USB 1 and 802.11

Depends. If you're just sharing an internet connection, the USB adapter is probably okay since it's up to 12Mbs (1.5MBs). Not the best, but okay. If you're wanting file and printer sharing on a LAN, USB 1 is slow.

Do you know how easy and cheap it is to add a NIC?

Reply to
Rôgêr
Loading thread data ...

The easiest way for me to get an older computer on the network is with a

802.11 adapter that plugs into USB. However the computer has USB 1, not USB
  1. Will this compromise my network speed? It's a 700 MHz box.

Thanks

Reply to
Peter Aitken

If he runs 802.11b, the 11Mbps signal lines up nicely with the performance of USB 1.1. True about the local sharing, but then he'd have to have

802.11g to take advatage of the higher USB speed.

For just surfing the web, my DLink DWL-122 802.11b USB is the same speed as my Orinoco Cardbus card, or direct wired. The DSL is the slow link.

The PCI wireless card is lower performance sometimes, due to poor antenna positioning on the wrong side of the downstairs PC, 1 inch away from the PC case, blocked from a view of the antenna. That would be another argument in favor of the USB dongle. With the short cable that came with my DLink, I can position the dongle well above the PC case. I can even put a reflector behind it or around it, to improve the signal.

A normal sized USB adapter would have a better antenna, and be able to take advantage of reflectors like the Windsurfer EZ-12, normally used at the router end.

I just built a "windsurfer" for my Netgear router, for a cost of nearly nothing. I printed the template on the backside of some discarded HP photo paper, used a glue stick to paste some aluminum foil to it, and I was done... It took me about twenty minutes because I kept dropping the assembly on the floor as I was trying to tape it together.

formatting link
EZ-12
formatting link
The signal with the reflector is not only 13dB stronger, it's more stable.

--

Reply to
dold

Cabling-Design.com Forums website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.