Thinking of Wireless
 

:)
Hello,
I was thinking of upgrading to a wireless network as our house has become a little too cluttered to have 40ft lan wires moving around the house...

I was just wondering on the issue of gaming on a wireless network.. some of my friends have said the performance is so lacking, it becomes a nuisance to play games, others have told me that they have no problems. I play some WoW, some WC3, and some occasional CS... does anyone have some past experience to this issue?

Also, then any particular routers that you might recommend? the new Pre-N routers seem to be the "new hotness" around..

Thanks for the help!

There have been a couple of threads about this...

What it comes down to is possible interference. The slowest wireless connection is faster than 99% of cable/DSL connections, so there's no penalty there. However, things like microwaves, portable phones, other wireless access points nearby, even powerlines or thunderstorms can interfere, causing dropped packets. So, no slowdown, but things might randomly time out, lose connection, etc.

I say don't let that slow you down. I've never had a problem with wireless, even gaming. But maybe I've been lucky, plenty of people have.

I have actually reverted backwards. I went wireless for a while, but have now gone back to having all of my desktop machines wired. I still have the wirless access point for my laptops. I love being able to move large files from machine to machine quickly. As well as not having to worry about packet loss while playing games.

I see, thanks for the feedback so quick.
If i lose packets online, will i be disconnected from games like WoW and WC3? and if these random drops happen, is it like a few seconds thing, where i can reconnect right away?

Also, what are the good routers these days? I've been looking around, but there are literally hundreds of wireless routers... A good recommendation would be greatly appreciated.. thanks!

I love my airport, but the odds of you having a Mac are slim. If you do, check out the airport. Frozen Throne has not dropped out once, and I'm all about the never ending defence games (famous for lag).

I had this same question answered a few weeks ago here. I just built a gaming computer and wireless seemed like the most convienent option seeing as how we had a router already that my brother uses for his lap top.

I was skeptical going into it but so far everything has been fine. Granted I've only been gaming since yesterday on this computer, but so far I've had no problems with WoW or first person shooter games. Our house doesn't have a microwave or any cell phones, we do have a cordless phone though.

I gathered from the last thread that it really just depends on your situation, I say go for it though. I'm on a wireless b connection and its been fine but wireless g seems to be the new standard and its supposed to be faster than wireless b.

heh. thanks again for all the help -

any particular routers that are like "known" to be the best in the market?... u kno like, it used to be sapphire radeons, corsair xms ram, etc... thx

edit= or does anyone have a website or a tech site theyd like to recommend that could help me? thx! :icare:

Have wireless for my laptop in my network. Love it. I can move from room to room anytime I want.

I haven't had much or even any decrease in performance when it comes to online gaming. I'm using a Linksys G standard router. Been working great for more than a year now.

Id suggest a Linksys WRT-54G wireless router. Great piece of work, most of it is done by Cisco, and it's got pretty much all the tweaks and goodies you could want.

If you start dropping packets because of interference, it depends on how bad it is as to what effect it will have on the game. If it just drops a few, you won't even notice, as most games are written to take that into account. If it's bad, however, it could randomly disconnect you from your game or give you what feels like lag spikes--everything sorta stops all of a sudden from the lack of packets, then starts going again.

Again though, like Willravel, I've done plenty of gaming over wireless and never had a problem. YMMV, though.

One more quickie question :D
Im thinkin of this wirelss for a house im gettin with some roomates.. and we're all gonna need wireless.. so its a 3 floor house.. with some living on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors

Would it be better to place the router on the second floor?.. or would it not really matter? if i wanted an excellent connection at all places..

You'd really have to suck it and see. Sometimes one place in the house will have particularly bad reception, while somewhere else will be good. If you can, position the router in the most likely place and wander around the house with a laptop and check the connection...

Ditto. The only way to find out is trial and error...

my brothers cordless phone kills my routers signal /cry but the phone has to be close to my computer. so i just tell him to stay away from me !

Just thought I'd mention the Linksys WRT54G is $29 at staples right now after $15 rebate. (Their ad shows $44 but doesn't mention the rebate.)

Great little repeaters with OpenWrt (or...) firmware.

Edit: Whoops. Was in Staples again today. All this store had on the shelf were version 5 of the G which isn't supported by aftermarket firmware yet. (It uses VxWorks, not Linux.) Should still be good for basic needs but I don't have any hours on this version.

They also have the WRT54GS on sale at 49 after rebate, but it's version 4 which has half the memory of GS versions 1-3. (Same 4MB flash/16MB RAM memory as most G versions). Versions 3 is the ticket if you want to use lots of features or need lots of connections. (busy net, from P2P or...)

I wouldn't recommend wireless for gaming, too many variables that can degrade the connections. I'm working on turning a section of my basement into a game zone, hardwired. Currently I have wireless connecting my boys two PCs to my own (main) so I can move/copy files. Even with the Wireless Super G, the connections can still be a drag at times.

but its a 3 story house w/ 5 separate roommates... i dont see how we could set up wires throughout the house effectively and efficiently..