Dave G

I'm thinking of installing a wireless network at home between my computer room and ADSL phone socket. However, I play a lot of online games particularly ones that use UDP and worried how well wireless will cope with latency and lost packets.

Has anyone tried this and how did you find it?

Thanks,

Dave

dsmith

Latency of wireless is orders of magnitude less than ADSL so not an issue.

UDP is by definition subject to potential lost packets so its up to the application(game) to cope.

By far the most relevant things is that somehwere you will have a gateway between your wireless LAN and the ADSL line. This will either be a hardware firewall/router or a PC running ICS ?. This will have to perform NAT on your packets. The NAT implementation may well cause issues with games.

Allegedly the draytek 2600 has problems with UDP NAT though I've not played with one myself.

Deano

roadrunner

if deployed correctly - wireless will work perfectly for surfing, online games.

The key to having good home wireless connectivity is location. Positioning your Access Point in the optimum location makes a huge impact on overall performance.

At home I test out various different wireless eqiupment and IMO the D-Link 22Mbps is the best wireless solution for home users. For the best coverage I would recommend also a 5dBi Onmi-directional antenna.

Recaro

This is good as Im about to setup a wireless network at home.

Just to check, would you recommend the D-Link 22Mbps AirPlus Enhanced PCI Adapter in a couple of pc's with the wireless access point being D-Link wireless 22BMPS Broadband. Plus a ADSL modem. not sure which one yet.

roadrunner

Wireless internal PCI cards are subject to more interference - PC case, Under desk etc so I would recommend you definitely upgrade the antenna on the PCI cards.

Typical Customer
Had a customer who purchased some wireless linksys kit from me. Both Access Point and son PC's were on the same floor, 10m away with two internal walls separating them. Unfortunately his signal strength and quality was <10% (very unhappy customer) so I advised him to replace with the DLink Airplus kit with 5 dBi antennas for both the AP and PCI card. Basically he is now over the moon. Signal quality jumped up to 90-100%, His son now happily plays online games

Wireless is like the blue highland mist of the north. It is so unpredictable that you will always hear good and bad stories. But.... wireless can be brilliant if you deploy it right

Recaro

I take it you sell these products, any chance of giving a scooby member a discount?

Give me a list of the kit I'd need for this (Just want to check I am thinking of everything):

2 PC's which are about 15 metres away, one on the ground floor and one upstairs. Want to use one connection to Broadband (One IP address) so only one subscription fee. Pc on the ground floor will be connected directly to broadband so I will be using the wireless kit to link the PC upstairs. I think I need a ADSL modem, a router which will be connected to the pc and a wireless access point and a PCI adapter card (which will have an aerial after your recommendation)

Do they interfere with anything?? TV, mobile, radio,etc



[Edited by Recaro - 10/14/2002 6:02:49 PM]

roadrunner

Hi Recaro

I work for broadbandbuyer.co.uk. I can give you a 5% discount. To receive this discount you would need to ring me 01908 295325 because I won't know you are from scoobynet if you place the order over the Internet.

Recommended kit
DSL-504 router
DLink 22Mbps Wireless Access Point w/5dBi Range Antenna
DLink 22Mbps PCI Adapter w/5dBi Range Antenna
Price £299.63 (Inc VAT & delivery)

Above bundle provides awesome wireless coverage, powerful wireless coupled with the popular DLink DSL-504 router.

Alternative bundle
Draytek 2600We
DLink 22Mbps PCI Adapter w/5dBi range antenna
Price £304.33 (Inc VAT & delivery)

Above bundle no doubt provides good wireless coverage coupled with the powerful Draytek 2600 routing features.

IMO - If your just going to use your ADSL connection for general activity (ie surfing, emailing etc) then I would recommend the DSL-504 bundle over the Draytek 2600We bundle. The Draytek 2600We is more desirable router over the DSL-504 due to its functionality, but if you don't plan to use the 2600We features then I would recommend the DSL-504 over the 2600We. Also I haven't tested the wireless performance,features on the 2600We so I can't comment on what’s its connectivity will be like.

roadrunner

Wireless Interference list

Anything that runs in 2.4GHz band - Typical home culprits are
Microwave ovens
Cordless phones - some manufactures decided to run in 2.4GHz
Some radio keyboards/mouse - again, not all run in 2.4GHz
Your neighbours wireless LAN

The main culprit though is your surrounding ie walls, ceilings etc. Some of the worst houses for interfernace are victorian ones because they weren't built like our modern day straw houses

Regards
Giles

[Edited by roadrunner - 10/15/2002 1:25:10 PM]

carl

I assume the 5dBi antennae (dBi = dB relative to an isotropic antenna) are directional then. What do you do about pointing them, particularly in the case of a laptop?

dsmith

I'm guessing its this one - which means its an omni-directional one.

Deano

[Edited by dsmith - 10/15/2002 1:34:50 PM]

carl

Hmm, it must be directional even if it's labelled "omnidirectional". You can't have gain relative to an isotrope in all directions.

Think what would happen if you used the 5dBi omni as a transmitter. Pump 200mW in, and about 600mW would come out

roadrunner

The Omni-directional antenna spread is 360 instead of being directional ie H70:V70. Omni-dir antennas provide a coverage area similar to a donut and are very good for indoor environments with just one access point.

I read an awesome RF document on the various spreads but I got bored with the techie stuff and just looked at the pretty pictures aka my definition of an omni dir is a donut spread

I believe the true dB for the 5dBi is 3

carl

This is what I was getting at -- so if it's a toroidal pattern (donut ) then it wouldn't be so good for inter-floor stuff (e.g. access point on ground floor, wireless NIC in PC upstairs)?

dsmith

surely that depends on how fat the donut is as to whether it goes between floors ?

carl

Not if your wireless NIC is in the hole in the middle

dsmith

but then you'd be next to the base station and should bloody well use a bit of cat5 ?

carl

Or on top of the base station? This is a serious question, honest. I could well end up with a wireless NIC vertically above the access point.

dsmith

How many floors above - even a rusty coat hanger should get you one floor in the average made of marmalade modern house ?

carl

Just the one. It is a marmalade house, too. Circa 1985, plasterboard, etc.

roadrunner

Guys - JAM is used to fill in the whole

http://www.byte.com/documents/s=1422...pole-az-el.gif Its red cos JAM has got in there

roadrunner

And this one is with a higher gain
http://www.byte.com/documents/s=1422...pole-az-el.gif Thus more JAM used to fill in the middle

carl

I guess the trick is to place the 'upstairs' node so that it isn't in the null point of the radiation pattern. When I used to work with radars we called this the 'cone of silence' (you just had to assume targets were continuing on the same bearing, same airspeed, same altitude and then try to pick them up on the other side).

PS: I prefer custard in my doughnuts

PPS: The second one is a classic vertically-oriented dipole radiation pattern


[Edited by carl - 10/15/2002 3:19:37 PM]

roadrunner

This explains everything http://www.byte.com/documents/s=1422..._marshall.html

I have heard they are planning on updating the document to include my JAM article

roadrunner

PS: I prefer custard in my doughnuts

Custard is no go, it hasn't been ratified yet by the EU

[Edited by roadrunner - 10/15/2002 3:24:50 PM]