HELP...Broadband Networking Question...

[Playmaker]

I just got off the phone with Cableone tech support (my cable provider) for over the 10th time in the past month, and now I have some questions. Usually they just have me reset my modem like I'm a n00b and nothing happens. Here is my problem...I play CS with over 10 friends that live in my town. To a local server I ping anywhere from 60-80, while EVERY SINGLE one of my friends pings 20s and sometimes single digits. Some even have a 400k download version of the cable and I have the 800k download. There is one other friend that lives REALLY close to me that pings up to the 40s sometimes with spikes, but never as high as me. I also get spikes of over 2000-3000 that last for upwards of 5-6 minutes. Today the tech support guy thinks he finally found the problem. He told me that my "card" at my "blade" must be faulty and not handling UDP packets very well, since UDP packets is what CS uses. He had me ping my gateway and I pinged 13, 147, 164, 19 so he thinks this must be it. However, he said he doubts they'll fix it since it works fine for web surfing and only one other person, most likely my friend, has complained about it being bad for games. Can anyone tell me what's going on? How can I fix it? Am I screwed just becuase I have a different gateway ip then my friends? HELP!!!

 

[cleverhandle]

You're pretty much screwed. Maybe the card really is bad, or maybe the tech's just giving you the runaround cause their routing's crappy (are your friends using the same provider?) Either way, ping times don't have anything to do with your bandwidth, and there's nothing you can about them other than complain to your provider and/or change to a different one.

 

[brashquido]

If they've giving you the "tough luck" attitude, I'd be reading your contract very carefully, specifically in terms of service levels. If possible I'd also try and get some legal advice, and perhaps even contact the telecommunications onbudsman. Don't take any crap from them, telecommunication companies are governed (at least in Australia anyway) by fairly strict rules. If they've tied you down to a contract of some kind, they have to garantee a minimum level of service. They can be sued for not meeting this level!

Good luck!!

 

[Ausm]

Unfortunately the tough luck attitude seems to prevail more with Cable providers then DSL providers


Ausm

 

[Cuular]

Like he mentioned in his first message. That problem doesn't impact the surfing or download speed. So the cable company is living up to it's contract of providing him with a certain speed broadband connection. I am pretty sure that nowhere in the contract does it state a speed of guaranteed "ping times" for online games. Thats something that they just can't guarantee.

 

[Playmaker]

Yes, all my friends are on the same ISP. I live in a town with this cable as my only broadband option, as DSL doesn't reach me. They advertise "blazing fast speed for games" and "reliability". I was also told my connection would work great for games. If others are on the same ISP and even paying less while getting better performance and service that is bullshit. I always talk to the tech support reps down in TX somewhere I think. Maybe tomorrow I'll go in person to my local outlet.

 

[insdav3]

When I used to have DSL my ping sucked like 100+ pings, never below. I switched to comcast and i'm pretty happy with them so far (other than cost) .... if you say your all on the same network / ISP in town, try switching your NIC card.

 

[Playmaker]

Switch my NIC card? Hmmm, I use a Linksys LNE100TX and have one on my other comp too which has the same problems. We are both behind an SMC router. I suppose I could try that. Do you really think it would make a difference?