Wireless Routers with no 'wireless lag'?

Hello

I have, over the last 3 or 4 years, had a variety of wireless modem/routers - Netgear DG834G, Belkin 7632, ADSL Nation X-Station, Orange Livebox and a D-Link unit (I forget the model number). And one thing I've noticed that is common, and annoying, with any router is that there is always a noticeable amount of lag when connecting to them wirelessly.

With a wired Ethernet connection, I could click a link or bookmark, blink, and the page would be there, or at least beginning to load. With wireless, there can be a 1-3 second delay before it starts to load - a sort of wireless 'premium'.

I had been content to struggle through and hoped that routers would advance significantly, but this just doesn't appear to have happened.

The other day I was configuring a clients network with homeplug/powerline (ethernet over powerlines) adpaters, and I was blown away with how quickly HTML requests were acknowledged. This was on a 5 year old computer. I came home and was deeply depressed with how slow my 1 year, dual core, 2GB RAM, laptop performed over wireless.

Please can anyone recommend a DECENT router that doesn't suffer this wireless lag bug! I don't mind paying �100-�150 for a new router if it does away with this hideous lag.

Thanks in advance!

A few more details...

I have tried most of these routers with various operating systems: Windows XP SP1, SP2 / Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4 and 10.5 and Playstation 3 (up to its newest firmware). I've also tried, where possible, settings the routers to 802.11b or 802.11g only, changing channels and monitoring for interface using software utilities, playing with various performance or range boosting options, rebooting the units, testing with and without WEP/WPA encryption. No joy

All the wireless routers I've tried have displayed what I would consider to be an annoying amount of lag! I'm tempted to wire up my house with powerline adapters and plenty of UTP cable if I can't find a decent wireless solution.

Not that it's any help, but whether I'm at home (Linksys AG241 via Linksys WAP, WPA encryption) or at my SO's (Speedtouch 565, WEP encryption) I can't detect any difference between wired and wireless... no perceptible delay on either.

Well, either I'm more sensitive to delays, that most people don't notice, or a Linksys/Speedtouch router is the way to go!

I really do notice a big difference. The only thing I can compare it to is when you try to run a modern, eye candy laden, OS like Vista or Mac OS 10.5 on a really old computer with the bare minimum of RAM. That delay in clicking on a menu and waiting for it to appear, or right clicking and waiting for the pop up menu to appear - (when you can actually count the HD seeking clicks) compared to the experience on a brand new, maxed out computer, is the same level of frustrating difference I get with wireless v wired.

Edited by deleted (Fri 29-Aug-08 02:24:49)

I've done some tests before, pinging the router(s), and the results indicate very little difference in wireless vs wired. Don't remember the results for wired, but for wireless the response averages at around 1.5ms - A very acceptable and unnoticeable delay.

My theory is, that routers (and maybe some extent, the computer) take much longer to encapsulate/decapsulate and process the wireless packets compared to Ethernet frames. It also occurs to me that wireless packets are likely to have much more overhead/control data and receivers must spend more CPU time filtering out interference or out of order arrivals. So the delay doesn't show in a ping test, but is definitely there.

I would be interested to learn more about the processing units, buffers, RAM in current routers - as I suspect this might be the crux of the issue.

I suppose I could be completely wrong though and I'm willing to be educated as to what does cause the lag. Alternatively, suggestions that I am going potty and my brain is severely misfiring (as could be concluded from recent DIY personality disorder tests in Free Chat ) will be considered.

Edited by deleted (Fri 29-Aug-08 02:48:45)

This wireless lag is in your head. Measure it with a stopwatch. I don't suffer any noticeable lag wireless versus wired.

Sounds like you're getting signal corruption, which is causing a large number of packet re-tries. Reflections in the signal path can do this. Any metallised windows, foil-backed plasterboard, metal-clad buildings in the vicinity ?

If this lag was noticeable then router reviews would be mentioning it too.

I'd also be checking that the DNS IP address for ethernet and wireless connections are identical as DNS lookups can account for what the poster describes

e.g. a fast one may be hard coded for Ethernet, but using router IP for the wireless which relays to a slower ISP one.

I suppose wired/wireless pings to the same site would quantify any lag.

Hi Ed, I have noticed a slight delay with wireless compared to Ethernet connection, have you tried the comparison with your LAN (Local Area Network) configured with Static IP Address and DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server not enabled. I find it seems to speeds up the connection rate.

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/howto/static-ip-address.asp