question about ping

Joe200man · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Posts: 17

I have a question about my ping, i can connect, test my ping and it be around 120 or 130 or so, disconnect and instantly connect again and check my ping and it will be around 80 or 90ms. Is this normal? I mainly use my internet to play xbox live so i need the best possible ping so lately i've just been connecting and disconnecting until i get the best possible ping. And the ping will usually stay the same for the entire time i'm connected. Also will a yagi antenna help my pings any? I don't really need any lower pings i just want the best possible ping without having to connect and disconnect all the time. I have verizon wireless with a um175. I'm also within 3 miles of 3 verizon towers.

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 211

Yes it's normal for your ping to fluctuate. 80-90ms is about the best your ever going to get. I think the lowest I've ever seen mine was 76ms and it was brief. I normally ping around 120ms-130ms but I also have spikes where I can jump clean up to 500ms +.

It can be frustrating at times and very annoying when your trying to game and lag out. Some days I never have the problem and other days it seems like I can't get the problem to go away. But to answer your question NO an antenna isn't going to improve your pings but could possibly improve speeds. To test that you need to drive to the tower you connect and run speed tests their. If they are higher than at home an antenna may get you additional speed however if they are the same it won't improve anything.

Hope that helps you out man!

Joe200man · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Posts: 17

I just didn't understand why it is 130 one second, disconnect and connect and it be 80. I didn't know if maybe i was connecting to different towers or something. And i don't really have any spikes. Usually if it starts out at 80 it will stay around there for the time i'm connected. but sometimes it can take me 10 or 15 trys to get a lower ping which gets old after awhile.

Jack_In_VA · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 20

Ping times are network dependent. That's why the variance from test to test.

TomW · Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: ping

I noticed the exact same thing -- slow ping the first time, much faster thereafter. I assumed, maybe incorrectly, it had something to do with cache memory. It also made me wonder how ping latency pertains to real world applications. For example, can I expect that delay to occur every time my computer requests some block of data? If it does, it would make sense to want the blocks to be as large as possible so the pauses would be fewer in number. I hope someone can explain how it works, or point me to a source of info. Thanks.

n6gn · Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:15 am Post subject:

Time for an initial ping from any TCP/IP network is common since, usually, the MAC layer has to be satisfied. This requires an extra exchange wherein a MAC address associated with the link layer source/destination host(s) must be obtained and added to the ARP table(s). This requires time.
Once the ARP table is filled with the required mapping, additional exchanges (ICMP or otherwise) don't take so long.
At least, that's my understanding, perhaps a network expert can correct or add to this.

n6gn

verizonrocks · EVDO Junkie Joined: 12 Dec 2008 Posts: 155

Try traceroutes to the sever in question, to see if you can identify a particular network device where latency is varying; or alternatively, it could be that there are multiple paths to this location, one of which experiences generally higher latency than the other.

Skytrill · EVDO Newbie Joined: 30 Oct 2009 Posts: 1

I have EDVO since almost a month right now and i would like to know if an antenna is faster than a dish (the guy who installed it said the dish would capt the signal better but didn't said a thing about the higher ping) because I play some games online who requires a low ping for a good experience. So is it true that an antenna is faster?

Any help would be appreciated Very Happy

widgetman101 · EVDO Junkie Joined: 02 Apr 2008 Posts: 211