I can tell you that 250ms is a very long time in online gaming. I remember when I used to play Quake on a 28.8k modem. I wouldn't even join a room I pinged over 200 ms to. I can tell you Greyfox, your problem related to your network interfacing with mine. I use brighthouse/roadrunner. I ping less than 75ms to people all over the west coast on my network. If Roadrunner is available, I recommend it. I've had great service and hosting capabilities for years. My service isn't spectacularly fast. Typically I get between 10mb and 8.5mb/s download/.5mb/s upload speeds. Here's a ping test to Microsoft.com (Seattle, Wa):
Ping 207.46.197.32
[microsoft.com]
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Round trip time to 207.46.197.32: 65 ms
Average time over 10 pings: 65 ms