2 routers and 2 consoles

Stupify

Ok so my brother and I both have xboxes in our rooms upstairs. We have a notopia 3347 in the hall just outside both of our rooms.

This does us fine but when we are both online together there can sometimes be some lag and such and I want to try and minimise this.

We also have a second router that we got from vodafone (a HG555a) and both my brother and I have phone sockets in our rooms.

So I was wondering with all this can I improve the internet connections to our xboxes by connecting up both routers in each room and having one as a bridge or something?

fionny

Short answer is no.

Having two modems is irrelevant you have 1 line coming into your house. You are obviously putting your connection under strain when both of ye are gaming at the same time.

Are you using wired or wireless connections?

Stupify

Its wireless. Doesn't always lag tho. Just sometimes.

Could I not use one as a bridge and not as a router? Would that increase the wireless distance?

At the moment the Netopia is too far away for your standard ethernet cable but even if it wasn't I wouldn't want wires all over the place.

Stupify

Or even putting the netopia in one of our rooms and having that xbox connected by ethernet and the other by wireless, would that reduce the lag?

FullRetard

again it's more than likely your BB coming into the house as opposed to both of you's going online at the same time.What speeds are you getting?

it possibly could be your wireless acting the maggot but you both are very near the modem so thats unlikely.Ideally you could both connect via ethernet

Also remember the lag might not be on your end but on the game servers end.

Anybody else in teh house that could be downloading torrents?torrents are feckers for sucking up the bandwidth

PogMoThoin

It's most likely the wireless, gaming doesn't use very much bandwidth. Wireless is half duplex, it will only talk to one device at a time in one direction at a time. Run a cable to both consoles, wireless is terrible for gaming for this reason, no matter how good the signal. A cable does full duplex, it does both directions at the same time.

Stupify

Thanks guys, its grand when we are in different game lobbies but say for example if he joins my borderlands game. His console lags while mine is grand and vice versa when I join his game.

6mb down and .41mb up is our speed and its steady at that. No torrents or anything like that going on but my mam surfs the web on her mobile the whole time.

I'll probably just run two cables like ye said. Thanks again lads.

PogMoThoin

Stupify wrote: »

Thanks guys, its grand when we are in different game lobbies but say for example if he joins my borderlands game. His console lags while mine is grand and vice versa when I join his game.

6mb down and .41mb up is our speed and its steady at that. No torrents or anything like that going on but my mam surfs the web on her mobile the whole time.

I'll probably just run two cables like ye said. Thanks again lads.

That sounds like the game is having a problem with you both playing from the same public IP (same broadband connection), it will see you both as the same. Nothing you can do about that I'm afraid.

FullRetard

PogMoThoin wrote: »

That sounds like the game is having a problem with you both playing from the same public IP (same broadband connection), it will see you both as the same. Nothing you can do about that I'm afraid.

I'll second that.most online games dont allow 2 people from the same IP address range play online.Its to stop cheating/hacking.You normaly have to get the consoles/pc put into a DMZ and the eircom routers dont have that functionality.

PogMoThoin

FullRetard wrote: »

I'll second that.most online games dont allow 2 people from the same IP address range play online.Its to stop cheating/hacking.You normaly have to get the consoles/pc put into a DMZ and the eircom routers dont have that functionality.

DMZ will have the same public IP, Nothing on the internet side of your router sees your local IP, it's private to your own lan, they see your public IP which is provided by your ISP

fionny

FullRetard wrote: »

I'll second that.most online games dont allow 2 people from the same IP address range play online.Its to stop cheating/hacking.You normaly have to get the consoles/pc put into a DMZ and the eircom routers dont have that functionality.

Thats rubbish, ive played many many mini-lans on internet connections and its not a problem... its as the others said more likely that the wireless is spazzing out.

Wired or bust really, if you do the cables nicely nobody will ever know... the other option might be to invest in some powerline adaptors.

PogMoThoin

fionny wrote: »

Thats rubbish, ive played many many mini-lans on internet connections and its not a problem... its as the others said more likely that the wireless is spazzing out.

Wired or bust really, if you do the cables nicely nobody will ever know... the other option might be to invest in some powerline adaptors.

Don't dismiss it that quickly, it's possible.
On a lan everyone has a unique IP, this is usually handed out by DHCP from the router. In an on-line lobby 2 consoles from the same connection would have the same public IP and appear the same. Like I said before, the internet (online lobby) only sees the public IP. With PC gaming, Punkbuster, VAC and BattleEye secured games won't allow 2 players from the same IP onto the same dedicated server. It's usually adjustable in the config setting. Some PC games have a lan mode, where you look for other players in the same local subnet. I'm sure it's the same with whatever anti-cheat mechanisms console games use, but probably depends on the individual game. Console gaming is like a dictatorship compared to PC gaming, they don't give dedicated servers or all these configurable options and don't allow mods.

fionny

PogMoThoin wrote: »

With PC gaming, Punkbuster, VAC and BattleEye secured games won't allow 2 players from the same IP onto the same dedicated server.

That is simply NOT true, I have done so many many times, the last time we had 30 people all going out on a single connection all connecting to dedicated TF2 and CS servers without any problem. I have also done it on L4D and L4D2 games as well as LoL and BFBC2 and BF3, COD MW etc...

I have also played Halo on 4 consoles going out on the same line with no issue, same goes for Gears of War.

Stupify

Cool, ok so pretty much whats being said is to wire it up or go the powerline adaptor route?

fionny

Stupify wrote: »

Cool, ok so pretty much whats being said is to wire it up or go the powerline adaptor route?

Yes, cable is the best but for a tidier option the powerlines are good but more expensive and not as fast.

Stupify

If I went with the powerline option would that eat up alot of bandwidth?

And with running two cables, is it just as simple as pluging them into the router and off we go? Or do I need to fiddle with any settings?

fionny

Stupify wrote: »

If I went with the powerline option would that eat up alot of bandwidth?

And with running two cables, is it just as simple as pluging them into the router and off we go? Or do I need to fiddle with any settings?

Check the back of the router and see how many Ethernet sockets are on it first I suppose, if there are 4 (the norm) you are good to just plug the cables in and go.

The powerline's will not eat up any extra bandwidth to what the consoles are drawing, im not the biggest powerline expert though.

PogMoThoin

fionny wrote: »

That is simply NOT true, I have done so many many times, the last time we had 30 people all going out on a single connection all connecting to dedicated TF2 and CS servers without any problem. I have also done it on L4D and L4D2 games as well as LoL and BFBC2 and BF3, COD MW etc...

I have also played Halo on 4 consoles going out on the same line with no issue, same goes for Gears of War.

It's a configurable option on some dedicated servers, but depends on the game. I was admin on the Boards Arma server, it was configurable there. Other times you need to configure the games to use different outgoing ports (iirc COD MW on PC needed this).

Stupify

fionny wrote: »

Check the back of the router and see how many Ethernet sockets are on it first I suppose, if there are 4 (the norm) you are good to just plug the cables in and go.

The powerline's will not eat up any extra bandwidth to what the consoles are drawing, im not the biggest powerline expert though.

Thats great, I have the 4 sockets at the back but I might look a bit further into this powerline thing as it sounds handy.

Is ethernet alot faster than powerline?

fionny

Stupify wrote: »

Thats great, I have the 4 sockets at the back but I might look a bit further into this powerline thing as it sounds handy.

Is ethernet alot faster than powerline?

Yes, ethernet cable will get you the best results possible.

Powerline goes based on price, a case of you get what you pay for... its also effected by how good or bad the wiring in the house is. It can add "noise" to the line also... it effect a radio in my house :P

PogMoThoin

Stupify wrote: »

Thats great, I have the 4 sockets at the back but I might look a bit further into this powerline thing as it sounds handy.

Is ethernet alot faster than powerline?

With powerline your sending a radio signal down your electrical circuitry, it is half duplex like wireless (one direction at a time). A cable is full duplex. There is no comparison, cable wins hands down.

Stupify

Thanks alot guys, I'll wire up the xboxes when I get home.