Wired Internet -> The Partial Problem solver?

[cultofrubik]

So as you all know, Wi-Fi was announced today, the 18th of September. Many of us have mixed feelings about the usability: whether it will work well or not. Sakurai himself, as you read in his update, makes a point that the connections will obviously [and regrettably] not be the greatest - getting worse as distances increase.

We have to take into account that wireless internet as of our age, for the most part, is inferior speed-wise to cables and wires. Sending information over-air is a bit harder to do than through a nice, point to point cable. I'd imagine that some of you do not have Wi-Fi, having access to internet only through those nice cables.

Nintendo took you into account. If you haven't had the liberty of looking, one can choose whether to use a Wired Connection or a Wireless Connection. Obviously, Wi-Fi is the wireless.

The wired is this [the official one anyway] ->

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8193466&type=product&id=1164157285316

As you can see, it uses your dandy little USB port -> Wired LAN

I would imagine then, that for everyone looking for the best answer to their doubts about the usability look no further. The Wired LAN adapter is faster than Wi-Fi. Of course, it is a 25-30 USD investment for our Smash Stomachs.

Hopefully this will be the answer to the majority of up and coming lag.


Holy freaking hotness! Sai, the King of Games made his first post today. And it freaking rocks. While he questions himself on how perfect the calculations are, he gave a very detailed explanation of lag/latency along with some serious advice for making the best possible connection to play Brawl.

http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=117317

Give that guy a PLUS 1 Rep and a round of applause. Come on now, let me hear those hands!

~Peace

cultofrubik/blankuser15

 

[Zantetsu]

Not a bad idea. Yet my router is 3 feet from my wii so im good XD

 

[Sidius]

wired is definately the way to go.....wired FTW

 

[Pyroloserkid]

Not a bad idea. Yet my router is 3 feet from my wii so im good XD

So is mine and my connection is balls.
Sometimes it's 2 bars, sometimes is 1, sometimes is none, and sometimes it doesn't even find the router.

 

[cultofrubik]

Well I mean, my router is like 8 feet under me; repeaters do not seem like a great choice for me. On top of that, there is that stronger chance that I'll be able to play competitively with my friends via this wired internet solution. As a friend of mine once said:

"What can you do in 2 seconds?"

The response us Smashers would give could be something along the llines of jump-cancelling 20 shines with Fox or we could super wavedash across Final Destination twice into a forward smash. Dashdance -> moonwalk -> SHFFLed Knee...

I'd love to be able to say that while playing online considering the connection might be just THAT much better.

So is mine and my connection is balls.
Sometimes it's 2 bars, sometimes is 1, sometimes is none, and sometimes it doesn't even find the router.

Cracked up at that one. Reminds me of AT&T/ Cingular. "MORE BARS IN MORE PLACES"
No offense AT&T, but I would rather have five bars where I am actually using my cellular. Not five bars in the Girls' Locker Room.

I have the similar issue with my Wi-Fi connection, too. Only for me, mine varies from 2-4 bars. I never do get the greatest connection, as I am sure many of you do not either.

~Peace

 

[Zantetsu]

So is mine and my connection is balls.
Sometimes it's 2 bars, sometimes is 1, sometimes is none, and sometimes it doesn't even find the router.

That would be ur internet connection itself then. So if u did use wired it wouldnt be good either.

 

[Footos454]

good idea, but for me i'd have to buy like 50 metres of usb wire which could take a while to find. but whatever.

 

[cultofrubik]

That would be ur internet connection itself then. So if u did use wired it wouldnt be good either.

Yes and no. You can have a great wired connection and a terrible wireless. The Wi-Fi on the device might not be the best for example, as it could be one of those throw-in features some routers have. Wi-Fi for most people is a luxury to their internet. [From what I've seen anyway] Most people, I would imagine have LAN in their homes or apartments. College dorm rooms, I've seen go both ways.

 

[Ryuujiin]

You guys do know about changing your router's channel right? How to do it varies from router to router but if you access your router from your PC and change the channel to either 1 or 11, you'll get a much better connection. My router used to be at 6 and the Wii's WI-Fi sucked hard. Sometimes it would get nothing while still thinking it was connected. After changing it I never have internet problems and never get any lag in online games (i.e. strikers) unless the other guy's internet sucks.

In any case my router's on the other side of the house so wired isn't really an option.

 

[Pyroloserkid]

So should I buy a USB connector or not?

 

[cultofrubik]

So should I buy a USB connector or not?

Ryuujiin brought up a valid point: that there are other ways to better your Wi-Fi connection. Personally though, I am buying the USB LAN Adapter. It will give the fastest possible connection: thus all of my friends too, are getting one. It actually could make online 60 fps: something I will quickly give fifty bucks for. Note that this is just a mere $25. I have a lot of issues practicing against real people because I don't have a vehicle to drive to places. Thus, online could be the answer for me to practice against people I know and suchl. If the wired will give a competition-worthy connection (at least locally, anyway), it is so worth it.

 

[NintendoWarrior]

You guys have your router on channel 1 or 11? I switched my to 1 and have no lag whatsoever.

 

[Snakz]

Well for one, i dont have a wireless connection, but even if i did, ill use a wire anyway, just because i dont trust wireless gaming technology yet, especially and online wireless connection. Every wireless controller i have ever bought for any console has crapped out on me within a month or 2 so you can see where my distrust comes from.

 

[NintendoWarrior]

Well for one, i dont have a wireless connection, but even if i did, ill use a wire anyway, just because i dont trust wireless gaming technology yet, especially and online wireless connection. Every wireless controller i have ever bought for any console has crapped out on me within a month or 2 so you can see where my distrust comes from.

You've even had problems with Nintendo Wavebirds? I have 2 and have never had any issues ever.

 

[MuraRengan]

Actually, I have that accesory and it doesn't help me at all. People with naturally terrible internet (like me =/) will be out of luck.

 

[cultofrubik]

You've even had problems with Nintendo Wavebirds? I have 2 and have never had any issues ever.

I've noticed some occasional lag from the Wavebird after wear and tear, age, and prolonged use. It took forever for us to convince a friend of ours to just buy a new, wired controller. His complaints about unable to Perfect Wavedash died quickly...

Actually, I have that accesory and it doesn't help me at all. People with naturally terrible internet (like me =/) will be out of luck.

It does stink to have a poor internet connection. The real answer for you is to just upgrade your whole internet. Otherwise, like you said, you're out of luck. The wired adapter really only gives your Wii the BEST possible internet connection that you currently have.

 

[DrGrimReaper]

DISCLAIMER: I don't own a wii so some of this info. might not apply/make sense.

This is silly.

The difference between having a wireless connection and a wired connection WILL NOT greatly affect your ping. Ping, btw, is what this all comes down to. The only thing a wired connection has over a wireless connection is stability. If a wired connection is faster than your other wireless option, it is simply because your wireless option is old and out dated. Newer wireless routers can proccess information just as fast as wired connections, just not as reliably.

Ping, (the lag), is determined by the connection you have. dial-up connection is slow, satellite can be worse, where as a cable connection is pretty good, and T1/T3 connection is awesome. The better your connection (the service you pay for, for shtuff) the less lag you will have to experience.

The higher your ping the further away you are from where the game is being hosted. The higher your ping, the longer it takes for your commands to reach the host and actually perform on the screen. Typically speaking if you're playing regionally and are using a cable connection it will be hard to discern any real difference in lag time. But say if you're from the North East (america) and are playing someone down in Texas, then you start to notice a slight delay. Coast to coast lag time is about 1/2 - 3/4 a second. And from America to Europe you can expect a 1 - 2second delay. Playing someone in Asia/Australia? anywhere from 2 1/2 - 4second delay.

While those delays don't sound like much, they REALLY are. Espescially in a game like this where your twitch skills count for everything.

Hopefully this clears up some confusion between wireless vs wired connections and why they don't really make a huge difference in the first place. :-)

 

[Dr Mario Kart]

Is there some hard data somewhere regarding USB 2.0 internet versus Wi-fi?

 

[MuraRengan]

A lot of people (even me) have proven that wired connections improve the ping problem in some cases. Not all, but some.

 

[Dr Mario Kart]

Wouldn't the advantage be nullified if the person on the other side isn't also using a wired adapter? You can only receive business as fast as smooth as the other side can send it, after all.

Wikipedia sez, regarding USB 2.0 and Wifi:

The actual throughput currently (2006) attained with real devices is about half of the full theoretical (60 MB/s) data throughput rate.[5] Most hi-speed USB devices typically operate at much slower speeds, often about 3 MB/s overall, sometimes up to 10-20 MB/s.

In June 2003, a third standard was ratified: 802.11g. This works in the 2.4 GHz band (like 802.11b) but operates at a maximum raw data rate of 54 Mbit/s, or about 24.7 Mbit/s net throughputs (like 802.11a).

So the problem seems to be less about speed and more about.....smoothness/packet loss?

 

[cultofrubik]

DrGrimReaper, it sounds to me you know what you're talking about. However, I am not on the leading end of wireless technology and therefore have not been exposed to faster wireless internet. From my experiences and from my own technology, I have seen some differences. My wired internet on this particular computer, for example, owns the other four wireless-using laptops we have in this household.
Dr. Mario Kart, I'm trying to look up any hard evidence, though I think DrGrimReaper in a sense gave you a bit of information regarding that. Wireless's stability is likely to be less than a wired connection. For gaming online for something like Smash, I'll take the chances of getting the best connection I can get out of my current DSL connection.
*EDIT*
I see you were already trying to answer your question, lol.

To answer your question about the other person on the other side. I presume so. I was kinda hoping that the Wired might solve a lot of people's problems of not getting the best out of their Wi-Fi connections and such. People that play competitively. People like us.

 

[Hydde]

Very interesting topic,. Myself, as a future wii owner, was talking about this witha friend today (he is a wii owner and have wiifi, ill talk about my experienes with his console later).

My question first.

Since i dont have wii, and i dont remember all the prts it has, i have a question regarding this picture

As we can see, it has a usp adapter and a ethernet FEMALE hole. I have 2 PCs in my house and one of them is in my room. I receive internet thru an etehernet cable coming from the router far away. I wanna know if

1-the USB "male" of that device (the pic) is going into the USB slot of the PC? then communicate with the wii via double male ethernet cable?

2- or the USB "male" is going connected to a port on the wii and then the ethernet cable from the router is going in the female hole of the device?.

Im asking this because i dont know if it works like the wiifi... my friend which have wiifi works this way: the wi-fi is conected directly to his PC, which receives internet via ethernet from a router, and then it gives the signal to the wii wireless.

If it is this way.. i wanna know if i can connect the usb male to my pc and then connect it to the wii via ethernet... or i have to remove my ethernet of my pc and use it in the female port of the device?.


Hope it is clear :S



And about the expereicnes of my pal´s wii............. well the only thing we have done so far with it.... is navigate on the internet...and for example.... the youtube videos charge considerably faster on the Wii than in his own PC, even when the PC is the one that is giving internet to the Wii...

what do you think about it?

his internet is 512k btw.

 

[Youko]

USB Connector is more expensive and it fried on me. I guess I kept it running in the computer too long?? But that makes no sense, right?

Wired is the way to go, I've had zero problems with it!

 

[cultofrubik]

Hydde, the USB LAN Adapter plus into the Wii. As in the male (USB) into the Wii's female (USB Input). You would take a normal ethernet cable and plug that into the female port of the USB adapter. On the other end of that cable, it should be connected to an internet source. You could connect it to the computer (if yours has two slots), a router, or (in my case), a LAN plug-in on the wall.

And I also do enjoy watching Youtube videos on the Wii. Though the videos
did not load faster than my computer. (I was using Wireless, btw)


P.S. No innuendo intended people. Please don't act immature or anything...

 

[aran_fusion]

Hydde, the USB LAN Adapter plus into the Wii. As in the male (USB) into the Wii's female (USB Input). You would take a normal ethernet cable and plug that into the female port of the USB adapter. On the other end of that cable, it should be connected to an internet source. You could connect it to the computer (if yours has two slots), a router, or (in my case), a LAN plug-in on the wall.

And I also do enjoy watching Youtube videos on the Wii. Though the videos
did not load faster than my computer. (I was using Wireless, btw)


P.S. No innuendo intended people. Please don't act immature or anything...

Just quoting for truth, thats how it works, I use one and its 200% better. I used to use wireless too, silly me.

 

[Hydde]

Ah ok, excellent then guys................. my only problem will be now to buy another very long ethernet cable to use it for the wii,,,,as i dont want to unplug the one in my pc to use it on the WEE.

I wanna be able to use internet on my pc and have the wii conected at the same time.

thanks a lot guya

 

[JeffMan]

30 frigging dollars for that little thing? Plus another 15 dollars for another ethernet card? Not in a million years. My Nintendo WiFi dongle will be one foot away from my Wii, so hopefully I won't have to deal with this. 30 dollars is bloody insane. Anyone who's somewhat experienced in electrical crap could build one of these for 5 bucks, tops.

 

[Hydde]

but the wi fi adapter is much expensier then..


the wifi adapter of my pal was around 50+ bugs!! here

 

[DarkSpidey13]

This is silly.

The difference between having a wireless connection and a wired connection WILL NOT greatly affect your ping. Ping, btw, is what this all comes down to. The only thing a wired connection has over a wireless connection is stability. If a wired connection is faster than your other wireless option, it is simply because your wireless option is old and out dated. Newer wireless routers can proccess information just as fast as wired connections, just not as reliably.

Ping, (the lag), is determined by the connection you have. dial-up connection is slow, satellite can be worse, where as a cable connection is pretty good, and T1/T3 connection is awesome. The better your connection (the service you pay for, for shtuff) the less lag you will have to experience.

The higher your ping the further away you are from where the game is being hosted. The higher your ping, the longer it takes for your commands to reach the host and actually perform on the screen. Typically speaking if you're playing regionally and are using a cable connection it will be hard to discern any real difference in lag time. But say if you're from the North East (america) and are playing someone down in Texas, then you start to notice a slight delay. Coast to coast lag time is about 1/2 - 3/4 a second. And from America to Europe you can expect a 1 - 2second delay. Playing someone in Asia/Australia? anywhere from 2 1/2 - 4second delay.

While those delays don't sound like much, they REALLY are. Espescially in a game like this where your twitch skills count for everything.

Hopefully this clears up some confusion between wireless vs wired connections and why they don't really make a huge difference in the first place. :-)

i'm not a big technical guy, but this makes sense to me. but 1/2-3/4 second lag from coast to coast? that's an awful lot. i hope they decide to narrow the territory for "With Anyone" matches.

 

[JeffMan]

but the wi fi adapter is much expensier then..


the wifi adapter of my pal was around 50+ bugs!! here

I know, and the wired thing is still the cheaper alternative. Still, I think it's really greedy of Nintendo to price it so high. I guess it's not too bad when you consider the price of the console compared to the other current-gen consoles, not to mention that the online service itself is free (while you have to keep paying for Xbox Live, for example).

 

[Darkurai]

Gah, my Wii is in my room, and my router is all the way downstairs. D:

 

[whiterob]

Aren't there some kind of things called signal boosters or something like that? Like, they strengthen the distance and strength of your router's broadcast. I might look into getting one of those because all though my router does consistently work, it does sometimes fail if I'm on for more than thirty or so minutes.

 

[raptorbaby10]

Gah, my Wii is in my room, and my router is all the way downstairs. D:

Same. Any remedies anyone?

 

[cultofrubik]

Same. Any remedies anyone?

Does your house have wired internet? IE, a LAN port you can plug a wire to?

 

[FlatSoda]

I'll be using a wired connection. It'll be more stable for me.

 

[Girl]

I like this idea a lot. I think that if it does actually help, every smasher should invest in one.

 

[Kirb94]

I have Wi-Fi