Saying No to : STARHUB (or Cable Based ISP)

Gamers alike don’t need the lag from the ISP.”, “Lagging occur

[quote]

When too many users try to send data simultaneously in a congested network, some data will be delayed or even dropped, much like the problem gamers face.[/quote]

That was the response by Singapore’s Largest ISP, Starhub NET aka SCV / Cyberway Internet.

It’s actually their fault, and I have to say so, since cable broadband technologies tend to lag, since the modems are crippled and they have to share the uplink with so many people on the network.

Starhub has always this problem and will always have this problem, as long as they stick to the DOCSIS standards.

You see, unlike the United States, they use a fiber at the user’s termination point to uplink and downlink the data. Downlink is never a problem but getting the data up is always the problem.

Having crippled their Motorola Surfboard Modems with an uplink of a mere 256k makes things worse.In singapore, that means the whole block of flats (100 units normally) share the access point, and if that is bad, they have to share that with cable tv and telephone which always take priority over all traffic than streaming gamers data.

You see, unlike ADSL, there is a maximum of 20:1 usage ratio, ie: 20 users to the pipe on a 512K line and it’s been time-based multiplexed and thus giving better peerage. With cable, you got to share that 45M line downlink with everyone and getting to share a mere 2M uplink with everyone + the cabletv+cabel telephone.

And even if they go higher, there will always be a 10ms lag to the access points as the network is running over coaxal cables and everyone have to take turns talking, unlike ADSL, you just blab your way thru directly to the connectivity router or the ISP’s Point of Presense (POP)

Let’s look at some examples (both in UK,Singapore and Malaysia):

Mine , on AOL UK, piggy backing on BT as the telco

[code]

1 15 ms 33 ms 15 ms rt-lostd07.dial.aol.com [195.93.23.103]

2 * * * Request timed out.

3 14 ms 14 ms 14 ms accessl1-los-ae3.router.aol.com [172.17.169.59]

4 15 ms 13 ms 15 ms pop1-loh-S2-2-0.atdn.net [66.185.143.197]

5 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms bb2-loh-S0-0-0.atdn.net [66.185.136.226]

6 15 ms 16 ms 14 ms bb1-log-S0-2-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.4]

7 14 ms 13 ms 14 ms pop1-log-S0-0-0.atdn.net [66.185.134.97]

[/code]

This is with this one in Thailand

[code]

2 20 ms 14 ms 15 ms ppp-124.120.145.1.revip2.asianet.co.th [124.120.

145.1]

3 15 ms 14 ms 14 ms 210.86.189.44

4 19 ms 15 ms 15 ms 10.169.44.1

5 * * * Request timed out.

6 29 ms 19 ms 19 ms 61-90-254-78.static.asianet.co.th [61.90.254.78]

7 20 ms 15 ms 17 ms 61-90-254-89.static.asianet.co.th [61.90.254.89]

8 18 ms 657 ms 25 ms 203-144-144-6.static.asianet.co.th [203.144.144.

6]

[/code]

I will put more if U can pass me a TRACERT

but my conclusion:

it takes 20ms to reach the POP on ADSL whereas it takes about 50 or more to reach the outside world using cable.