Powerline vs Wifi for gaming

[Keithngan162]

I have been using wifi ever since and i'm tired of getting disconnected mid game. I live in a condominium so routing an Ethernet cable straight to my table is not an option because it will block a walkway. I have read that powerline has worked wonders for other people.

I have read from some sources that wifi has more bandwidth but powerline is more stable. Is this true that powerline is more stable because if that is the case, since gaming doesnt need that much "speed" because they need more "stability" to sustain lower and more stable ping, I can just connect to the wifi when i need to download something or when im not gaming in general. (the router is just around 10 feet away) I will just connect to the powerline adapter (ethernet) when i will play a game.

Will this method work for me? because right now, even when im the only one connected to the router, I still get disconnected a lot of times.

 

[nigelivey]

If you are only 10ft away why arent you using an ethernet cable???????? At 10ft and the only host on the network wifi should really be a problem but latency is better through powerline.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

Yes, WiFi generally has better bandwidth and connection speeds, and often turns in some lower ping times, but if you use the latest generation Ethernet over Powerline devices you can come darn close to the best WiFi numbers. Closer than you even need. While WiFi may post some lower latency numbers, depending on the setup, EoP will have reasonably low, and more importantly, stable latency, which seems to result in a better overall quality of experience.

You already understand the problem with WiFi. All that speed with the stability of a 2 year old's thought process in a room full of toys. Heck, even older EoP units have better stability than WiFi.

In the grand scheme of things, you may find that a good EoP unit provides enough speed and stability that switching between it and WiFi is more hassle than just leaving it wired.

EoP has the downside that it doesn't always work well on all electrical systems. Ideally the units should be on the same circuit according to the breaker panel. Secondly, if not on the same circuit, the units should be on the same phase. Most US panels have more than one phase going into the panel. Breakers on one side are on one phase, breakers on opposite sides are generally on different phases. If you have questions about this, you might consider contacting a qualified electrician. It's not that you should have to go poking around in your breaker panel, but when EoP units have difficulty talking to one another, it's nice to have an idea why. Sometimes it's as easy as switching the outlet that the EoP adapter is plugged into.

Most EoP adapters have a button on them that will turn on encryption of the powerline Ethernet network. This is for those odd cases where you might have a neighbor that happens to plug into the same electrical lines with a EoP adapter, and you don't want him to be able to access your network. Whether you use the feature is neither here nor there, but understand it will come at the cost of some bandwidth. So, if you don't need the extra security, you should see higher throughput with the encryption left off.

 

[failboat]

powerlines are a gamble. make sure you can return it.