Can I Play the PS3/360/Wii with 3G or 4G Wireless (Online Gaming)? |
| Monday, 18 April 2011 | |
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 The mobile broadband experts at 3Gstore/EVDOinfo answer countless questions from our customers and from the EVDO Forums community every day - from general mobile broadband questions ("what the heck does 3G mean?") to specific questions about products to more advanced inquiries about what one can do with their mobile broadband service. The "mobile broadband FAQ" series addresses these questions in depth one FAQ at a time. To view ALL of the FAQs we've addressed in this series, visit EVDOinfo.com/faq.Mobile Broadband FAQ #9: Can I play the PS3/360/Wii with 3G or 4G Wireless?
A common question we hear from customers who use or are considering using a 3G or 4G mobile broadband modem is "can I get online and play multiplayer games with this type of internet connection?" The answer is YES, you can get online to play your friends! To get your 360/PS3/Wii online via your 3G or 4G connection, you'll need a 3G/4G router, which allows you to provide connectivity to multiple devices and optimize your connection for gaming. In fact, when you purchase your equipment from 3Gstore.com you have access to our exclusive gaming tip sheets and technical support for free!
One of the biggest concerns for gamers is latency, which is the amount of time it takes for your internet connection to communicate with the server or host you're joining. Most cable/DSL connections ping servers in about 25-50ms, while a 3G connection is around 100-150ms and 4G pings can be as low as 45ms. You will be at a slight disadvantage when compared to cable/DSL, but gaming over 3G or 4G is certainly do-able. With our 3G/4G routers you'll be able to tweak your settings to get a Nat Type 2 open connection, which is ideal for joining parties and ensuring you have the best gaming experience. Even if you're using a 3G or 4G hotspot (like the MiFi, Elevate, or even the hotspot feature on your smartphone), you will still benefit greatly from using a router instead of connecting your gaming console to your hotspot's WiFi network because the router will allow you adjust settings that you can't adjust on your hotspot alone (with the hotspot alone, you are usually stuck with a Nat Type 3 connection, which is less than ideal). Using a router to make the connection to your gaming console makes all the difference! Please Note: Some carriers make it impossible to get a fully open Nat type 2 connection. AT&T physically blocks ports at the carrier level, which makes it impossible to open the connection through the router. If you have the option, 3Gstore recommends using a USB modem for gaming as opposed to a hotspot device to avoid secondary firewalls. Rather than just telling you that gaming is possible, we wanted to actually show you a live game play video from the popular Call Of Duty Black Ops game:
Below you'll find a 4G LTE gameplay video to compare to the 3G demo:
In-game menu displaying latency to host as signal bars - this is NOT your modem's signal strength!
What does having a higher latency mean for you? This means that you will be playing slightly behind the action that is actually being displayed on the screen. In long distance combat you won't notice it; however, when up close the lag can become more apparent when somebody appears to jump around on you a little bit. If you've watched the demo video you'll notice that for the most part this is negligible and any good gamer can still play competitively. If you're using 4G service the latency problems are further diminished. If you're looking to game and have 4G available, Verizon's network is the king in this department, hitting as low as 45ms in some areas, while Sprint's 4G WiMAX is around 80-125ms (better than 3G on average but not as good as LTE 4G). Below you'll find a breakdown of latency based on the type of connection you have.
With a strong 3G or 4G connection you can play most of the popular genres. The popular FPS (First Person Shooters) will work without much issue, although MMORGP (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) and RPG (Role playing games) will work better because they don't require ultra low latency. Driving games like Gran Turismo 5, Forza motor sport and other racing games also play really well through a 3G or 4G connection. The only games that you will have trouble with when using a 3G/4G connection are fighting games. The reason is because a fighting game is real time and requires ultra twitch movements and responses. If somebody throws a punch at you, you'll literally be hit before the action ever hits your screen. How much bandwidth will I use when I'm gaming? With most users stuck with either a 5GB or 10GB monthly allowance, a lot of people have concerns that gaming will eat through their allowance too quickly. This is actually a common misconception because gaming doesn't use a lot of data (even when you're using voice). A combined download/upload stream typically yields around 17.5kB/s, (17.5kB/s X 60 seconds = 1.05 MB per minute). This works out to roughly 63MB per hour or approximately 81.26 hours of gaming per month on the 5GB plan. Of course this is just an average, you'll find that some games can use more bandwidth, while others don't use as much. You should find that most games on the market will use around 50-75MB per hour, which means you'll have plenty of time to game and still have data leftover for other activites on the internet. We have created helpful charts which will show you approximately how much data a lot of popular web based activities will use - see What Does 5GB Get Me? and What Does 10GB Get Me?. All of our routers offer diagnostic tools that allow you to view real time network traffic, which means you can play a round and look at the chart to see what type of usage you're getting. You can then calculate exactly how much data a particular game is using so you know how many hours you have to get your frag on.
MW3 Bandwidth Used Demonstration With Pepwave/Peplink Monitoring Hardware:
With multiplayer gaming become much more popular, we've made it much easier for customers to quickly find a router that is gaming compatible. We have created a router advisor tool with an option to only display routers compatible with your device that support gaming. You'll notice that a lot of different models do support gaming, so we wanted to highlight some popular options for gamers. Below you'll find some great options from entry level to higher end products to meet your gaming needs.
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The nice thing about all of these routers is that they'll also work with a Cable/DSL connection. So, if you're having issues with a strict Nat on you Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, you'll be able to optimize your gaming experience too! These routers will allow you to game on your 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, PSP, iPad and any other networked devices that offer online gaming. Even if you don't want to game online, you can use this new connectivity to download new updates for your favorite offline games, patches, chat with friends or even watch Netflix or download Blu Ray live content.
If you've ever thought that you were out of luck because Cable/DSL doesn't reach you, think again: 3Gstore is here to meet your gaming needs and help you stay connected! Related Links:
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 26 April 2013 ) |
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