x box ntl broadband question

[stranger]

i have ntl broadband 128mb is this fast enough for x box-live? thanks

[hulkhead]

if anyone else knows then please reply asap. I am currently on a two week free trial of NTL 600k (usually on 128k) and will upgrade when it expires but if 128k is good enough then i might stay at that spped.

[Sam]

The simple answer is no, you'll need to upgrade to the 600k service really.

[harrisuk]

128k wont do I am afraid. Might get away with up to 4 in a game. After that likely to become unplayable.

No way you could play Halo properly on XB Connect with a 128k line.

[phenom2003]

what about on 256k?

[harrisuk]

256 should be ok. Having said that I have seen people say they can play XB live using ISDN so you might get away with 128k.

It is difficult to say at the moment as there are not that many "Heavy use" game on xbox live currently. If you look at Xbconnect 128k just wont cut it. I imagine that when the monster games like Halo 2 hit XB live you will need a good connection for the big maps / high player numbers and a descent polaying experience.

[Sam]

You could 'get away' with 128k or 256k, but it won't be great. Games like Ghost Recon frequently suffer from lag even with 512k lines or greater, so you're going to have more trouble.

[Sinzer]

It won't make much difference at all, unless the data transfers are greater than 16Kb/sec. I do not know any internet game that transfers anywhere near that rate, not in terms of a client anyway. Games rely on small packets sent in high frequencies, you cannot send a large packet otherwise it will start to get split and lag increases.

The only way you need more than 128k is for hosting servers, and that is mainly based on upload capabilities, usually around about 32k-64k per player, which would mean that you only have to receive that amount too, which falls well within your 128k.

Games like Ghost Recon frequently suffer from lag even with 512k lines or greater, so you're going to have more trouble.

That is not because of your bandwidth, that is because of packet loss, bad net code etc. If it happens on all connections, it is likely bad net code.

[Sam]

Originally posted by Sinzer

That is not because of your bandwidth, that is because of packet loss, bad net code etc. If it happens on all connections, it is likely bad net code.

It is because of bandwidth because if we play with others with a better upload speed then the lag is not so bad.

It may well be bad net code that makes it so bandwidth hungry, but the simple fact is that it can be a pain and in practice (rather than theorectical calculations) it does lag at times.

Hopefully future games will be less bandwidth intensive.

Certainly games like Moto GP rarely feature much lag. :)

[Sinzer]

Servers are usually bandwidth intensive, that is the problem with X-Box Live, to host 16-20 player games will not possible unless you have at least a 2meg Symmetrical line. Also, it beggars the question whether the X-Box is powerful enough to run a client/server.

128K is perfectly fine to run as a client though, just don't expect to run your own server.

Moto GP is fairly easy to code as the players are simply sending positional data, not a whole barrage of information relating to firing weapons etc etc.

I wonder if MS will start running server farms, then you would see the connection charges going up.

[James45]

not that it will help much but NTL 128k service is going up to 150k on May 1, service charge is also going up by £3 to £17.99