Gaming and wifi
Gaming and wifi
It's unclear unless the router is physically present in the same space. Someone could easily disrupt the signal by walking through certain areas or turning on devices like microwaves. In cities, radio frequency interference is also common, shrinking coverage and worsening performance. Wired connections offer more stability, fewer interruptions, and lower latency. Linus installed an Ethernet cable outside his home to the second floor. With proper tools, it can be completed in under a day. A standard Ethernet cable can be run inside the house almost unnoticeable, especially along walls. Many people overlook how a small amount of work and time can replace unreliable Wi-Fi with a solid, affordable, and fast wired solution.
I don't have a mansion and my router is 18m away (counting corners) from the room where my PC is yeah no sh*t I tried playing a DOTA match with wifi and my ping was 30ms with 3000ms spikes every minute, literally unplayable. And the router was kind of good it had 3 large antennas and the receiver I used also had a single large antenna x2
I don't fully grasp the "why not use ethernet for gaming" point. You can enjoy multiplayer games with a 1mbps connection as long as your ping is acceptable. I've played on wifi for seven years until last month I relocated the router so I could connect my PC via cable, since I didn't want to spend 50 euros on a wifi adapter. I didn't notice much change. My speed remains around 14Mbps and my ping has only slightly improved, but it doesn't impact gaming at all. Also, many people overlook that powerline adapters can be quite expensive and aren't worth the cost.
I've spent ten to eleven years playing online games via Wi-Fi with only minor issues. It seems people react negatively to Wi-Fi mainly because of a few disappointing experiences, even though many have shared their stories and moved on. That perspective is unfair—like claiming ramen at a restaurant is bad just because you've only tried Top Ramen. I switched to Ethernet because Wi-Fi struggles with NAS backups, especially when syncing local storage. As for online gaming, the setup seems fine for me. I played FFXIV with friends in a dungeon run and a boss fight, using my phone as the modem (with only about 2/5 bars at LAX). I didn’t face much trouble, and it felt just like playing at home. Lag is a big issue here; if you have poor connection, you can fix mechanics locally, but the server might still judge you for missing something.
Because not everyones environment is the same. I have run Steam in-home streaming over WiFi and its fine most of the time, but periodically it will stall or the picture goes macroblocky, because it picks up interference for a brief period of time. Why put up with that when a physical cable will completely eliminate it? If yours works fine, then great, but as WiFi frequencies are shared there is always the chance of another device in range messing it up. With a cable, you simply don't have that. Plus there is always that slim chance that someone could hack your WiFi and either use your connection for something illegal, or sniff your data. Why risk that if it can be avoided? I'm speaking as someone who extensively uses both WiFi and wired, but will always choose wired wherever possible.