Good Hosts?

Hey all.
I have been playing with several people that really like my host, and several people that hate my host. I went to Speedtest.net to test my Download and upload speed in the US, UK, Japan, and South America. Basically, my upload and download stayed the same, but my ping changed ALOT. The farther away from the central US I got, the worse the ping got.

Anyway, I would like a few volunteers to try the speed test. Host a game and ask your friends if you are a "good" or "bad" host. Then go to speedtest.net to test your speed. Post your results, and we just might find out what makes a good host good.

Anyway, here are my stats:
My host is usually good:
Average upload: 1.06 mbps
Average download: 15.50

People say I have a good host, even in teh amarikas.

So it's:

12 down
1.96 up

You'll want a high upload and a quality line (low ping).

The MBs doesn't matter.
Fiber optics does.

Btw, I've just played with Vengeful Fiend and his host was on steroids. Me and Nova really loved his fibers.

Haha. Horse power doesn't matter, its all about the brand of car you have.

The reason fiber is awesome is because you get great up speeds, and the transmissions are fast so lower ping.

Consider this:
Host's console (or server as case may be) gets info from all the other consoles and coordinates them. For example if player 1 moves left, the host tells everyone that player 1 moved left. It does this for each player.

Playing off host:
Your machine DLs the current in-game situation from the server (using DL speed.) It takes your input and sends it back to the host so the host can tell everyone you moved left (using your UP speed.) The standard amount of info uploaded for FPS' as I understand is from 56k to 128k. So 56-128k down and 56-128k up.

Playing on host:
Your console recieves everyone else's info by downloading it from each console (through your DL speed.) It coordinates all the players, then uploads each console back their own version - 'hey everyone, player 1 moved left meanwhile you stood still' (using UP speed.) so for an 8 player match, it's uploading 56-128k to 7 machines at the same time. That means you need at least 896k UP speeds (at it's peak) to get all of the info out at the same time. If you don't have that, info gets dropped or has to wait to get sent producing lag. So 896k UP, 896k down.

So while BOTH up and down matter, almost everyone has enough download speed so it's a non-issue.

Ping = the amount of time it takes to get a signal round trip. Why this causes lag is probably obvious. Knowing long/high ping causes lag, your console won't connect to hosts that ping over a certain number. So while you may have the bandwidth to handle hosting, the lobby won't fill because the other consoles see it will be laggy.

TL;DR: Upload speed is most important to play lag free, ping is important for both lag free play and joining lobbies. Fiber optics are like an SLK 55.

This is a stupid statement.

I have an average host (bad if anyone in the family goes on the interwebz), yet whenever there's a host migration, it ALWAYS gives it to me. This works at 2 different houses, 1 with a good connection and 1 with a bad connection. Any ideas why this keeps happening? (Cos it's freakin awesome =D)

Crimson have 20 up and 2 down but he still have a laggy host and he barely gets players on his lobby. That's my point.

Has very little to do with fiber or copper though.

From what I understand, you are assigned a "bandwidth" number that represents your ability to host, and it uses these in coordination with the distances of the players. I'm assuming better speeds equals a higher number.

I think host migration picks the player who have the best server.
Am I wrong?

The 'Bwa' was heavy handed, sorry. The haha still stands though. I think it should have been 'Even with high MBs, ping matters.' Fiber signals travel at the speed of light so ping is loooooow.

Lol I deserved to get laughed.
And that's what I meant.

Oh btw, I hate people that already know that they have SHlTTY connection and still pull host.
An Ancient Weapon is a perfect example.

I was in a game with a few friends, all USA (i'm UK). The hosts xbox (who was USA) froze and I was given host. None of my friends know why this happens. What usually happens now is that I purposely go sniper (my worst class), get team-mates to destroy enemy, host rages, I get host sniper :lol: . Host is usually good for my friends so that way we can play a match without a host raging every 2 minutes

@WildMan
I lol'd hard

Actually it's 66% of the speed of light (same as copper) but whatever. Maybe non-austrian fiber cables have a vacuum inside.

irony?

I didn't know copper can go that fast, still enough to jump start the flux capacitor I suppose. I thought fiber was faster, if not what's the benefit?

how do you know if you have host