those my friend are 2 totally different things
you are talking about lag generally. you have to understand that there are 2 types of lag,
1, is beeing created by the loss of packets distributed by your provider.
these kind of lag you cant really solve.
2, is beeing created by the lack of system requirements, therefor it looks crappy ingame,
you cant really fix ping, cause it isnt something you can adjust.
want you might want to try to improve ping stability are the following values
cl_cmdrate
cl_updaterate
rate
i´m a cable user, and i find the best rates for that are
cl_cmdrate 101
cl_updaterate 101
rate 25000
if i´m ingame and i notice that i am having loss/choke i´m downgrading the values untill the loss/choke is disappeared.
usually
cl_cmdrate 60/80
cl_updaterate 60/80
rate 15000
the command to see your loss/choke is r_netgraph 1/2/3 or just netgraph, dont remember exactly
ow, i remember something, your ping also is greatly affected by the distance between the location where the server is located, and the location where your pc is.
i´m living in holland, when i try to connect to an american server i usually get a ping around 200/350.
i hope this information will help you