Post by Zangief on Sept 27, 2005 20:40:18 GMT -8
This will help clear up all of your misunderstanding of anything regarding your internet connection. It is painfully obvious that all of you except Rick don't really understand it. I will start off simple.
There are two main types of high speed internet connections that people use these days: cable and DSL. Cable internet is provided by your cable company through the same chord that your TV comes in on. A digital service line is provided through your phone line.
Cable is faster than DSL. A standard cable is usually about 1.5 Mbps (mega bits per second) download. Some may have 3 or 6 Mbps. This relates to how fast you can download files/information from the internet.
DSL ranges anywhere from 768 kbps to 3 Mbps. Again, this is your download speed.
The thing that most of you don't understad is that for broadband gaming, the most important factor is your UPLOAD speed. You see for gaming you have to send out all sorts of information to the internet. It is even more important when you are hosting a game because the host box has to send info to everyone in the game.
So before you start telling me how good your connection is, go find out your upload first. Your ISP will advertise the download speed because it will always be higher. My ISP (comcast) advertises "blazing fast high speed internet up to 6 Mpbs!!". That is all well in good if you want to download music or something. But their max upload is 386 kbps, which explains why I suck lately and why I am always so laggy.
Cable in general has a higher upload than DSL. You can get premium DSL with 512 or 768 upload for a little extra price, but that will put you around $30 or $40 a month, the same as a basic cable high speed connection.
If you have cable internet, you most likely have at least a 512 upload. If you have 768 or better, your gaming experience will be pretty good. You will get host alot and you won't have much lag. If everyone had 768 k upload, games would not be laggy and Halo would be alot more fun. But that will never happen.
Calico is in a unique situation. A T1 line will solve all your lag problems if you have a couple hundre bucks a month to drop. Low end T1 lines have a 1.5 meg download and upload. That is over twice the upload of most cable users, which is why he gets host most of the time. You can get an even faster T1 line, or get a T3 line and you might as well have a bridge because you will always have host.
Other factors that affect your connection speed: how many devices are using the internet in your house. All the computers and xbox's in your house share that upload and download capacity so the less trafic the better.
Also for cable users, you will experience slower internet in times of peak usage. This is because everyone else in your neighborhood is using the same lines to the ISP. This is not the case with DSL or a T1 line.
Running losts of cable or having a slow wireless connection will also lag you down. You can get wireless that runs at 108 Mbps. If you share your network, I wouldn't recomment 54 meg for gamming, but if that is your best option you will be ok. An out dated 802.11b network at 11 megs is not worth your time. If possible, run a cable to your xbox.
So feel free to share info if you like. I hope all you youngins have learned something. Just because your ISP advertises a transfer rate of 3 megs, your gamming experience may suck because of a low upload.
There are two main types of high speed internet connections that people use these days: cable and DSL. Cable internet is provided by your cable company through the same chord that your TV comes in on. A digital service line is provided through your phone line.
Cable is faster than DSL. A standard cable is usually about 1.5 Mbps (mega bits per second) download. Some may have 3 or 6 Mbps. This relates to how fast you can download files/information from the internet.
DSL ranges anywhere from 768 kbps to 3 Mbps. Again, this is your download speed.
The thing that most of you don't understad is that for broadband gaming, the most important factor is your UPLOAD speed. You see for gaming you have to send out all sorts of information to the internet. It is even more important when you are hosting a game because the host box has to send info to everyone in the game.
So before you start telling me how good your connection is, go find out your upload first. Your ISP will advertise the download speed because it will always be higher. My ISP (comcast) advertises "blazing fast high speed internet up to 6 Mpbs!!". That is all well in good if you want to download music or something. But their max upload is 386 kbps, which explains why I suck lately and why I am always so laggy.
Cable in general has a higher upload than DSL. You can get premium DSL with 512 or 768 upload for a little extra price, but that will put you around $30 or $40 a month, the same as a basic cable high speed connection.
If you have cable internet, you most likely have at least a 512 upload. If you have 768 or better, your gaming experience will be pretty good. You will get host alot and you won't have much lag. If everyone had 768 k upload, games would not be laggy and Halo would be alot more fun. But that will never happen.
Calico is in a unique situation. A T1 line will solve all your lag problems if you have a couple hundre bucks a month to drop. Low end T1 lines have a 1.5 meg download and upload. That is over twice the upload of most cable users, which is why he gets host most of the time. You can get an even faster T1 line, or get a T3 line and you might as well have a bridge because you will always have host.
Other factors that affect your connection speed: how many devices are using the internet in your house. All the computers and xbox's in your house share that upload and download capacity so the less trafic the better.
Also for cable users, you will experience slower internet in times of peak usage. This is because everyone else in your neighborhood is using the same lines to the ISP. This is not the case with DSL or a T1 line.
Running losts of cable or having a slow wireless connection will also lag you down. You can get wireless that runs at 108 Mbps. If you share your network, I wouldn't recomment 54 meg for gamming, but if that is your best option you will be ok. An out dated 802.11b network at 11 megs is not worth your time. If possible, run a cable to your xbox.
So feel free to share info if you like. I hope all you youngins have learned something. Just because your ISP advertises a transfer rate of 3 megs, your gamming experience may suck because of a low upload.
