It is critical that a trader become comfortable using tracert and ping utilities in order to identify the quality of the internet connection.
If dealing with a trading broker, ask as many questions as you can, about how the system works and if some isp's or backbones are superior to others.
If a trader is utilizing level II data and lots of charts, then I would say that bandwidth concerns will arise often, if your connection is a simple 28kbs - 54kbs dialup connection. While good trading can be done on a 28.8kbs connection, IPO's, some market opens, hyper volume stocks like AMZN, YHOO, or DELL can overwhelm your connection and choke your quotes.
Granted I have very limited experience, so take my comments with a grain of salt, especially since i have NOT used a lot of different brokers. Still, I have to say, I really do have a solid connection 99% of the time. So I am sure plenty of others can too.
A good starting page about diagnosing your net connection.
phactor.com
good luck with it,
funk |
