Just want to show you's something ...

ando

I just wanted to post this picture to show exactly what its like for the vast majority of irish people playing games online .... This is a screenshot that I took juring the game... (The highlighted player is me)... And look at that wonderful ping I have there ... 374 .... I love 56k ... I love Eircom ...

Everyone else on the server are from england, germany and austria ... It just shows how behind ireland is

seamus

Yep good example. Although what does the whole ping thing in cs mean? Is that the ping time from your comp to the server, ie is that 374msec to ping the server?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by seamus
Yep good example. Although what does the whole ping thing in cs mean? Is that the ping time from your comp to the server, ie is that 374msec to ping the server?

It's the full round trip from the computer to the server and back again. 374msec is pretty disasterous in CS.

Moriarty

I get 160 pings to barrysworld cs/tribes servers with my 33.6 modem using esat no-limits. Give esat dialup a try, it may help - whenever i try to use eircom dialup i know my ping doubles...

They cant even do an ISP right

Medion

That is discraseful ping time compared to other's ping for CS! This is not tech board or CS board but I not sure weather it's to server or back but "ping" originates form naval background and use of sonar where sound bounces out and back again and that calculates the full distance or something buy the time it revived back again and the ping sound represent that length of time.

Try a diffrent ISP or new technology like ISDN to see if that helps.

Medion!

Dustaz

OK first up, small point, Thats not Counter-strike. Thats UT i think (or q3? dont play either).
Secondly, where was the server? Most ppl playing online games from Ireland get much lower pings than that. I know when i was 56k i got pings in the region of 150-200 with a lot of games, lower when i invested in a good modem and got a good night on esat.

Post up your system config and we might be able to reduce that ping a little.

Medion

Dustaz m8 sorry for the confusion and misinformation but it's an easy thing to happen on forum.

1) I have Picture turned off in browser so went by figures stated
2) Another member mentioned "CS" an another member quoted "CS" again so I assumed that's what they were talking about.

Again, Sorry for misunderstanding m8 and I have looked at picture and yes it's UT ...

seamus

Originally posted by Dustaz
OK first up, small point, Thats not Counter-strike. Thats UT i think (or q3? dont play either).
Secondly, where was the server? Most ppl playing online games from Ireland get much lower pings than that. I know when i was 56k i got pings in the region of 150-200 with a lot of games, lower when i invested in a good modem and got a good night on esat.

Post up your system config and we might be able to reduce that ping a little.

Touchy on the whole cs thing aren't we hehe. No, even so, you must admit that 150-200 is much higher than the rest of those values, although if the server was on the continent........ And a good night on esat? We shouldn't really have to put up with that, service should be constant throughout :mad: This damn country......

ando

Just to stop confusion, the game is Star Trek Voyager, Elite Force (based on Quake3), and the server I was playing on was Barrysworld (England).

BTW, the lowest ping I've ever managed to get was 175... when there was only 3/4 players connected to the server.

PiE

A good external modem really helped me lower my ping back in the days when I was a R6 junkie

I got a US Robotics and it brought my 800ms down to about 200ms to mplayer.com (*sob*).

If thats not possible, try getting the latest drivers for the modem, that also helped me before I got the USR.

Ping will still suck compared to those guys tho

Boston

800ms, what where you on, one of those super fast 2kbps modems

Dustaz

Originally posted by ando
Just to stop confusion, the game is Star Trek Voyager, Elite Force (based on Quake3), and the server I was playing on was Barrysworld (England).

BTW, the lowest ping I've ever managed to get was 175... when there was only 3/4 players connected to the server.

Well ando, then thats not eircoms fault, thats yours im afraid.
If you got DSL would you just plug it in and expect good pings? You have to tweak, tweak and then tweak some more to get good results with any internet connection.

I suspect your using a winmodem/internal modem on your machine. You need an external one for a decent ping. Also what spec is your computer?

PiE

Was a supar-l33t Rockwell internal software modem running the default drivers which were about 4 years old :]

ando

Originally posted by Dustaz

If you got DSL would you just plug it in and expect good pings?

well, yeah !!

I suspect your using a winmodem/internal modem on your machine. You need an external one for a decent ping. Also what spec is your computer?

I was using my internal USrobotics 56k, but that one is a disaster for pings... I'm now using a 3Com PCMCIA laptop 56k/100Mbps LAN card (I use NAT to connect PC to internet through Laptop). Laptop=pentium 233Mhz 64Mb Ram PC=Pentium3 500Mhz 128Mb Ram(both have windows2000)...... any ideas on how to tweak the modem ?

PiE

You sure it's not just your line? Cos I used one of those laptop modems before and I was getting under 100ms to American servers.

(This thread is gonna be moved somewhere pretty sharply I'd bet )

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Trust me a ping of 375 in a Q3-based game (like Elite Force) has nothing to do with you being in Ireland. I'm in the UK, running an external USB 56k modem which put a big hole in me wallet and still I can't get pings of below 350 in Q3, after trying every tweak I could find. Most likely it's just your local line which is probably complete and utter 5h1te like mine - I played at a friends house with exactly the same comp specs as mine even down to the modem, and got a much lower ping. I'm assuming u can get DSL... which is more than I can say for meself BT will be making my area DSL-ready after some other areas which are clearly more important... like empty lighthouses and little farms 100 miles from anywhere... Join BT! Brain-owners need not apply!

MiCr0

Originally posted by Zaphod Beeblebrox
I'm assuming u can get DSL... which is more than I can say for meself BT will be making my area DSL-ready after some other areas which are clearly more important... like empty lighthouses and little farms 100 miles from anywhere... Join BT! Brain-owners need not apply!

hehe
if only
if only!!!

Medion

It's nice to see good atmosphere now without moderator intervention weather on topic or not

I think eircom's network should somehow effect the ping as there are few and far between backbones here compared to England and of much lesser capacity! Come the evening time Irish traffic slows down to a crawl.

Try the same game and server between 3-4 in the morning which is optimal time for good bandwidths internationally with Ireland according to HEA

Dustaz

Medion shut up and go back to smashing the system.

The reason traffic is slow in the evening is because thats when people arrive home from work and do thier browsing. Its when phone calls get cheap so people start downloading and eating up bandwith. Its also when East coast US goes on lunch and West coast US starts working. This has nothing to do with eircom, its just tough.


Ando, i kinda know nothing about laptops but would connecting to another pc with NAT and sharing a 56k line not cut your bandwith? not sure.
If your serious about gaming then get a good external modem or even ISDN. I had an internal jobbie, which was awful. I bought meself an external and it really helped me with ping issues.

Of course if your line is cràp, then theres not a lot you can do, bar order a new one and that IS eircoms fault.

ando

Try the same game and server between 3-4 in the morning

Good idea medion, but there's no hope of me staying up that late to play the game !!!

but would connecting to another pc with NAT and sharing a 56k line not cut your bandwith? not sure

na, its just as fast as connecting directly, unless 2 of the computers are browsing the net at the same time

if your line is cràp, then theres not a lot you can do, bar order a new one

Done that, I'm waiting for the 3rd and final stage of getting it installed (next week)... of course, if the line passes the ADSL test, then I can throw my 56k and the ugly 374 ping out the window !

m1ke

Barrysworld just peered more closely with eircom (I emailed them and asked them to and they did). So pings from indigo/eircom to Barrysworld should be quite tolerable now.

Prehaps the 375 ping thing is a game settings problem (with Quake3 netcode you can expect a lot of tweaking before you can find a stable connection). Maybe you're on "lan" settings, and when another player comes near you spike up to 375.

Recently i've found ISDN pretty damn playable on Barrysworld, (and superbly playable on Jolt). Pinging 30-50 on Jolt servers and 40-60 on Barrysworld. (You still however have to pay through the ****in nose to use ISDN hence IOFFL heh:)

When I was on 56k - I was able to ping about 140/150 on Jolt servers and about 220 on Barrysworld (although since they peered with eircom that should be about 170). Proper net settings you can expect to make that connection more stable.

I suggest reading a few modem tweak guides, and a few Quake3 netcode tweak guides, and finding your best possible ISP for playing games on to improve your connection.

PiE

Originally posted by ando
but there's no hope of me staying up that late to play the game

Aww no commitment these days

Medion

Medion shut up and go back to smashing the system. Dustaz

1) I have not smashed anything just trying my best to help so if you want to comment on another issue comment in the other thread

2) Your are correct about people going online during day so yes that why I suggest morning time.

3) Bandwidth is not slow because there is to many people on but rather the backbones are not fast and don't have the capacity compare to other countries. we only have 55mbit lines here!

Medion!

dahamsta

In the spirit of Christmas, I have banned Medion, also known as Pragmatica. Just for the fun of it. Don't like it? Ask for my resignation!

Merry Christmas IrelandOffline members! You bunch are the coolest lot ever!

adam

seamus

YAY!! Drunk mods!!! :D Merry Chrimbo, and pat and on the back for the last 7(?) months of hard work