What Wireless Card?

I

iRMatt

Bronze Level Poster
Hi all, I got a PCSpecialist PC last march and it's been great. One fault I made was not ordering a wi-fi card with my pc. Up until now i've used ethernet but it's becoming inconvenient for my family and so it's best that I get wireless.

My question is what wireless card should I get? I don't really know much about opening PCs so a USB one would be good, but if there is a big difference in the speed of a USB card vs a motherboard card, I can learn how to install one.

Price isn't too much of a problem, but I just want it to be able to do the job of giving stable ping on games!

Thanks in advance :)
 
I

iRMatt

Bronze Level Poster
keynes said:
Are homeplugs an option? It will be better than any wireless card
Click to expand...


Yes that's certainly an option, although I was under the impression home plugs were for extending the wireless whereas I literally need to be able to connect to wireless via adapter? I'm probably wrong with this though. Would the plugs enable me to connect wirelessly without having anything in my pc? Or is there plugs with something to put in the PC too?
 
keynes

keynes

Multiverse Poster
iRMatt said:
Yes that's certainly an option, although I was under the impression home plugs were for extending the wireless whereas I literally need to be able to connect to wireless via adapter? I'm probably wrong with this though. Would the plugs enable me to connect wirelessly without having anything in my pc? Or is there plugs with something to put in the PC too?
Click to expand...

You just need a pair of homeplugs to connect wirelessly
 
R

ricbai

Bronze Level Poster
We've got a set of TP-Link home plugs here and they work brilliantly - Virgin media comes into the house into the "faraday cage" extension (no wifi signals in or out of it!), the RJ45 is plugged straight from the Virgin Media box (setup in modem mode as having it in "router" mode breaks SSH: well done Virgin!) into one TP-Link homeplug. I've then got the other TP-homeplug in my office with our Draytek router plugged into it which also does wifi.

Basic homeplugs will take an ethernet signal ("internet"/"network") and just route it around your electrical system until it finds another homeplug. Some do have issues crossing ring mains - so if you have your upstairs and downstairs sockets on different electrical ring mains, it may not work (it might do - our extension is on a different ring main). Don't plug homeplugs into "surge protectors" as the surge protector will "smooth out" the ethernet signal stopping it working.

Most homeplugs nowadays come with encryption as standard so you don't need to worry about neighbours being able to pick up your signal (it's just a case of plug in one homeplug, press a button on it and then press the same button on the other homeplugs within a few minutes: you can do this with them plugged into sockets next to each other). More "advanced" homeplugs (such as the TP-Link ones we have) have "power passthru" which just means they have a socket on the front so you don't lose an electrical socket (handy for my office which has just 1 socket powering the homeplug, 2x monitors, 1x PCS PC, 1x router, 1x printer, 1x Drobo, 1x Raspberry Pi, 2x phone charger, 1x laptop!), others have wifi hotspot functionality (so if you need wifi at both ends of your house but have a wifi-obstructing metal wall or lots of distance in the middle, you don't need to worry) and some homeplugs have different speeds available.

Due to the deterioration of the signal though on the electrical system, there are range limits for homeplugs (similar to wireless - but think of the distance of the wires through your walls: and, going back to different ring mains, from socket A to your PDC then back out to socket B), but most of the time this shouldn't be an issue.

We got the TP-Link TL-PA4020PKIT AV500 Two-Port Powerline Adapter with AC Pass Through Starter Kit/Twin Pack : which provides power pass through, 2x LAN ports on each (only used one on each), 500Mbps throughput and 300m distance (984ft/328 yards: a football pitch is 130 yards!) for £47 via Amazon - but I know PCS do sell the HP5100 500Mbps Powerline AV Adapter Starter Kit for £55 (I don't know that the HP ones are like) which may be easier/better if you are ordering a new machine or upgrades (otherwise you'll have PCS' normal postage rates to pay as well).
 
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