Troubles with connectivity

[Aliceil]

Hello there,

During 4.84 (i think it was on that when i joined) i noticed the server ping to me was on like 330-ish, which i know is high and people will laugh at me and say "you on 56k or something"... well the thing is I'm not I'm on broadband. well since the switch over to the 4.85 (i think that's the latest) i have noticed the servers ping has jumped up to about 460.... (*queue the mocking and people scoffing with laughter here*) although i am kinda used to this terrible ping... on both versions i have had allot of trouble connecting.

I have to hit the connect button allot and basically i press it about every 5 seconds... then after a bit it hangs for a second like as if it was trying to connect... then i get the connection error message again. when this happens i just close down the game and restart it and repeat the process, after about 2 tries if im lucky it will connect, however i know if it does not connect within the first like 20 seconds of me hitting the connection button then the likely hood of me getting into the server is 0%.

Refreshing the connection does not work either, if i press refresh and then try to connect again then still it will refuse to let me in... some times its like its not even attempting to at all.

I mean i can play once i have connected (although i kinda do lag a bit in game)

Just getting it to connect is a hassle and i am wondering why that is i am using a 512/256k connection, i have my fire wall off and anti virus down and the internet protocol 6 turned off, i have even gone as far as to allow my PC to be exposed to the internet totally via my router.

Still it has made no difference to the connection the ping and so on, I'm wondering maybe if it has something to do with me living all the way over in Australia.

I mean i can bare with having to wait for the thing to connect but at times it makes me wanna rage and hit my computer... (although that's not a good thing when i have spent so much on it)

I'm running Freelancer on a:

Hardware:

Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz
4gb DDR2 ram
Ati Radeon HD4850

::Connected to my D-Link Router::

Operating System:

Vista Ultimate 32-bit

Software:

Avast Anti virus <--- having this on my PC makes no difference to the connectivity (installed and ran FL without it and still the same ping issues).

Windows Firewall <--- had it completely off during the installation and same again makes no difference to the connectivity or ping.

(these are both running now since neither of them cause the problem, and FL is white listed)
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So i figure it might be a port problem or something and I'm unsure as to what ports need to be opened on my Router... usually it detects any port that needs to be opened and asks for conformation.

Or yeah maybe the server just does not like me cause i am so far away... either way following the guides that i have found haven't helped much with this issue so I'm wondering if this is the first time any one has had this type of problem... any help would be fine.

Thanks Alice. <3

Please no spam.