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dr.dirt · Nov 16, 2001, 12:11 AM

I just got DSL on my Imac and the download speed is better 220-320 versus 42-45 on my 56k, but in playing UT my ping is not significantly better. Anyone know why? I'm pretty dissapointed as far as gaming goes.
Thanks,
Doc

xyber233 · Nov 16, 2001, 09:07 AM

What are your pings? Also, did you change the rate?

dr.dirt · Nov 16, 2001, 09:24 AM

Thanks xyber! Most pings are 110 plus. Out of 2900 servers I get 10 or so that are less than 100. Those are the only improvement I have seen over the dial-up. When I could get my wireless service to work I would get many pings in the 30-80 zone. Any help would be appreciated.

seanyepez · Nov 16, 2001, 09:42 AM

I guess this requres a little explaining.

All pings sucked over 56k. Period. You really couldn't tell the difference between a 400 ping and a 350 ping. Now, a 50 "ping" difference might seem a lot to you. No longer is the main latency factor your main lline to your ISP. Servers physically close to your ISP will ping better than those a greater distance from your ISP.

With my cable, I ping 20-30 to servers in the Bay Area. However, when I try Seattle, Washington or Texas, my pings are in the 50-75 range. East coast servers give me a ping of about 100-125. If I try a UK server, I'd get about 150.

seanyepez · Nov 16, 2001, 09:43 AM

Out of 2900 servers in the world, ten that ping less than a hundred mean that the rest of the servers are quite a distance from you. Play on those ten servers.

dr.dirt · Nov 16, 2001, 12:31 PM

Does that mean that cable would be the best system for good on-line gaming performance? Would I see better performance out of cable in my southwest desert location?
Thanks again!

rampant · Nov 16, 2001, 05:41 PM

UT has kinda bad netcode, with my cable I get around 150 for most all servers. For a real difference, if you have quake 3, try that. The ping is gives you is real. (for real pings in UT, hit "f6" because the f1 pings are bullshit)

xyber233 · Nov 17, 2001, 12:11 PM

UT does have a pretty bad netcode. Most pings for anyone is usually around 100. Thats true for anyone with cable or dsl. Keep in mind that the more people in your area using cable, the slower it will be. DSL is fine for you. I suggest trying other games and see how much improvement there is.

Chimpmaster · Nov 18, 2001, 10:14 PM

I have had both cable and adsl over the past 2 years (at different times, in different houses

)

Cable was generally a touch faster than adsl at its best, but adsl was/is far more consistent - especially during peak hour.

It wasnt uncommon to get pings of around 100-200 on cable during peak hour, when I would be getting around 50-100 on adsl 24 hours a day.

110 is on the higher end. The only real way for you to test it is to find a couple of local servers and see if you get better pings.

THe comment made earlier about the net code in UT is correct - try quake 3 or AVP gold or sin. You will likely get better ping on those servers.

Having said all of this, any ping under 100 is very acceptable. I actually find anything under about 200 is playable - to the point that you can compete with the LPB's mostly.

System performance is far more important (ie id rather be on a g4 with voodoo 3 on 56k than an ibook with adsl) - slow fps will give you a laggy feeling.