ok, i try to ply DOW 2 online but i keep geting booted because i lag everyone else. i have a 256k verizon modem, i use lynksys wirles usb to connect. i have 5 bars, because i'm literly in the adjasent room to the modem. all my other games lag to. i turned of my firewall, checked the task manager and hijack this, and i don't have any thing that is taking up my band with. i play on the local survers and i still get a ping of 1500-2000, WHAT??? has this anything to do with steam. please help, desperate. if this is not enough info please tell me what else you have to know. but i have been at it for days trying to fix it.

While troubleshooting, did you try actually plugging your computer into the modem/router directly with a network cable? That would rule out your wireless being a problem (which it very wel could be).

You should run a bandwidth test also. Try http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/. Give us your results -- especially the latency/ping time.

is it only DOW2?

some games tend to lag worst the others: (cod 5 and crysis)---> almost, but still lags like crap, (DOW and DOW soulstorm)---> tolerable, but, ping still is up to 500 or so, DOW 2 ----> beatst them all at 2000.
My download = 750-1050 Kbps
My upload = 85-105 Kbps
Latency acording to Dr Ping from 26 ms to 550 ms
pluging in the router did not seem to make a whole lot of difference
and i belive i might actually have a 56 k router if that makes any difference.

all in all, i'm starting to think its my slow internet connection thats doing it.

I'm not familiar with Dr. Ping, but it sounds like you have a very unstable connection. Ping times (latency) for broadband (which is what you have) usually seems to be about 50-70ms if you ping a server that is relatively local. Even 56k (dial up) gets pings lower than 150ms.

It could be something that is running the background (maybe a P2P application like bittorrent, certain malware/viruses and such). To help rule this out, it might be a good idea to restart into "Safe mode with networking" and give dr ping another whirl.

If you still have the problem, it sounds like your connection. I'd have it checked out, because it shouldn't be that bad.

I hardly know anything about connections but have you tried connecting your computer directly to the modem not the router? Or ran pathping?

thanks for the advise i will try the suggested and post back to you latter.

ok this time i tryed speedtest.net, which was recomended by a friend. i got 73 ms to the closest surver to me in safe mode with networking and normal.