Why would I want wifi in my console?

[Phil]

Guden Oden has a DSL modem in every room in his home or he has one DSL modem with hundreds of meters of cat 5 all over his home..LMAO. Just because you have a weird home doesn't mean normal people are weird like you.

I'm not sure out of what houses are built in NA (paper?), but I do know that at least our house is built pretty solid, making a wireless network difficult if it should stretch beyond the room next to where the access point is stationed.

 

[London Geezer]

Guden Oden has a DSL modem in every room in his home or he has one DSL modem with hundreds of meters of cat 5 all over his home..LMAO. Just because you have a weird home doesn't mean normal people are weird like you.

I'm not sure out of what houses are built in NA (paper?), but I do know that at least our house is built pretty solid, making a wireless network difficult if it should stretch beyond the room next to where the access point is stationed.

Are you serious?
I have one wireless router in the "center" of my flat, which is somewhat split level, 3 rooms, big lounge, and a laptop picks up an "excellent - 36-54MB/s - signal throughout the whole house. Pretty good to me...

 

[PC-Engine]

Guden Oden has a DSL modem in every room in his home or he has one DSL modem with hundreds of meters of cat 5 all over his home..LMAO. Just because you have a weird home doesn't mean normal people are weird like you.

I'm not sure out of what houses are built in NA (paper?), but I do know that at least our house is built pretty solid, making a wireless network difficult if it should stretch beyond the room next to where the access point is stationed.

If the walls of your house are made out of brick or metal then maybe you'd need repeaters and/or stronger antennas. Antenna location is a major factor in signal strength.

 

[pegisys]

In that regards using a wireless router, with or without a PC, does pose some risks if the connection is not secured. WiFi wont be a problem with Rev-to-Rev or Rev-to-NDS connections, but once you throw the Internet into the equation there could be issues

how will it pose a treat if there is no pc someone might use your connection but thats the worst that can happen, even if there is a pc how is it different from any other wifi setup, I'm sure the option to secure the connection will be there for the ones that know how to use it and for the ones that don't it will find the network and connect it self.

what are the risk that come when a console has wifi?

and if you do use encryption do you think someone is going to spend the time to break it, I pick up 6-7 connections from my house only about half are protected if, I wanted to use one it would be an open one

 

[Phil]

If the walls of your house are made out of brick or metal then maybe you'd need repeaters and/or stronger antennas. Antenna location is a major factor in signal strength.

Concrete, and you will find most houses here (at least in Switzerland, and I'd presume most high quality houses throughout europe) are built that solid. Depending on where the access-point is stationed, the signal will reach through 3 concrete walls (more or less 2 rooms) at max. A friend of mine who lives in a larger house was not able to get a wifi network going, despite the claims of the maker that the signal should be strong enough for x metres indoor (I don't recall the exact figures) - which makes me assume that houses are probably built a bit different overthere (it was a Zyxel and a US robotics that he tried).

Anyway, a repeater or a stronger antenna would have done the job, but at that point, you'll probably be better of going through the hassle of setting up a LAN throughout the house (and benefiting from a higher bandwidth and lower latency) - which is what he end up doing.

If next generation ends up going wifi (I'm sure it's Sony's plan as well, not just Nintendo's), I do hope they don't leave out the LAN interface. More realistically, I think LAN will be all that is offered, but will probably offer an wifi add-on (at least in Sony's case).

 

[PC-Engine]

WiFi signals don't have to actually go through walls, they would just bounce off of them to reach their destination. There are other solutions as well. You don't need a repeater since you could just use better antennas at the transmitter AND receiver end just depends on the architecture and/or materials of your home. Wires are unsightly anyway and going under carpeting is a b*tch. BTW are you talking about the walls inside your house because that's all that matters?

 

[gurgi]

All the wireless units I've set up are accessible outside...and I can connect to a wireless network closeby from inside my house. What kind of weak equipment are you using anyway? =P

 

[Reznor007]

At our house we tried a Linksys WirelessB router(older model) and even with a USB receiver 3 feet away from the router with nothing in between we were only able to get 75% signal strength. Maybe it's just that router or receivers, but it was pretty lame.

 

[Qroach]

Wifi signals can be problematic sometimes. They really don't go through walls very well, and were usually rated at 100 ft (if it's an open space). Even if it's further then that, it doesn't take into account walls.

 

[Phil]

BTW are you talking about the walls inside your house because that's all that matters?

Obviously I am.

What kind of weak equipment are you using anyway? =P

Hmm, no no-name products if that's what you're thinking. Zyxel and US Robotics were the makes we used (and returned).

 

[cthellis42]

Hmm, no no-name products if that's what you're thinking. Zyxel and US Robotics were the makes we used (and returned).

I hope those are more dominant out by you, as I've never heard of Zyxel, and US Robotics makes me think it's the 80's. I tend to look to Linksys and Netgear first, and then maybe some D-Link after that.

 

[BOOMEXPLODE]

Alot depends on what they're trying to accomplish with the wireless networking. If it's just to interface with a DS a few feet away then no problem. If it's to play games wirelessly with your neighbors then that's not exactly going to be reliable. It would be an awesome feature if they can get it to work right.

 

[Ty]

Zyxel used to be (no clue about now) one of the best modem companies.

 

[wco81]

I use an ethernet port on my wireless router (Netgear) for my PS2. Mainly because I don't want to pay $50-60 for a wireless-to-ethernet bridge.

I did try using my PowerBook as a wireless to ethernet bridge and it worked well for playing some online games. There was a bit more lag here and there but not the worst I've seen. For all I know, I would have had the same lag if I played against the same people on a wired connection.

As for security, the only reliable way to connect to other gamers is to use a DMZ address for your console. Probably don't have to worry about console viruses or spyware yet.

WEP is unreliable. But if you only have your credit card numbers in SSL pages, you should be secure in theory, right?

 

[cthellis42]

Zyxel used to be (no clue about now) one of the best modem companies.

Funny. I don't recall seeing them about in any real sense since 300 BAUD became affordable.

 

[gurgi]

I mainly use the Cisco Aironet access points, but I guess they are a bit pricy. I do have linksys g router at home that does fine though. It's up in my loft and I get plenty of signal even in my basement and back yard.

 

[jvd]

What's the point? If I'm going to be playing console games so far from a TP jack, shouldn't revolution come with rechargable batteries built-in too?

Logic would dictate that if you have a revolution you will have it hooked up to your home entertainment system i.e tv , dvd player and stero . Those all need to plug into a power source. None need to plug into a hub or router . So no you wouldn't need rechargable batteries .

However in houses that haven't been built after the internet revolution , like our how that was built in 1915 there are no tp jacks . We would have to have them installed which is expensive or run the wire ourselves . This is how many homes and apartments are .

So in my case I can hook up my revolution to my tv in my living room and hook up to my wireless router . WIth my xbox right now out of the box i can only hook it up to two tvs in my house , both with in 15 feet of the router so i can run wire to it

 

[Ty]

Funny. I don't recall seeing them about in any real sense since 300 BAUD became affordable.

It might be because they were considered fairly high-end. Back in those days (I at least) was poor so I would never have even considered them.

 

[Randell]

well my pc is about 25 foot and 2 brick walls away from my router and has 92% link quality currently.

 

[Phil]

Never heard of Zyxel? Hmm, not sure if they're still that great as they used to be, but they still enjoy quite a reputation overhere. At least their products seemed to remain at the top of the bar where pricing is concerned. No idea about US Robotics - I assumed they are a popular maker from America, hence the name...

In anycase, we've got Netgear too (of course) and the results were more or less the same. Didn't try D-Link as it seemed pointless considering the expensive makers couldn't meet the requirements already...


Anyway, the point wasn't to badmouth wifi or anything. I was merely bringing up some of my experience with it as it certainly isn't going to replace a standard LAN network in many homes (at least for those that use the LAN for more than simple internet browsing). IMO it would be good enough for future consoles to be shipped with a ethernet port and leave the wireless as an option for those that want it. I guess if it has to be on board, then I'd hope that the ethernet port isn't removed.