StormEffect

July 08, 2008 at 12:59pm

As an avid laptop gamer (I game on my Macbook Pro 2.4), I can attest to both the pros and cons of wireless gaming. In most cases the determining factor is the quality of the router and the distance away from said router.

For instance, at home, using my Dlink DIR-655 wireless N router running in G ONLY mode with WPA2-AES, I get a ping of 30ms in CounterStrike: Source when my laptop is roughly 50 feet away on the floor below. That is a much better ping than what I get when I am wired directly into the wall at University. At a signal strength of around 60-70%, I rarely lose packets. I can even stream music from a laptop elsewhere in the house over the wireless network WHILE playing CounterStrike: Source without a hiccup. 

Now, BEFORE I upgraded my router, I was getting about 50% signal on my ancient Linksys G w/MIMO router. The connection would drop just about every day, some of my devices couldn't even connect with security active.  It was TERRIBLE. Also, when at an Airport using their wifi, I usually get a MUCH higher ping in CSS (around 60-80ms). While not terrible, not nearly as good as my home wireless network. 

A good/great wireless router can seriously bridge the gaps between wired and wireless computing. In my setup, I have 2 wired desktops, 1 wired printer, a wireless XBOX360, a wired XBOX, 4 wireless laptops, 2 wireless Tivos, a wireless Wii, and a wireless Kodak Picture Frame. On the newer router, all of this works wonderfully with maximum WPA2-AES security and incredibly throughput and signal strength (even using G ONLY mode). My previous router couldn't keep it all together for more than 24 hours of light traffic, then again it was over 3 years old and the wireless AND wired load increased considerably in the last few years. 

One last con, if you plan on having a robust WIFI network, make sure you stick with wireless phones using either 5.0+ GHz band (if you are sticking with G-ONLY) or, more preferably, the new 1.9GHz band. The 1.9GHz band is ideal, because it will not degrade or interact with 802.11 b, a, g, or n.  Also, make sure none of your wireless devices has a microwave in the line of sight leading from the device to the router, that'll seriously put the hurt on your connection.