Wireless Broadband, is it worth it?

[Gengis]

I'm needing a little bit of help/advice regarding wireless broadband.

First off, I'm wondering if wireless broadband can be used for gaming? The last I heard there were latency issues. What are the causes of the latency issues, line of sight, weather or just the technology?

Secondly, presuming there are no latency issues, what would my international speeds be? Let's say I'm playing WoW (which I won't ever again), will my ping be lower, higher or the same as someone with DSL?


Thanks
Gengis

[Syzygy78]

There is another big problem, packet loss. Packet loss kills online gaming :\

If I were you, I would go to www.myadsl.co.za (http://www.myadsl.co.za) and do some research on what wireless broadband option suits you best.

[GM<Jaymac>MF]

Wireless isn't really an option for gaming in my experience.

I mean, you're comparing a light transmitting optical cable to air.

In my experience, the only thing that has worked for wireless is a bit of War3 on vodacom 3G HSDPA. I don't think any wireless will do the trick for UT unfortunately.

[Gengis]

Wireless isn't really an option for gaming in my experience.

I mean, you're comparing a light transmitting optical cable to air.

In my experience, the only thing that has worked for wireless is a bit of War3 on vodacom 3G HSDPA. I don't think any wireless will do the trick for UT unfortunately.

And for a MMO on an overseas server? I wouldn't play UT without DSL.

Using vodacom 3G and connection speeds are good but have not tried it playing games, also I haven't had a look at the prices either.

[MaXimus]

Gengis, I think you may have too much latency problems.

RPG's don't rely on predictional code so much, however, I think with the random latency changes, on top of the pure distance between us and whereever you are connecting too certainly can't provide a fun experience. I may be wrong, but I doubt even RPG's will be playable.

[ProAsm]

Forget it, just the latency between your modem and the tower (air interface) is 80 ms at its very best, so even if the server was in the room next door, your ping would be 80+
For international gaming nothing beats ISDN, not even ADSL comes near it.
ISDN is a digital signal all the way from your PC to the gameserver, no conversions anywhere and thats what causes latency on fixed line stuff.
Unfortunately it costs an arm and a leg in this country, so we just put up with the lousy telscum ADSL which is a very poor substitute for broadband.

[Assbird]

We have 2 ppl on 3g in our guild, and they say the latency is nothing much when playing WoW

[Gozzy]

you dont need a low latency for WOW afaik, only games like 1st person shooters u need low latency coz of the immediate reaction thats needed.

[Macera]

I haven't heard of one person who is happy with wireless who deems gaming a priority, big no no from my experience :P.

[Gengis]

Thanks for all the advice guys. It is not only for me, but also have to try figure out for my work, as I think that Telkom does not provide ADSL out here (Kruger National Park). We cannot have everyone on 3G, but with only two of us here it is fine for now.

<snip> edited the ISDN stuff out didn't read Pro's post properly then saw the prices </snip>

We have 2 ppl on 3g in our guild, and they say the latency is nothing much when playing WoW

Assbird, could you do me a huge favour and found out more information from those two ppl in your guild please? Could you ask them the following?
If they live in SA (if not don't bother with the rest)
Which servers they play on US or EU
What there ping is to the server
What problems they have playing latency wise, as sometimes my connection just hangs
How much of their bandwidth usage for the month does gaming take up
Which 3G package they usingSigh, the pros and cons living out in the bush.

Thanks
Gengis

[GM<Jaymac>MF]

Um, right now it just looks like cons. :P

[Macera]

He gets to hunt his dinner, ftw :P

[~MA~[peterpan]]

:eek: even with mmo's like wow, id rather play on my 56k than 3G. Just works better...

[iRaven]

where does iburst fit in?

[ProAsm]

Kruger National Park !!
Wow out there you only have one choice - VSAT
Telscum do a 128k for R2200 pm
Sentech do a 512k for R5400 pm

[Gengis]

Guess it is 3G then :/
We had the telkom VSAT but it sucked. Luckly there is a cellphone tower within 500m of where I live that supports 3G. The speeds are good, I can stream most videos, but it can be a bit unreliable.

Oh well, I'll get my copy of WoW posted to me and give it a try. If this doesn't work, guess I'm screwed.

[sneaky]

Bgan is also an option and its mobile :P

[Gozzy]

im on wifi 4mb adsl, and i get 12ms to kala1 :P

so not all wireless shit is crap :P

[Nevar]

Stealing the neighbours wifi signal does not count.

[Gozzy]

lol not unless my neighbours are my dad and them :) Im running it from my dads office 300 air meters away to my house.

[Manta]

Nevar! that Signiture, is that a articune! Did you use a ditto to breed it?

and what Game is it you play?

Manta

[J1nX]

im on wifi 4mb adsl, and i get 12ms to kala1 :P

so not all wireless shit is crap :P


You should be getting packet loss and a not constant connection on Wifi... signal is erratic I found... even drops connection sometimes..

Getting through one map on wifi (router right next to laptop) was almost impossible.....

Just my experience...

[Gozzy]

Not if u use kief equipment to do so, im pinging the other pc 300 airmeters away at 1ms, im getting a nice link between the pcs, like 8mbs which isnt that GREAT for a LAN, but all I needed was 4mb for the internet, and I got twice as much, I played a few games of Q3 on it, and I didnt experience any packet loss, my in-game PING was 16-20ms:P And I still get my 440 odd kb/s on downloads :)

C:\Documents and Settings\Gozzy>ping kalahari.mweb.co.za

Pinging kalahari.mweb.co.za [196.2.33.21] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 196.2.33.21: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=122
Reply from 196.2.33.21: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=122
Reply from 196.2.33.21: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=122
Reply from 196.2.33.21: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=122

[Manta]

Gozzy my man! :) how much that cost you / dad, the wifi 4mb adsl. ^^

Manta

[Gozzy]

dude, honestly, I dont know, but the equipment i bought was R2500 (bridge,ap aerials etc)

i think its like R560 for 4mb adsl pm (cant rem)
and R300 for 4gb cap (afaik)

but i dont pay for it:P

[cYan1D3]

OMW, 16ms to kala. I wish I could have that :P would be playing like no one business :)

Insane man, just insane

[Manta]

Hey Gozzy! do you have room for one more?

Manta wont mind coming, to stay there. ^^

[iRaven]

y do u always speak about yourself in the 3rd person

[=_sNaKe_=]

It's his "thing". Allegedly.

[GM<Jaymac>MF]

Manta doesn't write his own posts.

He has people to do that for him.

[Gozzy]

lol Manta, you'd be staying alone most of the time, as im not at home 90% of the time :P I'm barely on my PC nowadays, taking a break. But ill be back one day, I went to visit ESWC at Emperor's this weekend, was kief to see some of the faces there again.