smackdowner1
join:2006-11-22
Deering, AK |  Is satellite online gaming giong to be smooth...
In the future? I mean any kind of satellite internet 'broadband'.
I still don't understand how a phone line connection that ends up going through satellite differs from a satellite on your house ... |
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Spice300
Premium
join:2006-01-10
2 edits | A dial up Internet connection only passes through local phone lines before it connects to the Internet. Unless you have a long distance ISP located overseas (and are paying long distance phone charges for every precious minute), the portion that passes through the telephone lines never goes through a satellite.
Wildblue is Internet (Ethernet) plugged directly into the customer's computer.
In the future Teledesic might be resurrected. The plan had hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbits (around 500 miles high & later rased to about 870 miles) to greatly reduce the latency. It was an expensive and complicated Internet access via satellite system. Last I heard, Motorola canceled it. You can read about it here: »www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/c···um.shtml |
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seagreen
Premium,Mod
join:2001-05-14
Salish Sea
Host:
CenturyTel
Wireless Service P..
Southern California
HughesNet Satellite
WildBlue Satellite
| reply to smackdowner1
The problem with gaming over a satellite connection is the latency (ping times). A round trip by satellite is close to 100,000 mi or ~4X around the circumference of the earth so the ping times are quite high compared to a dialup connection.
If you want to know more about a satellite internet connection please read sections 2 and 3 of our FAQ. You'll find them helpful. |
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lostnthwoods
join:2001-12-03
Arcadia, OK
| reply to smackdowner1
In short, no. The distance factor for the signal to travel is just too great for multiplayer games to be smooth. Solo is fine. The difference between a phone line is a phone line ties directly into a server that sends the signal over copper wire to a tower that acts a lot like wi-fi, but Satellite has to go all the way up there and back down again. Then, after it returns to earth, it makes the journey through the server and back again. Someone said somewhere around 12000 miles round trip, but even if that's wrong, it's still a long ways. Phones do about half to one quarter of that in a semi-perfect environment. |
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tim_k
Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey
Premium
join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA | reply to smackdowner1
Re: Is satellite online gaming giong to be smooth...
You're never going to get low ping gaming on satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Only if they deploy the low orbit satellite internet will you see improvement. |
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YellowHammer
join:2004-12-09
Jackson, AL
1 edit | The best to be delivered by 2-way satellite systems is in the 600ms range. WB had that for well over a year, until the mid-November, when they screwed up their latency... on purpose... to kill gamers. Now pings run in the 1200-3500ms range. |
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just2stoned
Just2stoned
join:2006-02-06
Spring Hope, NC | reply to smackdowner1
We play World of Warcraft and Everquest 2 on WB pro pak. These are MMORPG's that aren't that sensitive to the latency issue. Usually it's around the 1000ms range which is about 1 second of delay. This will be noticable, but still acceptable. |
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just2stoned
Just2stoned
join:2006-02-06
Spring Hope, NC | reply to YellowHammer
I reckon you were being sarcastic with your remark about them killing latency on purpose to kill gamers but it sure does seem that way lately. I haven't played either for a week cause of latency... |
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YellowHammer
join:2004-12-09
Jackson, AL
 ·WildBlue
| said by just2stoned  :I reckon you were being sarcastic with your remark about them killing latency on purpose to kill gamers Not trying to be sarcastic at all. I'm convinced they don't want gamers on their system. I figure gamers make up at least 1/4 of their customer base. I hope they all leave. I'm looking for something else, and my contract has already expired. Probably after Christmas, I'll be gone. |
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smackdowner1
join:2006-11-22
Deering, AK
| reply to smackdowner1
Re: topic reply
I don't know what the rule is about bumping or posting a new question in this topic.
So (still relevant to satellites) how come a satellite (say .6 meters in diameter) for internet is weaker than Verizons laptop/cell phone connection? I mean the dish is meant for sending and receiving (if its two way) and a small cell phone w/ laptop is faster?
I've heard Verizons' plan goes around 200-300 ping? Way faster than an average 1400ms roundtime of WildBlue.
I apologise if this is not understandable. |
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randyvsatus
Premium
join:2005-03-03
Monument, CO
 ·Qwest.net
| said by smackdowner1 :...I've heard Verizons' plan goes around 200-300 ping? Way faster than an average 1400ms roundtime of WildBlue. Distance to satellite = approx. 22,300 mi
Distance to cell tower = approx 1-5 mi.
--
Surfbeam ku|5000/768|1.2M |4 watt|IA 8||Qwest DSL|7168 / 896 Kbps |
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Fox McCloud
Crazy like a fox.
join:2006-07-23
·Embarq
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to smackdowner1
in theory, a cellular broadband connection could have latency just as low as fiber, cable, and DSL (provided the tower wasn't being used by an INSANE amount of people at the same time). Sadly, the cell-towers are not optimized for internet usage, so you end up getting around 350 ms ping times with 1xRTT networks.
Luckily Sprint is upgrading all their towers (slowly) so that it's more optimized for internet usage. I'd say that this will truly be the savior of the rural people who are in the boonies, but still well within range of a cell phone tower (as is my case...where I have 5 bar coverage with Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon at my house). It will allow you to have a true broadband connection with low latency.
Supposedly their entire network is going to be upgraded with EVDO Revision A by summer to mid-summer...but we all know how well companies are at projecting things. |
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just2stoned
Just2stoned
join:2006-02-06
Spring Hope, NC
| reply to YellowHammer
Re: Is satellite online gaming giong to be smooth...
After 3 complete XP reinstalls w/ updates |
I've noticed that you can't really use default ports for P2P because WB I think does try to block these, but a simple port # change will fix it. If WB only wants us to browse the web and check email with an occasional download then they better start charging $14.95/month for the service they offer because thats all it would be worth, dial up. This is my 30 day usage with some heavy XP installations in the last week. Highest I've ever had mine. Would you consider this,what I pay for, too much usage? Naw didn't think so. |
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YellowHammer
join:2004-12-09
Jackson, AL
·WildBlue
| said by just2stoned :You hope all of us gamers that play online games on our WB systems all leave? Don't take offense at me. I'm one of the screwed over gamers too. |
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just2stoned
Just2stoned
join:2006-02-06
Spring Hope, NC
| Ah I see. I just got inspired to play some EQ2 last night and I have to say that the experience was almost not worth playing. I don't know if beam 37 got that firmware update like everyone is complaining about but my pings were pure crap all day and even in the middle of the night when it's usually at its best. I don't run the WB optimizer either. I was able to play last night, but it wasn't enjoyable like it used to be.
I also apologize to YellowHammer for making it sound like I was attacking him for his statement about gamers  |
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ladybynn
| reply to YellowHammer
YellowHammer i agree with you if this doesnt change i to will be gone from WB to pay so much and not play my game. Which by the way i did get it for that why not. I can get on the server on dialup. But limits to where i can go . WB worked great for a week when i got it then bam i cant log onto the server because of the latency and ping so stupidly high. Why pay so high if you can play on dialup and not on WB hughesnet did the same thing i played for 2 years then within over night i couldnt log no more. They say it was becasue of peak time and yes i could get on after 10:30 at night well cant stay up 24 hours a night to use internet. So i quit them and now this sick of being riped off of how much you pay for nothing. I think they dont want gamers on there satlite too. which is alot do let them loose customers then. Others who play L2 on wb cant no more either . |
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