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08-22-10, 10:51 AM   #1
Tarrax Ironwolf
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Exclamation To those familiar with wireless connections

I'm a wired guy and have been for quite some time. I recently decided to go wireless on some of the PC's we are using. The one that started it all was our newly purchased laptop. The new girl just streams at awesome speeds and I thought why not do the same with my desktop.

So I bought a new USB adapter and it connects just fine (unfortunately the router we are connected too now is extremely limited on speed - 54 Mb/s - not like the one that I had been using) and I get the max speed out of it constantly.

My question is, when both the desktop and laptop via for wireless connection while playing WoW I get some serious high latency (I've reached as high as 3000) while the laptop cruises along at a comfortable low latency. Why is this?

I downloaded and installed Leatrix Latency Fix mod and it was working great. I wasn't at the high 3k but I start in the green around 140 and then it starts to slowly creep back up into the red at around 600 - 800 range.

I would like to see those who are familiar with wireless connections think.

Thanks!
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08-22-10, 11:00 AM   #2
Chibi
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This'll typically have more to do with the router's setup and behavior and/or the wireless adapters in question than the computer's connected to it. Hard to pinpoint any-one-thing without more information about the whole setup.
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08-22-10, 11:10 AM   #3
break19
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Wireless security encryption can use precious CPU cycles on your router that are otherwise not in use. High CPU usage on your router can cause all sorts of strange issues, including dropped packets (which would cause higher than normal latency). Cheap routers generally run poorly with more than a couple wireless clients for this reason.

However, there are a few things you can do about it, short of simply buying a better router.

use WPA encryption over the more secure WPA2 encryption, while this is a little less secure, it's similar to removing one of your 3 deadbolts from your front door...

Disable the router's built-in "SPI firewall" if it has such an option. Again, it will lower your security a small fraction, but will free up precious CPU cycles.

I've found that, especially with certain brands *cough*belkin*cough* the SPI firewall causes "dead link" style connection loss if the router hasnt been powercycled in a while.

Besides being inherently less secure, a wireless connection will use more CPU cycles to transmit the same amount of data than a typical wired connection simply because of the encoding/decoding necessary for the encryption and whatnot..

TL;DR - wired is -always- your preferred option unless it isnt feasible, or restricts mobility.
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08-22-10, 11:19 AM   #4
Taryble
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This sounds like maybe the network connection's QoS is turned off in your desktop setup.

A couple of years ago, when I first went wireless, I thought "Oh, QoS just sucks up bandwidth and doesn't help anything". Then I noticed I continually had slow download speeds and high latencies in games, so I turned QoS on just as a test. I'm a believer now.

I run 2 desktops and 2 laptops on wireless - and most of them are having to connect through an extender before reaching the router. I can have WoW running on both desktops, and both of then have latencies in the 150-200 range, at a maximum.
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08-22-10, 12:00 PM   #5
Dawn
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I'm using a wireless connection for 3 years now. My latency is usually around 60ms, even though it's just G-type, not even N-Type. Anyway, I have no issues with the connection but with TeamSpeak3, which literally KILLS my latency to over 5000 ms (note: TS2 was working, perfectly). I can use Skype without issues.

Long story short, the question is what programs you are running that access the internet via your wireless connection or is this happening on "idle" with just WoW or maybe a browser running?
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08-22-10, 02:14 PM   #6
Tarrax Ironwolf
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I'll give QoS a try and see if that gives me a boost.

As for what else do I have running in the background. Nothing. It is strictly bare bones just to keep the system operating (plus the standard anti-virus/malware/spyware typically recommended). Otherwise no skype, IM, browser, etc.
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08-23-10, 09:10 AM   #7
funkydude
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You guys should consider Powerline Ethernet. I had to suffer with wireless for over a year before a friend of mine notified me of them, I always thought they were a prototype - not already in general sale.

I wouldn't dare use anything other than WPA2 (others are crackable) but if you have a reasonably good router it's a non-issue. I even tried a wireless-N in the hopes that speed/quality would improve, but no where near the amount I was hoping for.

Powerline Ethernet was litterally my saviour, and you can generally find several variants of products, although I settled on 2xNetgear XE104 and despite what some of the comments say, I have my router plugged into one downstairs and my PC plugged into one upstairs (2 rings) and it works fine, 0 packet loss.
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08-24-10, 02:02 AM   #8
Torhal
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Originally Posted by funkydude View Post
You guys should consider Powerline Ethernet. I had to suffer with wireless for over a year before a friend of mine notified me of them, I always thought they were a prototype - not already in general sale.
<snip>
Last I'd heard, roughly five years ago, these were prototypes - and until now I hadn't heard anything else on them. We just had an attached garage converted into another room for the house, and were resigned to having to go wireless...I'm glad to say that will no longer be our networking solution.
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08-24-10, 10:51 PM   #9
DesertDwarf
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My boss got a pair of blu-ray players with network streaming features (Netflix, etc.). He bought some of those power line network adapters, one for each player, plus one for the router and he's loving it. He's not having any trouble streaming things on both players plus doing other stuff on two computers.
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08-25-10, 05:17 AM   #10
Marthisdil
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Originally Posted by funkydude View Post
You guys should consider Powerline Ethernet. I had to suffer with wireless for over a year before a friend of mine notified me of them, I always thought they were a prototype - not already in general sale.

I wouldn't dare use anything other than WPA2 (others are crackable) but if you have a reasonably good router it's a non-issue. I even tried a wireless-N in the hopes that speed/quality would improve, but no where near the amount I was hoping for.

Powerline Ethernet was litterally my saviour, and you can generally find several variants of products, although I settled on 2xNetgear XE104 and despite what some of the comments say, I have my router plugged into one downstairs and my PC plugged into one upstairs (2 rings) and it works fine, 0 packet loss.
Please don't spread FUD. Any wireless security is "crackable" with enough computing horsepower. It all comes down to what is "reasonable". Also note, that WPA2 will greatly slow down your connection speeds compared to WPA - which will be slower than WEP, which will be slower than nothing.

Powerline adapters do work well enough nowadays to make wireless seem silly.

As far as the OP, it can be a multitude of things - multiple wireless connections can cause the router to do a lot more work. Differing levels of interference between your computer and the router can possibly affect speeds too - especially if there are other wireless devices between your router and your computer.
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08-25-10, 06:31 AM   #11
break19
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Originally Posted by funkydude View Post
-snip-
I wouldn't dare use anything other than WPA2 (others are crackable) but if -snip-
Honestly.. WPA is secure enough for most needs.
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/WPA/WPA2

WPA2 has already been cracked as well.. wireless security < wired security.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2010/07/wp...-temporal-key/

Also, yes, the encryption overhead -also- reduces throughput. I seem to remember a graph somewhere that showed the amounts of overhead for each type of security.

No security, iirc was in the neighborhood of 25-35% overhead for simply the wireless handshaking/pairing etc.
and wpa2 iirc was closer to the 65% overhead..

Last edited by break19 : 08-25-10 at 06:33 AM.
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