My connection struggles HARD whn I play at TTP...

**Consultant** · 02-25-09, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by WileECyte

Your download speed is irrelevant to your ping. You can have an extremely fast download speed, but poor latency (high ping/dropped packets, etc.) Folks who have satellite internet generally have respectable download throughput, but the latency of the connection going from their PC up to the satellite and back down to earth to the 'uplink' adds hundreds, if not thousands of milliseconds of latency.

Something else you can do is:

ping -r 100 72.233.44.146

This will send 100 packets to the TF2 server. When it completes, it will tell you how many packets were dropped/lost. If it's above 0, then it could be a packet loss issue.

Looking at your traceroute though, shows that Level3 in Dallas may be the culprit. Your ISP or TTP's server host would need to take that issue up with Level 3 to get it corrected.

Which is the problem - how do I get them (Comcast) to take me seriously? Game server hosting companies have more clout in this regard than I do - so I'd expect TTP's provider may have better luck than me calling Comcast. So which of our esteemed owners/managers wants to call TTP's server host provider on my behalf?

**Ruukil** · 02-25-09, 11:14 AM

And so the list of requests begin.

**DJ Ms. White** · 02-25-09, 11:16 AM

Consultant, I had issues in the past on a few occasions with Suddenlink and Level3. I also happen to have insurance (about $4 a month). I call them up and explain the situation and reference the tracerts. After a while, they were able to sort things out. The Level3 issue took longer since Suddenlink had to first verify that the problem wasn't on my or their end before they could go bitch out Level3.

**DJ Ms. White** · 02-25-09, 11:18 AM

From what I've read, Level 3 doesn't realize that more internet traffic means that there will be more stress on their infrastructure.

**WileECyte** · 02-25-09, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Consultant

Which is the problem - how do I get them (Comcast) to take me seriously? Game server hosting companies have more clout in this regard than I do - so I'd expect TTP's provider may have better luck than me calling Comcast. So which of our esteemed owners/managers wants to call TTP's server host provider on my behalf?

If you can get multiple people having the same issue at the same point in their connectivity, I'd imagine that TTP would be more likely to have the hosting provider look into it. Comcast support is frustrating to work with. They assume everyone that calls is clueless. If you're lucky enough to get bumped up to their engineering support (had that happen ONCE while I was a Comcast customer) then you're more likely to get a resolution. It took a ton of phone calls to finally get an agent who was at least a little bit clueful to recognize what I was saying was true.

**DJ Ms. White** · 02-25-09, 11:22 AM

Wily, if you're still around DFW, try Verizon Fios. My parents got the complete package (phone, TV, Internet) and still save ~$160 a year right now as compared to when they had DSL and Comcast cable.

**Veovis** · 02-25-09, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by ...bigdog...

according to this...you're pinging in the 70-90ms. not great, but not unplayable.

150+?

Something very odd I have noticed is that I can ping texasteamplayers.com with Windows ping tool and get a certain number but it will often be much higher while actually in game. This may be the same thing happening to Consultant.

I live in Houston and used to ping around 80 to both servers and 20 to the match server, but the other night I was pinging below 20 to the main servers, which was very nice.

Consultant, you are right that ISP's promise bandwidth, not latency (which is ironic, since the word they use is "fast" which describes neither perfectly, but better describes latency than ping). When I was in college I had a cable connection that would ping over 300 to every game server in the country despite having awesome bandwidth. I eventually had to change providers, no way around it sometimes.

**Veovis** · 02-25-09, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by WileECyte

Looking at your traceroute though, shows that Level3 in Dallas may be the culprit. Your ISP or TTP's server host would need to take that issue up with Level 3 to get it corrected.

If it was that node, wouldn't the ones above it also "carry" the high ping? I sometimes find on tracerts that certain nodes in the middle time out, and have always heard that is fine as long as the ones "above" them ping ok.

**Consultant** · 02-25-09, 12:26 PM

Above means closer to the game box than to me? If TTP is at the top and I am at the bottom, then the last 3 hops "above" the 200's are OK so hypothetically I should be alright?

I can attest to that not being the case. lol

**Tick** · 02-25-09, 12:32 PM

Not sure if this would work with Comcast, but when I was having a similar problem with Suddenlink, I ended up calling their business support division, not their regular customer service. I told them I was a network admin for some bullshit company, explained the situation, and immediately got the call elevated to their level 2 techs (the ones who actually know what they're doing). Sent them my TraceRT log, they contacted the offending node, and my service was back to normal within a couple hours.

Don't bother with the public customer service. Having worked in a call center before, I can tell you from experience that 90% of the people working there don't know their ass from their face. It might take some hunting, but you can probably find their business service line if you dig around their website a bit.