FLOW questions

[shizz]

Sorry I did not know where to place this if a mod needs to move it so be it.

I been looking over the last month @ flow and the possibility of something more than 256k gaming.


Flow's seems to be willing to step up in the bandwidth game and give ole TSTT some competition (old news).

I just really need to know from anyone here who has flow and play fps online in any way to tell me what pings they get and if tis any good and on what package.


I am not looking for MMORPG pings like WOW and stuff more looking for like some hardcore FPS/Counterstrike pings and ting.


Appreciate any comments on this.

Thanks

[soldier]

well arch have flow and does still lag like hell.. ROFL

well den again.. is arch XD

i see men on flow does drop too

coughscarcough

:)

[Paradoxxx]

The bandwidth is as advertised and the latencies are higher than with TSTT by +10-20ms which is acceptable. I have noticed (like soldier) that even those who have 'stable' flow experience random drops, some more than others.

In my experience I would get dropped every 5mins during a specific period of the night. Only last night a player had no choice but to be dropped from a league game because his FLOW internet connection was unstable.

Insider sources indicate FLOW is using TSTT as its internet source for now in return for TSTT using FLOWs connection later this year. The connection flow is establishing is supposed to be the thing that puts them leagues above the other ISP's. The cable is already in Trinidad and due to be activated sometime in October.

My advice? Wait till the end of the year or until they have their dropping issues solved. Keep in contact with scaR, ice and salt (especially salt) with regards to their service.

Please check out these links.

http://www.nwncable.com
http://www.nwncable.com/Arcos.html
http://www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2007-07-17/bitdepth.html

[ecktt]

Agreed @ para statement.
I investigated Arch's Flow issues and it is Flows fault. Their second and third hope seems to drop 1 in 3 packets. Games i play with flow host seem a little laggie but nothing to write home about. I don't know it it is that same Flow people. Cable internet on the whole is suppose to offer higher bandwidth but with higher latency as well.
Latency is the true killer with FPS. Any server out side of TT will +100 to your ping.

[shizz]

Great answers, thanks for the responses I figure waiting till later this year sounds like a better bet, I recently moved so I figure Ill handle dsl (if I manage to get it fast enough) till then, without contract so I could buss de tape anytime.

Questions like ping for gaming and stuff seem to confuse the so called tech people @ flow.

[Paradoxxx]

Mango directed me to these screenshots of FLOW tests using arcos. These were done by a FLOW tech guy on the inside using a 5mbit package. Word is out that there will be both a 5mbit and 8mbit package.


FLOW ON ARCOS SPEED TEST (http://www.empoweringspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/flow_arcos.png)

FLOW ON ARCOS USING TSTT BANDWITH TOOL (http://www.empoweringspace.com/wordpress/wp-content/TSTT_BANDWITH_FLOW.jpg)

Using TSTT a ping to curacao takes 176ms and CURRENT FLOW about the same. From the first SS we can see a 76ms ping to curacao. I hope these positive results are reflected on US pings.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/162941982.png <-- Current FLOW 512 package.

The upload sucks!!! 1mbit upload ftw?

[shizz]

yeah I saw those pings on tsttproblems.com

I interested ti see whats TSTT's response to flow's uppage.

I heard from a lil birdie that greendot might be leasing bandwidth from flow as well, or something to that extent.

[Paradoxxx]

Greendot leasing from flow, thats an interesting development.

[ecktt]

I hope all the ISPs set up their routers among each other to get better ping across.

[Paradoxxx]

http://www.flowtrinidad.com/click/uploaded_files/images/click_as_at_7th_Aug_2007.bmp

[Hidden]

I wonder when they going to upgrade up by me...still on analog cable:(

[Paradoxxx]

I asked about the east and was told that the next phase should extend to arima and environs. Maybe after that is grande (like how they expanded with the cable boxes). I would say by the end of next year if not sooner everyone should be digital, I think they said the entire roll out should take 3 years and they are on 1.5 years now.

[Paradoxxx]

Thus far users are gradually being given bandwidth,

Arch has 4mbit down and 512up,
Kukka 1mbit down 512 up
Crazy 2mbit down 512 up

Arch has been doing ping tests via speedtest.net to Miami FL which will give us good indications of pings to the US.

With TSTT i get on average 120ms, Arch gave me 1 SS at 90ms. I am bugging him to do more tests for a better average.

A tracert is outstanding.

[kayode]

Para, what are the real-world download bandwidths of the respective services?

Right now I download at 32-34K with TSTT DSL. What are Flow customers downloading at with their packages?

[Geese]

2mbit = 256Kilobytes/sec
1mbit = 128Kilobytes/sec

basically divide by 8 :)

[Paradoxxx]

Tracert performed by Arch

[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> Tracing route to www.l.google.com (http://www.l.google.com) [209.85.165.104]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> over a maximum of 30 hops:
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 1 * * * Request timed out.
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 2 17 ms 12 ms 18 ms 10.160.1.1
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 3 13 ms 8 ms 18 ms 200.1.104.97
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 4 14 ms 18 ms 19 ms 200.1.104.111
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 5 181 ms 70 ms 97 ms s12-11-nmi-edge02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.4.165]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 6 118 ms 98 ms 76 ms v3-nmi-core02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.5.197]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 7 79 ms 74 ms 87 ms s1-0-0-nam-core-02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.5.68]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 8 73 ms 82 ms 70 ms core1-1-0-0.mia.net.google.com [198.32.124.133]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 9 86 ms 82 ms 83 ms 72.14.238.57
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 10 121 ms 107 ms 82 ms 72.14.236.15
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 11 90 ms 89 ms 104 ms 216.239.43.138
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 12 86 ms 98 ms 102 ms eo-in-f104.google.com [209.85.165.104]


Geese is correct,

4mbit would be 512K downloads at best.

[Hidden]

Tracert performed by Arch

[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> Tracing route to www.l.google.com (http://www.l.google.com) [209.85.165.104]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> over a maximum of 30 hops:
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 1 * * * Request timed out.
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 2 17 ms 12 ms 18 ms 10.160.1.1
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 3 13 ms 8 ms 18 ms 200.1.104.97
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 4 14 ms 18 ms 19 ms 200.1.104.111
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 5 181 ms 70 ms 97 ms s12-11-nmi-edge02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.4.165]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 6 118 ms 98 ms 76 ms v3-nmi-core02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.5.197]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 7 79 ms 74 ms 87 ms s1-0-0-nam-core-02.nwnnetwork.net [63.245.5.68]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 8 73 ms 82 ms 70 ms core1-1-0-0.mia.net.google.com [198.32.124.133]
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 9 86 ms 82 ms 83 ms 72.14.238.57
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 10 121 ms 107 ms 82 ms 72.14.236.15
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 11 90 ms 89 ms 104 ms 216.239.43.138
[18:29:35] <TyB-Archvile> 12 86 ms 98 ms 102 ms eo-in-f104.google.com [209.85.165.104]


Geese is correct,

4mbit would be 512K downloads at best.
That's still hella fast compared to 32..

[eddoes]

i going an jock...dem speeds and prices turning me on :D
As soon as flow reach my area fire bun tstt!!

[archvile]

At the moment, the Flow network seems to be down across tnt.
Basically what we assume is that they shut down the server to do a nationwide upgrade.

Previously this evening, kukka , myself and other members also on flow have experienced some speed increases, mainly to their download, but the uploads only partially.
e.g. i went from 1mb down, 256k up to 4mb down and 512 up
where the upload should be 2mb

so i just assume they upgradin the upload and so on, hopefully by later/tom we should all be on our imba connections.

[Paradoxxx]

Its a conspiracy!!

Yes you heard me, this was a move by Sony to force us to use their Blue Ray disks for backup. Flow is also opening a store selling storage and mass backup material.

[archvile]

it nuh back yet :( i hope they fix everything they hadda fix
i neeed my speeeeed :(

[archvile]

well its back, same 4mb dl..but uploads are the same as well...512

all that downtime for nothing :(

[Paradoxxx]

Well thats how it may seem arch.

[Paradoxxx]

Pings via speedtest.net to Miami FL

Arch - 105ms, 86ms , 101ms - Flow south.
Para - 127ms, 110ms, 102ms - TSTT St Aug.
scaR - 72ms, 94ms, 89ms - Flow Tunapuna.

[archvile]

Kukka brought this to my attention, so i tested it myself...

apparently when speed tests are done on various websites, the upload is average 512 ..

BUT

when using a torrent manager such as azureus or utorrent, the upload capability clearly shows around the 2 mb range...

so i wonder, are the upload files on the sites to small?

[piglet]

using speedtest.net

Bahamas and Nigaragua theres ~2MB/256 connection
Everything else is 512/128

Im gettin 238KB downloads from joox.net and 1 podcast site so far.
Other sites are 60KB.

[scaR]

Fewls.

At this speed few servers are able to serve us full bandwidth. However I was dling at 500KBps from Fileshack which is their max speed for free accouts. 800mb in just under 30mins.

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/10907/2Moons+Open+Beta+Client

[phoenix31tt]

So basically 1 question to all flow users (and flow users alone plz)

what would you reccomend to a tstt user (256kb) fairly reliable (dont drop often)...

switch or dont switch?

dont include waitin for connection time in your decision...

just reliability... and if you think the speed will significantly decrease if more users join

[scaR]

Wait till flow's upgrades are stable and then switch if you are concerned about the dropping lately. Bandwidth is amazing.

With flow even if the net is down we are still connected to each other, gaming can continue in the down time!

[phoenix31tt]

With flow even if the net is down we are still connected to each other, gaming can continue in the down time!

explain?

[scaR]

Cable is like a big LAN. When the server is down because net is down, all the flow guys still there on the server.

[Paradoxxx]

Phoenix would you like to hear my comments as an ex-flow customer?

[phoenix31tt]

yeah para... anybody who's had real experience with flow... not the men who call and waitin for a signup eh lol

[Paradoxxx]

I was a flow customer, I disconnected my service with them a month ago. In my experience flow would drop its at 10min intervals from 7:00pm -> 1am everyday. This problem is also shared by a colleague who lives near by. We were both told "Its only your connection that has been doing this" by Flow reps and were forced to go with TSTT.

Even when the flow worked, I would get complaints about my hosting. MG (at TSTT customer) would notice the difference and tell me "wtf para, yuh not on the flow right?". In all honesty its supposed to be good because the pings are low but it just was not the case. When I connected to a TSTT host (even the good ones) I would experience spikes. What i ended up doing was using TSTT for gaming and FLOW to dload.

Right now I want to go back with FLOW after the league, I have no intention of playing many online games and want to download blueray/HDDVD etc. Muss exploit pweff display.

FLOWs issues will be resolved in the long run, its nothing that some TSTT customers did not experience in the early days. If your concern right now is stability stick with TSTT. I will stick with FLOW if they fix my dropping issue and hope they resolve their general stability issues before SC2. Besides their latency to the US is lower.

No sense having a mandingo if you done in 30s.

[phoenix31tt]

No sense having a mandingo if you done in 30s.

rofl...


hmmmm

i see... n thats the rumors i have been hearing... i suscpect as well things will clear up when they settle...

hmm..

tought decision... ah well... since i not payin for the tstt... i might just add the flow... try it out... see how it workin in our area ...

[Hidden]

Dropped for how long?Reconnects immediatly?

10 minutes is a hell of a long time, if you downloading @ 4megabits.
That's enough time for a 300mb file, give or take.

[Paradoxxx]

server is down, i can only assume its a flow drop

[scaR]

Nah current went for quite a while, past UPS uptime.

[Paradoxxx]

try it out... see how it workin in our area ...Thats not such a bad idea. Another plus for flow is the lack of contract.

[opium]

it seem like trinidad in de dark dark ages, if i am planning to live up here and settle down on a house, i will getting fibre... 15mb down/1mb up for de same dsl price i am paying. and in a few years after i am hearing everyting, everyting, cable tv, phone, internet, yada yada will be on the internet running ip6

yuh tink tstt and flow will have that infrastructure in a few years to come??, no ip6 not coming in 10-20 years but like 5-10 years

[Paradoxxx]

what connection you have right now opium?

[Paradoxxx]

The flow problem in my area has been fixed. Flow even compensated me (after many calls) for downtime when I was on their service.

I'll conduct tests tonight. Thus far I am dloading bioshock demo @ 400k from steam

While the bandwidth portion of this test has proven to be unreliable the ping information is still valuable.

1 http://www.speedtest.net/result/175043792.png
2 http://www.speedtest.net/result/175044607.png
3 http://www.speedtest.net/result/175045172.png

[Paradoxxx]

There seems to be problems with the interconnection between TSTT->FLOW.

Kukka hosted a CS server today, TSTT DSL customers received between 50-100pings, the pings were fluctuating. The same results were noticed when I hosted. Mango a FLOW customer had a ping of ~30ms +/-3ms

[opium]

what connection you have right now opium?

6mb dsl currently because i am renting

with personnal property where i could tell verizon come and dig up meh yard i wont mind grabbing a 15mb fioc

[trinithemc]

My brother got hooked up to flow in less than a week after he called them .

Full 2mbit bandwidth, 80ms pings to google vs 160ms that i getting on TSTT right now .

Also , rumour has it that Flow is upgrading bandwidth again to 6mbit for all with the 2mbit package effective september... Probably when the rest of the ARCOS comes online... We'll have internet speeds like the Jamaicans have now .

TSTT is supposed to upgrade DSL customers to 1mbit , and offer 512k/256k packages for cheaper . This is supposed to be announced on Independance day .

[Paradoxxx]

Flow did it again, 6mbits!!! Downloading at 720k

I hosted some dota games during the night and players have not complained of lag. MG even commented that the ping (or at least the feel) was even better than when i had my 512k TSTT (isolated incident) other than that it was at least equiv to a TSTT host. Interconnection looks good now.

Flow really fixed up good, no more dropping on my end and better interconnection.

Wonder what pricing TSTT will come with for their 8mbit?

[MG]

i hear para have plans to open up a dvd pirate store now.
'para's high def dvds- get 4 for $35'

...then further down the street there was 'kukka's movies - we have all para has plus nrop!!' :p

[opium]

some where in de middle toro selling local!!!!!

[Paradoxxx]

doubt kukka stocking up on high def non-xrated movies and series.

I running a lil service like back in the days when i had the 1.5mb from tstt and everyone else had dialup. Dloading stuff for eddoes and dinesh.

Local? Kukka supplying toro

[MG]

local starring toro?....guest star soldier? rofl

[mojo]

lol!

someone tell me veggie is a pwn* as well...

real stuff goin on in de local scene...

[Paradoxxx]

Nooo mojo, yuh had to bring up Mr Carrot himself!! whyyyyyyyyy

[kayode]

Ah hear a man say local.

[bill]

U eh wana see that one...

[opium]

for real good locals go too http://www.redbandmaxi.com (http://www.redbandmaxi.com/)

its a personal site done by mr narine

[kayode]

That site not working...

[androsovic]

he was joking kayode,lol

[kayode]

mc!

[soldier]

Mojo bring up d veggie talk....

why mojo.. WHY?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!! :o

[Paradoxxx]

I hooked up a wireless NIC on my PC today, its an old card (DWL-520+). Although connected at 11mbs my bandwidth on bandwidthtest.tstt.net.tt was 5mbits and downloads reflected this. I reverted to wired and everything was good once again.

I know my wireless NIC weak! but if yuh wireless not hard with the 6mbit flow you might loose bandwidth. Think about that.

[Hidden]

I see they updating arouca next.

/me salivates

[phoenix31tt]

I see they updating arouca next.



steups... EAST CHAGUANAS!!! update eet

[archvile]

I saw flow in action on the poles running cables and so on @ ptown last few days, and as far as i know, the analog cable is already available there...which would mean one of 2 things..

Digital, or replacement.

Keep those fingers crossed ptown ppl lol

[Paradoxxx]

whats your location arch, i keep telling ppl 'south'

[scaR]

I tell people "bush". >_>

[archvile]

Rio Claro para..it right there in meh profile....

[Paradoxxx]

Oops:)

Well I could tell ppl 'Rio Claro' has flow instead of saying 'somewhere in south'

[opium]

ways man from rio!!!

in de heart of de JUNGLE!!!!

[archvile]

Sumbody had to pull the bush talk eh lol...i eh from the 'bush' area, and no not all of rio is bush..there is worse

and yes para, Rio Claro has Flow lol

[Paradoxxx]

Sept 14th 10:00pm, huge lag 1300 pings to google.
I suppose flow is doing some work on their external lines, Flow->Flow has good pings.

[CRaZYMoFo]

Yeah there's been some hiccups all week. So far so good this morning though.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/184727854.png

[Geese]

so apparently the admin of tsttproblems is part of the adsl2 testing

he's at 4.5mbps now.

[kayode]

Takin longer than a month for the proposed improvements though...

[Paradoxxx]

I noticed flow is having bandwidth fluctuations, I called in and a representative told me they are aware of the issue and working on the lines. Its probably in preparation for the TSTT upgrade due October.

[phoenix31tt]

flow is having fluctuations because tstt is planning to upgrade???

[Paradoxxx]

Jamaica has an 8mbit package as well as a 5mbit.
http://www.flowjamaica.com/click.htm

I can only assume that Trinidad will eventually have similar packages and Flow is working towards that goal resulting in the fluctuations. With the TSTT 'upgrade' due next month I am sure Flow wants to show the nation that even if TSTT tries they can not beat flow. I saw an advertisement in the Express in which flow sized up 56k, 256k dsl and their 6mbit using speed signs, Flow is not rolling over.

TSTT still has a big advantage in terms of coverage, that is something Flow needs to address urgently.

[soldier]

is it just me or is it impossible to get thru to flow via phone and impossible to sign up for internet via the web? :(

Maybe I'm just destined to never have internet again... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Btw. do you have to call flow to disable their firewall as you do with tstt?

[Doobs]

as far as i knw flow doesn't have a firewall. their network is open and even naitively allows voice communication


ps yes gettin tru to flow csr is a pains. i however call their NOC directly when ever i have a prob. and any mail i send to them is cc to the manager of the NOC.

probs get resolved immediately.

[soldier]

Wow. this real funny.. I called the first time.. some man tell me i need to give the phone number the digital cable under...

I didn know what number pops register it under so i had to call hima nd call them back.. when i called back the second time, a lady tell me i need to verify the DP of the person who s name the bill under ( she said its a new security ) policy. I was also asked to verify the name the bill under..

Caleld pops to get the info.. called back.. when i got thru i tell d man what i want to sign up for.. all he ask for was the number.. no name.. no DP...

LOL.. where the new secutiy policy gone? LOL . jones..

Getting it on wednesday.. talk abotu speedy service :|

[Hidden]

Wow. this real funny.. I called the first time.. some man tell me i need to give the phone number the digital cable under...

I didn know what number pops register it under so i had to call hima nd call them back.. when i called back the second time, a lady tell me i need to verify the DP of the person who s name the bill under ( she said its a new security ) policy. I was also asked to verify the name the bill under..

Caleld pops to get the info.. called back.. when i got thru i tell d man what i want to sign up for.. all he ask for was the number.. no name.. no DP...

LOL.. where the new secutiy policy gone? LOL . jones..

Getting it on wednesday.. talk abotu speedy service :|
Like u doh do any busniess over d phone?
Once is not ur stuff, you usually need 2 forms of ID eg: id # and DP # + sometimes other relevant info like date of birth.

That' standard policy with most ppl, including BANKS.

[soldier]

No @ business over phone

[archvile]

Found out that Princes Town apparently has Internet Service as well as couva ( not sure exactly when couva was digital ready)

Those from the area who previously showed some interest should look into this.