How can i reduce my ping/latency?

[Jacob]

When multiple people are using the internet my ping on any online game skyrockets to 500-1000. I've done some research and found that Mbps does not effect ping meaning that i can't upgrade my internet plan to fix this. If this is true, then i have no clue how to fix this besides asking my family to get offline, which doesn't always happen. I have broadband internet, a netgear router, and a Scientific Atlantic modem as provided by Time Warner Cable.

[pmc123]

"Mbps does not effect ping " - that is only true if there is no congestion. When multiple users are on the net, there is additional latency due to packet buffering.
Upgrading your bandwidth is the ultimate solution - you will have less contention and more throughput.
You can attempt to tune your TCP stack using the tool provided by Yahoo. It changes the TCP windowing parameters to allow you to make better use of your bandwidth.