New router or homeplugs?

hemophobic

Which is better for me to connect my ps3 and xbox 360 to the internet. I'm going to either buy a new wireless n router or some 200mbps homeplugs. I already have two 85mbps homeplugs would these slow down the new ones if i got them?

Thanks in advance.

kwikbreaks

200Mbps and 85Mbps Homeplugs can co-exist but cannot communicate. I've not seen any reports of them slowing each other down but as they will both be using the same lower frequencies I would have thought there must be some degradation.

Why do you think you need to better the 85Mbps ones? They can deliver ~ 30 Mbps which is faster than all but 50Mbps VM. How fast is your broadband?

Wireless is always less reliable than Homeplugs.

superrug_2

I agree with Kwikbreaks, I always would use a wired connection in terms of gaming (actually I always use wired for everything)

Would you be streaming media to your Xbox ? If so id go with the 200Mbps ones , if not just go with the cheaper 85's, theres two deals on hotdeals at the mo for boths options

aliEnRIK

I used 85Mb, but found the 200Mb I use now work better, and I only have a 10Mb connection

GunJack

Don't understand why it's either router or homeplugs - if your current router is fine, then then it's only your method of connecting to it. If your router is iffy, then change the router.

Spending money on homeplugs if your router is dodgy is a complete waste of money

p.s in my house, I've got the kid's xboxes and my PS3 all connected wirelessly with no detriment to gaming

kwikbreaks

aliEnRIK wrote: »

I used 85Mb, but found the 200Mb I use now work better, and I only have a 10Mb connection

If you have a home network then they'll obviously work better for copying data between the machines. Is that what you mean?

I can't think of any reason why there would be a noticeable improvement between the 85s and 200s for straight browsing. In fact I never noticed a difference between 85s and gigabit ethernet for browsing. I've never owned 200s and am now all wired anyway so can't do any tests.

I guess latency (ping) could be different although either would be better than WiFi which in my own experience seems to introduce extra latency.

kwikbreaks

Just realised Rik - following your comments on the need to eliminate RF noise from the mains powering HiFi amps I'm very surprised to hear that you use HomePlugs.

aliEnRIK

kwikbreaks wrote: »

If you have a home network then they'll obviously work better for copying data between the machines. Is that what you mean?

I can't think of any reason why there would be a noticeable improvement between the 85s and 200s for straight browsing. In fact I never noticed a difference between 85s and gigabit ethernet for browsing. I've never owned 200s and am now all wired anyway so can't do any tests.

I guess latency (ping) could be different although either would be better than WiFi which in my own experience seems to introduce extra latency.

I was plsying COD on PS3 with the 85s and it wasnt exactly perfect (same with wireless as theres quite a distance between my router and my PS3) Some HD content just didnt want to stream either
Changing to 200s helped with both (And the download and upload rates were better as I used 'speedtest' before and after)

aliEnRIK

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Just realised Rik - following your comments on the need to eliminate RF noise from the mains powering HiFi amps I'm very surprised to hear that you use HomePlugs.

Well spotted

I use a balanced mains transformer AND an isotek Sigmas which pretty much eliminates all mains noise on my hifi and av

I actually have an RFI meter and the homeplugs sure do add a hell of a lot of RFI when theyre in use (particularly streaming HD)

kwikbreaks

Did you use the utility that comes with all homeplugs to check the sync rate and quality?

I'm surprised you found a difference as when I had 85s I tested their throughput and it was over 30Mbps which exceeds your cable broadband by a fair bit. Was it lag rather than throughput? The main reason I bought mine was to enable me to take TrueImage backups to a NAS from a machine that was running on WiFi which simply wasn't up to it and never completed (despite having an apparently good connection which I checked out at 20Mbps+ but only over a few minutes rather than taking the backup.

Local HD streaming would be better on the 200Mbps ones for sure.

aliEnRIK

Ping was fine on both
When I used speedtest, I found the download rate sort of accelerated in jumps. And the max download was less than when using the 200Mbs