gaming on wifi

B&W · 12 May 2013 at 19:28

Hi our new setup will have the pc about 2 rooms away from the router roughly about 12 metres away but on the same floor. and through two walls.

what's the best option for playing online gaming would a t link usb adapter be better or one of there wifi extender things that you stick a wire into.

router is a netlink. one of them old white ones virgin used to roll out 3 years ago.

tribz · 12 May 2013 at 22:57

To be honest if your playing competitively in something like an FPS, I'd be looking at putting in homeplugs rather than wireless and ideally a wired connection if possible although I appreciate that isnt always possible. You'll be adding a fair bit of latency over the wireless connection compared to homeplugs/wired.

bledd · 12 May 2013 at 23:01

Cable it up or buy a new asus router with awesome wireless

Xire · 13 May 2013 at 12:23

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-071-TP

B&W · 13 May 2013 at 14:27

bought a tp link mini 300 and it's getting good signal strength, 10mb download speeds and it was okay for a quick session of bad company 2. Will see how I get on but so far it's doing the job.

by the way my router is a netlink 54 mb type I had a look at some of the new routers which claim upto 300 mb apart from media streaming what other benefits do these new routers have for Internet speed & gaming?

B&W · 13 May 2013 at 14:51

I just did some research on powerline networking it sounds pretty good would it be better for gaming?

Xire · 13 May 2013 at 15:19

B&W said:
I just did some research on powerline networking it sounds pretty good would it be better for gaming?

Without question. Providing you have decent electrics in your house.

Vertiginous · 13 May 2013 at 15:52

Netgear N600, Gets me 70Mb Down when pared to an Apple Airport Extreme 5Ghz Network

B&W · 13 May 2013 at 16:51

which powerline would you guys recommend. I'm looking at the tp link range what's the difference between normal size and nano in performance. and is it worth opting for the 500 mb over the 200 mb?

Xire · 13 May 2013 at 16:55

The one I linked im using and have had no issues with it whatsoever.

MissChief · 13 May 2013 at 17:00

tribz said:
To be honest if your playing competitively in something like an FPS, I'd be looking at putting in homeplugs rather than wireless and ideally a wired connection if possible although I appreciate that isnt always possible. You'll be adding a fair bit of latency over the wireless connection compared to homeplugs/wired.

I added less than 5ms typically with wifi. Hardly a game breaker. I've gamed over wifi for years and can't say I've noticed any real issues. Pings are less than 50ms to UK and Euro servers. Internal wireless card and a Sky Hub. (2.4GHz only)

tribz · 13 May 2013 at 19:43

MissChief said:
I added less than 5ms typically with wifi. Hardly a game breaker. I've gamed over wifi for years and can't say I've noticed any real issues. Pings are less than 50ms to UK and Euro servers. Internal wireless card and a Sky Hub. (2.4GHz only)

It was more of a reference to the OP who was going 12 metres through 2 walls, that would definitely add a bit of latency on.

HangTime · 13 May 2013 at 22:15

In my experience powerline networking actually has higher median latency than wifi, although more stable. I get around 4ms using TP link plugs whereas Wifi was around 1-2ms (with some spikes though).

For serious competitive gaming I'd never entertain anything other than wired.

keasy · 13 May 2013 at 23:12

MissChief said:
I added less than 5ms typically with wifi. Hardly a game breaker. I've gamed over wifi for years and can't say I've noticed any real issues. Pings are less than 50ms to UK and Euro servers. Internal wireless card and a Sky Hub. (2.4GHz only)

I'd agree that in regard to gaming it's not that noticeable but the main factor IMO is stability.
There's the external interference and dropout to consider on 2.4
also.
It's way to congested and only getting worse.

I'm lucky as nothing around here seems to interfere with mines. I keep two devices (for the kids) on 2.4 two on 5 and my main PC on cat6.
In my last property my wifi dropped at least 6 or 7 times an evening. I'm sure the neighbours had a military strength microwave !

MissChief · 13 May 2013 at 23:26

Have to say mine is sometimes the only network I can pick up. Other times there's another on channel 1. That's why I chose channel 11!

Gammawolf · 14 May 2013 at 02:22

I'd just stick with WiFi since it's easier. WiFi only increases latency by 0.5ms over Ethernet in my tests and on 5GHz it's rock solid for hours on end with the client on the back upstairs wall, while the router is on the front downstairs wall.

B&W · 14 May 2013 at 20:50

Bought some devolo 200 mini homeplugs for £25 in the end as the wifi kept timing out and was laggy. Working great so far, download speed has increased from 10mb to 20mb.

And gaming is a lot better. Can't notice that much difference from the wired connection tbh.