I currently have a 56K modem and and usually get pings of around 200-250 (using bt internet). however, with all the broadband users about i get trouble with "ping spikes" just at the most inconvienient times! which result in lag and then when it all returns to normal i am flat on me back looking at the stars. the more players on the server the worse the spikes. i have some settings to try this evening RATE and Latency which may improve matters.

but the question really being if i were to upgrade to ISDN home highway (can't get cable of ADSL in the sticks ) will this improve the gameplay - (remove most of these 2-3 second "hangs")?

so are any of you guys using 128k isdn and are the broadband guys giving you the same probs?

are there equivalents of BT home highway from other providers and are they any good or cheaper ?

thanks

 

I had to get isdn as there is no adsl or cable in my area yet. It doe's make a big difference, i hardly get any lag now. BTW 128k makes no difference to the ping as its still running at 64k just on 2 lines 2x64k. I get pings of around 40-110 on isdn on 64k.

 

Yup 60 - 120, normally round 80-90 on HH 1ch 64k



Still die at the hand of a 300 pinger though

 

sl2,

can you not "bundle" both 64k lines into a 128K connection?

 

Yes you can "bundle" 2 together but that will only give you more bandwidth (and cost u 2 phone calls)

let me explain
the "ping" is the time it take for a packet of information to go from your machine to the server and back again. What really effects the "ping" is the technology (analog modem or digital like isdn) used and the media it flows over (your copper phone line or even fiber optic cable).

the "ping" is not genereally the worst thing. its packet loss. This is where rather than it just taking a while for the information to get there it just doesn't get there. There are lots of sites dedicated to helping you optomize your internet connection (as well as ping) just search on google for "game ping improve" or something.

Whatever connection you get (56K, isdn, adsl, cable) the quality of the connection is VERY dependant on the quality of the little bit of copper that goes from your house to the exchange box (except cable where its a different bit of copper). With Adsl its also the distance from your house to the exchance.

In cs pull down the console "¬" key and type "net_graph 3" 1 and 2 are other types and 0 turns it off. this shows you whats happening with your connection. the red spikes are packet loss and the green line is the ping going up and down.

It also matters WHEN you play.. try at 7 when all the school kids are browsin and everyone is checking there email and your bound to have a crap connection.

I have ADSL at home £40 a month no call charges. which I use far too much. I think its much better value for money than isdn which comes in @ about £30 odd a month + calls.

Cable works on a slightly different technology (broadcast) to ADSL and technically isn't as good but most of the cable players I see have lower pings than be but I can't see what the netgraph looks like.

If you can IMHO, get cable as its only £24.99 on month

coor.. didn't mean to rant quite so much.. hope this disjoint crap helps a bit

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Dizzy:
[B]If you can IMHO, get cable as its only £24.99 on month
[B]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

24.99 per month includes the rental of the cable modem. 19.99 per month otherwise. i would advise renting the modem. mine would cost around 150 quid, so if you do the maths then it would take 75 months to get your money back of you bought one.

dave

 

Keep in mind your packet loss may not be a problem with your modem/ISP, depending on where your server is there could be any number of bottlenecks in between. Test bandwidth with pathchar, check the path your packets take with traceroute, etc.

Steve.

 

thanks for the info - very interesting.

unfortunately i don't have the option of cable or adsl (nor for the in the forseable (sp) future - bloody villages!)

so it's either ISDN or nothing.

but having witnessed my mates ADSL connection it just pains me to pay the same for an ISDN connection that is not as good (different league althogether!).

are there other alternatives?

 

realistically.... no. there are things like satalite links leased lines etc but u dont want that
ISDN is good enough for u village ppl (some ppl think that isdn is best for games anyway).
sorry.


[This message has been edited by Dizzy (edited 30 August 2001).]

 

Remember you don't share your connection to the isp with isdn, on adsl there could be 20-50 other people on that same connection. Also i've seen people on cable connections getting major lag while isdn is fine. It is expensive for isdn but it's alot better then a 56k modem(really 40-48k download and probably max of 30k upload). Also connecting to the internet takes a few seconds on isdn. So if it's your only choice then go for it.

 

I'm on Home Highway and fully endorse what SL2 says.

I am at the moment looking into ADSL, what do you mean £40 and no call charges, BT tell me I will have line rental and call charges like a normal phone bill for anything other than internet.

Ther drawback is we lose two of our 3 phone numbers and we have to pay £99 to have HH converted back to normal (ie unscrew a box from the wall) to then convert to ADSL.

I also understand that the ADSL "splitter" is positioned nearest the point of entry to your premises for the phone line. There is no valid technical reason for this, it just means they can fit more in less time if they just whack it int and leave cabling up to the punter.

I am rapidly going off the idea. ISDN does the job OK.