Alternative to ethernet cables for gaming?

[ZigglePuff]

I have been using a wireless card for over 3 months and have not seen any good things from it. I started noticing its lack in power when i was playing the newest in massive online games that require alot of wifi access, but my card wasnt meeting with the demand.
I have hooked up an ethernet cable to my computer, and worked flawlessly. getting about a 27-30mbps for a download speed, but only a 4.17mbps without.
Problem solved, right? not even close
the problem is, my father does not want a 50 ft cable running through the house to the computer, plus; it is impossible due to the structure in the walls. (said parts were concrete) I am out of ideas, and i cant stand playing and getting a "no message recieved" or suddenly bieng disconnected from a game.
I have heard of a device called a Gaming adapter/wireless ethernet bridge from an article that i read on this site;
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/41136-43-good-desktop-wireless-adapter

I really dont know much about them and dont know how they will fix this problem, but it seems promising
plus i could not find an easy explanation on how it is a good alternative for my issue.

PS:
I cannot move my PC closer due to lack of space
Walls are concrete, cannot run an ethernet cable from the router
And i cannot buy a very expensive device, it has to be reliable and cheap.
also, will this Wireless bridge be the same if not better than a traditional ethernet cable?

Thank you for all who responded

 

[lycros]

What about ethernet over your powerline? I don't have any experience with it, but I've seen it around and I've heard it's decent.

Here's some links for info.
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-XAVB101-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B001AGM2VI
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/sitecom_500_mbps_homeplug_ethernet_review,1.html

 

[ZigglePuff]

What about ethernet over your powerline? I don't have any experience with it, but I've seen it around and I've heard it's decent.

Here's some links for info.
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-XAVB101-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter/dp/B001AGM2VI
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/sitecom_500_mbps_homeplug_ethernet_review,1.html

Decent, but is it proven to be better than what i was looking at earlier?

 

[Guest]

i agree with lycros. If you cannot run ethernet from where the cable modem is to where your pc is, and if you cannot move the cable modem to where your PC is, then ethernet over power line is your best bet, and should have lower latency than wireless.

 

[ZigglePuff]

i agree with lycros. If you cannot run ethernet from where the cable modem is to where your pc is, and if you cannot move the cable modem to where your PC is, then ethernet over power line is your best bet, and should have lower latency than wireless.

so surely no other option is equal or even better to my approximate 26mbps ethernet cable download speed over the 4mbps wireless?
BTW i have a router from AT&T, which i believe is a G modem, that is in an enclosed box upstairs in my fathers office, we also have the Apple airport extreme, which worked amazing the first 2 days, then seemed to lack in power and the AT@T modem seemed better

 

[smorizio]

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_31&products_id=347
connect it to the router you have...

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=314
to go back to the unit itself.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_31&products_id=347
connect it to the router you have...

http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=314
to go back to the unit itself.

Sorry if this is a baseless accusation but... Anytime I see someone link to a certain product or store without reasoning, especially if it's one I haven't heard of before, it sounds like they may have some form of conflict of interest. Just saying.

I also see nothing special about them other than they're cheap and 11n compliant, neither of which are necessarily going to improve it much if it's a concrete problem.

To the OP: You may find that your wifi strength improves if you move the router around a bit. Concrete is a pretty effective radio blocker - see if you can get it in a spot that is pretty much just plasterboard and air between it and your computer..

Other than that, power line sounds like a good idea.

 

[smorizio]

someone he was asking for cheap wifi that help him game. if you look at the product linked you see that there high output radios. he in the us there a limit to the output power that the router and cards can do. the older blue linksys routers were the first high powered aps. with the right 3 party firmware people could up the output of the router radio. if the op dad wants to drop 100 or more the op could try one of the new two band routers and see if the 5g band will work better then the older 2.4g. some people also use ap/repeter in large homes. they look like large smoke detector.

 

[john-b691]

The problem is these are nothing special really. They are playing smoke and mirrors with the power outputs. They are quote "effective" power level that include the gain of the antenna. Guess what almost any product that you can replace the antenna on can get these output levels. When you look at the actual radio chips they are using they are exactly the same as many other products on the market. Since the US actually has some of the higher allowed power level you will not find a lot of radios that are not running at close to the maximum output levels. Generally if it contains radios that can exceed the level you will not get a FCC approval which makes then illegal to import. The only way to get this equipment is to try to sneak it past customs somehow. Still anyone who works in RF engineering know very well just cranking the power up is only half the problem, when you transmit at these frequencies it gets extremely expensive to get components that will not introduce distortion into the signal as you increase the power. So you may be able to turn up the power but if the part is not optimized for it you will actually get less usable signal.

This tends to be the problem with these lessor known providers they tend to bend the truth more than the well known ones to get sales. But If you really want to get illegal wireless stuff that really transmits at twice the legal power I can point you to a Chinese web site.

In any case I suspect it will make very little difference. A house with concrete walls tends to be one of "best" at blocking wireless signals. Even if your were to double the effective output I suspect the walls would still absorb most that increase in power.

There is little that can replace a ethernet cable in a house that blocks wireless effectively.

The only thing I did not see suggested was a MoCA type device but that would depend on having coax cable tv wire in the rooms.

 

[lycros]

Decent, but is it proven to be better than what i was looking at earlier?

If your problem is the wireless signal being too weak then the solution you linked to in your op will face the same problems, it's still wireless. I think most people use them on devices where they can't add a wireless card/device but they still need wireless and the device has an ethernet port. I use one for my bluray that can only connect through ethernet.

I still think ethernet over powerline is your best bet.

 

[lycros]

I've looked more into this and I've found more information.

Here is a Tom's article that compares MoCA, powerline, wifi, and ethernet. Take note that this is a little dated and that powerline technology has improved. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/powerline-wireless-networking,2470.html

I could only find one MoCA adapter on amazon and none available on newegg, there are some on ebay though.
This is the one from amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Actiontec-Ethernet-Adapter-Service-ECB2500CK01/dp/B008EQ4BQG/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1363535270&sr=1-3
and here is a video Actiontec made to explain it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2TaySm2khE
this is one from netgear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piIE0VIroBg