Optimizing WLAN for AH

[Kirin]

Greetings aces

For a few days now I am running my gaming computer via a wireless connection. That was necessary because wife-ack made me re-rout to a safer place (see my cockpit thread in o'club).

Now everthing goes fine so far. I can surf the internet and download at full speed. But I am running into problems with AH. Eversince I am flying wireless I tend to lose UDP after a few minutes and every now and then I get huge lag spikes. In the network status variance looks like a sinus curve.

My setup:

 House 1
 - D-Link DSL Router DSL-G604T
 - computer 1 connected to router via Cat 5 cable (10m)

House 2
 - D-Link DWL-2000AP+ in client mode
 - comuter 2 (flying rig) connected to Access Point via Cat 5 cable (10m)

Configuration
 - all standard
 - g-mode (automatic speed)
 - WEP 64bit key
 - MAC access list
 - all components with fixed IP (DCHP off)

Since I am using 2 "Richtstrahl" antennas in viewing range the signal shouldn't be the problem.  As said, download (1.5mbit) runs at full speed.

Everything was set up without using Windows XP network assistent which wouldn't even find any wireless adapter (well I dont actually have one... using the Access Point in client mode).

So are there any parameters I could change to enchance network performance with online games, e.g. AH?

Thankfull for any advice.

[Skuzzy]

Wireless is going to be a bit of an issue for UDP.  Here is the problem.  Bit errors will occur in a wireless stream.  There is nothing that can be done to prevent it.

No problem for TCP as it will transparently retry the damaged packet.  But for UDP, there is no retry.  If the packet arrives damaged it is lost forever.

It really does not matter how many antennaes you have or what the distance is from them.  Bit errors will occur far more often than on a wired connection.

[Kirin]

Alright, I get the idea Skuzzy. Is there any network parameter setting/tweak to make the connection best possible?

I know that has been discussed before but in what way will TCP make my AH experience less enjoyable?

[Skuzzy]

If you could reduce the speed of the wireless connection it might reduce the bit error rate.

TCP is just slower and requires a bit more overhead than UDP.

[Kirin]

Alright - will try to reduce the speed and report my findings.

Thanks for the head-up.

[Kirin]

Greets

Halfing bandwith to about 24mbit did the trick. Flat variance and no UDP loss so far (3 hours flight time). I am happy!

I also disable a service called "configuration free wireless network" (translated from german). Don't know if that also helped...