Understanding latency....

[ninjageek]

I will be the first to admit when it comes to internet connections its just not one of my strong points.

So if you all would have a bit of time, maybe you would be so kind to help this redneck understand it a bit better. Tried the guides and searched the forums, for some reason I just not sure I understand it right. Hope you all can help.

I found the program to test my ping that someone made in this forum. Now if I understand it right. My latency is the time in ms it takes for the ping to go from point A to B then Back to Point A.  So I ping a site, Its how long it takes the ping to hit the site and make it back to my computer? Do I understand that right?

[saygoodie]

Yup, that's correct!!! lol

[ninjageek]

Ok when deciding on latency. Do I want the high or low number or someplace in between?

Also I saw when checking latency. Its a good idea to do so while downloading a file. I would think thats wrong? Or is it right?

[RTB]

If you do ping tests while downloading a file, you're also taking into account the possible latency created at your router/cable modem when they have to deal with a lot of packets. In the worst case, the ping packet can get dropped, but usually it's put in a queue and that delay is added to the ping times. The better modems/router use QoS to give priority to the more important packets, like UDP traffic for games or VoIP packets.

As for high/low, you want it to be as low as possible. A higher delay means your maximum speed using the TCP/IP protocol drops, especially if your internet settings in the registry are set up for low ping. For a real display of how good your router/cable modem is, try bittorrent at increasing percentages of your upload speed. Unless they're really good, you'll see ping spikes way before you saturate your upload link.

[Siryak]

The lower the better on ping times. Also there is a way to check this without any extra programs. Just go start--run--type: cmd--hit ok--When the command prompt comes up type: ping google.com -n 25--Then if you want to copy the results right click--hit select all--then paste it wherever. On the -n 25 part that determines how many pings you want to do. You can change it to 10 or 100, 1000 whatever.

[ninjageek]

I have been messing around a bit with cablenut. While the defaults they offer work fine, I found a web site that will make your own custom cablenut file. http://j79zlr.com/cablenutXP2k.php .

So I have been fooling around with that a bit here and there. Learned allot. Understand the basics a bit better. Really appreciate the information and help with the latency. I'm not a online gamer. But with google. I got the latency to drop from 53 to 19. Now I am sure those numbers will change. I am sure its no biggie. Just goofing off and messing around. Learning a bit as I go. I thank you kindly all.

[Buntz]

I have been messing around a bit with cablenut. While the defaults they offer work fine, I found a web site that will make your own custom cablenut file. http://j79zlr.com/cablenutXP2k.php .

So I have been fooling around with that a bit here and there. Learned allot. Understand the basics a bit better. Really appreciate the information and help with the latency. I'm not a online gamer. But with google. I got the latency to drop from 53 to 19. Now I am sure those numbers will change. I am sure its no biggie. Just goofing off and messing around. Learning a bit as I go. I thank you kindly all.

You can find that same page here. Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on tweak guide/tweak setting.Then scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on calculator for XP/2K or ME/98 in VanBuren post.It will bring up the same page.