DSL - Shaped or unshaped?

[Lord_Xan]

Ok, so I'm breaking my long dial-up tradition by finally getting DSL. :)

Do I get a shaped or unshaped account? I always thought local bandwidth was unshaped, but now I'm hearing that's not true anymore.

[<A>FluX.v2.0]

well, shaped is the common way everything is done around here. (crappy SA)
The only thing I know about unshaped is that its far more expensive.

[Shrimp]

Depends on what you can afford really. Shaped is much cheaper, unshaped is ridiculously overpriced.

Either way, it doesn't affect local gaming at all, and doesn't affect regular HTTP downloads/browsing. Unshaped should provide petter performance if you're into Peer-to-peer stuff, but the cost is so insane it's not worth it for mass downloading at all.

[Lord_Xan]

Such quick responses! :)


Either way, it doesn't affect local gaming at all, and doesn't affect regular HTTP downloads/browsing.

I suspected as much, but thanks for confirming, Shrimp! I'm not into peer-to-peer downloads, so shaped should be fine then.

I can't wait to get back online! I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from lack of trolling for ONS.

[Sting]

I would spend the cash on more cap than more speed, especially when talking shaped/unshaped. But if you only concerned with gaming and browsing, a 1-2Gb cap is fine

[[N]Haja]

yo Xan,

I agree with the above, shaped for bang for buck, unless you need it for something specific (like WoW, playing on overseas servers only etc).
But for local gaming, go for shaped, should do you 100%.

One thing to keep in mind though. The service provider you chose will probably make a bigger difference. I know SAIX based accounts (99% of the time) work better on the SGS servers (obviously). My IS account normally has a helluvalotta packeloss and ping spikes, so I switch over to my SAIX account and it is much smoother.
Of course, it also depends on where you live, hops to the server etc, so perhaps trying both Backbones could be worth while.

BTW, have you always played on modem? I seem to remember u having ADSL before (or lowish pings). If not, I shudder to think of you on DSL!

[Bean]

I think Xan always played on ISDN - thus the low(ish) pings.

ISDN doesn't quite have enough capacity for some games though - I don't think Xan could play BF2 for example.

[LordScallyWag]

and he could not use voice comms in UT, but now i eagerly await the day when Xan can issue me orders when on his team in Ons :D

[Lord_Xan]

Haja"]
The service provider you chose will probably make a bigger difference. I know SAIX based accounts (99% of the time) work better on the SGS servers (obviously). My IS account normally has a helluvalotta packeloss and ping spikes, so I switch over to my SAIX account and it is much smoother.

Thanks, Haj. My plan was to try out SAIX first, since I remembered reading about the IS issues a year or so ago on UZA.

Yes, it was ISDN before. I was able to squeeze by, but large UT games definitely created problems for me. And as Bean said, BF2 was out of the question. Luckily I hate the game. :)


and he could not use voice comms in UT, but now i eagerly await the day when Xan can issue me orders when on his team in Ons :D

I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Me having voice comms, that is. ;)

[|sAvAgE|]

finally! the day approaches when i can pwn Xan fairly! stupid ISDN excuses... :rofl: