Pings, shitty speeds, etc.

[Typhy]

The way I can understand it, with most ISPs, if you have a problem you can simply call them up and they'll work it out. Well, not with GCI. First they'll deny the existance of the problem ( it takes about 25 phone calls totalling over 200 hours to get them past this phase ). After that they'll acknowledge the problem, but say that they don't know what to do about it ( about 50 calls and 400 hours get them past this phase ). Finally, they'll claim that the problem merely comes from living in Alaska, and is clearly not their fault. I've never gotten them past this point. I also managed to get my name blacklisted by their tech support. If I call from my house phone, I'll have to wait on hold for 1-2 hours, where as if I call from my cell, or anyone elses phone that doesn't give my name on their caller ID, it's practically instant.

I honestly don't feel like going through the ordeal of dealing with GCI, so perhaps one of you can help me:

Over the past 6 months or so, my pings have been getting progressively worse. I used to often see pings that were between 80 and 100 on West Coast servers, and even on East Coast servers, my ping was usually only around 135.

Now the lowest ping I ever see is 150, my ping on east coast servers is around 250, often worse. On top of this, my netfone used to be almost perfect ( no delay ), now delays are often around 5 seconds.

Any ideas?

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Well, if Cable and DSL are out...try high-speed satellite.  Locally, we can get 2 MBps Satellite Internet.  Don't know how fast you can get in Alaska.  Of course I'm not sure if you can receive from the correct satellite constellation at that far northern lattitude.[/size]

[BTs_Mysterio]

I heard satellite internet connections had terrible upstream.

[Typhy]

Satelite can be fast as hell, but it also has horrific delay, making it useless for gaming.

[BFG]

Yeah think about it - the information has got to go into orbit and back down-again... Satellites can have awesome dl speeds but when it comes to gaming its a non starter.

And of course you have to take the weather into account!

[Typhy]

. . . And taking weather into account really sucks when it's cloudy and pouring rain on top of 4 feet of snow.

[BFG]

British weather.... one of the reasons nobody uses Satellite here


Have you considered Pigeon carrier typhy? If you train them up and keep in supply of seeds i hear they can give you some remarkable speeds

[Typhy]

British weather.... one of the reasons nobody uses Satellite here


Have you considered Pigeon carrier typhy? If you train them up and keep in supply of seeds i hear they can give you some remarkable speeds

That'd be one step above the tin cans and string we used in the IAM CB.

[BFG]

I could never find a bit of string long enough to reach the east coast

Have your ISP got a site which records if they are having any problems at the moment etc? they might be reporting problems that they are fixing, or they might just be being crap. apparently my ISP recently upgraded my connection - which was a brilliant suprise considering it seems to be getting slower not faster  bah i say bah! wish i lived in Scandinavia

[Typhy]

My ISP just is shit.

I pay $169.99/month for 2.4MBPS down, 256kbps up. If I lived on the East Coast, I could get about 8MBPS down, 2MBPS up for CHEAPER! There's only one real ISP in the state, so they've got a monopoly.

[BFG]

Don't complain mate...

I currently "apparently" get a 1MB Down and 128kb upstream connection (i can only upload at aout 30k max ever) for which privialage we pay £25.00 a month... thats almost $50 btw.

And then again i can't complain - some people can't even get cable

[Typhy]

Don't complain mate...

I currently "apparently" get a 1MB Down and 128kb upstream connection (i can only upload at aout 30k max ever) for which privialage we pay £25.00 a month... thats almost $50 btw.

And then again i can't complain - some people can't even get cable

That's a much better deal. I pay nearly 4 times what you pay for a connection that's only twice as fast. 30k upload is very impressive for 128. I max out at about 28kb/sec, and that's for 256 ( which is 32kb/sec, in theory ).  Also, I have a 30GB/Month transfer limit.

[BFG]

Oops... that was a typo.... it is more like 3k rather than 30... Damn stupid 0's everywhere.

[Maniac]

i pay 35$ month and i have 3.5mpbs down and like 512kbps up. I'm going to pay 50 more and get like 5mpbs down and like 1.5 or 2mbps up.

[BFG]

heh ok that is defiantly a good deal maniac! ... hell shit taht is only about £18 a month    Who is your ISP and where are u in the States?

[Maniac]

Houston Texas i think it's like the third largest city in the United States now. There are like 100 ISPs in my zip code alone. I use Time Warner for internet digital cable and soon phone.

[BFG]

whats the max connection u can get over there then? Im just interested in the different levels of integration of cable etc and how its driving down the prices... Problem is over here that they can't keep up with the demand - and although they are up grading the speeds its only as a desperate measure to try and counteract the huge demands on the network as more and more people join up

[BTs_Mysterio]

I like my ISP because they usually boost 1 Mbit every year for free. I just had to get a new modem, these ones are much more upgradable and won't max out for awhile.

Currently:
$35 a month (Canadian Dollars)
5mbit down + 1mbit up

[DarK.]

Umm, anyone complaining about their ISP should come try mine, "guaranteed" 126k but more like 58 k