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david.dakota

Ping. Some advice on internet connection

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We recently had qiute a bit of work done on out BT landline some time ago. The work was to correc an overhearing problem, and a constant crackle on the line. Before the work was done, our internet connection was shockingly slow, 330kps. The slow broadband connection was a side effect of the other problems, and in all honesty, the real reason we had BT repair the line.

 

Since the repair was done, our connection has settled at around 2mps. Our neighbours get around 3mps.

 

The BT engineer said that the repair should increase the top speed, but could lower ping.

 

Obviously, an increase in top speed will be good, but ping... I seem to recall it being somewhat important in online gaming? Is a drop in ping good or bad?

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Ping is how fast the computer receives a response from ip that was pinged.

 

As Caris said, faster the better.

 

Download speeds vary from whatever server your downloading from, not always relevant to what your neighbours get.

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Ping is how fast the computer receives a response from ip that was pinged.

 

As Caris said, faster the better.

 

Download speeds vary from whatever server your downloading from, not always relevant to what your neighbours get.

 

So, should I be looking at a lower or higher ping? You've confused this easily confusable brain!

 

I've been looking at the BT wholesale speed estimate tool. Here all neighbours are estimated at 3, although we, oddly are estimated much lower... The BT engineer has effectively shortened our line lgth so we should be hitting better speeds?

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You could ask your ISP to put you onto a fastpath connection if it isn't already as this should lower your ping , it may also increase your synch rate.

 

Depending on your ISP it should be easy for them to do , although it is also worth considering that if the quality of your line isn't great it could make your connection more unstable.

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So, should I be looking at a lower or higher ping? You've confused this easily confusable brain!

 

I've been looking at the BT wholesale speed estimate tool. Here all neighbours are estimated at 3, although we, oddly are estimated much lower... The BT engineer has effectively shortened our line lgth so we should be hitting better speeds?

 

Should is a big word. Companies promise a lot and don't always deliver.

 

We had issues with our line a while back, my dad changed the telephone cable internally (I assume that's what you had done?) It improved it slightly, but its nowhere near where it should be. (get 1/2mb, should theoretically get 3.5mb)

 

A ping speed of 2 milliseconds is better than a ping speed of say 3 milliseconds. It means the data is getting to you faster - ie faster speeds.

 

There are a lot of factors in getting good speeds

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All our work was external. Our line used to run from the green street box, round the street at the back of our home, and eventually reached us. Since the original lines were put in, a new housing estate was built just down the road... BT gave this housing its own ducting and cabling which runs straight past our house - obviously a more direct route. When the BT engineer fixed our line, he used the brand new cabling for the new houses, routed it up telegraph pole and rejoined to our drop line. Essentially, we have a shorter and newer cable from green box to the telegraph pole.

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Ping is basically response time, measured in milliseconds.

 

Obviously the lower the number of milliseconds the better :)

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ok I think we have established the lower the ping the better.

 

It sounds like your ping rate should have gone down, but the engineer may know things about the way he's done it that we don't, which may well have increased your ping times.

 

You could check your ping time yourself, open a command line and run this (without quotes): 'ping www.google.co.uk'

 

I usually get around 30ms to 40ms response time from Google, but unless you're getting something a lot higher than that, everything should be ok.

 

 

It could be the engineer was just trying to sound smart by using scary technology words.

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Just adding to this, what is a good general ping rate?

 

Mine is currently 30-35 and never had any online gaming problems so im guessing that is ok?

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Just adding to this, what is a good general ping rate?

 

Mine is currently 30-35 and never had any online gaming problems so im guessing that is ok?

 

Yeah thats about average and quite good :)

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I should think the ping'd depend on both parties either side? You'll have a much higher ping trying to connect to somewhere in australia than somewhere in london. So distance plays a big part in determining the ping, so how can you say what's a good ping or not?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, saw the thing about pinging google.co.uk

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double figures is fine for online gaming really. Heck, 56k used to put you in triple figures and people still managed to play counterstrike. well, sort off. Ah the days of rubberbanding in dust 2....

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First test: 302ms

 

Second Test: 31ms

 

Third Test: 61ms

 

Unstable internet FTW!

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