Seeing as though the server is down, and what I believe its down for a bit, lets discuss ways as to how we can make our Internet faster without changing ISP's.:nono: Maybe this will make those pesky PvP's easier!
Here is a little program that is able to optimize your TCP, making overall speed a little bit better (especially on Xbox Live I found).
SpeedGuide.net :: TCP Optimizer
Another thing that may help is to TURN OFF Instant messagers you are not using and your Internet browser, since they chip away at you bandwitdth. Unless you have a monster of a PC and about over 4Mbits speed, I recommend turning off those programs. That also includes those torrent programs! I know some of you use them!:nono:
I don't bealive in any stuff like this, I tried few things that originally was supposed to speed it up but it was even worst.
Anyway I have dsl so it's over limited, rather anything won't help.
My solution is to keep you HD clean and tidy. Also go avtivir and that's all.
Actually, those programs mostly only tweak registry entries in which the network configuration is stored.
For example, adjusting the MTU to that of your ISP is a good idea, as it helps (somewhat, dont expect miracles) with lag in games.
Of course, if you only do that, and let a bunch of malware/unuseful software get into your computer, very little can be done!
I didnt trust them, till i found a basic one which only waited for your imputs at the parameters, and not only "Click here to speed up things". With a few try outs, i managed to get an overal 15-20% download speed in my old computer (W98SE) and less ping in game servers (about 10-20 ms in servers i was "lagging" 180 ms, not a lot, but enough to be a help)
Oh, those old online sessions with "Shogo"...
Any of these speeding up tricks are relatively useless.
Programs sends TCP/IP packets and those packets get queued. If there are only FL sending the packets then the speed is optimal that you can get. You can not effect in any way about routing the packets.
But in real life windows has programs that send and receive regularly packets so they "slow" the FL down. It's miniscule in scale though. Of course if you are running in the back-ground any p2p it means more packets and FL packets have to wait --> higher ping. The ping is somewhat proportional the amount of packets the Windows is sending and receiving. So shutting down p2p, internet browsers (the pages that do auto reload), outlook, Vista sidebar etc. will help.
There's a Ethernet card (the all famous Killernic) for sale that PRIORITIZES and buffers the packets. It gives precedence to a game application packets thus optimizing the ping. The real effect in test is having a ping of 35 instead of 40, or 25 instead of 30. So it's negligible boost.
I used this: new commutation for a higher price and more bandwidth... works wonders;)