Telecom ADSL vs. TelstraClear Cable Internet Ping times

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matisyahu

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#105824 11-Jul-2012 19:55

I've going to be moving out into a new flat - located in Upper Hutt (Silverstream) and I'd like to know what the ping times are like with Telecom in that area (if there are any in that are) vs. going with TelstraClear. I'm tempted by the Telecom Total Home Broadband (160GB) but my main concern regarding the ping time is because my flat mate is really into online gaming hence for him it is an important consideration (he uses the XBox service).

Regarding the modem - I am looking at getting a DrayTek Vigor 120 ADSL2+ modem ( link ), what are peoples opinion on that? reliable?

Regarding both issues, the cabinet that I'm hooked up to sits on Sutherland Avenue so the cabinet is within spitting distance.

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sbiddle

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#654170 11-Jul-2012 20:21

Latency on ADSL will depend on your interleaving settings.

matisyahu

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#654172 11-Jul-2012 20:25

sbiddle: Latency on ADSL will depend on your interleaving settings.

Hi, is it possible to ring up Chorus to find out that information regarding said setting?

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sbiddle

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#654184 11-Jul-2012 20:42

It's nothing to do with Chorus. Your ISP configures you interleaving settings which will add up to 16ms (default) to a connection.

The biggest problem with ADSL2+ these days is the lack of upstream. I would only move to DSL for VDSL2+, but that's not an option for you if you want to use Telecom since they don't have a retail VDSL2 product.

DonGould

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#654237 11-Jul-2012 22:51

So you're comparing 24/1 DSL with 100/10 HFC.

Latency will be an issue, clearly, so you need to understand what path each provider is taking to the game servers.

Then you need to know what other traffic is going to be on the network at the same time and are you setting up QoS to protect the gaming data from junk others are downloading or uploading at the same time?

Ten times the upload capacity won't mean a 10th of the latency in the upstream direction, but it will mean that you've got much more head room is someone wants to HD skype or do a GoogleDrive back up while you're playing a game.

But don't be fooled... if the hand over from Telstra's network to where ever your game server is and the path they use to get to that hand over are over sold and congested then your 100/10 service may under perform a 24/1 dsl service.

In the short term, there's also the question of what BRAS capacity your local area has. TGA showed up earlier in the year to be under powered and I know a bit of work was being done in Christchurch. But that's really going to be a short term issues if it's one at all, I'd suspect, because having just invested in marketing for 100/10 they're not going to sit on their hands and let all those marketing dollars go down the shoot because of core network capacity issues.

After than the next question is what sort of router and network gear you've got. I've just got a 100mbit router at my network edge, so my 100/10 service is currently a bit wasted as I can't even get the 100mbit into the network. The CPU in the router just won't process fast enough to make use of the service properly.

If I was you, I'd be looking around for some gamers who are using the services of each provider in the different areas.

Oh, and I think Telstra are still throwing Tbox's in for a 24 month contract (for what they're worth), so from a value point of view, you need to consider what other bits the retailer is offering up to sweeten the deal.

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#654240 11-Jul-2012 22:58

I have a non interleaved connection with telecom and play l4d2. I've found that I am nearly consistently beating cable connections in terms of latency. This is with the rest of the household using the connection too.

The funny thing is I often get better ping playing on au servers than au players connecting locally...

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Ragnor

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#654267 12-Jul-2012 00:47

kawaii: I'd like to know what the ping times are like with Telecom in that area (if there are any in that are) vs. going with TelstraClear.

DSL with interleaving off is around the same latency as cable.