Internet Connections

[CastleDoctrine]

Considering you all seem to be quite knowledgeable and experienced in computer related matters, perhaps you could humor one who is not by kindly answering a few questions about internet connections:

• -Do different types of broadband internet connections (ie. DSL, cable, fiber optic) perform better than others at identically advertised upload/download speeds?
  
  -Which provider do you use and at what speeds?
  
  -Can you recommend a broadband ISP? Conversely, which ISPs have you learned to steer clear of?
  
  -Does upgrading the speed of your internet connection measurably improve your online gaming performance/advantage?

Thank you.

[Stevo]

[quote="CastleDoctrine";p="131356"]-Do different types of broadband internet connections (ie. DSL, cable, fiber optic) perform better than others at identically advertised upload/download speeds?[/quote]
Not that I know of. Some may be more reliable, but there are many factors to consider.

[quote="CastleDoctrine";p="131356"]-Which provider do you use and at what speeds?[/quote]
AT&T @ 6Mbps/768Kbps (fastest available here)

[quote="CastleDoctrine";p="131356"]-Can you recommend a broadband ISP? Conversely, which ISPs have you learned to steer clear of?[/quote]
It depends on what is available in your area.

[quote="CastleDoctrine";p="131356"]-Does upgrading the speed of your internet connection measurably improve your online gaming performance/advantage?[/quote]
No, as long as you have at least the bandwidth used by the game. Anything past that will not make the games any faster.

[PhantomFighter]

By all means, check out an online resource for broadband ISPs in your area. I've used DSLReports and highly suggest them. Despite their name it is not limited to DSL services.

What you are looking for is low latency. Higher speeds are irrelevant unless you plan on downloading content and playing at the same time. Thus, any time you see a 'standard' package and a 'gamer' package providing higher throughput at higher price, it's just a marketing gimmick. Unfortunately, ISPs often sell you a specific amount of bandwidth, but they almost never will sell you latency guarantees (through their network). So you can't really find out what latencies will be like until you actually try the service. Further, as TThreaz will tell you, the ISP may not have a strong network themselves so when their customers are all home using the service there may not be enough bandwidth to serve everyone. End result -- anything requiring a certain level of throughput or latency (hmmm, like most realtime online games) will suffer. That's where reading the reviews (with a grain of salt) will help.

When considering Cable companies, keep in mind that cable companies are actually conglomerates of many smaller companies, and that a bad review in one area does /not/ mean that service in /your/ area will also be bad (and the reverse would also be true).

Edit: In response to Dog's posting, here are my results from Comcast cable, who has given excellent reliability and speed for $43/mo:

[Dog]

I had DSL with a Canadian company called Telus.
The fastest I ever got was about 1Mbps down and 512kbps up. But it was constant.

I changed, about a month ago, to another company called Shaw, and they are a cable company. For the same price, I get 15Mbps down and about 1Mbps up.
During the evenings, though, the download speed can go to about 1.5Mbps, but in the mornings it can get up 30Mbps, so needless to say, I get up early to do work!




This is my work's speed:

[mr_s]

WOW!

we in aus have max of 4mps down and 500kbps up.

its patheric.

and the prices are $100 and up

[Boss Llama]

I have Comcast, with a 6Mbps down and, I believe, 768kbps up (maybe 1Mbps). It's reliable, and I can't recall more than one or two outages.

I've considered switching to my city provider (we have cable internet and cable TV as municipal utilities here) which offers 8Mbps down and 1Mbps up for a couple bucks less, but they're a more local thing, so I'm not certain about the reliability. They were solid for me in the past, so I might join up again.

[MasterChef]

I've got comcast, and they are fairly reliable now. A few years ago though, they were terrible in my area. My internet would go out a few times every day. It was to the point that gaming became annoying because of the constant drops in connection. They've since improved in my area and its only gone out during bad storms.

I've heard nothing but good things about Verizon's FIOS service. Its supposed to be fast an reliable.

[Thom Yorke Obliterator]

[quote="PhantomFighter";p="131369"]What you are looking for is low latency. Higher speeds are irrelevant unless you plan on downloading content and playing at the same time. [/quote]

So true. My upload/download hasn't changed for years (Verizon 3/768), but the latency varies from time to time. That's the true measure of TYO's happiness. Right now I have a 350 ping to the Warpath server. It was 60 a week ago. For now, Verizon sucks. Ask me again in a week.

[abiscuit]

My internet connection back home is pretty bad. I can't remember Down/Up speeds, but all I can compare it to is about a 95 ping at best on TV7 and TV2. And their bandwidth is oversold so that jumps to about 400 during peak hours. I'm not sure of specifics, but I'm pretty sure Alaska has the worst internet speeds in the country on average.

But! My hometown is finally getting fiber this month, so it may finally improve.

[CastleDoctrine]

Thanks for the replies guys. They've confirmed things I've suspected and answered many questions.[quote="PhantomFighter";p="131369"]What you are looking for is low latency. Higher speeds are irrelevant unless you plan on downloading content and playing at the same time. Thus, any time you see a 'standard' package and a 'gamer' package providing higher throughput at higher price, it's just a marketing gimmick. Unfortunately, ISPs often sell you a specific amount of bandwidth, but they almost never will sell you latency guarantees (through their network). So you can't really find out what latencies will be like until you actually try the service. Further, as TThreaz will tell you, the ISP may not have a strong network themselves so when their customers are all home using the service there may not be enough bandwidth to serve everyone. End result -- anything requiring a certain level of throughput or latency (hmmm, like most realtime online games) will suffer. That's where reading the reviews (with a grain of salt) will help.[/quote]So, if I'm reading you right, what latency you get is a coin toss at best. Such are the vagueries of technology I guess.

[metacide]

I have Verizon FiOS, and I am loving it. We have an issue once in a while where the DNS server doesnt respond, but I think thats an issue with the router they provided.
We have 15 Mbps up and down, which is completely free because my work pays for all of it.
Like Stevo said, so long as you have enough bandwidth for your game to run, getting more wont improve it at all. However if you wanted to download things via torrent or some such AND play games, more bandwidth would be a good thing.

Be wary of cable providers, especially Comcast. In recent years they have grown too fast and their network (especially in the Seattle area) is a bit dodgy. Basically it's a mesh network type and they dont own all the servers on their backbone so getting tech support to fix ONE server is a nightmare. The gf and I spent about 2 weeks on the phone telling them where the problem in their network was and just asking for a reboot but since it didnt belong directly to Comcast we had to talk to 5 other companies before it got rebooted... which fixed the issue.