unshaped or faster shaped ?

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sunny

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Hello all

I am still having lots of problems with my 3gb shaped account. I have been unable to play any online games (for which I am paying), for about 2 weeks now. I have a choice it seems of 2 things to try and remedy this situation:

Currently I am on DSL384 with a normal 3gb shaped account - all from Telkom. Thus R199 + R359 = R558.


Option 1: Upgrade to DSL512 and stay on shaped. Thus R199 + R477 = R676

Option 2: Stay on DSL384 and get an unshaped. Thus R499 + R359 = R858


I would prefer the cheeper one, but I am willing to bite the bullet just to be able to play online again.
Your opinions would be appreciated as always.

SUNNYBLACK
 
I would definately not upgrade to 512. Most people with DSL384 are getting 512k speeds. See this thread. As for unshaped, it will definately improve latency for online gaming, assuming you're playing on overseas servers. e.g. WoW etc. Although, those unshaped accounts are quite costly!
 
I don't think upgrading to 512 will help. The problem is the shaping effecting latency, not speed.
 
You need an ISP that will provide you an alternate route to the server's that you are playing on. Teklom's standard routing on shaped is horrible, but I have not found an ISP who can get to europe at under 300ms garauntee'd.

Here's an IS account's ping:
Pinging wow.com [149.174.33.10] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=300ms TTL=49
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=301ms TTL=49
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=320ms TTL=49
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=311ms TTL=49

Compared to the shaped saix account provided by AYCE:
Pinging wow.com [149.174.33.10] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=362ms TTL=48
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=372ms TTL=48
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=363ms TTL=48
Reply from 149.174.33.10: bytes=32 time=363ms TTL=48

60ms difference. That's handy, but like I said, still over 300 ms.
 
What game are you playing. If its not too bandwidth hungry a workable solution is a NukeCap vpn account using your existing shaped telkom account.
 
I have been unable to play any online games (for which I am paying)
Click to expand...

He is playing a MMORPG since no other genre forces you to pay monthly. Nukecap could be a solution since generally MMORPG's are not bandwidth hungry.
 
More info...

I am playing World of Warcraft EUROPE. I have 2 accounts that I use at home on the DSL384.

I am also convinced that a faster connection would not make a difference, and that it is rather the shaping that is the problem. Thing is, at work I have DSL512, and using the same accounts, I get a much better latency.

Latency at home (384) = anything from 15000ms and up. (it used to be 600 untill about 2 weeks ago, but now it is unplayable).

At work we also had a bit of a latency problem for a while, but it seems to be sorted out. Mostly around 700 - 1000ms.

I am realistic about all this - having played WOW for almost 3 months now, I dont mind a latency of between 600 and 1000ms.

So whichever option will get me the closest to that.

SUNNYBLACK
 
If you need better ping, unshaped is the way too go. FireFli (in the official WoW thread) has been reporting between 300ms-500ms constantly.
 
sunny - somethings verrry wrong with your line/dslam/something.
I simply cannot believe that there is a difference in latency between a 384 and a 512 connection.
What kind of pings do you get to a local site ?
Pinging www.saix.co.za [196.25.1.200] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 196.25.1.200: bytes=32 time=44ms TTL=249
Reply from 196.25.1.200: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=249
Reply from 196.25.1.200: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=249
Reply from 196.25.1.200: bytes=32 time=35ms TTL=249
 
I'm in the same situation. WOW Europe was fine until last month (July 28th, to be precise). Playing during the last and first two days of each month was usually difficult, but this time around it turned out to be completely unplayable.

Might be either due to the proliferation of 30GB accounts or due to changes in the shaping procedure. It's gotten somewhat better by now, but ping times are still in the 1200-1500ms range, with large lag spikes every few minutes.

I'm currently using the NukeCap VPN offer which results in ping times between 600 and 900ms, but more importantly no spikes. It's perfectly playable in instances and PvP. Note, however, that it _is_ quite expensive. Expect about 10MB traffic per hour, which quickly adds up. Depending on how much yoy play an unshaped account might be a better solution.
 
Is it true that WOW has been unplayable for the last 2 weeks? Some ppl play it at a local internet cafe and it doesnt lag so much. Is is really unplayable cos im getting WoW tommorow.
 
It clears up from the 6th and starts 24th. The days between this it is most of the time playable from 7pm , during the day is mostly unplayable throughout the month.
 
Many thanks for all the replies. I will wait till closer to the end of this month. If things have not shaped up (no pun intended), I will try out an unshaped account.

SUNNYBLACK

ps. my latency on WOW is also somewhat better tonight, around 1400 (almost playable)
 
sunny said:
Many thanks for all the replies. I will wait till closer to the end of this month. If things have not shaped up (no pun intended), I will try out an unshaped account.

SUNNYBLACK

ps. my latency on WOW is also somewhat better tonight, around 1400 (almost playable)
Click to expand...
Almost Playable! I would die with that Latency.. (at least in game), Try gouge, spin, backstab, as a rogue with a 1.4k ping.. It aint going to happen!

I've been playing ALOT of WoW lately, to much actually, but that is not the point, and everyone is right, I'm on 512 ADSL and the folks playing on the 192 ADSL have the same performance as I do, WoW is not bandwidth hungry but it does need quick response, something that Telkom just dont seem to understand. (They seem to have it in their thick skulls that there can not be such a thing as Low Latency, Low bandwidth.. Though that might be the P2P/CS folk that have screwed their heads up)

Unfortunatly if you want to play WoW and your not on a PVE server where you will have to fight others players, you will not be able to play with high pings. You will have to get unshaped in one form or another.

Since I only need the low ping to play MMO's I've got a 1 gig account from nukecap which I use to play games with, costs me R300 more a month, but still cheaper than Telkoms unshaped
 
Jong, i struggled to patch my UO yesterday. Took me 7 (as in seven) hours to patch something like 7 or 8MB. 7 HOURS! The connection would open, get bursts of up to 3KB/s and then die... Reconnect, resume, repeat ad nauseum. I wanted to kill the Telkom techie neighbours... (i have 3 of them)

Luckily i dont have to patch everyday. but sheesh. surely there must be something we can do about this?
 
Setar said:
It's gotten somewhat better by now, but ping times are still in the 1200-1500ms range, with large lag spikes every few minutes.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I've logged a fault with SAIX through my ISP and I am waiting for an answer.

Regarding your options above, you have a third option. If MMORPG is your major concern downgrade to 192k ADSL and maybe unshaped. WoW does not use that much bandwidth that it even requires 384. I'm on 192 and it plays at the same latency you reported, however if I use an unshaped account, I CONSISTENTLY (very important here) get about 500. There is enormous packet loss on the shaped accounts as it seems that high-priority traffic is routed through the shaper at the cost of low priority traffic.

Juice
 
I know this is a little off topic, but I've noticed that all the WoW players report their latencies to compare speed/quality of service. I don't have WoW (works out too expensive for a student :-P) but I do play quite a bit of Guild Wars.

So my question is...is their anyway to check your latency on GW?
 
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