Hello,

For over 2 years now, I've been having problems with latency with my local ISP (GMP Express). Generally, I would see this problem with online gaming, however it sometimes slightly affects instant messenging and general browsing (slightly, although it's there).. At first I experienced either constant 200-300 pings or a horrible spiking every second or so. I've tried pinging the gateway, and that seems to be part of the problem as it sometimes gives me upwards of 200 ping. I also have another friend who has the same problem with the same ISP. They sent a cable guy to test my cable connection to the gateway, and he said they were in excellent condition.

It started in Aug of '03, and it took until January of '04 for it to be fixed, which is actually wasnt, because I would time out to certain servers in different locations (New York servers i think it was). Then about a month later, it came back. Then it took another month to get it fixed again. Then about 2 months later it came back again. I called back a little pissed off, but then it was fixed so I didn't care. Then they got a new network administrator, so I figured that things would be better. Then it came back, so I called the new guy and explained to him the situation, and it about two weeks to get fixed. Then it started gradually coming back and it was fixed again. This went on about 5 more times. The problem isn't as bad now, as it only spikes to 150, but it's very annoying when im gaming online.

Now, the ISP stopped returning my e-mails, and whenever I call they ask for my name, so he is never there, so I leave a message on his voice mail and I don't get my call returned. Very unprofessional in my opinion. I've called about 3 times. The one time I called and got a lady who told me that they "don't support gaming." That's great, I'm sure they don't care about my gaming career (LOL) but I was interested in trying things such as VoIP but that seems undesirable with this connection. Most of the time there is no packet loss, but the other day I got about ~50% loss, and that wasn't the only time.

Is there anything I can do? I've constantly checked other providers, but it doesn't seem like anyone serves my area. What can I say to them? Could I use the BBB? Or at least threaten them with it? It's not like it's bargain internet either, I get like 3000/384 for $50.

BTW - it's not my network or a virus or anything, I've reformatted, tried different computers, ran it straight through the modem, etc. Of course, that is always their explanation, but it's never been the case.