Upload/Download speeds versus Ping: Why my ping never gets any better with faster UL

Pocatello

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When my ISP, Cable One, increased UL and DL speeds a year ago... I assumed that my ping might get better as measured in my online gaming. But I noticed no difference at all.

Cable One is offering new and speedier services: 75/5, and 100/10. I'm tempted to pay more... but I don't know why my ping never gets any better. 50/3 is still the default. I had been on a 10/0.5 plan and I assumed that 50/3 would be a big difference.

I'm comparing apples to apples with my online gaming. I play games generally on only one server, and the server never changed locations when my internet speeds increased.

Any explanation? Thanks.
 
just because you have a bigger pipe, doesn't mean that little packet can travel faster.

You have a car that can do 200MPH.

Think it will go faster on an empty 8-lane highway vs a 4-lane highway?
Nope, it still peaks out at 200MPH regardless of how much room (assuming empty highway, of course.)
 
There are soooooooo many things that can affect ping time it would blow your mind to try and resolve a way to lower them, especially on the consumer end of things. A fatter pipe, as j-sta mentioned, typically isn't one of them. Although in extreme cases it can help if you were upload starved in the first place. Wont go into those examples since they really don't apply in this day and age anymore even with slow as hell DSL.

You can't really control ping times outside your home network which should never go above 1ms. Doesn't help that U.S. backbone agreements can add far more latency to a packet than there should be. It isn't uncommon for packets to bounce from say Portland, down to LA, back to Seattle, then somewhere else. All unnecessary as far as we're concerned, but because of agreements that's just how it is. Packets bounce around in the U.S. like a pinball.
 
0. Are you hooked up wired or wireless?
1. What hardware are you using?
2. Do you have the latest BIOS installed on your motherboard?
3. What OS are you running?
4. What NIC do you have?
5. Do you have the latest drivers for your NIC?
6. How are you hooked up to your ISP?
a. Are you renting one of their modems? If so, what is the brand/model?
b. Do you have a switch or anything else between the modem and your computer? If so, what?

7. What online games are you playing?
8. Where are the servers located in relation to you?
9. Are you running the Windows firewall?
10. What AV/antimalware/internet security software are you using?
11. Do you have anything else running in the background such as a cloud backup service?
12. Is anybody else in the house using the connection at the same time?
 
When my ISP, Cable One, increased UL and DL speeds a year ago... I assumed that my ping might get better as measured in my online gaming. But I noticed no difference at all.

Cable One is offering new and speedier services: 75/5, and 100/10. I'm tempted to pay more... but I don't know why my ping never gets any better. 50/3 is still the default. I had been on a 10/0.5 plan and I assumed that 50/3 would be a big difference.

I'm comparing apples to apples with my online gaming. I play games generally on only one server, and the server never changed locations when my internet speeds increased.

Any explanation? Thanks.


It would probably help us more to tell us what the ping time is so we can tell you if it's acceptable or not. And no a faster connection doesn't mean your ping times will be less.
 
It would probably help us more to tell us what the ping time is so we can tell you if it's acceptable or not. And no a faster connection doesn't mean your ping times will be less.

Ping was 122 last night playing Team Fortress 2.
 
Ping was 122 last night playing Team Fortress 2.

hardwired?
wireless?
ping times to other sites/servers around the same?
provide a tracert to that server?

There are a lot of variables; the latency could be your ISP, your ISP's backbone, network congestion within the backbone's network, issues at the server-hosting site, server-hosting site's provider, your internet connection, the remote server itself, your own internal network.
 
1. What hardware are you using? Not sure. It has been a long time. Quad core, way older than Sandy Bridge... no hyperthreading that I recall.


2. Do you have the latest BIOS installed on your motherboard? No.

3. What OS are you running? Windows 7 Ultimate.

4. What NIC do you have? I have a drop-in Intel GB NIC.

5. Do you have the latest drivers for your NIC? Yes, as far as I know.

6. How are you hooked up to your ISP? Wired ethernet.
a. Are you renting one of their modems? If so, what is the brand/model? I bought my own: Motorola Surfboard. It is about a year old. I bought the newest one available at the time. No wireless ability.
b. Do you have a switch or anything else between the modem and your computer? If so, what? I have a 3Com 24-port GB switch behind a dual core Intel home-grown Untangle Firewall.

7. What online games are you playing? TF2, Borderlands, L4D.

8. Where are the servers located in relation to you? I don't know. I used to know.

9. Are you running the Windows firewall? No.

10. What AV/antimalware/internet security software are you using? Symantec Endpoint Protection (corporate edition).

11. Do you have anything else running in the background such as a cloud backup service? No.

12. Is anybody else in the house using the connection at the same time? Yes. Always. Kids and their computers, streaming video.

Thanks! Great list of questions!
 
hardwired?
wireless?
ping times to other sites/servers around the same?
provide a tracert to that server?

There are a lot of variables; the latency could be your ISP, your ISP's backbone, network congestion within the backbone's network, issues at the server-hosting site, server-hosting site's provider, your internet connection, the remote server itself, your own internal network.

Hard wired.

I don't have answers for the other questions, but I could look into that when I get home.
 
8. Where are the servers located in relation to you? I don't know. I used to know.

That's the single most important question there. Example: if you're in the states then playing on a server in europe will give horrible ping times.

Head over to speedtest.net and run a test on a few servers closeby, see what pings you get from them.
 
Post a traceroute to the IP address of the server and that should explain all.
 
I would kick everybody else off the network and then test your pings.

Other people doing stuff at the same time, especially streaming and online gaming, can negatively impact your ping times in a big way.

I also would try it after disabling Symantec.

I would also test it by hooking the modem directly up to your computer.
 
Did you notice any change at all in your game experience? It is possible your server is the limitation. (how many connections it has to go through in order to reach the server, etc.)

One thing to note is some devices along the way may have a very low priority for ICMP (ping) traffic so your ping may actually be worse than it would be if all things were equal and as such is not a really great indicator. Actual gameplay experience would be a much better metric.
 
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Post a traceroute to the IP address of the server and that should explain all.
Yup. Traceroute will give you a great overview of what's actually happening.

I'd just ping my ISP's gateway, and if that's in an acceptable range ( ~10ms for me ) than there won't be much you can do to improve your latency.
 
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