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cold aspiration · Oct 6, 2006, 01:23 AM

Hey guys. I have a question about using my ethernet cable. At my college, we usually can get wireless anywhere, but my dorm room is on the very top floor, so I have to resort to plugging in the ethernet cable to my MBP 17". I was under the impression universities have extremely fast and stable internet connections ... and this was confirmed with the speed safari was zooming through the web.

However, I booted into XP using boot camp and then I started playing counter-strike / dod. Well it just so happens everyone else has a ping of 10-30 while i am constantly at 200, 350. and It is unbearable! My wireless connection at home keeps me in the constant 20s. The same story for my roomates computer. I tried disconnecting my cable while leaving his in, no change.

This is a direct connection from a wall to the computer, no routers. However, in another dorm building on the other side of campus, I tried counter-strike there and got ping of less than 10! I was using a router there though.

What do you guys think the problem is? Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

brokenjago · Oct 6, 2006, 01:30 AM

Ethernet cables are faster than Wireless internet connections.

It could be due to just your port. Have you tried plugging into any others in your room?

When I lived on campus at CSUN (California State University Northridge) Wired was much faster than wireless.

cold aspiration · Oct 6, 2006, 01:33 AM

We have two ports in the room. I got one plugged in and my roomie has the other. We both get the same results ... But I guess I could go try the ethernet port in the lounge. And yes etherent is a lot faster =P. Maybe not for gaming though? That was why I am confused. Thanks for the quick reply btw.

brokenjago · Oct 6, 2006, 02:16 AM

Ethernet is a lot faster for everything.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe you could contact your housing's IIS department? (Internet Information Services)

ghporter · Oct 6, 2006, 07:02 AM

Your cable, the jack, the cable to your jack, the router port in the wiring closet that your room's jack is connected to, and a bunch of other things could be giving you problems. I'd start with a NEW, factory-made patch cord and see where that gets you.

Millennium · Oct 6, 2006, 07:41 AM

Keep in mind that ping time is about latency, not bandwidth. Both are valid measurements, but they measure very different things. As you've noticed, low latency is good. Ethernet cables should have lower latency than wireless in basically any situation. This is why LAN-parties tend to use wired connections.

From the information you've supplied, it sounds like something is seriously wrong with the way the campus is wired. Somewhere along the line is a very high-latency (or perhaps just unreliable) connection. You'll need to contact your campus IT department about that.

I do have one test you should try, though it will take both your machine and your roommate's. It will work best if one of you has a desktop and one of you has a laptop, though two laptops will also work. Run a CS server on the desktop, connect from the laptop in the same room, and measure the ping time. It should be quite fast. Leave the server running, take the laptop to various locations around campus, plug it in with a wired connection (this is important), connect to the server, and measure the ping time. Ideally it will stay fast as long as you're physically close by, but eventually the ping time will get very high again. When it does, you've found the weak link: it's somewhere between your previous location and the one you're at now.

Again, you'll need to contact your campus IT department. However, if you can find the weak link ahead of time, it will help them.

cold aspiration · Oct 6, 2006, 06:24 PM

Okay guys, I bought a new cable (belkin) and no difference. I actually think it has gotten a little worse. Well isn't so much of an issue that I am willing to devote days to the problem, walking across campus and such ... The campus tech help is closed at the moment so I guess I will give them a call. So it is definately not the cable's fault.

Any other things that I can do?

dimmer · Oct 6, 2006, 08:07 PM

802.11 (wireless, err, ethernet) updates Ethernet to run over a new media. 802.3 (wired) has nothing different going for it EXCEPT: you can "switch" on a wired network, as it is in effect point to point, and assuming you are not running 4MB wired, 802.3 will give you 10MB, 100MB, or 1000MB of through-put. None of this matters for game play, of course. I'd suspect your University had a poorly admin'd Checkpoint firewall (or similar) that has been set to more rigoursoly check wireless vs. wired communication, or a really crap NAT router (think Cisco/Linksys).

cold aspiration · Oct 7, 2006, 04:54 AM

^ Interesting .. Though if that was the case, I would experience the same phenomenon in another dorm building, but I don't.

Another interesting piece of information I just uncovered. I went to PC Pitstop: Free PC Diagnostics, computer help and Tuneups and ran the internet ping test. My scores were very good and almost always 3/5 were in the best greenest of the green section. I did this test in windows mode too. But if my ping is so great there ... how come it sucks in cs ? As of right now, I am using cs as a ping measurement tool more than anything =P

seanc · Oct 7, 2006, 08:21 AM

Maybe your building has a different router or firewall to the other building. Your router firewall is blocking CS packets while the other is not. Maybe someone asked IT to open the CS port in the other building.

amazing · Oct 7, 2006, 09:08 AM

Hey, I think I'd briefly borrow your friend's router from the dorm room across the campus to see if that made your dorm room faster. Might be something in the router settings that agrees better with the campus network.

Or, CompUSA has a Hawking 11-g router for only $15 this weekend. You could see if that helps your ethernet connection (and, legally, you'd probably have to disable the wireless portion due to campus regulations. Campuses don't want unregulated wireless access points proliferating in dorm rooms--and they have the legal right to enforce that restriction.) You can always return the Hawking for a refund if it doesn't help.

cold aspiration · Oct 8, 2006, 01:35 PM

See, that is what I thought of to do at first ... to get a hub. But does that technically make any sense?? Wouldnt a direct ethernet connection from my computer to the wall be the same thing??