New ISP

[Tarmac]

Hey Skuzzy.  

I'm looking at a new apartment, and i've got it narrowed down to two.  The kicker for me is that they both include high-speed internet access.  My friend lives in a 3rd apartment complex, and he has never been able to play online games since he moved in.  Can never connect to the host for some reason.  I'm trying to make sure that I pick the right apartments (that will allow me to play AH and games like Empire Earth and Age of Empires).

Once I've signed a lease, I can't really change apartments or ISPs (and I wouldn't pay extra for a 2nd internet connection) if the place has some firewall or something that blocks AH or UDP packets or something else, so I'd be stuck without AH for at least a year.  

The people at the apartment complexes don't know squat; their answer to everything is "it's ethernet."  I've now got the number for the company that handles their internet stuff, and I'm going to give them a call and ask questions about their internet.  

My question to you is, what questions should I be asking them?  What does AH need to run best, connection-wise, and how can I make sure I'm getting it from them before I sign a lease?  

Thanks in advance.  
And yes, I know I'm a dork for picking an apartment based on its internet connection.

[Skuzzy]

You will be on a shared Ethernet cable with everyone at the complex, which will have some impact on game play.

 Are they running through a proxy/NAT router?
If yes, then it gets complicated.  Some NAT solutions work fine, while others don't.  If they use an external NAT/DHCP solution apart from the actual router (might call it an Ethernet router), then odds are it should work fine.

That's the big thing and most probable way they are running.

A good NAT router can handle the translation tables, which is needed for UDP to work properly.  If they are using a Cisco router to do the NAT, ask them what version of the IOS they are using.
It needs to be 12.xx or later.  Earlier versions of Cisco's IOS was very broken when it came to NAT.

They could also be running a switched network as opposed to a routed one.  If they are, then UDP will not work.

Ask them about IP lease times as well.  Ideally, they should not expire the IP lease.  When a lease expires, you lose connection to the Internet momentarily and if in AH, AH will CTD.

Hope that helps.

[Tarmac]

Called CCG, Campus Communication Group, today and got some decent answers, some unclear ones.  

-They don't block any type of packets, so they said UDP should work.  
-They don't use a proxy or NAT router.  
-They said they had no way to find out if Cisco routers were in use, let alone find out if the firmware was 12.xx or later.  
-When I asked if it was a switched or routed network, they said that there are switches in the individual buildings, and the whole complex is routed.  This seems like the wrong answer, right?  

They said the entire complex runs off of a 10 megabit DS3 line, which is shared by around 600 people.  They said their contract was worded to say "average guaranteed speed of better than a 56k modem," which also has me worried that "high speed" internet ain't so high speed.  

Anything else I should be asking them?  Should AH work there?

I'm starting to think that the only way to find out for sure will be to head down there, install AH on a computer, and play for a few hours.

Thanks for the help here.

[Skuzzy]

Sounds like a basic network setup.  But if they are pushing 600 computers over a 10 Mb connection...it is going to be pretty spiky in terms of performance.

I can see performance dropping below 56k modem speeds at times.

[Tarmac]

Thanks.  Gotta sleep on this.  And discuss with the roomie.