Which is the real thing?..uploading or downloading

[Simpleton]

When playing a game in the Internet...once connected to a server hosting the game...which of the connection speeds is the one that really counts and provides the good PING for a player?...the Downloading speed provided by the ISP which in the case of Cable can be like 3MB or the UPLOADING speed which is normally like 387 Kbs.

If it is the UPLOADING...will upgrading it to double the speed (over 700 Kbs) provide a better connection with the server ?....

My Downloading speed is 4MB but my Uploading speed is 378 Kbs....and some times my ping is not very good....in spite of the fact that I have a very good gaming rig.

 

[riser]

You're fine either way with your current cable system.
You might want to check to make sure you're really getting those upload/download speeds though..
www.toast.net has a performance tester and www.cnet.com also has one that works well.

Here's how it works.. the game is installed to your local computer, which holds graphics, commands, etc. You upload your commands to the server: Mouse clicks, keyboard commands, etc. The data really isn't that big though.

You download commands coming back from the server which is telling your computer what images to display. It's not actually downloading an explosion, it's telling the computer to pull that graphic up on your computer..

Keep in mind, it's tracking EVERYTHING, not just graphics and commands, but it's also keeping track of items outside of your viewable area.. if another player is moving in the background somewhere you can't see.. it still tracks that.
But it's not pulling 1 meg every 5 minutes..

You can see how much you're pulling/sending.. On your Network Properties of LAN, select "Show Icon in notification Area when Connected." You'll be able to click on that when you're in a game to actually see how much you're sending and receiving.

You'll really want to look at throughput on your connection to make sure you're really getting those speeds. It might bog down somewhere.. you could be routed through a congested network which is causing the slow down.

Do a tracert to a website and watch the route it takes and see how long it takes to get there. Maybe one 'hop' is slowing down your gaming performance..

I'm sure others will have a lot more advanced ideas on what to do, but that covers the basics of how it works.

Riser

 

[mpasternak]

the core idea of "ping" is not really the ammount of data you can send or receive through the pipe. but the time it takes for that data to get there. you may have vast ammounts of thoroughput and awefull ping... this is called Latency.

as said before things hop around on the internet step by step and eventually it may run into one connection that takes longer than others. unfortunately your speed or latency can only be as fast as the slowest hop. best bet for gaming if you want best pings is to choose a server locally or one with the fewest hops. less hops means less chance for slower links. use the Tracert command as previously stated to help out.

again, highspeed internet doesnt always have the best connection speed. it is possible that your link to the ISP itself has latency higher than expected, even if you get blazing MBPS downloads. remember, ping / latency isnt how much can come through, but how fast it takes to get that packet there.

my old highspeed for example, i was able to easily pull down and send 200Kbps from good sites... but my gaming performance sucked and i was getting over 300millisecond ping to local city servers. i had to get a new modem to fix it cause of some incompatibility

ANNNNDDD if this wasnt long winded enough, upstream can effect ping too. if you completely fill your outgoing stream the internet has to "thread" data and put it on hold till it can force it through. which will delay your ping because every packet sent over the TCP/IP protocol gets a receipt packet sent... so if someone is waiting for your receipt packet cause it's "waiting" to go out on your outstream, they may not send the next packet itll they get it... resulting in higher latency as well...
hope it helps if not too wordy

 

[riser]

You should post the reply to him though, not me.
I understand how it works, I was trying to explain how the upload/download thing works and that it wouldn't really effect him.
Which resulted in the comments about talking to his cable/dsl company to make sure his routing table is correct.

Good job on explaining latency/ping though.

Riser

 

[mpasternak]

HA, SORRY bud, new to these forums. still trying to work out all the buttons... they're not the best at clearly displaying them

just trying to help out... i'm a former network administrator who still dables in the trade