Wireless -v- Ethernet?

sassybird

Hi

I have a Linksys wireless router with 4 ethernet ports that can be used.

My 17 year old wants his room decorating etc, and wants his pc in his room he does not want it on a wireless connectivity as he does a lot of on-line gaming and the wireless connection is not the best option for this.

I have been looking at the plug adaptors that use the house electrical wiring system. So an adapter is plugged in downstairs and one in his bedroom with an ethernet cable running from/to the adapters, it them uses the electrical wiring to carry the signal.

Can anybody tell me - do the plugs have to be on the same fuse (in the mains box) for the adapters to work correctly? Or do they work on any sockets in the house? I know that the sockets in these two rooms are covered by different fuses in the mainbox.

The other option is to get an ethernet cable long enough to route it through to his room.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

Mags

espresso

Just get a long enough Ethernet cable, they are much cheaper!

Seagull

I'd go for the ethernet cable option too, I've used wifi before but not the home electrics as you've suggested. Incidentaly I ran adsl speed tests with my wireless G linksys router using both wifi and ethernet cable, the cable was much faster.

hc25036

Ethernet is of course the best option, but I have a mixed ethernet/wireless/homeplug set up and it works fine. I can put a Homeplug in any socket in the house (on different parts of the mains circuit) and get perfectly good speeds for everything we use (we don't have video streaming though!).

sassybird

Many thanks for your speedy answers peeps!

You seem to have all covered what I needed to know.

a) That the ethernet cable option is cheaper - but a little more messy.

b) That the wireless connectivity is not as good as ethernet (which is what my son keeps telling me!).

c) That the plug/adapter system is usable anywhere in the house and not just on the same fuse.

I just need to get the energy up to start the decorating now!!

The things we start before Christmas! :rolleyes:

Hermann

We can happily game using a wireless connection with no noticeable difference.
However this is with a very good signal strength, with a weak signal speeds may suffer.

BillScarab

Wireless is only worse if you have a poor signal. Standard 802.11g runs at 54Mbps which is a lot faster than a broadband conenction. Having said that if running ethernet is a practical option, it's cheap, reliable and secure.

epz_2

BillScarab wrote: »

Wireless is only worse if you have a poor signal. Standard 802.11g runs at 54Mbps which is a lot faster than a broadband conenction. Having said that if running ethernet is a practical option, it's cheap, reliable and secure.

its not just through put, there is a lot more latency which will kill gaming and then theres the whole cancer(1) thing, would you want to sleep next to a running microwave

(1) no real proof but if its a choice between running some cat5 and a tumor ill take option a

LuciferTDark

If your machine is in the same room as the router then I'd go wired, but if like me the router is downstairs & your machine is upstairs then wireless is better, it's fast enough for 3 machines to be gaming together & just as secure as wired with a suitable password.

albertross_2

If you can get a good signal, and are using G wireless, then you shouldn't notice any difference in terms of speed or latency. Wirelessly, the latency between a pc and a router is a millisecond, and 54 meg routers are far faster than any available BB at the moment, so won't interfere with speed.

Toxteth_OGrady

My pings via wireless:

Pinging https://www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=59
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=59
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=59
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=59

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 17ms, Maximum = 20ms, Average = 18ms

Latency is not an issue for my gaming. Architecture is PC --> Cat 5e --> Gigabit switch --> Cat 5e patch cable --> wifi access point --> access point client --> Cat 5e patch --> ADSL modem/router.

:cool:

TOG