Ethernet versus WiFi

enapace

enapace

enapace

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Hi I'm a gamer and for past few years I've tried to stick to Ethernet but I have recently moved into a new flat and had Virgin installed where they have installed it. Means if I wanted to keep using Ethernet I would have to run a 10-15 metre cable across my carpet through my hallway and into my bedroom. I know the Virgin Superhub comes with wireless AC.

My question if I buy a wireless AC USB adapter am I going to have a good solid gaming experience online or is it going be awful and I need fun a very long Ethernet cable.
 
I don't think anyone is going to be able to accurately answer this for you, there's a lot of factors in play such as distance from router, to the number of obstacles (walls) that the signal must break through.

Whilst wireless has come a long way, the quality comes down to the level of kit you have. Buying the cheapest AC dongle you can find may not give you the speeds and latency you're after.

Another option to save you running trails of ethernet cable across the house, are home plugs. Again though, these rely on a lot of factors in order to get the best speeds/latency out of them.
 
enapace said:
Hi I'm a gamer and for past few years I've tried to stick to Ethernet but I have recently moved into a new flat and had Virgin installed where they have installed it. Means if I wanted to keep using Ethernet I would have to run a 10-15 metre cable across my carpet through my hallway and into my bedroom. I know the Virgin Superhub comes with wireless AC.

My question if I buy a wireless AC USB adapter am I going to have a good solid gaming experience online or is it going be awful and I need fun a very long Ethernet cable.
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Depends really. Using a wireless dongle will most likely add some latency as in add Millie seconds to your ping.

Also if you get a cheap wifi dongle it may be patchy as ive never had great experience gaming over wifi. Is it not possible at all to get some Cat 6 flat ethernet cable and run it along under the carpet down the side of the skirting boards? If not id rather look at some powerline adapters but avoid TP Link as they drop connection in my experience.

They add less latency than wifi and tend to be faster and more stable but depends on the distance the powerlines are apart from each other and internet wiring quality. Because then you could add a £10 - £15 switch and include consoles to the connection too.
 
I have the AC router(virgin superhub ac) and an asus pci AC adapter and its fine for gaming. Pretty stable, good transfer speeds, ok pings.
 
Home plugs should do you fine. My son had a gaming rig in the man cave (shed) at the end of the garden and had no problems with pings/latency
 
As said its dependent on various things, but for example my senario the wireless results in about a 0.25ms increase over wired.

I have a ASUS RT-AC68U router, and PCE-AC68 desktop adapter. The wireless signal went through 1 wall and a floor, about 9 meters straight line to the router. I was using wireless AC of which there were no other 5ghz networks around. I've never had an issue with drop outs, random lag spikes etc.
 
I just wouldn't bother with WiFi if you're gaming, especially usb adapters, stick to powerline adapters or better yet just run the ethernet, as bledd said, cat5e is good for up to 100m.
 
If you can go for powerline then that would be a good compromise between latency and not getting cables all over the place.
 
Wifi and ethernet plugs are good but if you want the stability and the best performance possible its got to be the Cat5 or 6 under the carpet imo, key word being stability!

You can get flat cat 5 cable fairly cheap off flebay, recently got a 20 meter flat cable for 7-8 quid, sure it takes few hours to lift up the carpet and put it back down nicely, but you can bend the flat cat5 cable nicely even around corners and bends. I have actually run mine along the ceiling along with white trunking also, it may all take time and effort but in the long run you never have to worry or bother with it ever again and the only thing that could cause a bad internet connection is the router so 10x easier to diagnose being just one device!
 
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