Has he got a static IP address Chris? It's easy to forget that it needs it else on reconnection it dies. Not only that, but it messes up the next person to get the old IP address.

Just out of curiosity what is a good ping? I have pinged a few major websites and get around 34ms. Would be nice to know as obviously a poor ping indicated something wrong somewhere!

Meldrew

A good ping would depend on the distance (in network terms) between you and whatever you are pinging. It also depends on the type of connection (see below for one example of how that can make a big difference).
(Note that often the distance between you and your neighbour could be twice the distance to London, paritcularly if you are with different ISPs...)
From Edinburgh I get about 22ms to the BBC via ADSL (AAISP) but from the same place using a different line (SDSL with Pulsant) I have 13-14ms.
Interleaving on ADSL can also make a difference (the same ADSL line with interleaving would get about 32ms instead of 22).
Your ISP's routing can also make a difference. Before moving from Be to AAISP I had a much higher ping.