Wireless Adaptor

[stuck]

not the most interesting of purchases but I need a new wireless card as my current card (D-Link DWL-580) doesn't support WPA-PSK and the pre-configured router sent by new ISP uses that encryption. Can someone recommend a decent and reliable card for me that has a decent aerial on it please? Thanks very much

[Mossy]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=754472

If you want PCI

[staffsMike]

Well if you don't need draft N then the above looks good.

If you don't I have a couple of these and they are pretty much perfect, plug and play with vista 32/64bit, works flawlessly with XP.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=457260

[Webby]

I have this

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=631616

Again uses n and it has worked flawlessly for me under XP no use of Vista so can't comment on that.

[stuck]

how much do you want for one of those asus cards mike?

thanks for the replies

[staffsMike]

Sorry if it's worded like I'm selling them, they are all in use.

It's the best £11 I've spent on my PC though, trouble free

[stuck]

the position i'm in now then is whether or not to splash out on a draft n or not. I am getting 2/4 bars signal with my current card but my laptop gets 100% so the signal strength might be better with a new card. What are the benefits of a draft n? just full signal? and if full signal is the only benefit, what is the benefit of full signal? if that makes sense. Thanks again

[staffsMike]

If the router is draft N you will get a big bandwidth difference. If it's not.. nothing.

[Thorsson]

Also IMO I'd get a card by the same manufacturer as your Router. All the tests I've seen suggest that this gets you better bandwidth in the majority of cases (unless you have a crap router!).

One other thought - even if your router is not draft N today, are you thinking of upgrading it? I know I am, and would buy a draft N card if I was buying today.

[stuck]

the router is made by thompson and is by all accounts, ****.

so in that case I will be buying a differently branded card. It's interesting that having a draft n card only makes any difference if you have a draft n router.

It's also interesting that I asked for a router with a 'decent aerial' and the guy from scan replied with a card twice as expensive as a normal one but with lots of pretty little aerials splattered all over it but with no mention of the need for a draft n router for all those aerials to make the slightest bit of difference ... no offence to paul if he didn't himself know this and respect anyway for trying to flog me the most expensive card on offer

[Webby]

n uses 3 signals at the same time to boost bandwidth hence the 3 aerials if you notice the edimax one I linked also had 3.

Personally I would get an n one so if you upgrade in the future you will be set. My edimax to a dlink access point runs at 270Mbps which makes streaming HD content around the house a doddle

[looney]

I have a linksys wmp54g and its pretty much flawless

[stuck]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=457260

anyone know where i can get one of these? and how staffsmike got one for 11quid!?

[stuck]

or if these are any good:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=152539

the guy in the local computer shop tried to sell me one of these for 20 quid

[staffsMike]

It was just £11 at the time, I think I actually got one on a today only for £10

[stuck]

i'd buy one anyway if it was in stock