wireless router

I have a problem with my connection. I am hooked into a wireless router that is for the laptop in my house. frequently I get stuck, can't move and have to relog. Am i not using the right router or is it a wireless router in general that causes the problem. If I use my computers wireless connection will it be better or worse. Help?

Lill

Wireless connections are officially not supported by Second Life.

Standard wifi has higher latency (ie. slower response times) than a wired connection, and cannot transmit and receive data simultaneously so throughput is much lower.

If you are forced to use wireless, you would be best getting a Wireless-N router. They have barely been on the scene a couple of years, but offer wireless speeds (and latency) more on a par with wired connections because they utilize MIMO (multiple-in; multiple-out) technology. Problem is, you'd also need a Wireless-N card for your computer too. So it could be quite expensive.

Wireless-N devices are still not officially supported by Second Life of course, but they are far more suitable than regular (b/g) wireless devices for online gaming.

I frequently get stuck, cannot move, and have to relog. And it has nothing to do with the strength of my internet connection.

Strange things, these SL quirks be.

It's also hit-or-miss. I had no problem with my wireless-G connection in the few hotels I've been in. Now only if my lappie could support a good frame rate. (=_=)

I am not sure I agree with you. There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of wireless.

1) A wireless router inside your house. These are almost always way faster than your ISP connection, and add almost nothing to latency. There is no reason that a working wireless routing should be a problem for SL that I can think of.

It is possible that the wireless router signal is not strong enough. Try moving you computer closer to the router, the router closer to the computer, or turning off the electrical devices near the computer or the router. See if that helps. You can also by a secondary attachment point to put halfway between your computer and the router. (Most recent routers can be used as either a router or a secondary attachment point (bridge, repeater, join existing network...it can be called different things.

Try a local wireless hot spot. If it works better there than at your house, consider a new router.

2) Wireless broadband, such as Verizon. This is a wireless wide-area connection, the kind that puts you on the internet from anywhere. I think this is what is not supported officially, and that people have lots of problems with.

what about airport on the mac?

Funny, I posted the same problem just a little while ago. I have not had any problems with my wireless before. I'm hoping this is all LL fault and will be corrected soon with their fine tuning.

Airport is just the Apple brand name for their wifi products.

so is there the same problem with the built in wireless router?

My experience shows that using a wireless router connection in your home to log into SL can cause all sorts of problems - unless the signal you are receiving is very strong. Even then you will likely experience random disconnects and slower response times. It's always best to use a wired connection if possible.

I experienced this when I first logged into SL many moons ago, and again just recently when I moved to a new RL home. Wireless is just too erratic and prone to short disconnects and slow downs. Just one little glitch in your wireless signal and you can lose touch with SL.

Lee offers some good advice if you must use a wireless connection. Try moving the router and/or computer around and reducing interference. I discovered that my inkjet printer was directly in the path between my router and wireless card. Moving that printer increased my signal strength dramatically. The reading went from about 58% to over 90%. go figure.

Also, just because you wireless signal says it is connected at 54 Mbps does not mean that you can transfer data at that speed. With my current set up I have a very strong signal, am connected at 54 Mbps for sending data and 12 Mbps for receiving data, yet I can only transfer data at about 3Mbps. More than enough for SL, but nowhere near my Internet connection's 12 Mbps maximum.

Have used Airport for years, it works fine with my MacBook Pro. It was more problematic with my older iBook, which was subpar for running SL.

I've been using a wifi router with my Macs for years too, with no wireless related problems. My current iMac whizzes along quite happily