I haven't yet taken advantage of the PS3's wireless internet connection, but I am looking forward to it.

I have cable internet.

Just wondering how "fast" my router would have to be to take full advantage of the cable modem and the PS3's online capabilities. I don't want to buy more than I need or can use as there are many options out there when it comes to routers.

Thanks.

I think 1.5 mbps is the low end recommendation for a decent online experience - my connection varies from 4 - 10 mbps. If I can find the link to that info I'll re-post.

Having not had a slower connection than 2.5 mbps in the last few years I have absolutely no personal feedback as to how game play is at lower speeds, perhaps others can assist there.

Just make sure you router is 802.11G capable. PS3 uses 802.11G spec for wireless, SuperG or N won't help it any.

I haven't yet taken advantage of the PS3's wireless internet connection, but I am looking forward to it.

I have cable internet.

Just wondering how "fast" my router would have to be to take full advantage of the cable modem and the PS3's online capabilities. I don't want to buy more than I need or can use as there are many options out there when it comes to routers.

Thanks.

I would bet your download speeds are anywhere between 4 and 8Mbps via a cable modem. Between your router and your PS3 you could see transfer rates of 10 to 100Mbps. "Fast" would pertain to media streaming within your own network, not the PS3's online capability of speeds. The PS3 and your router are at the mercy of your internet connection when accessing anything online. Unless you have atleast a DS3 to your house you will be fine with virtually any compliant router as stated by Jovericho.

Your answer would be anything over 8Mbps. I dont know of a router with transfer speeds that low.

So is it safe to say I could buy any cheap router that is 802.11 capable and not have any problems streaming content to the PS3?

Why are there $40 routers and $140 routers that look like communication towers then if you can get away with the cheapest one?

If you get a cheap one, make sure it's 802.11G, it's faster than 802.11b, and is the same spec as the PS3. Anything more expensive probably has proprietary speedup technolgies that the PS3 cannot use, or it is 802.11N, which is still not a viable choice due to unfinalized specs for the technology.

So is it safe to say I could buy any cheap router that is 802.11 capable and not have any problems streaming content to the PS3?

Why are there $40 routers and $140 routers that look like communication towers then if you can get away with the cheapest one?

I've never heard of anyone having a problem with a $40 router of any brand name. I have personally tried Linksys, netgear, D-Link, and am currently using a Paradyne DSL/router now with no problems. Keep in mind that you may have to open ports for the PSN or some games to function properly. i.e...headset issues with some games.

In response to your last question. You could buy a brand new car for $10,000 and drive 75MPH on the freeway or you could buy a $500,000 car and drive 75mph on the same freeway. Either way you’re still getting the same result.

I use an old D Link "B" router. It works fine, no lag when gaming. Not fast enough for streaming video from the server, however.

I was wondering if there is any improvement overall with using a wired connection over a wireless connection. I have an 802.11G router, but also have a cable running over to where my PS3 will be (currently shipping). It'd be nice to get rid of the cable, but I'd keep it there if it makes a noticeable difference on performance. Any comments?

Well, you may notice a difference when streaming HD audio/video from your other home PC's, but it will not make a difference at all for your internet connection, which is guaranteed to be the slowest point on your network anyways. I use wireless G for my PS3, and normal video/audio streaming works fine for me, but I also don't do it often and it's not HD quality. But unless you do a lot of HD video streaming, yank that cord and enjoy the wireless freedom. :)

Wireless connections are always YMMV. Here's a simplified breakdown of the network speeds and hopefully illustrating where the bottleneck exists...

Let's look at the wired scenario first:
PS3 wired ethernet: 100Mbps
Wired router: 10/100/1000Mbps (typically 100Mbps)
DSL/Cable modem: 560Kbps-8Mbps

Now let's look at the minimalist wireless scenario
ps3 wireless: 54Mbps
Wireless router: 11/54 (802.11b/g)
DSL/Cable Modem: 560Kbps-8Mbps

What you'll notice is that the bottleneck is consistently the DSL or cable modem connection. The one thing to remember is that wireless speeds advertise 11Mbps or 54Mbps but they usually only get 50% of that in terms of data throughput, the other 50% is usually the 802.11 packet overhead. So in a 54Mbps 802.11g pair your still running at ~20-27 Mbps throughput (depending on packet size, type of data, how good your wireless chip is, etc) which is still double of the best internet connections today.

After that is said and told, I would recommend wired over wireless if you live close to neighbors (especially condos, apts, dorms, etc). Why?

#1) Because of inteference. There are a lot of 802.11 2.4 Ghz devices out there. Almost every laptop is running it, 2.4Ghz cordless phones are still available, and cheapo microwaves runs at 2.4Ghz. The last thing you want to see is lag when the microwave turns on. :)

#2) lag times. Ethernet (wired and wireless) is based on CDMA (Collision Sense Multiple Access) which means that if you hear someone else broadcasting at the same time you are you back-off. In a wired environment you won't have any multiple broadcasts since your speaking directly to the router of a single line. In a wireless environment you will have everyone in the 2.4Ghz range potentially causing you to re-transmit your packets resulting in lag times. In most cases this won't hurt you, but I really hate it when I get a perfect shot only to be lagging enough to have a delay in movement or delay in shot.

So, what did we learn today?

1) If you get 802.11g (54Mbps) or better, your already at your peak speeds for internet connections, no need to get a 802.11n router running at 270Mbps, the ps3 can't use it anyways.
2) if you can, stick to a wired environment for the best gaming performance. A minor advantage I found was that I can get into warhawk games easier and faster if I'm using wired vs. wireless, probably due to the faster ping times.

Hope that helps!

-Splints

I had a wired connection running to my PS2, so I haven't done much with my PS3 wireless. I do, however, have a laptop as my only PC, and it is connected to my router wirelessly via 802.11g. I can streatm things from it (including HD content) just fine to my PS3. I wouldn't think I'd get worse performance on streaming if the PS3 was also wireless.

I haven't yet taken advantage of the PS3's wireless internet connection, but I am looking forward to it.

I have cable internet.

Just wondering how "fast" my router would have to be to take full advantage of the cable modem and the PS3's online capabilities. I don't want to buy more than I need or can use as there are many options out there when it comes to routers.

Thanks.

Hard to imagine you will have any issue regardless of what you get. The weak link is not your hardware or connection speed, it is the Playstation Network, which is notoriously slow. It can't even keep up with the throughput of basic Wi-Fi, let alone the hard wired connection.

Hey, thanks for the great info. I have a sony HDV camcorder and, of course, the HD movie files are very big on my computer. Since I don't have a Blu-Ray burner yet, I'm having trouble getting the movies onto my TV to watch. I figured I'd try streaming them, but my 802.11g router doesn't seem fast enough and the HD videos are all choppy. It seems since the PS3 is only "g" capable, an "n" router won't do me any good. I have two questions:

(1) Is it expected that the PS3 will be updated with "n" capabilities with a software update? Or is this a hardware issue that will prevent my PS3 from ever being "n" capable?
(2) Since my router is upstairs in the office with a direct wired connection to my desktop, I was wondering if it would be possible to reverse this and get faster streaming by purchasing an "n" router, but putting it in my living room with a direct wired connection to the PS3 and a wireless "n" connection to my PC. Would this allow me to stream from my wireless "n" connected PC to my wired PS3 at "n" speeds? If this is possible, it seems that it would address the issue. I'm not certain whether the server, my desktop PC, needs to be on a wired connection to function. Please advise.

Many thanks!

802.11n would require all new hardware for the PS3, so no, it will not happen. And yes, by having the PS3 wired and PC using 802.11n, you *should* see faster speeds, but note the "should" as wireless is always an uncertainty due to the conditions of each location.

There was a noticeable difference for me when streaming/copying content from PC to PS3 when I;

1) Went from wireless to wired 100Mb
2) Went from 100Mb to 1Gb

Rewinding video files was a hassle with the wireless connection, so much so that I stopped viewing video and pictures on the PS3. Improved with 100Mb to the point it was worth streaming video and pictures. 1Gb saw another bump in performance, but overall the biggest gain for me was going from wireless to wired @ 100Mb.

I have a newbie question. I have a rental property where I'm putting a PS3. Have a DSL and want to connect the PS3 to the DSL wirelessly. I will NOT have a computer at the condo. Is it possible to connect the DSL to a wireless router for use with the PS3 and not have a computer involved? If so, what is a solid and cheap 802.11g router you would recommend? Thanks!

If you need to stream HD and can't directly connect then you need to look to the high-end Powerline products.

I have a newbie question. I have a rental property where I'm putting a PS3. Have a DSL and want to connect the PS3 to the DSL wirelessly. I will NOT have a computer at the condo. Is it possible to connect the DSL to a wireless router for use with the PS3 and not have a computer involved? If so, what is a solid and cheap 802.11g router you would recommend? Thanks!

You don't need a computer there, you can have the PS3 on the network without a PC.

You may want to bring one with you for the install.

Does anybody have detailed information on the Marvell Chipset found in the PS3? This is the wireless chipset, the model number is W8580. I found that information here : http://www.isuppli.com/news/default.asp?id=6919

That information is a bit old so it may have changed, but I doubt it.

What I am most interested in is if this chipset supports WME (Wi-fi multimedia extension). The only thing that I found on Marvell's website is that it has a Boostmode and supports WMA security but that is it.