Gaming with comcast higher speeds

zombix

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
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Im gaming with comcast highspeed internet. My download speed is about 768-788 but when i first start to download a file it will hit about 1.5 mbs and then slow down to about 7 something kb.

i was thinking of getting the 6mb down version, and i was wondering if my ping in games would go down in the single digits for more servers then with my current speed on some servers..

Right now my ping on servers close by is in the single digits. But i would happily switch to a higher downstream if i could pick up more servers around the country with single digit pings.


Edit- anyone know the price difference for 6mb down?
 
What you ultimately want is low latency in gaming. To achieve this
you're best off finding servers that are hosted at NOCs that directly
peer with your service provider. This will provide the least number of hops.

Laymens terms example; I have 20/20 FIOS, but my data center
where several game servers are hosted is not peered to Verizon,
so playing from verizon requires several extra hops.

This same datacenter IS directly peered to Comcast, so someone
using a cheap 5/768k connection would most likely wind up with a better ping and lower latency.

Raising overall bandwidth is more of a bandaid, but honestly,
you're a gamer, not a network engineer, so it really doesn't matter in the end.

PS- Is 6 the best you can do? That's pretty freaking bad. My 20/20 is roughly $50/mo.

<this post was 100% dumbed down to laymens terms, so I'd appreciate if no other net-engs/admins got on my nuts>
 
My Comcast bill for 6mb down and the most basic of cable packages (I get most of my TV from DirecTV) is about $60 a month.
 
down isnt as important as up speed, 1mb is usually more then enough, all hih speed connections are good, as said, it is more the location of the server from you, and how many people on your nod sharing that cable line.
 
I have the Comcast Game Invasion package. It's 8 down and 768 up. $70 a month and my pings did not change when I upgraded from the 4 Mbit down package....but my downloads speeds increased a lot.
 
PS- Is 6 the best you can do? That's pretty freaking bad. My 20/20 is roughly $50/mo.

You claim to be a network engineer and say 6 is pretty bad. You make it seem like residential FIOS is available everywhere and that its been around forever. lol

For the OP upgrading will do relatively nothing to help pings. Your ping is from having to get from your computer to the end server. Multiplayer games use little bandwidth. A larger pipe will do nothing in regards to ping.
 
i go the comcast gaming package, its 16Mbit down / 768k up(60$), but since there arent many people in my area that have comcast internet i get about 21-22Mbit down, and relatively low pings.
 
I called comcast and asked about 6mb down, and they said "umm you already have 6mb down" . Well it turns out my connection has a weak signal so cable company is coming out today.
 
I had 6/384 with comcast. I just got the FioS triple play with a 20/5 tier. I'll say I was pleasantly surprised at the increase. For exmaple, in TF2 i have it filtering out any servers over 50 ping. I used to get maybe 30-40 servers at a time. Now I'm getting over 200 to choose from. It's pretty sweet.

Also, watch with comcast. They apparently do alot of traffic shaping. Torrents, etc. And that speed-boost tech is total BS.
 
I have the Comcast Game Invasion package. It's 8 down and 768 up. $70 a month and my pings did not change when I upgraded from the 4 Mbit down package....but my downloads speeds increased a lot.

Yep, in my area they simply unlock your download potential. On a regular day I would get 17mbps download and 1.5k upload when I test. On a shitty day it drops to 10mbps/1.5mbps and at night I am usually getting 27mbps/1.5mbps. It's pretty cool for downloading, gaming did not change a bit though.
 
You claim to be a network engineer and say 6 is pretty bad. You make it seem like residential FIOS is available everywhere and that its been around forever. lol

For the OP upgrading will do relatively nothing to help pings. Your ping is from having to get from your computer to the end server. Multiplayer games use little bandwidth. A larger pipe will do nothing in regards to ping.

Right, I was lying.

And 6/x is crap. But I also don't live in the boonies, and never would,
so I'm really not sympathetic. I had 15/2 FIOS 2 1/2 years ago.
 
Right, I was lying.

And 6/x is crap. But I also don't live in the boonies, and never would,
so I'm really not sympathetic. I had 15/2 FIOS 2 1/2 years ago.

Boonies? So I guess you concider 99% of the US boonies? Give me a break, I know a ton of places in good states that are unable to get anything besides Comcast.
 
Boonies? So I guess you concider 99% of the US boonies? Give me a break, I know a ton of places in good states that are unable to get anything besides Comcast.

76% of statistics are made up on the spot; regardless, you were close.

:)

Rural America has been and continues to be a vital part of the Nation.
Today, rural America comprises 2,288 counties . It contains 83 %
of the Nation's land and is home to 21 percent (51 million) of its
people.


Stop taking it personally, as a whole we're far behind smaller countries
in the realm of bandwidth.

6-30mb is pretty bad no matter how the cookie crumbles, especially
at the prices that we pay for it.
 
Fuckin shit...The cable dude came down and tested the line and told me my line was solid. I then tried downloading files (50mb) and would get at most about 800kb on a 6mb line.

He said thats normal...What a crock of shit, I wish I could get DSL I would switch in a heartbeat. On a 6mb connection, when i hit download it starts at 1mb then slows down to 800kb. 6mb my ass.
 
These abbreviations can be interpreted as:
MB/s = Megabytes (1024 Kilobytes) per second
Mb/s = Megabits (1024 Kilobits) per second
KB/s = Kilobytes (1024 bytes) per second
Kb/s = Kilobits (1024 bits) per second

A 6Mb line should get roughtly 750 Kb/s. So yeah thats normal.
 
Well I want DSL, which i cant get out here where i live. And i live right on the border of county and city in houston.

Since i believe, cable is taking alot of buisness away from at&t, i would guess that at&t would come out here and offer DSL. But its not that way....
 
Yes, they recently began offering symmetrical fx connections. Major cities only though so far, I think 3 total.

Oh, I wonder why RCN isn't doing that, right now i'm paying 60/month for 20mb/2mb.. :(

This is in Chicago, by the way..
 
Well I want DSL, which i cant get out here where i live. And i live right on the border of county and city in houston.

Since i believe, cable is taking alot of buisness away from at&t, i would guess that at&t would come out here and offer DSL. But its not that way....

Why in the world would you switch to DSL? Do you not understand how intran3t works?
 
I get 1000kpbs on my 8mb line Comcast line.. so you're right in there where you should be. Comcast, for all of their short comings, does have very fast and reliable internet service.. imo. I have been using broadband since 1999 (mostly DSL / various carriers) and this Comcast stuff is pretty nice.. unless you want to DL torrents but that's another story..lol. anyways, I think if you're not happy with 800kbps now DSL will mot make you any happier..

As for the whole private line thing, sure DSL is private down to the DSLAM at the Central Office, but I think all cable providers use DOCSIS which does provide security at the MAC layer and most cable providers also filter UDP port 137 blocking netbios adverts... improving the whole "network neighbothood" security issue.. but HEY, we should all be using real hardware firewalls by now.. you're only as secure as your least secure link.. so any connection using a real hardware firewall will be as secure as that firewall is, generally speaking So I wouldn't sweat the private line thing..

summary:
cable rocks.
get a firewall.

EDIT: interesting info on DOCSIS based cable modem security
 
phuck.. dbl post.. freakin firefox has been trippin on me all day... grr. anyways, the 20/20 FiOS stuff looks awesome.. but very limited availability.. that would be quite an upgrade if you can get it.
 
Oh, I wonder why RCN isn't doing that, right now i'm paying 60/month for 20mb/2mb.. :(

This is in Chicago, by the way..

Wait until Verizon converts from BPON to GPON. That will be incredible, finally.

"GPON can deliver a total pool of 2.4 Gbps down and 1.2Gbps up for the 32 households. Right now Verizon is testing that in Pennsylvania, seeing peak rates of 400Mbps down and sustained rates of 200Mbps. 200Mbps."

Keep in mind these are MEGABITS.
 
Right, I was lying.

And 6/x is crap. But I also don't live in the boonies, and never would,
so I'm really not sympathetic. I had 15/2 FIOS 2 1/2 years ago.

Not even worth writing a real response for a troll.


OP your answer still stands at increasing your pipe is only going to help on downloading/uploading and will do nothing for your pings.
 
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