Question Any difference in data connection if I use a USB extension cable connected to a wireless USB network adapter?

[CableKC]

I'm the default "Tech Support" for my elderly Aunt. Her WiFi router is in her living room and her desktop computer is now in the furthest room in her house. The current cheapie WiFi USB Network Adapter for her Desktop is barely able to pick up the WiFi signal from her router in the living room. The problem is that her house is super old with a very old electrical wiring, so the options to run wiring in the wall or using a Plug-In WiFi Extender isn't an option.

The option that I have settled on is moving the WiFi router to the other side of the Living room where it will be a little closer and have a clearer "line of sight" to the door of the corner bedroom where her desktop computer is. At the same time, I'm thinking that I can simply get a better WiFi USB Network adapter like this:

TP-Link Archer T2U Plus AC600

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Arch...fix=usb+network+,electronics,155&sr=1-13&th=1

But I was thinking of connecting it via a 20 foot USB Cable. This would allow me to keep the Desktop in the room while physically connecting it but placing the WiFi USB Network Adapter outside in the hallway ( where it will be in direct line of sight with no obstructions to the moved WiFi Router ).

Technically, the WiFi USB Network Adapter is physically connected to the Desktop via a longer USB cable....but tethered together by a 20 foot USB Extension cable.

Will there be any issues phsyically configuring it this way with a 20 foot USB Extension cable?

If not, is there any special type of USB Female to Male extension Cable that I should get ( like USB 3.0 or whatever ) to ensure a good data connection speed?

or

Would there be any real difference if I just get a regular USB Female to Male Extension cable?

My guess is that it really shouldn't make a difference when it comes to doing it this way nor do I have to get any special type of USB Female to Male adapter.

Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[bill001g]

I think the limit on usb is 15ft.

It is hard to say how much it will help. It should be better if there are less walls to go through.

Could you run a ethernet cable all the way.

So usually I don't recommend this and it will cost more than the simple USB device you linked.

What you can do is buy a repeater/extender and the plug a ethernet cable into it. The ethernet cable will allow you to place the "extender" up to 300ft away....you of course would just connect it directly to the router. But if you say wanted to go 25 or 30ft a ethernet cable would work where a USB will not.

Also the extenders tend to have larger antenna and radios so they might work better. There are so many brands of extenders but you are not using the repeater part you are using it as wireless bridge, basically a wifi nic card you can connect via ethernet.

If performance is not critical you might be able to use the repeater/extender completely wifi. You would need to place it where it gets strong signal from the main router and could still provide good signal to the remote pc.

I normally don't recommended wifi repeaters but when there is no other good option they do work. Note this is not a powerline network device that uses the electical wires it is a wireless repeater that uses 2 radio signals.

 

[CableKC]

I think the limit on usb is 15ft.

It is hard to say how much it will help. It should be better if there are less walls to go through.

EDIT - looks like regular USB Cables for a USB 3.0 connection won't work beyond 10 feet.

I looked into it more and found this:

https://tripplite.eaton.com/usb-over-cat5-cat6-extender-transmitter-receiver-150-ft-1-port~B202150

Is this an option that could get around the USB 3.0 limitation when it comes to length of the cable by using it as the "extension cable" between the Desktop and the WiFi Network Adapter?

Could you run a ethernet cable all the way.

So usually I don't recommend this and it will cost more than the simple USB device you linked.

I do have the option of getting a 100 ft Ethernet Cable all the way from the living room in the front of the house to the back of the house, but I don't really want to go that route unless I have no choice.

What you can do is buy a repeater/extender and the plug a ethernet cable into it. The ethernet cable will allow you to place the "extender" up to 300ft away....you of course would just connect it directly to the router. But if you say wanted to go 25 or 30ft a ethernet cable would work where a USB will not.

Also the extenders tend to have larger antenna and radios so they might work better. There are so many brands of extenders but you are not using the repeater part you are using it as wireless bridge, basically a wifi nic card you can connect via ethernet.

If performance is not critical you might be able to use the repeater/extender completely wifi. You would need to place it where it gets strong signal from the main router and could still provide good signal to the remote pc.

I normally don't recommended wifi repeaters but when there is no other good option they do work. Note this is not a powerline network device that uses the electical wires it is a wireless repeater that uses 2 radio signals.

If you are saying that attaching a 25 feet USB Extension Cable to the WiFi Network Adapter to the Desktop won't work at all, then I will have to consider another option like this.

If that is the case but a 10 foot USB Extension Cable connected to the WiFi Network Adapter would work, then I will hope that moving the WiFi Router so that it's about 40 feet away but is "line of sight"should improve the signal strength from "slightly below average" to "slightly above average" ( which may be good enough for her needs ).

 

[BFG-9000]

USB sends a packet, which is resent if no ack response is received in time, causing slowdowns and collisions. This puts a hard limit on the length of a passive cable.

With USB 2.0 the limit is 5 meters or 16' which does work fine. Technically USB 3 and faster have a theoretical limit of 3 meters or 9' but I have frequently encountered problems if the passive cable is longer than 3'. You usually only want the Wifi adapter at the end of a 3' cable just to get it around large objects like the desk, user or computer itself so it is, as you said, "line of sight."

The way to get around these limits is to use an active cable. Think of it as like a 1-port switch that absorbs the packet and sends an acknowledgement, then forwards/repeats the packet along for further than the limit of a passive cable. Extra long USB 2.0 cables should have a little inline box every 16' or so. Unless these boxes have an external power source they will limit how much power can be delivered to the end of the cable, because they use power themselves

 

[CableKC]

USB sends a packet, which is resent if no ack response is received in time, causing slowdowns and collisions. This puts a hard limit on the length of a passive cable.

With USB 2.0 the limit is 5 meters or 16' which does work fine. Technically USB 3 and faster have a theoretical limit of 3 meters or 9' but I have frequently encountered problems if the passive cable is longer than 3'. You usually only want the Wifi adapter at the end of a 3' cable just to get it around large objects like the desk, user or computer itself so it is, as you said, "line of sight."

The way to get around these limits is to use an active cable. Think of it as like a 1-port switch that absorbs the packet and sends an acknowledgement, then forwards/repeats the packet along for further than the limit of a passive cable. Extra long USB 2.0 cables should have a little inline box every 16' or so. Unless these boxes have an external power source they will limit how much power can be delivered to the end of the cable, because they use power themselves

I appreciate your response. I wasn't aware of the USB limitations in the length of the cable. This spurred me to Google more and look more into the Ethernet To WiFi bridge option that ( I think ) that u were suggesting.

It sounda like I can use the LAN port on the desktop to connect via Ethernet Cable to a plugged in Wireless Bridge WiFi to Ethernet Adapter.

Since I'm using a Ethernet cable to connect between the desktop LAN port and the wireless bridge that is plugged in, would that solve the signal degradation issue?

I assume I can then run a 25 foot Ethernet cable and connect it to the wireless bridge?

 

[BFG-9000]

I used a USB 2.0 wifi dongle on the end of a 30' active cable for years, and it worked great until one day the box in the cable died, which just goes to show anything you add is a possible point of failure.

I'd suggest just getting the long USB 2.0 active cable and trying the existing cheapie USB wifi adapter in it, since you already have it and it may work just as well as the USB 2.0 adapter you linked to once it's moved closer to the router.

The biggest reason to avoid a USB 3.0 adapter is that operates at 2.5GHz which not only interferes with 2.4GHz but also 5GHz as the 2nd harmonic, which defeats the purpose of such a setup. Especially as extra long cables are likely to radiate this RF interference even if they are reasonably well shielded.


While a wireless bridge could certainly be higher performance as you could select one with as many antennas as your router, and ethernet has a cable limit of 100 meters or 328' so you could put it wherever you like, it does seem like overkill for a single desktop. Generally someone would choose a wireless bridge to wirelessly extend the network to an entire room's worth of wired ethernet devices.

It would make more sense to run ethernet from the router to the room the desktop is in and put an AP in there. But that's best if she has other wifi devices she wants to use in the weak signal area, such as a phone. After all, then there would be LAN ports right in the room to use, so the desktop wouldn't need to use wifi.

Remember what I said about points of failure though--if you were going to run that much ethernet cable anyway, there is nothing more reliable than running an ethernet cable directly between the desktop and router, even if you have to run it around the entire outside perimeter of the house. No RF interference, no radios or repeater boxes or power bricks to die, so fewer service calls to you.

 

[bill001g]

Although it is painful to get ethernet run it is a 1 time thing. Pretty much once ethernet is in and running you never touch it again. Some the ethernet cable that are in the walls of my house where put there when it was built over 20yrs ago.
You get full 1gbit speed and it just runs.

Wifi even when it is working fine has lots of random problem and since it is a complex device knows when some driver is going to get messed up.