Bandwidth and Latency questions, wireless

[kragnus]

Hi folks. My work forces me to quite possibly move to the other side of the planet soon. WiMax is available in the area, but it's in the middle of sub-saharan Africa (Kinshasa, Congo).

I don't know a great deal about wireless networking or the latency that could be expected with trying to play WoW US servers from the other side of the planet. I figure a wired solution like DSL/Cable would be laggy because of the distances/hops involved. Would WiMax wireless be any better/worse?

The advertised bandwidth is something like 40 mbps but it degrades as you get further from the antenna/main office similar to DSL, but well, there's that whole wireless part :) Bandwidth schmandwidth though, latency is what counts... I try to be a PvPer after all!

[Kalos]

You'll most likely find much more latency travelling through the air than going through the lines. But the lines might be particularly rubbish anyway. I couldn't say just how bad without knowing a rough range from base station to the computer.

[kragnus]

Well, I don't know what kind of ping would be "intolerable" for play. Obviously better ping is more of a requirement for PvP and 20+ man instancing than just running around PvE grinding mobs.

What would the ping be like if you were a couple miles from the base station? What about 5 miles? 10 miles? Is there any kind of "repeater" type device that'll boost the signal when you are getting too far out?

Questions questions questions...