High latency at peak hours

[Amigosdefox]

I like playing Team Fortress 2 but I only get decent latency (~50 ms) outside peak hours (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), at these hours my latency goes up to 400 ms. I'm wondering if is this is a problem inherent to dsl infrastructure or is it that my isp is worse than average. In Mexico City there are only about 3 internet service providers, Prodigy Infinitum from the country's telecomunications giant(and a monopoly) Telmex is the one I use.
Of course most of their clients use the internet for sending emails and web browsing so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't care for providing a decent service for gamers.
How does everyone's isp perform for gaming?

 

[raybay]

Most ISP's have you on a system with a lot of other users in your neighborhood. What you report is typical. You provider will provide you high speed and bandwidth at an increased price, and then this problem will go away.
We have performed a lot of work in Mexico City and certainly found a great number of providers... not just three... have you talked to repair services in your part of the city.
I do know that the costs are extremely high for service and support, compared to the USofA

 

[Amigosdefox]

As far as I know there aren't many domestic Isps in Mexico City. Cablevision offers cable access, there are two other landline phone companies which offer DSL and 2 or 3 companies that offer 3G internet. I have a phone+internet plan with Telmex (2Mb dowonlod 256 kb upload) for about $90 USD and I can only increase to 4Mb dowload but I don't think that would solve the latency issues. Their tech support is a joke. You usually wait for 5-7 minutes for someone to answer the phone. Their "experts" don't know what the term latency means. Whatever problem you have with your connection they always take you through the same series of steps:

Unplug and reconnect your router.
Delete any spyware or viruses you might have.
Change your account password.

If that doesn't work they tell you they will issue a report which does absolutely nothing.

They have a disclaimer in their contract that tell you they are obliged to provide "up to the bandwidth you have purchased". But they can give you 10% of the service and you can't complain and I have heard of people getting exactly that.
Of course latency is never mentioned.

 

[raybay]

We have a lot of experience in Mexico City as we service several International Companies with offices there. I haven't been there since September, but I think you could ask around with some businesses who use Ethernet services.
After all, Mexico City has 9 million people and is the economic center for that part of the world. They would not be able to survive on such poor communications.
Perhaps it is the area where you live that is limited, but overall, we have had excellent luck, albeit at a higher cost than Nogales, El Paso, and San Diego. Those techs are as high priced as New Yark City.