Powerline for online gaming?

[cloughDavid]

Would changing to Devolo 200mps or 500mps powerline plugs improve my online gaming experience?

Both mine and the wifes PC's are located upstairs making it pretty hopeless to use Cat5 cable, both currently using wireless N to connect to my BT Home Hub2. Download speeds seem to be fine but i get much better ping if i plug into my hub using cat5. We both do a bit of online gaming so a low ping makes a much better gaming experience.

[AledJ]

I use some adapters made by Netgear (Powerline AV 200) to connect my pc and xbox 360 to the router.I get the same upload/download speeds as I do on another pc downstairs by the router. Someone may be able to correct me, but I think 200mps ones will be fine. I know mine are 200 mps and they work well I used to use wireless for my pc but that became unreliable, the powerline adapter have really made a difference.

[cloughDavid]

Thank you for the reply.

I'm hoping my wiring should be fine, house was built new 3.5 years ago. Was worried having different circuit for downstairs and upstairs sockets would degrade performance quite a bit, but your experience seems to confirm there is not much of an issue there.

I just looked at the Devolo website and 500mbps are now coming to market, i wonder how much of a performance increase they will give over the 200mbps ones.

[billythewiz]

I've used powerline for online gaming (FPS) and they worked really well for me.

You will get better performance if your wireless is slow - let's not confuse bandwidth (i.e. 200 - 500mbps) with latency (ping times). Slow wireless might be your router but it might also be your wireless card(s). Is your wireless router MIMO ? If it isn't then you may be getting contention when both you and your wife are online at the same time.

As for the difference between 200 and 500 mbps ... what is you internet bandwidth ? 20mbps ? less ? What's the upload ? 1mbps ? The 200mbps products are intended for streaming video from your PC to your TV. When it comes to gaming your net connection will be the bottle neck. Having said that I suspect the ping times will be better than wireless.

[cloughDavid]

I'm currently with BT with the Total Broadband package giving a theoretical 20mb line, using the BT HomeHub v2.0 at the moment not sure if its MIMO supported. Actual speeds tested are around 13200kbps with Broadband Speedchecker, my pingtest depending on time of day can be from 50's upto 150 on variety of euro servers on the site.

Would a change of router be better or the Homeplugs?

[Blaineoliver]

What is your issue with online gaming, a high ping?

[Spud1]

You would likely see a better ping simply by moving to a better ISP - take your pick from any, almost every single ISP will give you a better service than BT (but Sky or BeThere are reccomended).

I doubt that the wireless is the root cause of your ping issues, but if it is then powerline can certainly help, but no need for the 500 ones, 200 would be more than enough.

[Apex]

Easy step to prove if the wireless is the issue, connect what ever the device is directly into the homehub and try again..... if it improves then it might be prudent to get the home plugs.

[cloughDavid]

Gameplay can sometime feel just that bit better when using a CAT5 connection to my router, I play Lord of the Rings Online, servers are moving from Amsterdam to Boston 1st June. Looking for ways to improve anyway i can.

Later in the year i do plan to look for a new ISP, BT contract up in the next few months and the sky package at the moment is tempting, i just don't want another ISP that provides useless tech support direct from India.

[Repressor]

I bought some WD Livewires from eBuyer a few weeks ago. These worked very well without increasing my pings. It helped to replace a 15m telephone cable. As my router is now near the socket where the phone line enters the house, I also gained a small speed boost.

I went for the Livewires as it allows 4 devices to be plugged in at each terminal aswell as the ability to add more later (although all new powerline stuff should allow any other branded powerline stuff to work along with it).

HTH.

[CrimsonAvenger]

Powerline > Wireless anyday. It just works and is stable.

As for your ping, as others have said that won't improve, all you'd be improving is the connection from your PC to the router.

The routers connection and your ping are more ISP related.

Avoiding crap 1st level tech from India is difficult. Avoid the v.cheap ones for sure.

[Apex]

Theres nothing stopping you running a switch off one of these powerline devices either

[AledJ]

Theres nothing stopping you running a switch off one of these powerline devices either

I have a switch running off mine, and it all works well!

[drizzy]

I bought a couple of Belkin HomePlug AVs (200mb) when wireless was unreliable and they were pretty good. Not as good as cat5/6 as they do add about 4ms latency, but this probably isn't a big deal for LOTR Online.

[cloughDavid]

Thanks for everyones comments, i'll invest in some 200mb plugs once i get my main rig back up and running, trying to source an AM3+ compatible motherboard with black socket. This is proving difficult since Ebuyer advertised a black socket version but i received a white socket version which they don't currently sell.