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Can't seem to find the enableLagMonitor functionality in the obj-c API.

Hi,
yeah, it's not yet available in the iOS API.
But it's in the works for the next update

Lapo, I'm getting a latency of 800ms+ to 1500ms on a 3G Connection. I've tested on several devices(iPhones). Latency is fine on Wifi

I wanted to know if this is something that is expected? I don't think a real time game is playable with these kind of latencies.

Yes , unfortunately 3G networks aren't very good, although they may vary depending on the carrier. 1500ms is incredibly slow, pretty bad indeed.

Those latencies can be acceptable for turn based games. Definitely not for action/real-time games.

Is there any way to optimize deployment ? Switching to UDP or Bluebox help?

I am using an Amazon EC2 Instance with RightScale.

No it won't.
UDP is unlikely to be supported by 3G carriers and the BlueBox uses HTTP tunneling when sockets are not available. Being HTTP a slower protocol there won't be any advantages.

It's also worth saying that 3G networks usually don't perform so bad (i.e. 800-1500 msec). Is it possible you didn't have enough signal? Have you tried with different carriers?

Signal is full, but Vodafone is a major carrier here. Even if other carriers show better performance, this issue can't be sidelined.

Will moving to a dedicated hosting closer to me help? Or that is irrelevant I believe since the bottleneck is at cell towers?

Yes changing host can help, although it's not guaranteed.
It depends where most of the lag is spent. You can try using a mobile device and ping several hosting providers that you know and see which one appears to be less laggy. The problem though is that we're talking about mobile devices, so people can be connecting from anywhere.

What I mean is that you might be able to find a local provider that has lower latency but maybe people from other places will not obtain the same benefit.
In any case I think experimenting is the only way to find an optimal solution.