The same servers Ive been going too for years are pinging around 86 now with like 10 servers even in the 30 range. What happened? I dont have any filters on and my internet is normal.

Ive actually stopped playing all together becuase there is never anywhere I can play. And when I do get in I have 3x the ping.

thanks

type:

rate 25000

in the console

Wait a minute, are you telling me that you can't play with an 86ms ping?

Anyway, set "rate" to 25000. Also, set "cl_cmdrate" and "cl_updaterate" to 100. If you get more lag and choke, bring it down to 40 and 60 respectively and keep lowering it by 5 until you have the best ping and no choke/loss.

one thing to check - is Steam updating/downloading? it has a tendancy to update official games (DoD / CS / CZ) without asking for permission... that will screw over your connection.

also make sure you have no email virus's that are sending constantly, which would again be eating up all the bandwidth.

Since this has quickly developed into a Tech Support case (thanks to everyone giving hints, BTW)...

***Moved.***