[gingerchris90]

Hi. I'm a Halo online addict who's sick of getting abused/beaten by Americans online, not usually for lack of skill but more often than not for the amazing connection speeds they seem to achieve over there& almost constant host. I'm sure there's a million different reasons for this, and it's not purely down to my ISP and the package I'm on.

However having said that, I would really like to know if improving my package would significantly improve the gaming experience. I'm currently on a Plus net package of 'Up to 8 meg' download and 'Up to 448k' upload. For another £9/month I could go with BE and get 'Up to 24Meg' download and up to 'Up to 1.3Meg' upload. Does anyone know if this is a worthwhile move? Does anyone have this package with BE? Any good?

Any other suggestions to improve my playing experience would be greatfully accepted.

[jason7579]

I think the main words in your e-mail are 'up to', so in theory although they advertise faster max speeds you may end up with the same speed anyway.

Might be worth trying to see how far away from the exchange you are, what the contention ratio's are, the line quality and other factors. But don't ask me how to do that :P

Can you get Telewest/virgin at your house? That way you can connect without going through your phone line and in theory I think it should be better for you.

[andykn]

This site is a help:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/

I'm not an expert on online gaming but I believe that ping times (latency) are more important than mere download/upload speed.

You can make a guess at your likely speeds by looking at the signal to noise ratio (s/n) on your connection and comparing it with other people who've switched. You can usually get this figure from your router's web page somewhere.

[ShadowmanUK]

Faster speeds don't mean better gaming (once you go past a certain level)

Even 512k down/256k up is fine for gaming on live

The more upload the more you can host. But apart from that you wouldn't noticed a different between 2mb, 8mb or 20Mb when it comes to gaming on xbox live

The lag and timings between you and America have nothing to do with your own broadband if you've already got a decent connection.

[-Hitman-]

I would run also run a broadband test to see if there is any problem with your current connection.

You can do a free full test here

http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed3/index.html

(select quick start)

and if you think there is a problem contact your ISP.

[Moogle]

Originally Posted by ShadowmanUK

Faster speeds don't mean better gaming (once you go past a certain level)

Even 512k down/256k up is fine for gaming on live

The more upload the more you can host. But apart from that you wouldn't noticed a different between 2mb, 8mb or 20Mb when it comes to gaming on xbox live

The lag and timings between you and America have nothing to do with your own broadband if you've already got a decent connection.

I have to agree with that.

[daymouse]

Hi

Best place to get information is this website

http://www.adslguide.org.uk

click on the forums

[gingerchris90]

Thanks guys for the advice. I did a couple of speed tests at different times of day. I had one at 2.3Meg and another over 9Meg (somehow!). I might give 24meg a try if only to see if the upload can get me more host. I'm sure in the last year or so my connection/gaming seems to be getting worse.

Failing that I'll just resort to playing custom games with brits!

[gingerchris90]

So just to clear one thing up once and for all,.. does increased download speed do ANYTHING for gaming?

[ShadowmanUK]

Originally Posted by gingerchris90

So just to clear one thing up once and for all,.. does increased download speed do ANYTHING for gaming?

Nope, if you've got 512k that is sufficient. If you want to run two xboxes, go for 1Mb/2Mb.

But after that no, download has no bearing on gaming itself, obviously on other apps downloading like Marketplace, downloading films etc etc, but not on Xbox Live. Xbox Live doesn't use up much traffic to be honest.

Its just "a long way" across the pond, there's nothing you can really do about it, apart from pick games closer to you.

For example (made up figures, just to illustrate) say the host is in the states:-

-- Host
-- Gamer 1 (also in the states, 30ms away)
-- Gamer 2 (also in the states, 40ms away)
-- Gamer 3 (in Canada, 50ms away)
-- Gamer 4 (in the UK, 100ms away)

Say your Gamer 4, you could have the exact same broadband as all of the other games, 10mb or whatever they are using, but your still 100ms away from the host, so your 50ms+ behind on the action. 50 milliseconds doesn't sound a lot, but in gaming is ages, its the different between your bullets hitting him or the wall.

You can't change that 100ms down to 30 or 40, no matter what you do.

[gingerchris90]

Originally Posted by ShadowmanUK

(-- Host
-- Gamer 1 (also in the states, 30ms away)
-- Gamer 2 (also in the states, 40ms away)
-- Gamer 3 (in Canada, 50ms away)
-- Gamer 4 (in the UK, 100ms away)


You can't change that 100ms down to 30 or 40, no matter what you do.

I can't wait for them to invent hostless Halo! It ruins the game, and to some extent deminishes the whole point. They should forget all the 'new weapons' and 'maps' on Halo 3... and just concentrate on making a fair online gaming experience where the best parties usually win.