The chances are if your in the UK your using BTs Home Highway for your ISDN connection thats what I have and thats what were going to tweak.
BT Home Highway lets you connect using ISDN in two ways first using the USB port connection second using a terminal adapter. The USB Port connection is fine for downloading files e-mails and general net use but if your playing on-line games your ping will be 70-90 which is ok but can be better with home highway.
After much research of news groups forums and asking other Home Highway ISDN users the lowest ping achievable was obtained by fitting a PCI terminal adapter. The terminal adapter recommended was a Asus ISDNLink P-IN100-ST-D 128K ISDN Adapter available from Solwise.
Download the latest drivers for the Asus ISDNLink P-IN100-ST-D 128K ISDN Adapter.
Sorry I can`t find information on this card anymore if you would like me to e-mail you the drivers off the disk I have for this card I will. Contact me at the address at the foot of the page.
Using Asus ISDNLink P-IN100-ST-D 128K ISDN Adapter with BT home highway I am able to get a ping of 45-60 on UK servers and can ping on most European servers below 100.
Asus ISDNLink P-IN100-ST-D 128K ISDN Adapter.
Choosing an ISP
Most UK support ISDN if yours supports STAC Compression as well your in luck this will give you an even better ping. Jolt offers some good connection alternatives for the game playing ISDN user and maybe worth checking out.
Bandwidth Stealers
I am going to assume the following your using Windows 98 and your using a terminal adapter.
Programs like icq, msn, windows automatic up dater,virus checkers which update automatically can affect your connection. Having a view critical updates for windows screen pop up in the middle of a Quake 3 game does your fragging no good at all pause the task scheduler while playing. You may well consider turning icq ,msn ,off as well.
Programs which run in the background can affect you ping as well check to see what runs on startup and turn it off if you don`t need it. Firewalls can be a pain I don`t use one nor does anybody I know when playing Q3 perhaps if you have a static ip a firewall may be a good idea.
An example to disable I.C.Q. net aware (this works for most other programs too) to go start button select run and type msconfig then click on ok (see fig below).
A new window will open (fig below) see the startup tag on the top right of the new window click on it. A list of programs which run on startup will be displayed. The one we are interested in I.C.Q. netaware is top of the list to stop it running on startup simply click in the box and remove the tick then click on the apply button windows will then ask you to reboot now or later. Remember some of the programs are needed mouse and keyboard drivers goback etc. Turned the wrong thing off just click in the box so the tick is shown then click on the apply button windows will then ask you to reboot now or later.
General Tips
Quake III Arena is the first thing you do running email programs messenger type programs FTP or anything which uses your TCP/IP stack is not a good idea play Q3 first then look at your mail etc.
Which operating system are you using most connection problems iv`e come accross are from people using Windows 2000 and ME the best PC operating system for Quake 3 Arena is Windows 98 unless your a Mac or Linux user.
ISDN Connection Tweaks
Basic Tweak
I am going to assume the following your using Windows 98 and your using a terminal adapter.
Click on My Computer then Dial-Up Networking Your connection should now be displayed my main connection is called tiscali (see fig below).
Right click on the connection icon and select Properties (See fig below).
Click on the Configure button in the new window (See fig below).
Just make sure 64k data is selected if your using a single line and 128k data (bonded) if your bonding two lines.
(See fig below).
Close the window above by pressing ok or cancel then click server types tab on the remaining window this will show the window below.
Untick all the options apart from TCP/IP unless your ISP supports STAC compression then tick Enable Software Compression and thats a basic tweak done .
More Complex Tweaking
Its all at your own risk remember don`t blame me if your registry gets corrupted.
If you wish to tweak your connection by hand click here I use 1458 for MTU size and it works great my ping is not lower but I connect to servers much quicker and my connection seems more stable.
Where did I get this value from you ask well BT wholesale recommend a MTU of 1458 for broadband so I tried it and it works. I am not a BT Openworld customer ! ok but you use BTs network so it applies to you as well.
Tweaking Software
Befaster is a shareware connection tweaker for Windows 98, Me, Xp to visit befasters home page click here.
ISDN Tweaks
Tweaking Home Highway
Quake III Arena is the first thing you do running email programs messenger type programs FTP or anything which uses your TCP/IP stack is not a good idea play Q3 first then look at your mail etc.
