ronpin
Imagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana
 ·AT&T Southwest
| Any "GameRail" (low latency gamer option) users here?
Charter has partnered with GameRail to provide very low-latency "game-server to game-server" routing -- in multiple metro areas.
If there are any GameRail subscribers here I'd like to see some actual traceroutes/ping-times while "connected" to a GameRail server.
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America has been hijacked by selfish nationalist corporate pigs. The whole world hates us now. Have a nice day. |
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Hemp
Premium
join:2003-02-03
Capitola, CA
1 edit | eh
when did this become available and how much MORE is it a month? : |
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ronpin
Imagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana
·AT&T Southwest
| BBR reported it last week. It's $15/mo. I'm thinking it might be worth it -- but I'd like to see some actual milage reports (preferable during prime-time)
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America has been hijacked by selfish nationalist corporate pigs. The whole world hates us now. Have a nice day. |
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waltl
join:2001-04-25
Fenton, MO | reply to ronpin
That sounds too good to be true. I'd buy it if there's proof it works. |
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cschlik
join:2006-12-03
Saint Louis, MO | There is a Youtube video on www.gamerail.com which shows pings with and without gamerail running. Pings on the status page drop in half. You can sign up for a beta... I don't know if the cost is lower for the beta...
Chris |
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psianime
join:2000-12-12
San Gabriel, CA | reply to ronpin
Seems like an interesting concept but if our ISP's didn't oversell their networks this service would never be needed. |
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cschlik
join:2006-12-03
Saint Louis, MO | How true. I wonder how good it works when the network is bogged down?? |
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lotalag
@charter.com
| Sounds cool, so, what they are doing is letting a third party company buy priority VPN routing, so the third party can resell it to game server farms, and end users. It's basically the same priority routing they give to business customers, VIOP resellers and I wonder if xbox live has priority routing? What about the rest of the HSI customers that Charter already advertises real time gaming with no delays to? |
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psianime
join:2000-12-12
San Gabriel, CA | reply to ronpin
If anything we can call in Al Gore to help us invent the Interweb 3.0.
It's really sad to see that we have to pay a premium to get low pings on our cable/dsl service. I thought paying $50+ a month entitled us to that. I guess not. |
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Hemp
Premium
join:2003-02-03
Capitola, CA
1 edit | well if this works ill cancel my dsl, the only thing i want is good ping and routing
like.. i have half the ping and its really consistant with dsl |
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ronpin
Imagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana
·AT&T Southwest
| Here's the video I posted in another thread here -- for your benefit. I still want to see an actual traceroute though.
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJab6eN6aVw
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America has been hijacked by selfish nationalist corporate pigs. The whole world hates us now. Have a nice day. |
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Hemp
Premium
join:2003-02-03
Capitola, CA | yeah I saw that, it looks great. i hope its available here :O |
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cschlik
join:2006-12-03
Saint Louis, MO
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to ronpin
Low consistent pings are what i miss about DSL. Unfortunately the copper in my area has degraded to the point that DSL is no longer an option. I am only able to get 1.5/256. I have noticed a lot of ping fluxuation during prime-time with Charter.
I need all the help I can get with COD2 as my reflexes are not what they used to be. I remember playing Quake on dialup (circa 1996) and you would refer to anyone with less than a 200 ping a LPB (Low Ping Bast...).
I would consider this service if the pings were better significantly than DSL. Heck, a basic DSL account would cost less. |
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markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO | I get those same pings on my 10meg/1meg service here, $15 more a month is what it would cost going from typical 5meg to 10meg..
Bf2 server in Chicago i get around 10-14ms..on 64player.
Honestly its not worth it. |
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Time
Premium
join:2003-07-05
 ·Dish Network
 ·Cox HSI
·Embarq
3 edits | reply to ronpin
I use GameRail, I'll post screenshots of the client and my tracerts when I get home. It actually does drop your ping, I normally ping 100 to Chicago, but when I use GameRail, it drops it to the mid-60's.
Basically, you have a choice of gateways around the country. Since I'm west coast, I typically go through Los Angeles. GameRail creates a "virtual" connection (similar to what Daeman Tools does with virtual drives). They setup their network so it's no more then two hops from the gateway to the location of the server (Saint Louis, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Virginia, and Atlanta).
It will be worth the $15 when it comes out, regardless of what the doubters in this thread say.
EDIT: I think some of you aren't understanding what this is. It's not an "internet service", it's in ADDITION to your broadband service. It simply creates a virtual connection which routes all traffic to a specific gateway. You have a choice of gateways all over the country (St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Virginia, Los Angeles, etc), and from there, it routes you straight to the location of the server you are playing in (assuming it's in a major city). You can sign up for the beta, and they decide who gets to use it based on your location and ISP. Keep in mind, this is mainly for competitive gaming, hence the association with CAL/CPL. By GameRail partnering with Charter, or any other ISP for that matter, they are simply setting up peering/advertising agreements.
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"May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't." - General George Patton |
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dispatcher21
join:2004-01-22
united state
| reply to ronpin
This is a perfect example of what the net neutrality debate is about. I'm sure that Time will tell you that its not since its an addon but what says that it stops with gaming? Who says that in the future Charter and other providers wont charge people $15.00 to have good performance to any server? Also, if Charters internal network to the gateway sucks ass, how does this help? You might get good latency once it leaves Charters network and hits Gamerail but there are many Charter areas that have crappy performance on the internal network. Seems like people would be paying extra for something that Charter should already be doing. |
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markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to Time
I stand by what i said. Not worth it.
The only exception I would say is if you have lots of friends on a particular server that you like to play with, but is that worth $15 a month for a little better ping?
But with all games that pick the best servers near you anyways, its not really a issue for majority of Charter users. Like for me my pings on %90 of every server are below 30ms it does not matter. |
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Time
Premium
join:2003-07-05
·Dish Network
·Cox HSI
·Embarq
1 edit | said by markopoleo  :I stand by what i said. Not worth it. The only exception I would say is if you have lots of friends on a particular server that you like to play with, but is that worth $15 a month for a little better ping? But with all games that pick the best servers near you anyways, its not really a issue for majority of Charter users. Like for me my pings on %90 of every server are below 30ms it does not matter. If you're away team in competitive gaming, you don't really have a choice, do you? That's what GameRail is useful for. It falls back on the fact that you can't speak for a service if you haven't experienced it.
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"May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't." - General George Patton |
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BoMarty
join:2001-02-01
Ballwin, MO
| reply to ronpin
I too looked at the video, and here are my thoughts.
1-the video was pinging 2 of 3 servers that are empty
2-the video used a St Louis server as one of the 3. The pings before he switched to "GameRail", I never get those higher pings being I am also in St Louis.
3-I have played on a BF2 server just across the river here in St Louis and get the same "GameRail" server low ping. About 16ms or so. Again, the video shows a empty St Louis Server. And I am not on the "GameRail" server.
4-one of the 3 servers was from Texas. Here in St Louis, I ping very low to Texas servers, probably lower than the video shows without "GameRail".
5-I believe Charter keeps the St Louis Market "fine tuned" because it is in their back yard.
Overall, at first look, Game Rail would not be worth the extra monthly fee.
If you are in a Market that is oversold, then if Game Rail can by pass the public internet, it may very well be worth the monthly fee.
My 2 cents for what it is worth  |
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Time
Premium
join:2003-07-05
·Dish Network
·Cox HSI
·Embarq
| I'll say it again...
This is sponsored by CAL/CPL, meaning their target consumers are competitive gamers. When you are away team, you don't have a choice of where the other team will buy their server, so if you happen to play a team who has a server in New York, and you live in California, this can benefit you.
1-I wasn't aware of any match play that has more then 12 people in a server at a time.
2-The video did use a Saint Louis server, but Alchemist (the guy who made the video) does not live in Saint Louis, so point number 2 doesn't really hold much.
3-This isn't supposed to improve your local ping, not sure where you got that from.
4-The video was probably made before the arrangements with Charter.
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"May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't." - General George Patton |
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