How to test quality/reliability of internet connection?

Jul 29, 2006
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I moved to a new city a couple months ago and have just now had the time to take up online gaming again. I've been having a whole load of disconnects, however, and 'm worried that my new internet connection is sub-par. I plan on calling them about it, but I wanted to find some way to test it myself and figure out exactly what the problem is.

I'm using a Linksys WRT54GX router, connect by wire to my cpu and to a cable modem (my provider is Comcast, in Boston). In two months I really haven't had any trouble at all with websurfing, and I get excellent to decent pings on most servers (Halflife 2 variants, Battlefield 2142). I was getting kicked about every 5-10 minutes from the Battlefield servers, then switched to Day of Defeat Source.. the kicks stopped but I started getting periodic bursts of lag at around the same intervals, even though my average ping stayed very low.

Is there a good program for testing / recording the reliability of the connection? Does anyone have advice on how to best deal with the cable company about this?

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
Jul 29, 2006
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Thanks for the tips, I'll check those out right away.

I figured before presenting to the ISP I would need to connect directly. And I know the next issue they would raise is, "how do you know its not the gaming servers?" I'm pretty sure its my ISP on account of the problem existing across about a dozen servers I've tried, but hopefully I can prove there's a problem via the utilities you linked to..

Do you think they will respond if I can prove it that way, or are they going to argue that all they have to provide is 'basic' internet (i.e. the advertised bandwidth and basic www/telnet capacity)? I really think there's a signal problem that is going to make online gaming extremely difficult... :(
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
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You really do not know what their policy is until you try to talk to them.

My experience shows that across the board if one is assertive but polite and project a professional image knowing what he is doing the results are better.

If nothing works, asking to talk to a supervisor and indicating that there is a plan to terminate the service since if it does not work what the point to have, is the weapon of last resort.

Never treat with legal (lawsuit) type of ventures since it never works and make one appear foolish.