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I'm on 26.4kbps max dial-up with Windows XP Pro. I currently have an external 56k modem(Zoom External Faxmodem model 2844). My main problem is I can't handle games with over 6 players. My last modem could handle up to 12. Well, I want to invest in a modem that gets good ping and can take a lot of players. Does anyone know what modem works best? Thanx.

If i were you JF, i'd check into prices for broadband first.

*sigh*@Ferno.

No, he's right. You can't get "good ping" on a modem, not with any modern day game that is. Besides, one modem's bandwidth is the same as anothers. I don't see how one could allow for twice as many players in a game as another.

data compression.......... i see that as the reason, one allowed more than the other

No.

Provided you already have an external 56K modem you will have as good a connection as possible. 26.4kb/s handshake is absolutely diabolical man - it's possible you have some MAJOR issues with your phone lines. You could have a massive ground loop somewhere, and a big capacitance is possible too. It may be that your ISP is limiting your bandwidth, or buffering data somewhere. Use Ping Plotter to see if there are issues between you and a server.

I'd think it is your ISP as far as handshake speed goes - because unless your phone lines are complete crap (which they *could* be!) in which case, you're unlikely to get them to install and use V.90 modems which could offer you 50,000+ bps. (My old Winmodem used to make 54,666bps handshakes!)

Hiring a Telecom technician to test the wiring would be a good start. However, it might cost hundreds of dollars to fix an issue - or it might cost $50 - you never know. If the problem is off your property then you don;t have a snowball's chance in hell of improving your handshake.

Software modems (Winmodems) are crap - yes, but Hardware modems can only possibly reduce your ping by a maximum of around 20ms over a Winmodem.

Data compression doesn't work for game packets - it's designed for the compression of text - and a good hardware modem can stream 12-15KB/s of text - but the data rate over the line is still fixed at the maximum handshake signal established at dial-up.

A Hardware modem *may* provide a better handshake speed. i.e. if a Winmodem made 48,666 bps, then a hardware modem might make 50,333bps if you're lucky.

Saying your old modem supported 12 players is a strange statement. If you're refering to *joining* a Client server game - then that makes some sense - but changing modems won't affect this ability.

If you're talking about Peer to Peer games - then you're dreaming. A 56K modem will allow a maximum of 3 players in P2P mode. Over that, the data rate will skyrocket with all players in view, and rapidly swamp the modem causing loss and ship skippage.

The controlling factor in a Client Server game is the server - and if it's a good server, then it'll support 12 players without difficulty - but that server would need in excess of 384 Kb/s to support that many players without loss becoming a factor.

C/S mode is smart on the server side - it knows when clients get lossy, and the server drops the packet rate to the lossy client to try and reduce the loss. Also, packets in C/S mode are optimised somewhat also (as opposed to P2P where data traffic ramps rapidly) and this reduces the data traffic to clients.

As far as I'm aware, the best 56K gaming modem is the 3COM gamers modem - and bloody expensive they are too. However, any external modem will be superior to a winmodem, and it's not worth you making the change if you already have an external one...

yup....broadband or sh!tcanned...

Need to catch up to the times

Mobius, there is some technical reason that my entire city can only get 28.8kbps max. I don't know why, but we can't.

Also, I meant I could handle joining a server with up to 12 players with my old modem. My current modem can only handle up to 6 or possibly 8 on a good server before my ping skyrockets.

Exactly how much do those 3COM modems cost on Ebay?

No offense Mobi, but not ALL winmodems are crap. I realize the majority of Winmodems suck but one in particular does quite well, an LT Winmodem. The firmware is upgradeable, I've already upgraded this modem 3 times in the last 3 years, I currently have it at v92. My pings are better than they ever were with a hardware modem. I routinely get 175-250ms. With a decent server, I get no loss and the CPU usage is a mere 4%.

JF...I was going to suggest calling your telco and asking them to perform a line test but seeing as how you say the whole town gets crap, then I can't see you getting this resolved just for yourself.

The best you can do is to fix your own house wiring as good as possible and pray to the cable/dsl gods to get high speed one day. Here's a list of things you should do in no particular order...

1. Run a direct telephone line from your modem to the incoming phone line. Open up the box outside your house and unplug any phone lines connected, and plug your modem line in. If it is wired directly with copper, then you may wish to not do this step as you could wind up fubaring your house wiring. I'd suggest if it is hard wired, to call your telco and have them put in a POS box.

2. If you were able to plug just the modem in, then all that is left is to test the connect now. If not, unplug every phone and device(including cordless bases) from their jacks. I mean everything must be unplugged, then run the test.

First thing to do when running a test is find out if your modem supports diagnostic messages. My LT Winmodem allows me to go into a terminal program and type ATI11 and it issues a report to me of my TX/RX speeds on connect and on disconnect, my line noise, dropped packets and more. You should get your modems manual and check. If not in there, surf the web for some documentation.

3. For each test, dial the same number(to try and keep similar routing) and use the same sites. I use chi.speakeasy.net but you should find a testing service near where you live. You want to run the test/s multiple times and during different hours of the day. Save the disagnostic messages along with time of day, etc.,.

4. Once completed, you should now begin checking/unchecking and playing with the settings on your modem. I don't mean MTU/MRU settings in your registry, just the regular settings adjustable in your control panel and dial-up connect properties.

4a. Here's an example... Uncheck/Check modem compression and run the tests again. Go to PXO and check pings. Save results. Check/Uncheck modem compression and run tests again. Check pings at PXO. Save and compare.

Obviously there are a lot of settings to play with but the important ones are modem compression, transmit/receive buffers, IP header compression.

Here's my settings(for a LT 56K Winmodem w v92)...

1. Modem compression: ON. Winmodems do not have hardware compression so compression must be done in software. I have a fairly fast puter so it doesn't pose a problem.
2. Use Software Compression: ON. See above.
3. Hardware Compression: OFF. See above
4. Use IP Header Compression: ON. I get somewhat lower pings with this on.
5. Transmit/Receive buffers: Both at full. I have tried setting the TX buffer down but I seem to get slightly better upload speed with this on.
6. Port speed: 115200. This should be about twice your highest connect speed. Higher numbers will only saturate the buffers and increase loss.
7. Data Protocol: Forced EC. Basically this forces the modem to use v.44 error correction.

A lot of this may need to be changed with your modem, so you'll need to play with it to get the best results but there are some other things you'll want to do to increase performance...

1. Remove any bindings that you do not need. For instance, the only thing bound to my modem is TCP/IP. Nothing else.

2. Remove any unused TAPI devices. These can be found under the advanced Tab for modem properties in your control panel. I have only the following...NDIS Proxy TAPI Service Provider, TAPI Kernel-mode service provider, and Unimodem 5 service provider.

3. Remove any additional initialization commands you might have added. Let the modem use it's default factory settings. This is *usually* best.

4. Check that there are no conflicts with the IRQ and/or Com port the modem is using. If there are, swap cards until you can get rid of them.

5. Try different dial up numbers. I went through each dial-up number provided me and tested them during different times of day with the same settings over a week. I wrote them down in good to bad order. That order is still accurate now, go figure.

6. As a last resort, try a different modem. If you simply can not find a way to get your modem to work right and are getting severe loss, crap pings even after exhausting all of the above, you may have a crappy modem. I recommend against 3COM. Go with a Zoom modem. I bought a top-of-the-line 3COM Gaming modem not that long ago and my pings were worse than my trusty winmodem and even though I can connect to 12 player servers and play just fine, the 3com would take a dump after 6 peeps. It would disconnect frequently which my winmodem never does. And that's not the first time I've had that happen with 3com crap.

Lastly, I've been exactly where you have been and have solved my problem. It took years and lots of testing. I went through 20-30 different ISP's, dozens of different modems, 2 phone companies, 3 OS's, dozens of tweaks, numerous dial-up numbers and have finally managed to get my awesome dial-up. Here's what I did...

1. Called my telco and had them inspect the line. They found a ground loop and because I was supa nice to the tech, he even gave me a fiber-optic connection at the HUB so I only have about 1/2 mile of twisted before hitting fiber.

2. Ran a dedicated Cat5e cable from my modem to the POS. Used a splitter with one end to my modem and the other to a line filter and to rest of house. This reduced the noise on the modem from 160 to sub 100.

3. Tested dozens of different settings in the dial up properties, dozens of different phone numbers over weeks.

4. Bought modem after modem testing each in the same way, finally realizing my LT Winmodem was bar none, the best of the bunch. heh.

Now, I connect at 49.6-53.3K every day. My lowest ping ever in game was 140ms and average around 200ms. Loss is negligible and surfing is fast for a dial-up.

I've talked to many of my friends on dial-up and they all wish they had my connect. Hell, even a buddy of mine on cable wishes he had my connect at times. lol. So, the gist of the story is you have a lot of work cut out for you and a lot of things to test, so have fun and remember, it is possible to have a decent ping even with a modem.

btw...This is SheepShearer from GGL, we have a match to schedule.

Diamond Multimedia has some good modems. Even the Winmodems get good ping. Best I saw with it was around 115ms.

wow, thanks for the help! I'll be sure to try out all the stuff SS told me.

I have managed to get as low as 118 to a server 45 mins away from me... so I can consider that pretty good

I used to run USR Performance Pro modems. I beleive they are around $70. You can turn the gaming mode on and off.

US Robotics are the best hardware modems, period.

I looked up in the Descent3 faq and it recommended the USRobotics Sportster. I looked for em on Ebay and found 2.

I had a basic US Robotics modem, and the best suggestions I ever got (when I was a Descent N00bler and getting my a$$ kicked on dialup, the guy took the time to tell me in-game the tweaks I needed. Thanks dood! Made me stay with Descent.) were similar to what SS has laid out. My speeds at the time went from 28k to 35-45k, occasionally 50k! The house was 30+ years old, so the wiring wasn't new inside, but not sure about the outside lines. I agree with tweaking your modem settings; In addition to SS's suggestions, look for modem tweaking sites on the web, maybe someone has something more specific to your modem/setup/system/isp.