New Wireless Network & Intermittent Gaming Lag

[thegimp03]

Hi, I setup my first wireless network in my home last night and don't know if I'm having problems, or this is just considered normal. I currently receive a "very good" signal and a have my computer approximately 25-30 feet from the router itself. I have discovered while playing various games (Q3, BF2 demo, UT2k4) in different servers that every couple of minutes I will go 999. It stays 999 for 1-3 seconds, and then my connection is returned to normal. This can be extremely annoying in a fast-paced fps game.
Is this normal for wireless networks? If not, is there any way to fix this? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[nweaver]

could be your wireless card scanning for networks/beaconing

 

[thegimp03]

Thanks, how would you stop it from doing this?

 

[Zelmo3]

After you're connected, go into services and stop the Wireless Zero Config.

 

[ronzilla]

If you're seeing wireless weirdness, one thing to keep in mind is other wireless networks in range. You can use a program like NetStumbler to detect any other wireless networks in range. If you see any on the same channel as yours (or with the same SSID), changing the channel (or SSID) can help eliminate some wireless problems.

This isn't always the case, but it's worth mentioning.

 

[thegimp03]

Hmm...that's interesting. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to play around with it tomorrow. When I turn off Wireless Zero Config in Services...it stops the lag. Awesome that it fixed my lag. However, now I am getting disconnected from the network constantly, and I cannot get reconnected unless I turn the Wireless Zero Config for a second, hit "Repair connection", and then turn it off again.
Anybody have similar problems and know of a fix? This, imo, pretty much renders this wireless connect worthless to me. Can't game with Wireless Zero on, and can't stay connected with it off...
/me waits to get dced again.

 

[nweaver]

your card should come with a utility to configure the card, and it shouldn't require WZC to work. If it does, it's probably crap. I don't know much about desktop cards, the only ones I have used are Atheros based Cisco cards, which work amazingly well.

 

[sep]

I don't think I would ever game with a wireless connection. Hope you get it fixed!

 

[thegimp03]

Any other ideas? Still disconnecting at random intervals. It's not so much the gaming I'm worried about anymore, it's staying connected to the internet.

 

[demon42]

What make/model is your wireless card and router?

 

[thegimp03]

router is the linksys wrt54g, card is the wmp54g pci card

 

[queequeg99]

I would look for sources of interference (cordless phones, microwaves, baby monitors, etc.) and see if eliminating them fixes the problem. If you live in an apartment or tightly packed residential area, you may not be able to eliminate interference from other houses/units. Try changing channels (the vast majority of wireless devices come preconfigured to channel 6 and most are never changed, which makes things very crowed). You can try a more directional antenna as well.

I game over wireless without any problems whatsoever, although I live out in the country and there are no sources of interference at all (I'll typically get at least 10-15 UT2004 servers with pings between 10-20ms).