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nntwozztoday at 9:45 PM1 replyview on HN

What about latency and jitter?

I still get more ping in Counter-Strike on Wi-Fi than on Ethernet.

…even in pristine conditions, excluding perfect lab conditions.


Replies

ninkendotoday at 9:59 PM

Probably never. WiFi still fundamentally works over a shared medium, by clients that talk on the same frequency, and if they interfere, they have to wait a random amount of time and then retry.

Wired switches have dedicated physical cables linking to each client and can buffer packets per-client, buffers that can be flushed at optimal times.

If you could guarantee that (1) you were the only client on the access point and (2) there was zero interference from any nearby access points, then I’d expect the latency/jitter to be comparable. But that’s basically impossible unless you’re inside a faraday cage with direct line of sight.

People who are experts in wireless, when they have the choice, will always pick wired communications where feasible, if latency and jitter matter.