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Gaming over wireless? Functional?

post #1 of 21
10/4/06 at 1:51pm
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking of purchasing a new router for my house. I've always gone with hardwired ones because they were always faster. Do any of you guys game over a wireless network or over a wireless router system? I'd like to make the switch to wireless, but not if it will cost me performance. On games like America's Army and other FPS, those precious .4 seconds matter in gunning down the other guy first

Thanks for any input.
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post #2 of 21
10/4/06 at 1:56pm
i do see lower ping times in cs:s when on ethernet, but wireless is what i use. could be just me.

i ping 50s on wireless vs 30s for a particular server...but i still am able to get 20s for many on wireless.
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post #3 of 21
10/4/06 at 2:23pm
I play WoW exclusively on wireless and I have no issues. Occasionally, the connection will drop but that's roughly once every two weeks and it's back up again.
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post #4 of 21
10/4/06 at 2:35pm
Think of it this way, Wireless G functions at 54Mbps. The FASTEST home internet connections I know of don't even crack 10Mbps. You're not going to be any slower with Wireless than you are with a wired connection. Your ping will be slightly higher with Wireless, but that's more due to your router or access point sucking than it is to do with the fact that its wireless or wired. It Also would have to do with the CSMA/CA Access control Wi-Fi uses, that does add a little latency due to the fact that the NIC listens for another station sending before sending out its data.
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post #5 of 21
10/4/06 at 3:08pm
We use wireless to play CS:Source in Uni all the time. There is often 10 or more people playing with one laptop hosting the network and another hosting the CS:S server. We never have any issues in terms of connection slowdown and the game plays smoothly 99% of the time.
If the game does slow down its usually becaus one of the hosting laptops is running background services or playing music at the same time.
Mind you we do all sit within a 15 foot radius so theres not much distance for the signal quality to drop. But still the gameplay is excellent.
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post #6 of 21
10/4/06 at 3:16pm
Just don't use the microwave or cordless phone and you'll be fine
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post #7 of 21
10/4/06 at 5:51pm
If you plan on having 50 people play simulataneously on your LAN, it could be a problem, but not if you are gaming over the internet. One user still isnt even using a fraction of your 802.11g bandwidth.
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post #8 of 21
10/4/06 at 5:51pm
I play wireless and have no issues with pings on servers
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post #9 of 21
10/4/06 at 7:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshuaTU
I'm thinking of purchasing a new router for my house. I've always gone with hardwired ones because they were always faster. Do any of you guys game over a wireless network or over a wireless router system? I'd like to make the switch to wireless, but not if it will cost me performance. On games like America's Army and other FPS, those precious .4 seconds matter in gunning down the other guy first

Thanks for any input.


I game ALL the time on Wireless Only! I dont really like desktops. I play Half life 2, CS:S,Halo and more. I prefer wireless to lan because you can go to a hot spot and GAME! You don't have to setup your connection EVERYWHERE you go. On halo only, Ther is an occasional hickup, but then again my laptop was not really good. (Toshiba ) Otherwise its AWSOME. Don't game without it!
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post #10 of 21
10/4/06 at 7:40pm
Never really cared to compare the speeds when gaming, but I download at 700-730kbps equally on wireless and cable; speeds do not differ unless I walk 50 meters away from the router.
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post #11 of 21
10/4/06 at 10:29pm
Download speeds won't be affect as like MrEvil said the wireless connection is still many times faster than the internet connection (unlees you have a very bad wireless connection). One thing I have noticed between playing for many many hours and a variety of games (CS:S, BF2, GW, etc) on a wired network, a good wireless network and a strained wireless network (long range) is that with both wireless networks although you get a ever so slightly higher ping and more frequent bouts of lag (which increase when you starting pushing the range) you normally wouldn't notice. Saying that though if I have the option I always go for wired...
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post #12 of 21
10/4/06 at 11:53pm
If you want the ultimate, go and get a Linksys A/B/G router with speedbooster. WRT54GS i think. You want to get version 1-3 of that router (I have v.2). This will allow you to install "hacked" firmware which will allow you to control your transmit power level, allowing you to double it.

Then get yourself an Atheros AR5006EX Wireless Lan card upgrade. They are pretty rare as they are spankin new (I had to get mine from Hong Kong - Garagesale125 on notebookreview.com) and reading about this card, it will boost your wireless to get excellent signal where you normally would get a low or very low signal with the Intel hardware.

That should cut some lag I think. Well see this week when my card arrives and I get hoppin on BF2142.
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post #13 of 21
10/5/06 at 12:31am
ok well if your a serious gamer and don't wont any problems at all while playing wireless get the D-Link DGL-4300 it is the sweetest wireless router out there for gaming its got a feature that you can turn on or off called GamingFuel and let me tell you this feature makes a huge difference and I know because im an owner of one of these. They are a bit pricey about $120-$150 but its worth every penny. I use to have the Linksys WRT54GS which is the G with the speedbooster and it is good like whackamac said well when i first owned the WRT54GS I thought it was a god but then when I purchased the DGL-4300 I found out the WRT54GS was junk but if you dont have the money to spend on the DGL-4300 then I would say buy the WRT54GS.
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post #14 of 21
10/5/06 at 12:51am
I also like the D-Link DGL-4300 but don't use the wireless for gaming. Gamefuel is nice and you can download torrents while gaming and not notice much of a slowdown. Just set the gaming priority higher and you are golden.

Wired seems to give me better pings and less lag, so I plug in the cable.
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post #15 of 21
10/6/06 at 12:54pm
you guys with that DLink gaming router never aparrently flashed your Linksys units to 3rd party firmware. The 3rd party stuff really opens up these routers a WHOLE LOT.

That being said though, I doubt the D-Link router can beat my newly acquired Cisco 1750
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post #16 of 21
10/6/06 at 2:46pm
never tried flashing a wireless router with 3rd party firmware b4, what kinda cool stuff can you get outta that? Isn't in dangerous to up the power to routers?
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post #17 of 21
10/6/06 at 3:33pm
I have no issues with wireless gaming. My house is set up so I really cant ethernet to my PC. I ended up dropping the signal to B though. It ended up being much more reliable than G and superG.
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post #18 of 21
10/7/06 at 2:15am
With wireless its pretty much you get what you pay for sooooo..... Let the cash flow!
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post #19 of 21
10/7/06 at 8:48am
hmm i almost forgott that i are using wireless connection. Im playing PFS games and alot of other games online whitout any problems. I´m using a D-Link 4300 so sweeet.. =)
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post #20 of 21
10/7/06 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuckinasquare3
never tried flashing a wireless router with 3rd party firmware b4, what kinda cool stuff can you get outta that? Isn't in dangerous to up the power to routers?

Well, you can use the router as more than just a router. I have two WRT54G routers (the older Linux versions) and until I had Cat 5 running in my attic I used the 2nd router as a Wireless to wired ethernet bridge so that my XBox, media center PC, and my color laser printer could have access to the rest of my network without having to string 100' of cat five along the baseboard.

Other nifty features of 3rd party firmware are the ability to create VLANs so you can segregate your network. You get expanded QoS and access controls. One friend of mine even managed to get my spare router to load balance between his parent's ADSL connection and his Cable connection when I loaned it to him. Also, you can up the transmit power of the router to 100% (Linksys nerfed them from the factory and stuck them at 50%). Since these routers use Linux as their OS they can do alot of pretty neat stuff.
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