| Original Message |
Richard (no login)
Posted Jan 8, 2004 6:48 PM
In regard to satelite broadband, it has high bandwidth like ADSl but its not suitable for online games because the "ping" is too high.
The ping is the time taken for a packet of information from your computer to get to the server the game is being played on.
The ping is important for online games because for fast paced games (which would be most games) instantaneous reactions are very important. If you have a high ping ( i.e using a modem) then you get whats called "lag" where events displayed on your screen (say an explosion) instead of happening when you see it happen some time before. On a 56k modem this is typically 0.2-0.5 seconds depending on the server and many other factors.
0.2 seconds might not sound alot but in a game where shooting is important its no good shooting at someone who's moving with a ping of 200 (ping is measured in milliseconds) because by the time the info from your computer gets to the server the player won;t be in that postition any more. In short - you miss.
The reason satelite has a high ping is because instead of the signal travelling through wires on earth the signal is bouncing off a satelite etc which lengthens the ping time in comparison to ADSL. |
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