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Thread: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

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    Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I am a total noob at networking, I have never understood it really so I have always just used increasingly long ethernet cables. Now I have finished uni and am moving back in with my parents for a couple of months I need internet access and somehow I don't think they are going to let me use my 25 metre long ethernet cable . So I am going to have to bite the bullet and start using wireless. I hate the idea of wireless because I can't see how it can work just as good as a wired connection for applications such as games (but that is a whole different debate).

    So I need a wireless card for my desktop. Problem is my dearly beloved desktop has no pci slots available, unless I take out the massive heatsink on my graphics card which I don't want to do. That leaves me with one free PCI-e slot. The only PCI-e wireless adaptor I can find is this one. There is an 8 quid one on scan but that won't work with windows 7 and I don't trust something that is 8 quid. The decent PCI-e wireless adaptor costs 50 odd quid . I don't mind spending that if it works just like a wired connection. Because when I move out I will just use that rather loony ethernet cables. If it doesn't work like a wired connection is there a cheaper alternative, or can I use some sort of external device?

    I am open to any suggestions.

    Thanks Hexus!

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    it may be worth while looking into Ethernet over power-lines, not something I've tried myself, but I'm sure someone on here has played around with it.

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    c.ruel (11-06-2010)

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I heard something about this, it's when you connect to your network via the mains right? Some of the adaptors look really cheap, e.g. this one, while some look expensive, e.g. this one. Does anyone know whether it is worth investing in a more expensive one? Also could I damage the powerlines in my dad's house some how? I think that would annoy him more than a really long ethernet cable!

    Thanks again, and good idea circuitmonkey thanks!

    EDIT: Just done some reading and realise that I have to buy two of them . Basically that means homeplugs are going to come to the same price as a PCI-e wireless adaptor, if I go for something likethis, or slightly less if I go for something like this. Which one should I go for!?

    Thanks in advance
    Last edited by peterb; 11-06-2010 at 09:16 AM. Reason: More appropriate adjective!

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    i use this:
    http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Edima...dapter-150Mbps

    plug and play, and i've never noticed a different between it and wired in terms of games, probably only 2ms at worst (and in cod:mw2 iwnet is so bad anyway that doesn't make a difference)

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    Mate, I stopped playing MW2 because of that. No dedicated servers was baddddddddd move. Thanks for the suggestion ... ALOT cheaper.
    Last edited by peterb; 11-06-2010 at 09:14 AM. Reason: Removed language inappropriate in technical thread!

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    With a bit of creative thinking, you can hide an ethernet cable quite easily, and it will out-perform wireless or powerline adaptors in terms of speed and reliability.
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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I bought an edimax card for about £18 from scan 4 years ago and its still going strong, i'd recommend any of the edimax range

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I think there are some pretty cheap usb solutions avialible if you google around.

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    Avoid Linksys if you can. I have an 802.11g PCI card of theirs, connected to 802.11g WPA2 network, and it's fine for browsing the web but completely unacceptable for gaming and disgusting for using bittorrent. Once I open uTorrent I am unable to connect to anything, even if I set the bandwidth to 10% of my upload from my ISP.

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I decided to get some homeplugs in the end. Got to admit so far I am really impressed. I have used them to browse the web, stream, skype and also a bit of gaming. I played counter strike 1.6 with them and I can be pretty fussy about me ping and they were fine. They do seem to get really hot, but that doesn't so far seem to have caused any problems, I have had them on for a few days straight now and again doesn't seemt o cause any problems (although I do try to turn them off at night to give them a chance to cool down).

    Thanks for the advice guys, seems to have worked out very well.

    p.s I got these ones from scan if anyone is interested. They are like an older model but I got them because I thought they might run cooler than other versions.

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    Quote Originally Posted by c.ruel View Post
    I am a total noob at networking, I have never understood it really so I have always just used increasingly long ethernet cables. Now I have finished uni and am moving back in with my parents for a couple of months I need internet access and somehow I don't think they are going to let me use my 25 metre long ethernet cable . So I am going to have to bite the bullet and start using wireless. I hate the idea of wireless because I can't see how it can work just as good as a wired connection for applications such as games (but that is a whole different debate).

    So I need a wireless card for my desktop. Problem is my dearly beloved desktop has no pci slots available, unless I take out the massive heatsink on my graphics card which I don't want to do. That leaves me with one free PCI-e slot. The only PCI-e wireless adaptor I can find is this one. There is an 8 quid one on scan but that won't work with windows 7 and I don't trust something that is 8 quid. The decent PCI-e wireless adaptor costs 50 odd quid . I don't mind spending that if it works just like a wired connection. Because when I move out I will just use that rather loony ethernet cables. If it doesn't work like a wired connection is there a cheaper alternative, or can I use some sort of external device?

    I am open to any suggestions.

    Thanks Hexus!
    The £8 you are on about does work in Windows 7. Abit Airpace i assume?
    Just use the driver for the ATHEROS 5600X instead and it works fine.

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    Re: Help! Need advice on a wireless card.

    I've seen some USB cards with mega aerials built in / or try the power over ethenet things

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