Quick question about your console setups (Gaming)

by RocketMoose, Sunday, May 25, 2014, 14:22 (3631 days ago) @ Revenant1988

The biggest thing to watch out for with a wireless connection is not the bandwidth or even the latency. It's the packet loss. Packet loss can be brutal in online multiplayer, and can show up in really strange ways (melee attacks not feeling like they register). You will notice it most in synchronous gameplay, like ODST's firefight or many online fighting games, where game state has to stay perfectly in sync between two players.

Packet loss tends to be much spikier than bandwidth or latency (assuming your roommates aren't randomly uploading/downloading massive files at random times). With wireless, you can get packet loss for all sorts of reasons - microwaving dinner, wiring in your house causing interference, or other changing environmental factors.

This isn't to say wireless can't work for gaming. Just don't look at your raw bandwidth and latency and consider it a full picture of the quality of your connection.