Is a wireless broadband connection suitable for gaming?

[KlokWyze]

Basically my current ISP constantly drops connection & occasionally get VERY slow response times from web sites. I see that wireless broadband options from companies like Sprint cost roughly the same a month, plus I could use it wherever I have a good signal.

Is the connection good enough for gaming? online FPS's like CSS & Halo 3 on XBL, etc.

 

[ScottMac]

Most are pretty high and / or variable latency ... I don't *think* you'd like them for gaming, but perhaps in your area it's different.

Ask the provider to offer up some performance stats or point you to a performance reporting site for their network.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[RadiclDreamer]

No, the latency is too high for it to be a viable option

 

[natto fire]

While it is certainly not impossible, it is very unlikely to find a server with a good ping. I am currently on a wireless broadband from Grappa, and the transmitter is about 15 miles away. the ping can swing very wildly, but there are some servers I can play that I consistently ping below 250. This system uses 900MHz and a "Canopy" modem from Motorola. Oh yeah, and max speed I have ever gotten through speed test websites is 1.5 mbps.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
While it is certainly not impossible, it is very unlikely to find a server with a good ping. I am currently on a wireless broadband from Grappa, and the transmitter is about 15 miles away. the ping can swing very wildly, but there are some servers I can play that I consistently ping below 250. This system uses 900MHz and a "Canopy" modem from Motorola. Oh yeah, and max speed I have ever gotten through speed test websites is 1.5 mbps.

i worked for a place that used the Canopy stuff, good system.

Most of our pings were 80ms or so, on a long shot (5-6 miles, with a couple of AP hops before coming to a wired backbone). Some of our APs were linked directly to a wired backbone, or only had one wireless hop and went even faster.

Never had a 15 mile link, however, I think the best we got out of a 900 was about 6 miles or so.

 

[KlokWyze]

thanks for the replies... sounds like I won't be getting this anytime soon. The technology is improving a lot though, so maybe in a few years?

 

[tatteredpotato]

Yea I have alltel's offering which keeps me in the 150ms ping area (EV-DO). Halo is about the only game that can acceptably handle that much lag, and even then it's pushing it. I had heard awhile ago that Rev A was supposed to make this better, but I have not followed up or put any research into that since.

 

[kevnich2]

I predict that in a couple years, the advancement with cellular broadband will make it a very viable option as a replacement to fixed line broadband connections. The only trouble I see with it is if you're so far in the sticks that you don't receive good cellular coverage but with that, you wouldn't have fixed line broadband options either.