Wireless USB/PCI Adapters for Broadband & Network?

[n8an]

Hi guys. First of all: Happy New Year!! Let's hope it's a good one for all of us.


I could do with some pretty straight-forward advice... I've just upgraded my package with Orange broadband to 8mb and they sent me their 'livebox' moden which is compatable with wireless tech. I want to take advantage of it by getting a wireless PCI adapter/USB stick for both of my 2 PCs.

I've also been told that with both of my PCs connected to the same modem they'd be networked, so I could exchange files between them. In which case, I guess I should go for 2 wireless adapters with the highest poss speed (would 125mbps be uneccessary? :? ).

So, are there any which you'd recommend or avoid?

 

[Iceblue]

The

'livebox' moden which is compatable with wireless tech.

sounds like it might be a wireless router. If true, what you have been told is also true.

Generally, USB wireless sticks have marginal-to-crummy sensitivity. If your PCs do not have USB 2.0, they will be darned slow, too.

If you go with a PCI adapter or a USB adapter, make sure the antenna will disconnect, so you can add a high gain antenna if necessary. For USB, don't get a stick, instead get a true external adapter that connects via USB, so it can be positioned, etc., for best reception.

Now, if both of your PCs are in the same room as your wireless router, then you can probably get by with just about anything.

I'd recommend you stay with standard 802.11g adapters. The higher-speed stuff is mostly proprietary and non-standard, and unless your router supports the particular version, it won't work anyway. This proprietary 108, MIMO, draft-n is also over-hyped. It frequently performes WORSE than standard 11g if there are standard 11g signals it needs to connect with.

In terms of speed, a wired connection will be 4x faster (assuming 100base-T) than wireless, so if you can connect via ethernet cable, that is the easiest to set up, the fastest, and the most reliable.