Gaming on 10mb cable

[sponge]

Basically, this might not be the place but im getting desperate.

We have 10mb virgin media cable, through a belkin wireless router. 2 computers are on wireless.

My brother and i are both gamers and we play the same type of games (first person shooters) which dont really use that much bandwidth according to netlimiter 2 pro.

When we both try and play a game at the same time, (can be the same or different games) we both get 300-400 ping with random hangs and disconnections from servers.

Is this our wireless router doing this or is it our connection.

We also get throttled most days, however 2.5mb SHOULD still be enough, right?

[webcrawler2050]

This could be the wireless connection, personally I would try this via the ethernet aswell.

[sponge]

impossible due to queer parents not wanting a cable in their dining room. I get 100% signal, he gets around 65% signal. Would it be worth it to invest in powerline equiptment?

[nutellajunkie]

thats a very good idea sponge.

[chickendippers]

I have a Wireless n router, even with the computer in the same room as the router I still get occasional lag spikes. When wired there's no problem at-all.

Wireless just doesn't cut the mustard for gaming, even 'n'.

[sponge]

in theory, should we be able to run 2 computers on voip and an online game at the same time on a 2.5mbit down, 250kbit up line?

[Hugh]

In theory, yes - in reality, perhaps, but probably not.

I play COD4 on-line, wired, 30-50ms ping, and play fine.

[General Maximus]

that might be what is causing the problem, 250kbit up is the absolute minimum you need per person in an online fps. They say it is 16k/sec, so if you double that to 32 and then times by 8 you get 256kbit. If you are are bro are serious gamers and like to play together frequently i would seriously consider going halves on 20mbit (756kbit up). Not only will you both be able to play together comfortable but you can host your own servers if you like your coop games like Left 4 Dead.

[Noggo]

impossible due to queer parents not wanting a cable in their dining room. I get 100% signal, he gets around 65% signal. Would it be worth it to invest in powerline equiptment?

Don't get anything like powerline. You might as well give your money away, as they're rubbish for gaming. As they make your latency very erratic.

As regards upload of 512Kb/s. It should be able to cope with 2 gaming PC's, even when throttled. As the upload would be around 5KB/s (40Kb/s) for each PC playing FPS.

May be worth checking the Belkin webby for any firmware updates, for your model / hardware version number.

As the problem only occurs when you both play, than it kind of points towards the router. First thing I would do is eliminate the wireless from the equation, by both going wired to the router. How you do this is up to you and queer pants to sort out. Borrow network cables would be the cheapest way and may be moving queer pants PC closer (just to test, as I’ve got a feeling you don’t like him much) as shorter cable are move readily available. If going hard wired doesn’t resolve the issues, then it’s the router. Is there any third party firmware you could try for your model? Plus it may be worth getting the thread moved to the networking section of the Cable Forum as you get a better response there.

---------- Post added at 12:58 ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 ----------

you could try this as well, posted by Rob M in thread `Basic wireless network Q'
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34704804-post7.html

[Kymmy]

UK servers I get 30ms ping, EU about 40-60 and US about 100-150 depending where they are in the US... That's on a wired connection. Wireless as stated will be your problem..

[Elsie]

Don't get anything like powerline. You might as well give your money away, as they're rubbish for gaming. As they make your latency very erratic.
LOL! That comment has made my day!

It's pure tosh. I've got 20mb Virgin coming in via an NTL250 modem and a Netgear wireless router. However, the wireless connection is useless for my kids rooms upstairs so these are networked via Devolo Homeplugs, one connected in my office to the router and 2 others in the upstairs rooms. My son and I can play BF2, Half Life 2 or Trackmania without any problems whatsoever, even if my daughter uses her laptop (MSN etc) using the other Devolo we still don't see a drop in our ping.

The Devolo Powerline system has been a godsend for us and is the perfect solution for our networking.

[Stabhappy]

By 'drop' in ping I assume you mean increase?

[Elsie]

By 'drop' in ping I assume you mean increase?
Correct. Sorry for the poor terminology. What I should say is that I can be playing on the PC downstairs (connected directly to the router) with another two PC's connected via Devolo plugs upstairs and we don't have a drop in performance OR increase in ping levels.

[Noggo]

I based what I wrote on the two occasions I've used homeplugs round at friends houses and both times all PC's connected to the network have had erratic latency. Plus I've lost count of how many times I've heard players complaining about unstable connections and when it comes down to it they're using network over powerlines and as if by magic the problem disappears after removal.

[blade85]

strange.

Me and my brother game as well and iv got the same connection (also have a belkin router), but luckily not the same issue.

My setup includes -> 1 desktop directly connected to router (mainly used for gaming), 2 laptops (wireless, 1 used by brother for gaming), and a PS3 (wireless, gaming+general media)

at any one time atleast 2 of them are active and using the net in some form or another. A lot of times we are both gaming at the same time and our pings to most EU servers are around 30-40, while UK pings are around 20-30. Heck even pings to NY are 100ish.

what sort of pings do you get when its just one pc using the net??