Packet Loss

Ok so the reason i have been lagging non stop is because i have major packet loss.
can anyone tell me what that is and how to fix it??
if you could it would be a real help thanks

From my limited understanding, it's generally a sign of excessive network congestion - one or more of the communications devices between you and the UT server you're connected to is receiving more data than it can cope with, and it's prioritising other people by not delivering some of the data your computer is sending out.

You can imagine it to be a bit like one of those "chains of people" you see in a movie set in the pre-fire department days - you know the sort of thing, someone's barn is burning down, so all of the hearty townsfolk form a human chain, passing buckets of water along the line.
If someone in that line is weaker or slower than the others, they can't pass on the buckets fast enough to keep up with the people before them - they'll get flustered and start to drop some, or tip some over in their efforts to keep up.

Here each 'bucket' would be equivalent to a data 'packet' - if one of the routing devices in the chain between your machine and the UT server can't keep up, it starts dropping packets. It's a bit of a brutal solution, but it means that some of the traffic it's receiving will get through, and most applications rely on TCP, a networking protocol specifically designed to work around these kinds of problem by retrying when problems occur, so it's not usually a major issue (i.e., you'd be much less likely to notice it browsing the web, for example).
UT doesn't use TCP though - it uses UDP, which has a lower overhead, because it doesn't make any attempt to compensate for delivery errors. Not that retrying would be much use, it would probably add a lot of delay, so your ping would sky rocket instead.

What can you do about it? Well, that depends on where the problem is occurring - if it's somewhere on a part of your ISPs network, and it's an ongoing problem, then you should complain. You're within your rights to expect a minimum level of service, and if your Internet experience is being degraded then they ought to do something about it.
If it's out somewhere on another part of the Internet, then it might be more difficult - Windows has some built in tools for examining network state, tracert (traceroute) is particularly useful here - have a look at this tutorial:

http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/id/34

praise to the darkness

ok.....so how do i fix it?

Change ur ISP

and how do i do that? cmon shad you know me <---idiot on the loose

lmao @ idiot on the loose

You go to your ISP's representative and say you want to stop using that ISP.Then find another ISP and subscribe there.It's simple.

hmmm. im using my dad's connection
and we have a very good ISP...i just have wireless router.

Open the Command Prompt and type:

tracert 212.227.63.183

That'll trace the path from your PC to the CoD server. Examine the values to the left of the output on your screen - you should see a sequence of lines that show something like:

1 51 ms 57 ms 50 ms po24-102.cr05.tn5.bb.gxn.net [62.72.139.109]
2 52 ms 57 ms 51 ms linx.bb-c.the.lon.gb.oneandone.net [195.66.224.98]
3 66 ms 64 ms 66 ms te-1-3.bb-c.bap.rhr.de.oneandone.net [212.227.120.49]
4 126 ms 199 ms 224 ms te-3-1.gw-distp-a.bs.ka.oneandone.net [212.227.116.210]
5 69 ms 70 ms 69 ms ae-1.gw-prtr-r11-a.bs.ka.oneandone.net [195.20.247.159]
6 73 ms 69 ms 68 ms s15217138.onlinehome-server.info [212.227.63.183]

The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th columns list the response times. If any are much higher than the others (the 4th line down in the text above, for example), then the router listed on that line (by DNS name, and then IP - so above that would be te-3-1.gw-distp-a.bs.ka.oneandone.net and its IP address 212.227.116.210) is causing problems.
If you know the name of your Internet Service Provider, you can probably work out - by the name of the router on that line - whether it's part of your ISP's network, or another node out on the wider Internet.

Do you have a fixed IP address? Visit http://whatismyipaddress.com/ every day for a week - does the number reported change? It might not, even if you have a dynamic address, depending on how often your ISP renews its IP leases. I don't know how realistic this is, but you could try acquiring a new address by rebooting your modem/router - or if you're not sure how to do that - switching it off for half an hour or so.
If you can get a new address, you might, maybe, possibly, find that your packet routing changes, and avoids any nodes that are causing slow down.

Otherwise, if you noticed any response time spikes, and you can determine that they're happening with your ISP's network, I'd try to find out about how to contact technical support and submit a help request explaining that you're having problems with frequent 'timeouts' when accessing the net.

yeah kron! I was just going to say what Shai said!

My Freelancer pal is from USA too and he had problems with his wireless.
Wireless isn't good.Whenever there's rain or somebody uses microwave oven,your signal becomes bad.
You should get cable-based connection,because you won't have such problems.
Anyway,try going to Gameservers(they have low latency),and if you have problems there too... it's your connection then.

That's a good point actually - is it a new problem? Maybe one of your neighbours has suddenly added a wireless network and it's causing interference or something.

I use HomePlug. Basically, it uses your existing house wiring as network cable. It's really useful because it means you don't have to lay any cabling (i.e., no drilling, no tripping hazards!): you buy a small box for each PC (or other networked device), about the size of a standard adapter, that plugs into a normal wall socket.

Then you connect the network card in your PC to the box with a short length of Ethernet cable. My main PC is quite a way from the 'master' phone socket, so I have a HomePlug box next to my computer, plugged into the wall, and another one next to the 'master' phone socket, that's connected to my modem/router.
It works exactly like a regular wired Local Area Network - and the latest standard supports up to 200Mbs, so it's nominally quicker than Fast Ethernet.

they can read our minds laz =)

Yeah.. that thing sahi wrote was just what I had in my last dream!

lol laz and christ stop spamming the topics u bunch of newbs:D

Checking Christ's and Laz's minds...
only beer found

Lol xD

There'se to much blood in my alchohol system!! :S:S

{Dark}Shadow wrote:

Checking Christ's and Laz's minds...
only beer found

And My Mind ... Everything You Will Find In There Is Beer And D*n*