Really pants ping whilst playing UT2004

[Monkey]

Hello people, i was wondering if anyone could give me some clues as to why im getting such a ****e ping.

I'm using 4mb virgin internet that i got on Wednesday.
Running straight from the modem and not using the router (i only have one pc and don't want wireless)

Im using an OPEN DNS server 208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220

Im using the ethernet cable virgin gave me and its a little long. (Dont know if any of you have seen the size of it)

And the network card im using is an old "3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX) #2" card

Does anyone have any ideas why my ping is so bad?

Im guessing the long cable, but im not sure what else could be affecting it

Thanks in advance people

[wonderlust]

whats the ping to your router?

Have you run a tracert?

[Monkey]

The ping to the defauklt gateway is (min:5 max:33 avg:12)

And what tracert command should i use?

[wonderlust]

tracert xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the ip address of the game server you are using.

are you using a Virgin router or a Modem?

I have a Gigabit network, various onboard nics, a Netgear Gigabyte switch then on to a netgear DG83GT router, I get 0,1,0 as access times.

Your Nic SHOULD be ok, as it is one of the better makes/models.

If you have a router then your scores are very poor, if it's a modem then your gateway is somewhere off in Virgin's network

[Monkey]

Im just using a virgin modem, and by nic do you mean network interface card?

And howcome your Up/Dn speeds are so fast?

[wonderlust]

yes, nic is a regularly used abbreviation.

Does you Modem have it's own Ip address (iirc its on a label stuck to it)?

[Lynx]

192.168.100.1 gets you onto the modems page, root is password and login name.

What firewall are you using?

[wonderlust]

in that case ping the modem and see what results you get

[Monkey]

yes, nic is a regularly used abbreviation.

Does you Modem have it's own Ip address (iirc its on a label stuck to it)?

No theres no sticker of an ip address just the mac address


192.168.100.1 gets you onto the modems page, root is password and login name.

What firewall are you using?


Im using zonealarm security suite and ive set the game to be super trusted

[wonderlust]

try it with Zone Alarm (yuk) disabled. I don't think it will make a lot of difference though

[Monkey]

Yo sorry about the delay. Just had to run to work.

What is YUK?

Obviosuly i cant try it know but we can still discuss any fixes.

Do you think the length of the ethernet cable could lower the ping also? Im guessing it would as the cable im using has gotta be like 10m long.

Thing is im in the next room from the wall socket, but it still doesnt need to be so damn long, theres still a coil of cable in the front room :P

[wonderlust]

yuk is the expression of my dislike for zonealarm, I have found it to be more trouble than the benefits it provides, In most cases (ie adsl) a router will do a better job of stopping inbound attacks imho.

The cable length shouldn't make a lot of difference, did you try the tracert? if so did that give any indication where the problem was? How may hops did it show to your gateway?

[Monkey]

Whats so bad about zonealarm? ive used it for a while now and compared to most its awsome

Never get any viruses or hacks

[wonderlust]

me either, been running a router of various types for about six years

[Monkey]

well virgn sent me a netgear router, but wont that slow it down a little as it has to pass through that?

And do you not run any security atall?

[wonderlust]

Yes I run AV and just top it up with the Windows Firewall

The slow down will be neglegable

[Monkey]

What AV do you use then? and what other security do you use?

And do you do any banking online? Or orders and stuff where you generally need to enter your card details?

[wonderlust]

I use avast on my desktops and Symantec Corp Edition on my server.

The only other security software I use, as stated above is Windows Built in Firewall.

Yes I shop online, yes I bank online.

I only ever use sites for buying that are https and secure.

[Monkey]

I thought avast was pretty pants?

And isnt Symantec a norton product or is the other way around?

Norton is a ball ache, i have to sort out peoples norton at work every day!

Most of the time i just remove it and put on AVG free :P

Its nice and simple

[wonderlust]

I tried AVG but after a sudden slow down in the first day I scanned across my network with the nortons and found a virus or two, I have had no such issues with Avast.

As for Symantec they own the Nortons brand, it is one of the few AV soultions you can run on Windows 2003 Server. The server is well spec'd so the heavy foot print doesn't make much of an impact (2Gb Dual core)

[Monkey]

Fair enough, sounds ok to me. I may just give avast a try.
Do you know how much Mem it uses and how many processes?
And isnt Windows firewall pretty lame?

[wonderlust]

not exact figures, but it runs fine on the Wife's Dell (P4 2.6Ghz 512Mb Ram)

[Monkey]

But youd only use that if you were running through a router?

[wonderlust]

all the router stops is hackers and worms etc. due to the use of NAT.

Both My Wife and I are fully aware of the risks of opening emails from unknown persons and don't go to the sort of websites that carry suspicious content.

As for pop ups a good hosts file stops that problem dead on it's feet.

[Monkey]

all the router stops is hackers and worms etc. due to the use of NAT.

Both My Wife and I are fully aware of the risks of opening emails from unknown persons and don't go to the sort of websites that carry suspicious content.

As for pop ups a good hosts file stops that problem dead on it's feet.

Whats a good hosts file and what do you mean? Isnt it a file that lists all bad IP addresses? Explain more please

[wonderlust]

http://everythingisnt.com/hosts.html

Yes it's a file that points to sites that provide mal-ware and advertising, pop ups etc, to your own tcpip loop back port, (127.0.0.1) so no more nasty pop ups, if they do get as far as poping up (under etc) they are empty :D

[Monkey]

Thats a damn good idea. What other security software, spyware and stuff do you use?

[wonderlust]

Only Windows Defender on the Server, (it's built into Vista)

Thats it, nothing else, well except from common sense

[Monkey]

Well yeah i have common sense :| :P

So you dont use anything like spybot search and destroy or anything like that?

And do you download torrents or anything?

[wonderlust]

I use emule, under windows 2003 server, using a locked down user profile.

[Monkey]

Why is do you use a locked down account?

I use azureus and me and the missus are sharing the on elogin at the minute until i get my new pc :D

[wonderlust]

just set the security to give only access to the emule directory, (ntfs security), block access to regedit, cmd prompt amongst many other policy tweaks.

[Monkey]

Can you do that in XP?

[wonderlust]

yes, obviously for the ntfs security you need to be running ntfs not fat/fat32

[Monkey]

And how do i go about doing that?

[wonderlust]

I got tips from one of the server experts where I was working.

but a quick google will give you plenty of options:-

http://www.tech-archive.net/Archive/Windows/microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs/2006-06/msg04642.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/137443-35-locking-workstation

are a couple you can start with

[Monkey]

Cool, your the daddy.

Ill be back on here later when i finnish work at 11 DOH!

And if your still here you can give me hand trying to minimise my ping if you like.

Oh yeah, i did get my ping down to about 50 before i left for work. I was just wondering what you thought was the bearable and unbearable ping limits. (Not sure if that makes sense)

I mean whats an ok ping and whats a "its just not worth playing" ping :P

If you catch my drift

[wonderlust]

Pass, I don't game on line and my ISP (Sky) is infamous for having a poor ping...

But as i get a good speed for what I use it for I am happy :D

[Monkey]

Fair enough, thats all good,

Youve been very informative anyway

Thanks alot

[wonderlust]

no probs, thats what the forums for imho

[alexnifty]

Epic advice from wonderlust :D EDIT: (Apparently I can't give him rep as I already gave him too much recently!)

I also use a NAT router + Windows Firewall, use Firefox + adblock + noscript plugins, I run spybot every now and again along with hijackThis.

But the most important tool is common sense in not clicking anything that is suspicious, or visiting sites that may be dodgy.


Back on topic. 50ms is a good ping. I get 50ms in Call of Duty 4, and 15ms in Counterstrike: Source.

Don't forget that ping is the amount of time it takes for a packet to get from your pc to the server and back again.
There are a lot of factors involved, many are out of your control, especially the load on the server at the other end. High ping isn't necessarily your fault, try a different server, preferably somewhere in the UK or Europe.

[monkey56657]

192.168.100.1 is the IP of most VM/NTL modems.

Ping this IP and report back the result. This will help identify if its ISP side or Local side.

[monkey56657]

If your from the UK on home cable or ADSL connection you should have a ping less than 30ms to bbc.co.uk. A good/great cable connection will be ~ 10ms.

[Monkey]

192.168.100.1 is the IP of most VM/NTL modems.

Ping this IP and report back the result. This will help identify if its ISP side or Local side.
Yo im not at work now and i just pingd that ip which doesnt come up in ipconfig for some reason and it came back with min:1 avg:1 max:1

So im guessing its not local side


If your from the UK on home cable or ADSL connection you should have a ping less than 30ms to bbc.co.uk. A good/great cable connection will be ~ 10ms.
I also pingd BBC and got min:12 max:48 avg:23

[monkey56657]

Yes then the problem is mainly existing on the Virgin Media line. I suggest contacting them if it's really an issue.

A stable VM line should perform consistently (ie. the ping should'nt vary a lot)

http://www.web-starters.net/private/monkey56657/images/1214336850.jpg

Don't worry the modem IP address will not come up in ipconfig except when first retrieving a WAN IP from one of Virgin Media's DNS caches.