Wireless Gaming

Static M.e.

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone use's wireless for gaming?

Ive tried it before and had poor results but perhaps things have changed and its improved somewhat. The wireless router would be maybe 15-20 feet away and have two concrete walls inbetween each (~1 foot thick)

The layout of the building makes cabling a nightmare, walls are too thick to drill through without hiring in someone with serious drills. Also Im not sure its covered by my rent policy.

From what I remember the main problem before was the signal dropping, I was thinking of perhaps using a directional antenna to focus the signal but again Im not sure if it would be enough.

Anyway any ideas?

NutJob

Its usable but you will get sudden unexplained lag bursts.
Could be caused by anything from neighbour using his microwave to a cordless phone.

Powerline adapters might be a better option for gameing though i have yet to see them in action.

Gone West

the two concrete walls are the main problem.
Don't listen to clueless people talk to you about cordless phones or microwaves. In *practice* these things interfering are actually pretty rare. Sure, you might see it online listed as one of the causes, but tbh thats filler.

The concrete walls are going to create dropped packets. This packet loss will affect you ping-wise. Your bandwidth will also suffer. Directional antennae might be a runner. Depends on your wireless kit and how easy an antenna is to attach, the availability of a suitable pigtail/etc.

irlrobins

yea if the walls weren't so thick you'd be fine. I use wireless for gaming (b type) and have no problems with lag, ping etc. Signal passes thru a metal filing cabinet and two concrete walls but not as thick as yours.

High gain antennas might help alright. What router do you have?

Foxwood

NutJob wrote:

Powerline adapters might be a better option for gameing though i have yet to see them in action.

A coupe of posters have mentioned using them recently (probably in the Broadband forum).

Elara have some from Netgear and Xyzel. I've also seen a couple of mentions of this gear from a German company - some of the UK retailers that have outlets in Ireland may c arry them.

Note that you'll need at least 2 adapters - one to get the signal onto the eltrical network, and another one to get it off again!

Gone West

These are dodgy. Very dodgy if you intend gaming over them.

NutJob

FuzzyLogic wrote:

Don't listen to clueless people talk to you about cordless phones or microwaves. In *practice* these things interfering are actually pretty rare. Sure, you might see it online listed as one of the causes, but tbh thats filler.

Not true cordless phone can play havoc with gameing and microwaves was an extreme example.
I have a cordless phone to prove it two.

802.11 will attempt to deal with it but it can cause all sorts of weird looking runt frames and the re-transmit rate will go up.

Obviosly thick stone walls will screw wireless hence i brought up powerline.

Gone West

"can"
thats the key word.
Its just not as big an issue as its made out to be.

NutJob

It plays havock with CS in perticular as its internal protocol is not good at dealing with fragmented UDP packets. Hence i have a cable running down the stairs

Foxwood

FuzzyLogic wrote:

These are dodgy. Very dodgy if you intend gaming over them.

PM this guy for feedback from someone who actually has them installed.

Static M.e.

High gain antennas might help alright. What router do you have?

http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/GWirelessRouters/WGR614.aspx

I think this is the Wireless router I have (I will check again in more detail) I got it from NTL.

Directional antennae might be a runner. Depends on your wireless kit and how easy an antenna is to attach, the availability of a suitable pigtail/etc.

What you consider my best option to be here? Im out of my league trying to consider one antenna over another.

Thanks everyone for your comments to far.

irlrobins

mmm don't think that Antenna is user replaceable. Have a read of this thread of how people soldered their own antenna on.

NutJob

irlrobins wrote:

mmm don't think that Antenna is user replaceable. Have a read of this thread of how people soldered their own antenna on.

If you were to do this it would some cut and shutting involved.

Solder a pigtail in and use some LMR-* cable then big antennas all round
http://www.linux-hacker.net/misc/wgr614v3.jpg

www.aerial.net for kit.

Static M.e.

Thats for all the help guys, Ill do some further reading and see what I can come up with.

Rgds

Triangle

Stat - if you're going that option give me a shout I got some info on the hardware you'd need.