Best wireless adapter for a home network?

[2timer]

When I go to Walmart or Best Buy looking for a wireless network adapter, there is a bewildering number of options. Currently I have a Netgear WNA 1000M adapter rated for 150 MBPS. The problem is I get hellacious lag when playing online games on my desktop PC. I have no problems watching HD Youtube videos on my smartphone, so I figure it's the adapter.

Would getting an AC network adapter (the new standard) make the lag problems go away? Or would upgrading to just a dual band, 300 MBPS adapter be sufficient? I'm really tired of suffering through unbearable lag, please recommend something for my situation.

 

[fralexandr]

have you checked your internet connection?
http://www.pingtest.net/
games are more dependent on latency/ping/interval between send/receive than movies are.
if your ping test keeps turning up fine (during times you normally game), it's likely the problem is on the server side, and not your desktop.

what router are you using?
does your router support 5GHz or AC?
if your router does not support these, getting an adapter with it doesn't help much.

how far is your desktop from your router/modem?
are there any walls in the way? if yes, roughly how many?

if it's pretty far from the router, or there are a few walls in the way, you might want to look at getting an adapter with external high gain antenna
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...sPowerSearch=1

if your desktop is right next to the router, use wired .
if your desktop is not right next to the router, but not far away, and there are 1 or fewer walls in the way, you should change what wireless channel the router is using, or upgrade to a simultaneous/concurrent dualband 2.4/5GHz router + dual band/5GHz adapter.

 

[2timer]

Yes. I did Pingtest/Speedtest on my desktop, and the results were 24ms ping/0.97 mbps download. When I did Speedtest on my smartphone, I got 4.81 mbps. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Don't know the router, it's in my duplex neighbors house (we share utilities), but I have doubts that he has a new router.

Signal isn't the issue, the router is about 10 feet away, one wall, I get 3-5 bars consistently.

 

[fralexandr]

since you live in a duplex, i'm guessing you live in relatively high density housing area.
how many wireless networks do you see nearby?
if you see a lot, then you'd have to check which channels are in use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer
that's just the first wifi analyzer i came across on google.
it will tell you which channels are being used by your neighbors.
if you can get access to the router, you could change the channel you're on to one that's less used.

if you're allowed to you might want to replace the router with a dualband router and get yourself an adapter that supports 5GHz.
the 5GHz band is less utilized than the 2.4GHz band and will allow for better network performance in highly saturated areas.

 

[2timer]

Well, I did some Googling, typed in some different IP addresses and found this: http://192.168.0.1/login_auth.asp

This was the only IP address out of 5 that loaded, so can I assume that the FR-300RTR is my router? In that case, it's a D-Link brand router. My roommate has a D-Link network adapter and I have a Netgear adapter. He doesn't seem to get lag when watching Youtube, but I do.

Would a D-Link 300 Mbps adapter be a good choice? This is a link to the router btw: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833127241

 

[fralexandr]

couldn't hurt I guess, there have been a few times using a different device has helped.
I've had cheapy wifi usb adapters overheat or randomly die before.

 

[2timer]

Thanks! There's only so much I can do in this situation, but your advice sure has helped!