Guest shaolin95 Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 Hi! I am considering going wireless but this is my concern. I love my comcast connection at 8mb download. I am an avid Soldier of Fortune 2 gamer and dont want to lose any speed. Right now I have a 4 port router that I got from my vonage days. When I am playing I make sure my wife is not downloading anything just to make sure I dont give my enemies any chances :-) I am confused about wireless routers though. Since a router is kind of always transmitting...does that mean I am losing bandwidth at all times? If thats the case then I guess my current router will be a better fit right? I work for Radio Shack and we just drop the price on a netgear router for 39.99 plus you get a $20 gift card not to mention I get discount so what do you think? Regards PS I want the wirless so that I can use my laptop when in bed and not having to buy a 50' cable to do it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvintang Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 just get it .make sure you laptop can support it though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laserred Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 You can always simply turn off the wireless section of the router when you are gaming to prevent any lags like with your wife downloading stuff, then re-enable it once you are done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shaolin95 Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 So you can do that...that sounds cool then. I should have known :-) It seems like a good deal then, basically $20 :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
radodrill Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 Even so the router is always transmitting the available bandwidth should only decrease if there are "client" computers connected to it. Most routers have the option for MAC filters so you could limit who can have access; of if necessary turn off the wireless transmitter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvintang Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 remember to not secure it ,neighbors needs to access the internet too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zkissane Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 If the computers on your wireless network are not actively getting things from the Internet, the only bandwidth you are using is between those computers and the router. Your connection to your ISP is untouched. Routers are pretty smart devices. They only go to the internet when they need to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaise Posted December 12, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 remember to not secure it ,neighbors needs to access the internet too!Got a funny story about that... my sister has a DLink wireless switch/router and was concerned that her usage was going up at times she wasn't using the PC. She assumed the neighbours were "tapping" into her wireless connection and called me up. I went through the process of instructing her how to secure the wireless connection and then set up her laptop to use the secure connection. It took an hour on the phone (she's quite n00by regarding technology) she went away happy in the thought that she was now safe from possibly syphoning by a neighbour. Two days later she rings up in a panic and says that it's still happening! I got her to check that the secure connection was still operating on her laptop and the DLink router was correctly set up - yup. Then it twigged... I asked if she had the other desktop PC turned on during this period (connected via CAT-5) and she said "yes". I then asked if she had Limewire installed on that PC (I had got her to read out the usage from her ISP page which included a reasonable amount of uploading that got me thinking), again the answer was "yes". Got her to uninstall Limewire (as she wouldn't know how to turn off the sharing and I know little about the program) and now everything is finally back to normal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Septem Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 There's bandwidth, but that's network bandwidth, not internet bandwidth, and probably only like 8 or 16 bits. Of course a true warrior never blames failure on lag. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thasp Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 You won't lose bandwidth or gain latency. You will however, gain problems if you use the piece of . antenna that comes with the wifi card. The computer is on the floor, the PCI cards are in the back on the bottom, the PC is usually up against something.. antennas don't receive signals well there, so get a real antenna for it. Wireless for me has always been another problem. On some occasions, low signal. On many, high. Sometimes I knock the antenna over. It's another thing that can be screwed up, which is why I prefer to stay wired. As to securing wireless modem/routers, the first thing I do to any ISP given router someone in the family gets is take the antenna off and put a book or something by the coaxial port. Too much time and anguish to tell them how to disable the wireless for someone who can't even follow the three step illustration on the poster sized piece of paper telling them how to plug it into the wall and into the computer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Septem Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 I use the stock antenna and I haven't had problems. What would you replace it with, is it just a piece of metal? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SuppA-SnipA Posted December 14, 2006 Posted December 14, 2006 stock antenna on my celerons wifi smc card, good signals Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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