Please move this if you think it should be another section, or something. I don't have too much time right now to get into all the details, so if you have other questions/thoughts post them and I'll respond later/tomorrow.

Long story short: I changed from a Comcast cable (12 down/1.5 up) connection to Quest DSL (7 "down/0.8 up). At first I thought it would just be 30 day trial (they were offering in our area). To my surprise right after install with no setting adjustments I was able to host 10-12 people with artillery. On Comcast I was only able to hold 6 without strikes!

Later, I ran into a problem with not being able to chat/play with certain people, so I did some research and found out about NAT, DMZ and Port Fowarding settings. I found out my 360 was on "moderate" settings, and ideally you want it on "open". After some trial and error I got my console to register as open and I have got to tell you the speed and fluidity of my connection has never been better, supposedly it doesn't affect "lag in games" from what I read... but it sure has seemed like it for me.

Yeah NAT settings won't do anything for lag. But they can fix problems trying to connect to servers or have people join your game, and problems with you and other people hearing each other.

www.portforward.com has good instructions for a lot of different routers on how to get your network set up correctly.

I did some tests the other night while hosting 10 users on Campaign Missions.

Actual bandwidth required to host 10 users is around 700kbps. It is probably a good rule to say each remote user would require about 64kbps of bandwidth.

What was most interesting is the variance from minute to minute.

This is probably why some users can make it into a session but drop out during the mission. It is more likely the bandwidth at the host site that caused the user to lag out than the particular user. This of course excludes the known user with a poor connection. It does explain why the guy that hasn't had problems all night suddenly does when more users join the room.

Cable is shared-bandwith throughout an area or neighborhood. If you're in the middle of a game and three neighbors start downloading songs, the total bandwidth has been reduced. DSL on the other hand is a committed path between you and the phone company. You aren't sharing that with anyone. (basically)

This would also explain why your new lower "advertised" speed can hold users better.

I plan to do some more extensive monitoring one of these days.

Here is the link to the graph I did while hosting a game:
http://www.sds.com/~scotto/sds-inet-gw.jpg
(The blue line between the two thick black lines)
And yes, NAT should only come into play between users with MODERATE or STRICT NAT. If the host is OPEN, all users should be able to work with the host, but may not be able to talk to each other.

scotto

One thing about Cable Companies; You have to watch your speed. Do speed test regularly. Cable companies sometimes tend to lower the speed they are giving you without telling you. Then if you notice it, they say lets do some "troubleshooting" and in 1 or 2 steps, it's back up to full speed.

Just something that happens, and might have been causing the poor hosting on your cable connection.

Scotto: seems like you know more than me. I'm in mid-terms this week, so I don't have much spare time to look too closely right now, but I would like to figure out to monitor what is going on like that for my connection. There is still one specific player on my friends list I can not private chat, or join games with and it is making me pretty upset. I've heard Quest has "interleave" (I think its called) on the line so maybe that has something to do with it.

We both have open NAT when testing... so I don't know where to start. At this point, it just really angers me that people right down the street from me get to enjoy Verizon Fios (20 down/5 up) for about 60 bucks a month, while I'm stuck with either comcast cable or quest dsl for a similar price... BS!!! But thanks for your reply/help though.

@Mr.Hanky2005: I ran through the gauntlet with comcast, including there three different speed tiers (4,8 and 12 I think it is here) it was always the same speed when testing. The thing that annoyed me with them the most is that every download started very fast, giving the impression it was amazing but after about a minute a cap hit or something and it would drop to like 1-2 megs, it seriously would drive me crazy watching it and arguing with them about it on the phone. Also I noticed that it would slow down if the neighbors were busy or something, more BS!!!!

I feel your pain!

Comcast was sued over their business practices of rate-limiting or blocking certain bandwidth intensive applications. While I don't know if Xbox gaming is/was targeted, it's obvious they advertise one thing and deliver another.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071114-comcast-h...raffic-blocking.html

A couple of notes. The features and quality of both your cable-modem and router can always come into play. When you were going through those speed tiers, did they ever swap the cable modem or mention any re-programming? I've encountered sales people who are happy to "sell" you a faster service plan, but not ever check to see if your current modem is capable or provisioned for the faster speeds.

Also, remember that speed doesn't address the problem of not being able to talk. I haven't done enough testing to know what ports are involved for the Xbox chat. If it's a VOIP common port, one or the other end might be blocking that port so you still need phone service. This practice is common with many cable companies when it comes to e-mail servers. Most don't want you using an outside SMTP server, so they block port 25 to all but their servers. (there are ways around this)

I should get some time this coming weekend to monitor exactly what ports come into play with both Xbox native, hosting/joining AA:TS, and then establishing a voice chat.

As for monitoring what is being used, many routers will show "active connections" with a format of Source IP/Port & Destination IP/Port. It's very router specific so it's hard for me to tell you where to look.

I'm using Cisco switches and routers and am directly connected to the 'net over a dual-peered network (I have connections to both Los Angeles and San Diego) using traditional T1 lines. Since I am basically my own ISP, I control my destiny for what gets into and out of my network.

Gaming is something I'm new to doing, but am hooked on AA:TS. The last video game I bought was the Nintendo with Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt back in the mid to late-80s. It's come a long way!

I found out something really interesting. I solved the problem I was having with voice/chat and game invites by running 360 directly into the modem. For some reason that did it. I put my 360 @ blah.blah.blah.09 as a static IP and viola! there it woked perfect now. Also since it is DSL, it allows me connect/disconnect without resetting the modem. Something I couldn't do with my cable connection at least. Im going to bookmark this thread to reference in the future and to be able to point people towards when they are having problems.

quote:

Originally posted by sdscotto:
The last video game I bought was the Nintendo with Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt back in the mid to late-80s. It's come a long way!

It sure has. I think the closest thing they had to a multiplayer tactical military simulation at that time was Ikari warriors...

quote:

Originally posted by HMD5x56x45x:
I found out something really interesting. I solved the problem I was having with voice/chat and game invites by running 360 directly into the modem.

That would indicate to me a router protocol or port restriction. If you still need to share your network connection with other devices in the house, I would recommend getting the latest firmware update for your router or just replacing it with an Xbox approved router.

btw, I have not had time to do the port test, but some initial checking of the xbox connections have proven very interesting.