitea]

Hi I just moved back to Trinidad from Canada and I have to decide shortly between BLINK or FLOW as an Internet provider.  I am a heavy online PS3 gamer (usually I play FIFA online, MW3, BattleField 3, etc.) and I wanted to know which provider has the best (shortest) PING rates.  I believe that this is one of the most important measures for ensuring a good online experience.  I will be located in either Diego Martin or Cascade/Maraval.

Thanks to all for giving me your feedback.

[LQDSNK]

FLOW has higher download speeds for cheaper prices, though generally if you're playing P2P games Flow tends to get high pings which causes alot of antics from Flow users including: disconnects and reconnects and random lag spikes. This is mainly for computer games though and i am not too certain whether or not that occurs on PSN as well.

Blink knows about this i think and continues to charge high rates for mediocre download speeds. As i said though, you should be fine as long as the game is not peer 2 peer i.e. LoL, Space Marine, ME3, i'm not certain how it works on PS3.

EDIT: Welcome back!

[Arcmanov]

I changed the title of the thread to give it a bit more clarity.

This is experience talking here:  get Flow. 

I had Blink for years, and got fed up of the inconsistent performance.  I was constantly having to change DNS, and resetting modem to maintain
a proper connection.  The new Turbo-15 gamer package cannot be beat in terms of value and performance.

In Arima I typically get pings to the US in the 75-95 ms range, which is usually quite adequate for most online games.
Not sure which ISP has more PSN users (but I'm inclined to think that it's Flow), but if you're on one and trying to connect
with players on the other, well, lets just say that there have been issues.

Of course, not everyone's Blink experience would be the same.

[Rebirthoftheundead]

I changed the title of the thread to give it a bit more clarity.

This is experience talking here:  get Flow. 

I had Blink for years, and got fed up of the inconsistent performance.  I was constantly having to change DNS, and resetting modem to maintain
a proper connection.  The new Turbo-15 gamer package cannot be beat in terms of value and performance.

In Arima I typically get pings to the US in the 75-95 ms range, which is usually quite adequate for most online games.
Not sure which ISP has more PSN users (but I'm inclined to think that it's Flow), but if you're on one and trying to connect
with players on the other, well, lets just say that there have been issues.

Of course, not everyone's Blink experience would be the same.

^this is true. I have had flow since it came out in Diego Martin and i recently moved to San Juan. only once i had problems and was quickly resolved by customer service...i don't EVER lag or disconnect with flow(and i recently upgraded to 15mbs) Flow>Blink anyday

[woodyear99]

I am in cascade. Have both flow and blink. The answer is Flow.

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[W1nTry]

I've also had both and had more problems with blink. Tbh tho I have had disconnects on Flow of late and my browsing in spite of the speed is not as good on Flow. But I too would advise Flow, only IF it gives total beans I'd day consider blink

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[suitea]

Thanks all very much for your feedback.  I think I will go with FLOW.  Hopefully this works fine.  As I just returned from Canada, you can imagine that speeds and PING speeds were lightning fast and while I dont expect the same being further away from the US Servers, I would like to go with the provider with the fastest speeds and lowest latency.  Thanks all for your feedback.

Also thanks for updating the subject.  If anyone else has additional comments to post, please do so.

[woodyear99]

Yeah I was in a similar situation a few years back. Internet in Trinidad has improved significantly

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[Taurus_9]

Whether it be PSN, Xbox Live or PC gaming, any serious TT gamer will tell you Flow is superior. Granted, I have blink because at the time when I signed up it was more affordable and I got a free wireless router. Blink isn't necessarily all that bad though. It's definitely usable even though you may get problems from time to time. Overall, I've had countless matches without lag over blink but as I said earlier Flow is the better option.

[TheApprentice]

Blink is the laughing stock ISP on PSN. lol
Basically 95% of the people I play with on PSN use Flow.
The 5% of blink users experience severe lag when connecting to the Flow users.
It's like when a man join a game and everyone has a good ping but he doesn't. The first question asked is, "yuh on blink ent?".

So in a nutshell, if the people in Trinidad you play with are on Blink, go with blink otherwise a majority of who I know, and I'm gonna assume that's reflective of the whole of T&T, use Flow for PSN.

[masterkyle]

Ok i have blink basic plus 1MB down / 256K up currently some years now. Thinking of switching to flow for a better online gaming experience on ps3.

Just a few questions.

So if i currently only play with online with ps3 blink users (my cousins) and I get flow instead will I still be able to connect to them, see them online and play matches seamlessly with them?

Will I have an advantage over them in terms of lag etc.? Or will the difference in networks cause them to somehow have an advantage?

I know its the same internet but just wondering with the inter-connectivity between flow and blink users.
If I should just stick with blink.

Although I mostly play online with randoms.

[TheApprentice]

Ok i have blink basic plus 1MB down / 256K up currently some years now. Thinking of switching to flow for a better online gaming experience on ps3.

Just a few questions.

So if i currently only play with online with ps3 blink users (my cousins) and I get flow instead will I still be able to connect to them, see them online and play matches seamlessly with them?

Will I have an advantage over them in terms of lag etc.? Or will the difference in networks cause them to somehow have an advantage?

I know its the same internet but just wondering with the inter-connectivity between flow and blink users.
If I should just stick with blink.

Although I mostly play online with randoms.

If you make the switch.
Typically online gaming on the whole will improve. You should get better pings when playing with randoms.
The problem of making the switch is that you say your friends are also on blink.
What this means is, if you're playing a peer to peer online game without a dedicated host server, since there are more blink users in the "party", someone on blink more than likely will be chosen as the p2p host.
This would result in some serious lag for the flow user because of the increased latency between flow and blink users.
However in most cases when playing online, a foreign p2p host is chosen and thus there won't really be a problem since the blink users and flow users are playing through a host.
Overall though, this is a pretty small issue.
It only really poses a problem if you play with your friends alone in private matches or locally hosted games.
If you host the game, they will lag. If anyone of them hosts the game, they will be lag free and you'll be the only one lagging because you're on flow.
If you don't do private match stuff, and play with your friends online with random people, then the issue isn't a big deal.

[masterkyle]

ok, thanks for all that info.

Got this from Blink FAQ's:

Cable networks usually offer service over a shared cable line where multiple users may be connected to the same local cable line. BLINK Broadband provides a dedicated connection to our Central Office so you don't have to share your local access connection with other users and you will always have a dedicated connection.

Does this mean that when you share the cable line with flow, the more users downloading etc. will slow down my connection?

[Arcmanov]

Yes you theoretically 'share' a Flow connection with other users in your area, but it does not affect your bandwidth (or latency) one bit.   

TSTT likes to use that fact about cable-based broadband conveniently.



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[Fkacn_tt]

Arc is right, and but you also have to understand that all Internet is ideally shared. The only thing that would affect you is saturation of that shared network. But go with flow and if it's not to your liking you can always switch to blink, and this is not that feasible in the reverse though.

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[masterkyle]

Hey guys!  ... Some quick questions.. so I finally got the flow 5mb package and was wondering...

1. Does flow come with any firewall like blink?
2. i've been playing street fighter 3 online edition and i notice some matches play smooth and others are choppy, but with me still having the advantage. Is this because im host?
3. Since Migration to Flow when i test my internet CONNECTION IN PS3 I GET THE MEssage THE ROUTER in use may not support IP fragments, and the communication features of some games may be restricted. For details, contact the router manufacturer.
Is this normal? Does it make any difference? What should I do?

Thanks guys!