strange latency problem

[leonid]

First off, I'm an old fart and used to play WB and AH back in the late 90s and early 00s. Back then, I didn't have this issue, but now I do for some reason.

I have DSL and play on a ...

Alienware Area-51 m5550 laptop
Video/Graphics Card: 256MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7600
Display: 15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD - Saucer Silver
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.0GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Intel® 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista™ Ultimate - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
System Drive: 100GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 7,200 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
Primary CD ROM/DVD ROM: 24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW Burner
Sound Card: Intel® 7.1 High-Definition Audio
Wireless Network Card: Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Communications: Integrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem

I haven't played in ages, but have kept an account for a few years. Recently, I decided to have another go in the arena just for old times sake, so I hooked up my X45 and logged on. What I get online is loads of warping, serious warping. I did traceroutes to hitechcreations.com and saw ping times closer to 100ms, which was good. What was bad is I'm seeing a lot of packet loss at numerous nodes. It's not always 100% but it's always there. Anyone have a clue? I'm not a network specialist.

Regards,
leonid

[leonid]

I can screenprint a tracert if needed from PingPlotter. I use wireless too (my machine is a laptop), if that matters...

[_vic_]

I don't think wireless would be the issue, unless the packet loss is happening between your computer and the wireless router. How many hops out do you start losing packets? If it's within your home, then you can do something about it. If it's at your ISP you can call them and complain, beyond that you might be out of luck...

[Skuzzy]

Wireless is an issue if you are using it for the network connection.  There are always far more bit errors in a wireless connection than in a wired one.

Your computer also has Vista on it.  You must disable Vista's power management as well.  It will cause all manner of warping and generally choppy game play.

[_vic_]

While there is certainly some truth to the fact that wireless drops more packets, that is mostly relegated to large wireless networks with a lot of traffic. On your home network with one or two computers and a strong signal link you should not be dropping enough packets to significantly impact your performance. On my home network (Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n) I don't drop any more packets to my router than to anywhere else on my network. Platforms such as the Nintendo DS were designed solely to play multiplayer games over wireless connections, so obviously the technology has matured enough to be viable.

That being said in my own defense, it's certainly worth connecting via wired connection to see if your latency improves. In my case, I use my Xbox 360 to stream videos over wireless to my television, so my performance would probably be impacted.

[leonid]

I've already shut down quite a few processes in Vista on my machine per Skuzzy's posts to that effect. Wireless is to my internal network at my home. From the router it's a phone line. Below are a couple screen prints of a traceroutes to hitechcreations.com...





Hope this helps. Oh and I did disable power management as well.

[Skuzzy]

While there is certainly some truth to the fact that wireless drops more packets, that is mostly relegated to large wireless networks with a lot of traffic. On your home network with one or two computers and a strong signal link you should not be dropping enough packets to significantly impact your performance. On my home network (Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n) I don't drop any more packets to my router than to anywhere else on my network. Platforms such as the Nintendo DS were designed solely to play multiplayer games over wireless connections, so obviously the technology has matured enough to be viable.

That being said in my own defense, it's certainly worth connecting via wired connection to see if your latency improves. In my case, I use my Xbox 360 to stream videos over wireless to my television, so my performance would probably be impacted.

You lose a UDP packet and it is gone forever.  There are no second chances.  The bit error rates of a wireless network connection are significant compared to a wired connection.  That is just the way it is. 

The bit error rates for a home connection are actually higher due to lower amplitudes available for home transmitters.  The maturity of the technology is not in question.  Air is simply a less realiable medium than a physical link is.

Leonid, you are running to our WEB site IP address whne you p-robably will want to run to 206.16.60.38, which is a game server.  However, early on, things look pretty shaky in that connection.  Is there any chance you could connect a physical link to the router, rather than using the wireless?