help a silver surfer!

I have a desktop pc with no wireless capability. Should I go for a USB adaptor - or a PCI(?) card? Which is best?

TIA

Shiela S

Reply to
ShielaS
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On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 20:23:12 -0000, "ShielaS" wrote in :

Depends on what your needs are, and what you mean by best? Best price? Best size? Best range? Best support? Remember: fast ... cheap ... good. Pick at most two.

Reply to
John Navas

You can probably get a better one for PCI, but USB is easier

Reply to
RBM

Ethernet (wireless Ethernet client bridge) is arguably the "best" of all, if "best" is taken to mean quality, stability and performance, but not if "best" is taken to mean cheapest.

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 17:09:31 -0500, "RBM" wrote in :

Reply to
John Navas

And , so your recommendation to Silver Surfer is ?????

Reply to
RBM

See my first response in this thread:

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 17:35:17 -0500, "RBM" wrote in :

Reply to
John Navas

Dunno about that - depends on what you consider "client bridging".

A WRT-54G v8 running DD-WRT in their interpretation of client bridge mode is actually cheaper than most USB adapters. Seems to run very well - the USB adapters that are cheaper also seem to die young...

-- Les Cargill

Reply to
Les Cargill

I keep seeing on a variety of newsgroups all this talk about what an ass John Navas is. Now I get it

Reply to
RBM

But Les, forget about Navas, what do you recommend for Silver Surfer, who probably just wants decent wireless internet access

Reply to
RBM

Thank you, Mr. Pot. ;)

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 18:04:29 -0500, "RBM" wrote in :

Reply to
John Navas

On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:52:12 -0500, Les Cargill wrote in :

WRT-54G @ $45

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USB dongle @ $20
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What am I missing?

Reply to
John Navas

We really don't know what the OP needs/wants -- you're just guessing, and trying to cover your donkey. ;)

On Sun, 3 Feb 2008 18:12:26 -0500, "RBM" wrote in :

Reply to
John Navas

I hadn't seen that one. Best price I'd seen in box stores was on the order of $35. It was a Dynex that lasted about 30 days.

I don't even remember seeing "TRENDnet" products when I was looking at this last November-December. Wasn't looking at Newegg, though. The nest price point for thumb adapters is about $69 - less than the WRT-54G.

*If that one's robust*, it's obviously cheaper. Having carted two thumb adapters back to stores... I'm skeptical :)

-- Les Cargill

Reply to
Les Cargill

On Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:12:34 -0500, Les Cargill wrote in :

It works well in my experience (taking the small antenna into consideration).

Reply to
John Navas

Hey, I don't have a donkey. and I'm happy to see those guys are wrong, you do have a soul

Reply to
RBM

They all have their issues. Some are worse than others but most work well enough.

But you really don't post enough detail for anyone to be able to answer you effectively. You don't say what kind of desktop (mac, win98, xp, vista, linux?). You don't mention if it can even USE a PCI card or a USB adapter (some older PCs might not have a USB port, or one that's stuck at 1.1 speeds).

Reply to
Bill Kearney

Both the ones I had simply failed outright.

-- Les Cargill

Reply to
Les Cargill

Sheila, WiFi travels in mysterious ways and you don't always get a good signal where you need it, and sometimes couple of inches makes all the difference. The problem with PCI cards is that it is likely to be positioned under a desk or at least low down and the computer case itself shields the aerial. And you can't very well put it where it would work best. In my experience and USB adaptor with stand and length of cable (can be up to 5m) is the best solution. You can easily position it where you get the best signal, often higher is better, and if need be you can put a simple V folded card covered with aluminium foil on a side behind the USB dongle. D-Link G122 works so well for me, I bought 2 more now. Regards, Martin

Reply to
Martin²

On Feb 3, 9:27 pm, "Martin=B2" wrote: =2E....you don't always get a good signal where

Agreed. The USB solution will generally be the cheapest/easiest.

The PCI card, no matter how powerful, is stuck behind the pc unless you get an extension antenna. By then, it's not cheap. And it's limited to desktops only,

The wireless ethernet bridge solution is perhaps a bit more to setup, but is the most powerful and flexible solution. Because it connects to your pc by ethernet cable, you can put a 5,10 or 300 foot cable on it and set the radio/antenna where ever it works right. You can also use it later in a different installation for a laptop (as also with the USB) or for other purposes as an AP.

Newegg has some cheap ethernet bridge/APs that get good ratings from users (I have not used these ones) and do not require getting involverd with the replacement firmware that the suggested Linksys requires:

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?Item=3DN82E16817201523 Cheers, Steve

Reply to
seaweedsteve

Isn't that always the way? ;-)

Thank you Martin, you answered my question perfectly and simply - I think i'll go with USB adaptor. And thanks for not trying to blind me with science, and not using my post to score points! ;-) Shiela S

Reply to
ShielaS

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