Daz34

I am thinking of swapping from Virgin Cable to Sky Broadband.
This would mean reconnecting my BT line. I don't have a socket in the same room as my desktop pc and to have a new socket fitted is an exorbitant amount so I would be running my main desktop pc wireless as well.
Are there any downsides to this i.e. lag in games? Is the supplied Sky wireless router any good?

Cheers,

Darren

mike1210

the sky router is a netgear 834GT IIRC with thier own firmware but this can be "altered" with a little fidling. Wireless will also increase ping as opposed to using network cable.

Cable is regarded as typically having excellent ping to servers in the UK compared to ADSL, some people on overclockers though think the routing on ADSL is slightly better than cable as the ping does increase dramatically when it goes outside the UK (not sure on that though).

Also bear in mind by default Sky Broadband will have interleaving switched on, on the up to 8 meg service and 16 meg service I Believe which provides error correction on the line but increases ping time. Not sure how easily this can be turned off through Sky

Have you looked Homeplug, Roadrunner on here states the Devolo adapters are the ones to have

Broadbandbuyer.co.uk | HomePlug AV

Daz34

I like the look of that HomePlug but looking at the reviews it doesn't get anywhere near the advertised speeds. Then again, neither does wifi.
What sort of real world network speed would be needed to fully utilise a 16mb connection?

mike1210

54Meg G Wi-Fi in real world terms is about 20Mbit/sec at best but this would drop the further you are away from the router, decent homeplug kits would be faster and should make full use of a 16Mbit/sec connection. To get 16 meg you would have to be pretty close to the exchange mind you with a decent quality line

Broadbandbuyer.co.uk | Devolo Homeplug AV dLAN 200 AV Starter Kit

I'd say the above would be the ones to go for, but remember nothing beats a network cable

djuk

A load of guys at work have got the 200mbps homeplug kits and report a minimum of 60mbps true throughput.

mike1210

Standard Ethernet Connection: Draytek 2600G Router

2 Devices connected using Cat 5e Ethernet cable to a switch
Size of file
4,571,424 KB
Time For Wired
7 miniutes 12 seconds
average network utilisation 92-94% of LAN adapter
Ping results
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128


Ethernet Over Power using Netgear HDX101 adapters

1 Device connected using Cat 5e Ethernet cable to a switch, the other device connected downstairs using 2 Powerline adapters into a switch

Size of file
4,571,424 KB
13 Minutes 20 seconds
Network utilisation at most 53%, at worst 30%, varying over time, less stable than wired.
Ping results
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=5ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.11: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128