Wireless Card or USB Wireless Dongle?

[Terranullis]

Hello everyone!

I'm moving my computer into my room and for various reasons I won't be able to run an Ethernet cable to the PC. In your opinion(s)/experience(s) should I get a Wireless card or a USB wireless dongle? I have had no real experience with using either except for built in wireless for a laptop.

Also if I get this ASUS USB-N53 Dual Band Wireless N USB Adaptor will it work with my Belkin Router?

Your help is appreciated.

[Rebbel]

I have yoused something for xbox elite its 2 wall plugins that has 2 ethernet cables one ethernet cable plugs in to the modem while anonther plugs in directly to your CPU or whatever. they should sell it at your nearest frys elcetronics or bestbuy.

[mercutiouk]

OP: Take a look at "homeplug" or "powerline". It's generally MUCH more reliable than wireless. You stick on in a power socket near your router the other in another other socket in the house and voilà, instant internet.

Generally though - I'd prefer a proper wireless card with an antenna on a lead (so you can find the best signal) over a USB stick most of the time.

[Terranullis]

OP: Take a look at "homeplug" or "powerline". It's generally MUCH more reliable than wireless. You stick on in a power socket near your router the other in another other socket in the house and voilà, instant internet.

I was talking to my Dad about it and he said a few of his work friends have tried it and it wasn't that great, but I'll take another look at it cheers.

[mercutiouk]

I was talking to my Dad about it and he said a few of his work friends have tried it and it wasn't that great, but I'll take another look at it cheers.

It does vary a bit. It basically uses the earth pin in your mains wiring. In some places the earth pin is shared over several properties which obviously means LONG cable runs and we all know what that generally means for data.

If you are in a detached property (as opposed to an appartment or terraced/semi detached house) you should be good. I've had luck even in terraces/appartments before, depends on the property. My current house IS crap tho so i'd definitely not be an advocate if this was my only experience with them. Had em in 3 other places before and they've worked a charm.
Speed wise - the top rated ones are generally good for 100mb at least, don't expect what it says on the box though

[Wrestler10307]

Well how good a powerline setup works depends on the age of the house/how it is wired (and distance you're relying on the house wiring, shorter distances typically result in better performance,) and the powerline units you buy.

About a year ago I moved my PC from the home office into my room and I had to either get a wireless card or powerline. Powerline resulted in roughly the same speeds I would have got from a wireless connection, but it was much more responsive with lower pings vs wireless.

You might want to look into wiring the house for ethernet, since almost everything now can utilize an internet connection (TV, Xbox, streaming boxes, etc.) I recently did this from the office into my room and I'm getting the full speed we pay for. I use the spare powerline boxes for when friends are over.

If you do go wireless though, I'd probably opt for an internal card with an external antenna, depending on how far you are from the wireless router.

[Terranullis]

Well how good a powerline setup works depends on the age of the house/how it is wired (and distance you're relying on the house wiring, shorter distances typically result in better performance,) and the powerline units you buy.

About a year ago I moved my PC from the home office into my room and I had to either get a wireless card or powerline. Powerline resulted in roughly the same speeds I would have got from a wireless connection, but it was much more responsive with lower pings vs wireless.

You might want to look into wiring the house for ethernet, since almost everything now can utilize an internet connection (TV, Xbox, streaming boxes, etc.) I recently did this from the office into my room and I'm getting the full speed we pay for. I use the spare powerline boxes for when friends are over.

If you do go wireless though, I'd probably opt for an internal card with an external antenna, depending on how far you are from the wireless router.

Thanks for the input! Rewiring the house isn't really an option for me, I'm still living at home and my parents are more than happy to use wireless.

[kidsafe]

I recently tested Homeplug AV+ 500 adapters from Trendnet and performance was abysmal. My house was built in 1991 so it's not ancient. It has modern wiring and the distance between the two plugs was one moderately long hallway. Either because of the complexity of my electrical system (big house in general,) or because I have special AFCI breakers, the throughput was limited to ~8mbps.

With 802.11n on a 5GHz band 40MHz wide channel I get >50mbps at the same distance.

Anyone who says powerline is more reliable than wireless probably doesn't have much experience with either.

[Terranullis]

I recently tested Homeplug AV+ 500 adapters from Trendnet and performance was abysmal. My house was built in 1991 so it's not ancient. It has modern wiring and the distance between the two plugs was one moderately long hallway. Either because of the complexity of my electrical system (big house in general,) or because I have special AFCI breakers, the throughput was limited to ~8mbps.

With 802.11n on a 5GHz band 40MHz wide channel I get >50mbps at the same distance.

Anyone who says powerline is more reliable than wireless probably doesn't have much experience with either.

Ok thanks! Although I would still like opinions on Card vs. Dongle!

[oplawlz]

Wireless card hands down. The option to swap out antennas alone is worth any hassle putting the thing in.

[mercutiouk]

I recently tested Homeplug AV+ 500 adapters from Trendnet and performance was abysmal. My house was built in 1991 so it's not ancient. It has modern wiring and the distance between the two plugs was one moderately long hallway. Either because of the complexity of my electrical system (big house in general,) or because I have special AFCI breakers, the throughput was limited to ~8mbps.

With 802.11n on a 5GHz band 40MHz wide channel I get >50mbps at the same distance.

Anyone who says powerline is more reliable than wireless probably doesn't have much experience with either.

Well, if you'd read the thread i've used it with both, pointed out my previous and current experiences with powerline and gave a reason for the performance drop. Rather than dropping an "anyone who disagree's is wrong" type statement you should perhaps realise that one attempted application of a tech failing doesn't really count as omnipotent experience.

Your house may well have been build in the last 30 years. There's a damn good chance it's using shared earth too. Take one of your adapters, knock on next doors house, see if the powerline adapter works there too. If so, it's shared earth and you'll definitely find powerline pathetic. As you suggested though, yup, other reasons it could be not playing nicely with your mains wiring.

I'm not a HUGE advocate of powerline (well, maybe) but i've had experience using it in 4 houses and only in my most recent was it a problem. Compared to how damned random wireless CAN be (yup, some folks will have rock solid wireless forever) I found it very stable.

---------- Post added 2012-06-23 at 05:35 AM ----------

Wireless card hands down. The option to swap out antennas alone is worth any hassle putting the thing in.

But yeah, that's 3/3 suggesting card with external antenna. You can put some pretty hairy antenna on most cards tbh.

[Yousend]

I recently tested Homeplug AV+ 500 adapters from Trendnet and performance was abysmal. My house was built in 1991 so it's not ancient. It has modern wiring and the distance between the two plugs was one moderately long hallway. Either because of the complexity of my electrical system (big house in general,) or because I have special AFCI breakers, the throughput was limited to ~8mbps.

With 802.11n on a 5GHz band 40MHz wide channel I get >50mbps at the same distance.

Anyone who says powerline is more reliable than wireless probably doesn't have much experience with either.

From personal experience, wireless is less reliable because of interference. We used to use wireless, but my brother would constantly lose connection, granted he's quite far away from the router and the microwave was in the middle of the two devices. OP, I'd recommend you check both options, try a powerline or wireless and return it within the 30 days or whatever.

[chazus]

I recently tested Homeplug AV+ 500 adapters from Trendnet and performance was abysmal.

the throughput was limited to ~8mbps.

>.>
<.<
Your 'abysmal' throughput is more than 2x faster than my internet connection.

I guess unless you have like a 20mbit internet connection... 8mbps is fine O_o

[PixelFox]

USB Wireless adapters are AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL! I have horrible USB issues with other devices as a result. Can't use *any* USB headset with the AE1000 from Linksys.

Definitely get a PCI card version if you're doing wireless for a desktop system.

PF.

[Terranullis]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have not had much experience with Wireless cards.. would this http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=6603 work with a Belkin Router(DUAL-BAND N+ ROUTER
N750 DB)?

[Ciano]

I have a USB dongle. Haven't had any problems once I got it up and running. Mine came with a 5 foot USB extension cable, so the wireless device is perched atop my desk, giving it a better signal. When playing WoW, my ping varies from 30ms-70ms.

[Tampwn]

Ok thanks! Although I would still like opinions on Card vs. Dongle!

I was in the same position as you when researching all the parts for my latest rig for my new man cave. I didn't want to cut any corners and gets the best stuff I could. Naturally I thought that an actual wireless card that plugged directly into the mobo would be superior to a USB dongle. After I got the computer up and running I bought a Netgear USB dongle at Walmart for 35 bucks as a temporary solution until I could get a wireless card. So I started doing my research on which one seems to be a solid performer and for what price. But you know what? If you read the reviews for these cards on amazon and newegg there definitely less than stellar. Furthermore, the review for this particular dongle on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833704045 it has over 1,000 reviews at a solid five eggs, much better than any other wireless card I've done research on.

Long story short, I ended up keeping the dongle from Walmart. I have a 50 Mbps Internet connection and I get those exact speeds with this wireless dongle. I have had zero latency problems with my wow and home ping in game residing around 20-25 ms each. it's literally no different than when I was had wired to the modem. The particular dongle I got http://www.walmart.com/ip/NETGEAR-N1...apter/13994812 has a decent length USB cable and a little dock for it so you can position it anywhere on your desk for optimal signal strength. Or you can plug it directly into the pc and out of sight. The biggest complaint I saw reported on the cards were poor signal strength, dropping of signal and firmware issues and I'm happy to report I have none of those issues with mine. Hope this helps

[Terranullis]

.....

Long story short, I ended up keeping the dongle from Walmart. I have a 50 Mbps Internet connection and I get those exact speeds with this wireless dongle. I have had zero latency problems with my wow and home ping in game residing around 20-25 ms each. it's literally no different than when I was had wired to the modem. The particular dongle I got http://www.walmart.com/ip/NETGEAR-N1...apter/13994812 has a decent length USB cable and a little dock for it so you can position it anywhere on your desk for optimal signal strength. Or you can plug it directly into the pc and out of sight. The biggest complaint I saw reported on the cards were poor signal strength, dropping of signal and firmware issues and I'm happy to report I have none of those issues with mine. Hope this helps

Ok thanks! I will take it into consideration!

[kidsafe]

Your house may well have been build in the last 30 years. There's a damn good chance it's using shared earth too. Take one of your adapters, knock on next doors house, see if the powerline adapter works there too. If so, it's shared earth and you'll definitely find powerline pathetic. As you suggested though, yup, other reasons it could be not playing nicely with your mains wiring.

I live in a neighborhood where every house has 2-5 acre plots and were built by different contractors years or decades apart so it's very unlikely for this to be the case. I would have to walk 200 yards just to knock my my neighbor's door. That's another thing that makes wireless very nice here. WiFi network density is extremely low. I only ever see blips of some public wifi hotspots or the community college nearby.

---------- Post added 2012-06-23 at 05:27 AM ----------

>.>
<.<
Your 'abysmal' throughput is more than 2x faster than my internet connection.

I guess unless you have like a 20mbit internet connection... 8mbps is fine O_o

I have a 30/8mbps connection that is soon being bumped to 50/15mbps. 8mbps to me would have been acceptable for a WAN connection in 2001 maybe, not now. An 8mbps connection isn't even good enough to stream 1080p across a network. In fact it's questionable for higher bitrate 720p H.264 content. Spare bandwidth is also important as I run wireless Time Machine backups on multiple computers among other background network tasks.

[Terranullis]

Thanks for the feedback guys.. what I might do is go buy a Wireless Dongle and give that a go, if it doesn't work to well I'll return it and order a wireless card.