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General discussion

Recommendations for setting up wireless gaming network

May 8, 2007 7:41AM PDT

I'm in the process of upgrading from a wired to a wireless network. This network will have two pc's, up to five notebooks, and up to four gaming consoles connected. My primary concern is having the best possible connection to my xbox 360 and playstation three, and I want to be able to have more than one xbox 360 on xbox live at a time. I would also like to be able to connect my wii and my ps3 on the same wireless network, as well as maybe a notebook or two simultaneously.

I currently have a 5 Mbs dsl connection to a modem upstairs, but my consoles are all downstairs and a few large rooms over. Currently my setup includes wired connections to two pc's upstairs, and a single through-the-wall wired connection to my gaming area downstairs that I have to switch between my xbox 360, wii, ps3, and notebooks. I also use a bunch of 2.4 Ghz cordless phones and a full array of Xbox 360 and PS3 wireless controllers and headsets that I think run on 2.4 Ghz and Wii controllers that I think use Bluetooth.

How much speed will I lose switching my primary 360 from wired to wireless, and will I be able to run two xbox 360's on Xbox Live with speeds comparable to a wired connection? What can I do to get the fastest, most secure connection with the least interference?

I'm considering a D-Link DGL-4300 and a Netgear WTN824NA for starters, but I'm open to other suggestions. I can also still use the wired connection for one console and connect wirelessly to everything else. Can anybody offer any help?

Discussion is locked

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Suggestion #1
May 8, 2007 8:04AM PDT

Don't do it.

Wireless is a shared bandwidth system, so all of those devices will be sharing the same 56Mbps of wireless LAN bandwidth. Wireless also doesn't tend to deal well with multiple high bandwidth clients. The spec just wasn't written with that sort of thing in mind. I don't know if, though I would highly doubt, the 802.11n spec does anything to improve this.

I would strongly suggest keeping the wired setup. Wireless would be fine if you only use the two PCs or notebooks for web browsing and email, but online gaming would suffer.

The only real way I could see this working well, is having multiple wireless routers set up at strategic points around the building, so that you don't tend to have more than about 3 devices connected to any single router. Which is both expensive, and difficult to configure properly.

What I would further suggest, is just getting a cheap switch for the downstairs consoles. Then you can connect each console up to the switch, which then is connected to the router upstairs. It's unlikely to be a problem, bandwidth wise, so long as you're only using one console at a time.

If you insist on the wireless setup... I have a DGL-4300... It's nice, but it's not all that it's cracked up to be really. I can bring it to its knees without really trying too hard, and I'm probably not quite as demanding as some of your LAN parties sound like they might be. You probably want to go with a MIMO (Multi-In, Multi-Out) model. As the name suggests, it has multiple (2 usually) transmit and receive antennas.

I can say that I've never had a problem with 2.4GHz phones, though I always made sure to get digital phones, which should be using a completely different kind of signal. I've also never had a problem with my Xbox and PS2 Logitech wireless controllers. Cheaper wireless controllers may or may not cause problems. You should also keep your microwave clear, since it cooks food using a roughly 2.4GHz wave pattern. The Wii controllers use infrared, which is why the sensor has to be within a line of sight (radio is omnidirectional and can pass through solid objects, infrared is unidirectional and cannot pass through opaque objects), so there's no issues there.

One further suggestion... If you own the home you're living in, take the time to just wire up an Ethernet jack or two in every room. It's well worth the effort.

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A few more questions...
May 8, 2007 8:49AM PDT

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

The only high-bandwidth devices on my network would be my two xbox 360's, my ps3, and my pc. I think I would use at most two of the high-bandwidth devices and one low-bandwitdh device simultaneously, although most of the time I'd only use two devices at a time (I currently run my pc and my 360 at high bandwidth simultaneously on my wired network and don't notice any problems). The Netgear wireless router i'm looking at utilizes a 7-antenna MIMO setup, but i don't know if it can dedicate bandwidth to one device the way the D-link device can...

What if I used a switch to connect either the first 360 and the ps3, then connected my wii, notebooks, and second 360 to a wireless network, using only one wired device and one wireless device at a time? Would either device suffer because of the other?

Also, do you know if D-link will release a MIMO version of their wireless game router anytime soon? And do you know if a wired xbox 360 connection uses higher bandwidth than the 56 Mbps that the wireless adapter uses?

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Might work
May 8, 2007 9:49AM PDT

If you keep the high bandwidth devices on a wired link, that would certainly help. If you plan on using any of the wireless connected gear for online gaming though, you'll probably want to think twice. Online gaming tends to live and die by lag times... Wireless will tend to increase the latency/lag between the router and the console/computer. The encryption you need to have on the signal to keep it secure takes some time to do and undo. The encryption is a must, unless you live way out in the country, and your nearest neighbor is like a half mile down the road, which seems unlikely with 5Mbps DSL for a connection.

In any case, if you went ahead with your plans as stated, it's unlikely you'd see any dramatic performance decreases using one wired and one wireless device. You have to remember they're both sharing the same bandwidth for all Internet traffic. Other than that, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's unlikely that any of the devices will be able to max out your wireless LAN bandwidth. The biggest concern will be the single Internet pipe they all have to share.

I also have no clue if Dlink will ever make a MIMO version of the DGL line. If I had to speculate, I'd say they were holding off until the 802.11n spec was finalized before bothering. That's just my guess anyway.

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Thanks
May 8, 2007 3:10PM PDT

Thanks a ton, you've been a tremendous help. I really appreciate your time.

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I concur
May 10, 2007 4:33PM PDT

I just wanted to add that i have the D-link Dgl-4300 wireless gaming router and i am very impressed with it. But just as Douglas said, it is not all it's cracked up to be. The speeds are overly inflated. It states that you have to have a one of their wireless cards installed that supports 108mps. However i have a wirelss card that supports 54mps. My speeds flutuates between 11mps-54mps constantly. Plus your ISP caps the limit of speeds anyway. The d-link never lost connection for me yet. I have it secured, and it works perfeclty with my notebook, ps3, and xbox 360. In contrast, i used to have the linksys wcg-200 wirelss cable/modem all in one gateway. It was horrible, not easy to set up and would lose it's signal about every 15 minutes. The d-link is so simple and is compatible with everything, you will be amazed how easy it is to set up. I would configure it with your pc first, and then just enter your wep or wpa key in the network setting menu of your ps3/xbox 360. I would highly worry about compatibility with a mimo router, i have heard some horror stories about them. Just wanted to give my input, hope this adds to what was already said.