Improving wifi signal

[Mojoe134]

Im getting bad pings while gaming and my ps3 on the other side of the house forgot what wifi felt like. I have a del modem hooked up to my mothers iMac via Ethernet.
I was looking at things like home plugs routers and apple airports but i have no idea how they work and how much they cost and if contracts are included. Can someone enlighten me on this whole prospect. All and any info is much appreciated.

 

[RL600]

So you want better internet on your PS3, correct?
you can do multiple things:
1. Change the antenne of your current router (something bigger)
2. Repeater
3. Powerline
4. Wires through the house (most time consuming)

The first is possible but be aware that not all types of antennes are allowed in every country!
With gaming in ps3 I wouldn't suggest the second one (it will give you high pings).
Wires are good but are timeconsuming
Powerline is a cheap option and most of the time works pretty well.

 

[Mojoe134]

So you want better internet on your PS3, correct?
you can do multiple things:
1. Change the antenne of your current router (something bigger)
2. Repeater
3. Powerline
4. Wires through the house (most time consuming)

The first is possible but be aware that not all types of antennes are allowed in every country!
With gaming in ps3 I wouldn't suggest the second one (it will give you high pings).
Wires are good but are timeconsuming
Powerline is a cheap option and most of the time works pretty well.

What is a power line? (In your meaning I'm thinking the lines outside) A bigger antennae could be a thing to try. Is a repeater like the Apple Airport, or a home plug?

 

[rcfant89]

Run a speed test (speedtest.net) on your wired PC (whatever PC you have directly connected via ethernet to your router). You might have a poor internet connection. Then even if you get a great internet connection, if the server you are trying to connect to is poor, there is nothing you can do on your end either. If you have a fast internet connection but you are getting slow wifi speeds, you could try physically running a cable, or if that is not an option, set up a second router to function as an access point to boost your signal. Wifi is going to have a higher latency than wired ethernet but if you can't run a cable then you can't run a cable. There's a sticky guide on setting up your router as an AP in this forum.

 

[bill001g]

So you want better internet on your PS3, correct?
you can do multiple things:
1. Change the antenne of your current router (something bigger)
2. Repeater
3. Powerline
4. Wires through the house (most time consuming)

The first is possible but be aware that not all types of antennes are allowed in every country!
With gaming in ps3 I wouldn't suggest the second one (it will give you high pings).
Wires are good but are timeconsuming
Powerline is a cheap option and most of the time works pretty well.

What is a power line? (In your meaning I'm thinking the lines outside) A bigger antennae could be a thing to try. Is a repeater like the Apple Airport, or a home plug?

powerline networks is homeplug. These tend to be more stable for playing games than wireless. They are you best option if you can not run a ethernet cable. They pretty much convert your electical wires in your house into a ethernet cable. Unfortunately there are a very small number of houses they just refuse to work well in so be sure you can return them. The only other technology that exists for wired connection is called MoCA but you need to have TV coax in both the room by the router and the remote location.

You very last resort is going to be a repeater. You lose half your data rate at a minimum and they tend to be flaky at random times. They make shooter type games frustrating at times because of random lag spikes. I tend to say when you compare it to no signal at all it works very good.

 

[RL600]

There were some good answers before me is it clear now??

 

[Mojoe134]

There were some good answers before me is it clear now??

Yeah its clearer now but which way is the fastest? I understand it now and what im thinking about doing is moving the modem to a room in the middle of the house and moving the pcs there. What im thinking is getting a router in the room so there won't be any ethernet issues like people competing over the ethernet.

 

[bill001g]

Fastest is a hard question. The best you can hope for on the powerline units is maybe 100m even though they claim 500m. Many times you only get 60-80m. Wireless tends to be faster you can get 200m or even more if you go to 802.11ac. Problem is wireless will be fast one second and then slow the next. The powerline units are more consistent. Once you get them working you will pretty much get the same speed all the time.

This is why for games or video streaming powerline is better since they need very clean and consistent signal. A file transfer can tollerate much more packet loss so you are likely better using wireless....but that only really matters for INSIDE your house. Both systems are many times faster than most people can get for internet.