ima goin wirless

[public_eyesore]

i want to have a wirless set up but i dont know what to get. Basicly i was wondering whats the best, cheapest, and easiest stuff i need to get. I have a cable inter net connection for which i need wirless on 4 computers and i need one nromal cable for my ps2. Thanks-Ryan

[Dark-hobo]

I would suggest not to to go wireless on computers that are used for online gaming.

[DickNervous]

Dark-hobo is right, wireless + gaming is generally not good. There are some exceptions, like slower paced games that are not impaceted much by latency. But FPS games + wireless = dead player.

As for what to go with, I would stick with either Linksys or D-Link Wireless G products. Don't bother with the Speedbooster or whatever to try to get 108mbps, it simply isn't worth it as you will not notice a difference unless you transfer ALOT of large files, in which case you should just use a wire.

The Linksys WRT54G routers have 4 switched 10/100 ports and support Wireless B/G. D-Link has similar products, I just forget the model number.

On the PC end, laptops can use the built in wireless or a Wireless G pcmcia card, desktops can use a PCI wireless card of USB wireless adapters. Again, Linksys and D-Link are the brands I use and never have problems with. Netgear is also very good, but usually costs more. Belkin I have heard is pretty good, but I have never used any of their networking stuff.

[Aero]

actually, wireless and gaming work fine. I use a wirerless G router everyday and experience very little lag whatso ever due to wireless, (my internet is naturally slow).

[public_eyesore]

alright thanks, i had heard nothin but good things from people using wireless, but i dont want to get rid of my low ping of 60

[DickNervous]

Well, i havent tried wireless for gaming in a while, try it, it might work :D

[public_eyesore]

i would but i dont really have that kinda money to just test something

[Rankenphile]

I use wireless, and don't notice a lot of lag, really. I think that it has sort of become a myth. I've played Battlefield, CounterStrike and WoW equally over a wireless, and it hasn't degraded my gameplay noticeably.

Then again, I do suck, so who knows?

[Dark-hobo]

I used wireless for a bit and experienced a drop in performance. Not drastic but it was noticeable. If you don't want performance drop you would have to go for Wireless G I believe. And those cards cost a bit more.

[crenn]

I play Halo and UT2004 via a 54mbps link. And the only lag I get is mainly hardware based........ unless the server is in the US!!

[Exley]

I play on a wireless B network with no lag at all though I am only about 10 feet from the router. Also if your internet is traveling at 3mbps (supposedly) and the wireless connection is 10mbps where’s the loss?

[slaveofconvention]

There will be SOME loss inherant because of the connections - it might be extremely fast, but the router still has to take the internet or input datal, thats then converted to standard 10/100, then it's converted again by the wired/wireless bridge to a ratified wireless signal, and then the nic in the PC has to convert the wireless signal into something the computer can understand - wired connections are faster because, 1. They're faster (ie a real 100mb instead of a claimed 54) so way more overhead to play with and 2. Copper cable loses less signal than wireless radio, even in the 2.4ghz band. There's also less interference - you need to crowd cat5 pretty badly to seriously affect the quality of signal going through it whereas wireless networks are affected by a whole host of electrical (microwave ovens, bluetooth devices, cordless phones etc) and physical (walls, open air) obstacles. Interference causes dropped packets which then have to be re-sent - that's what causes a lot of lag - having said all that, a decent hardware setup, with minimal interference, you get decent performance with wireless but it'll never be QUITE as good as wired - the difference may, if you're lucky, be too small to notice, but trust me, it's there :p

[onelegout]

Im running a 2.2mbps connection through a 100mbps wireless router and can play cs:s outside in my garden on the laptop with no lag at all :D