Wireless vs Wired connection for FPS online gaming?

[Kroze]

I currently use a wireless connection to play MW3 and it feels sometime like there's a latency issue. It'll say that I have full connection speed but I can definitely tell there's lag. Do you think having a wireless connection is the issue?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Ok, wow. That lady I was helping just freaking blew my capacitors to hell. Ignore whatever was posted here.

 

[kamikazekyle]

Possibly. I haven't played MW3, but unless it's reporting raw ping times it might say it's "good" but really has up to 150ms or something rediculous like that. Cellular connections are generally poor for pings compared to wired broadband, and if you're playing over wifi that can add to the latency as well (and won't be reported by the game). People's sensitivities to wifi latency are all over, so YMMV on that bit.

Anyway, if you're on a cellular or similar wireless connection, I wouldn't count on a lag-free experience. And if MW3 is still P2P instead of running dedicated servers, well, that's just rubbing salt into the wound.

 

[Maximilian]

Wat? Do you mean mouse or intarweb connection OP?

I use wired for mouse, wireless made no difference but i cant be bothered with batteries.

I use wired for internet, i have used wireless before in a heavily crowded area (flat block) and it didn't make much difference. Although it can vary from router to router and place to place. Wired is a safe bet though :thumbsup:

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Wi-Fi does not cause lag for me, if you have a lot of interference in your area then maybe.

 

[TheSlamma]

Wired on a basic network will pretty much guarantee a <1ms ping response.

Wireless.. well on 2.4ghz range there are tons of things that cause interference (microwaves, cordless phones etc) on that spectrum. 5ghz there is less to interfere with it, but it's ability to penetrate walls and object is way less, but it's also capable of the better performance on 802.11n

 

[videogames101]

There will be some additional latency but it should be almost negligible compared to your total ping. If you're playing at a high enough level that it matters always go with wired, but honestly 99&#37; of people probably couldn't notice the difference.

 

[Wyndru]

Wi-Fi does not cause lag for me, if you have a lot of interference in your area then maybe.

This. My issue is with overlapping channels in my house and neighbors and my router being slightly too far away. I keep changing the wireless channels, but I haven't found one that works well. When we use our microwave and sometimes our phones I actually lose throughput, and sometimes connection.

I ordered a more powerful router, hopefully that will help.

 

[Clinkster]

I currently use a wireless connection to play MW3 and it feels sometime like there's a latency issue. It'll say that I have full connection speed but I can definitely tell there's lag. Do you think having a wireless connection is the issue?

Plug that sucker in (whatever it is...) and find out.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I don't care if wireless tech becomes 10x faster than wired, I will always use physical connection.

My wireless router is disabled. Never used it, and probably never will.

 

[Dankk]

There will be some additional latency but it should be almost negligible compared to your total ping.

This is the most accurate straight-forward answer so far.

OP, assuming you have a decent router that's properly configured and within range, it shouldn't cause any problems. The additional latency experienced using WiFi as opposed to wired is VERY minimal, and won't be the biggest factor in determining your ping.

I've been gaming on a WiFi connection for years now and it's been very solid. I have very reliable PCI wireless adapter in my computer, which communicates with my trusty old WRT54G router downstairs. (There was one time when my wireless connection kept dropping every time I entered a game, but it was because of an outdated driver. I updated my wireless driver and I was good to go.)

I can always join TF2 servers where my ping is <100, there are even some servers where my ping goes <50. But, that has more to do with the server itself being on a really good connection. For example I remember being on one server where I had a ping of 30, and when I checked the scoreboard, seriously all of the players had a ping <50 so it must've been a really good server.

Anyway... while wireless internet CAN cause issues, if you have it properly set up and don't have any kind of crazy interference then you should be perfectly fine.

 

[PingSpike]

I don't care if wireless tech becomes 10x faster than wired, I will always use physical connection.

My wireless router is disabled. Never used it, and probably never will.

Well, wireless will never become 10x faster than wired so I wouldn't worry to much about that. The only advantage wireless will ever have over wired is...being wireless.

I'd imagine in a basic setup there generally isn't much of a difference in ping times (its worse I've noticed but by a negligible amount) but my experience with wireless has been that it can be very sensitive to interference. That might not make a huge difference with web browsing or file transfer but could be problematic for low latency low bandwidth applications like gaming.

I've heard cellular internet has less than stellar ping times though. I'm not sure about the WISPs though as I've only used home routers.

 

[lsv]

Wired. Always wired, there is too much that can block a wifi signal that you're not even aware of on a daily basis.

 

[DesiPower]

I constantly get around 110 (ranges from 80 - 130) on b, 54g... router is downstairs and PC is upstairs.

 

[Nebor]

You people realize that the ray beams shooting out of your wireless devices are traveling at the speed of light, right?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

You people realize that the ray beams shooting out of your wireless devices are traveling at the speed of light, right?

It's not the speed of transmission that makes wireless slower.

I use wired more because my computer is too far away from my router to get a solid signal.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Wired, for everything. Wired ethernet, wired keyboard, and wired mouse. I have measured the delay on the wireless network, and there is a good 10-15ms delay added. Keyboard and mouse is more of a preference thing, and probably changes depending on the keyboard/mouse, but all the wireless ones I have tried you could feel the lag added at the input side, so I kept going back to my wired ones for FPS and other games which require twitch reactions.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I don't care if wireless tech becomes 10x faster than wired, I will always use physical connection.

My wireless router is disabled. Never used it, and probably never will.

You must not have a laptop, and have all your PCs in the same room.

 

[@nthony]

Simple way to tell is just ping your router. (i.e. ping -t your.router.address)
You'll notice typically wired connections are constant <1ms, and wireless connections can vary between 1ms and even 9ms depending on location.
There is also more overhead with wireless traffic, and while latency can be decreased by using higher frequency channel, I don't think will ever approach wired latency.

That being said, wired latency can sometimes be more than wireless for example if your wiring is across repeaters or cables that are quite a few meters long.
But yes, generally its negligible.

 

[Dankk]

Simple way to tell is just ping your router. (i.e. ping -t your.router.address)
You'll notice typically wired connections are constant <1ms, and wireless connections can vary between 1ms and even 9ms depending on location.

Great tip, thanks! Here's mine:

I guess that's as good as a wireless connection gets?

 

[QueBert]

Great tip, thanks! Here's mine:

I guess that's as good as a wireless connection gets?

1ms ping is as good as any connection gets, exact same my uber wired connection gets if I ping it.