Does signal strength imrove latency?

hatersunited · EVDO Newbie Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

Hi, I like to play online games and I was thinking of getting a booster antenna to improve my latency. I have a u720 ovation with sprint service and my signal strength is usually -75- -80 an my latency is usally around 100-150. I know that is not bad but I know that if I get an atenna booster it will probably boost my signal to around -50 cause it will have line of sight with the tower at about 2 miles away. So will this affect my latency at all or should I even bother with it?

jfulmer · EVDO Junkie Joined: 30 Jun 2007 Posts: 155

Short answer: If you are getting 'full speeds' from your EVDO, the answer is 'no'.

Longer answer: AFAIK, EVDO steps up/down your connection speeds based on your signal strength. If you get the top rate already, than an antenna won't help. And really 100-120ms is about as good as you can expect.

The one big caveat is for dropped packets. If you drop a sizable number of packets, it will impact your overall latency. A stronger antenna/signal booster would (normally) reduce the number of lost packets and help things that way.