Also, changing game rate to a higher number usually results in increased latency and negative impact on game play smoothness if the number is TOO high. A fast cpu and fast GPU does not make a good online gaming machine if the connection is saturated...

A good netrate/speed is between 10000 and 13000 for a windows stack.. sometimes up to 30-40k if you have a good unshared connection like dsl or fios. Are you getting similar pings with other games? try using a demo version of UT2004, open "join game" then check the server list ping results, find any games with a ping below 300? connect to a small server with LOW ping, with 8 to 10 players MAX; then join the game by pressing fire; then press f6 to display the network stats, check your PING, and see if you are getting packet loss, then open the console~ type [stat fps]~without the brackets, then press enter.. this will show your FPS in the top right corner, then type in the console prompt [netspeed 30000]~without the brackets, then check your ping, it should have increased packet delay by about 10-20ms, if it didn't then you have a clean connection.. if you get packet loss and high pings, I suspect a throttle on your connection at the router; or your ISP is capping your modem..