Hi all!

I am total newbie. I'd ask, if a serial external modem produces higher ping value then an internal?

Background: I am sharing internet under Windows2000 via modem for playing online . But the ping is low. I have an idee: buying a linux compatible serial external modem, installing SUSE. Will it work? Can I get better ping?

Thanks

Your upstream traffic can affect your ping speed as well so if you are using P2P, stop. As for external (serial com port modem) vs PCI if I've understood, for a dial up modem the max speed is 56600bps whereas the speed of a serial port is 115200bps ie twice as fast. Theoretically there should be no reason that an external modem should be better or worse than an internal one.
There is however a difference in the quality of hardware that you can buy just like anything. When I used to use dial up my external modem always connected at faster speeds than an internal one that I had used. My dad had an internal modem which was the equivalent of my external one and it too was very fast. However if you want my advice go for ADSL.

If you are serious about gaming then you really need something with a tad more grunt than dial-up.

Thanks for your answers!

The backgrounds: I am not so serious for gaming. But I can call my office free, so I have a slow but free internet connection at home. I try to improve it, which is a good reason to learn linux, but I dont want to pay for ADSL.

Fraz!
1. "...Your upstream traffic can affect your ping speed as well so if you are using P2P, stop..."
Could you explain more detailed, why should I stop, pls!

2. I dont worry about the download speed of the external modem, but the ping, which is (I suppose) more sensitive on the quality of the connection between the modem and the OS. That is the reason, why I am thinking, that a PCI card has a better ping then a modem on the serial com port. Or?


McDodo

Hi,
P2P programs which upload constantly e.g. bittorrent apps, create a bottleneck for outgoing data. There is essentially a queue for outgoing data and thus when a data packet is sent by a program it can be some time before it actually reaches the phoneline. I didn't mean that you should stop using P2P altogether simply that when you require a better ping response you should shut down the P2P apps until you don't need fast pings.

As for the hardware issue, the problem with slow pings is much more likely to be due to the quality of your phoneline, distance from the exchange and who you are trying to reach on the internet than to have anything to do with your modem.

Bear in mind that ping speeds are usually in the order of milliseconds which is much slower than hardware communicates with the bus

OK, I see!

Thank you for the instruction! Based on your answers I decided to buy an external modem and explore the world of Linux! I could install the modem and get fax message. Next task is the dial in connection. But this is an other topic.

By!