Wifi and adapters

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Yoda_NZ
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Wifi and adapters

Post by Yoda_NZ » Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:48 am

Previously I have had my computer connected directly to my router. Unfortunately a room move for my computer equipment means that now I have to connect wirelessly (no chance of running a cable at this stage). I had an old Cisco USB wireless adapter, which works but the signal strength is low so it is bound to be laggy.

Is anyone running using wireless ok?

My router is old, so I am thinking of upgrading that to something more power full and getting a new adapter as well. Any recommendations?

Gamuz
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Gamuz » Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:30 am

I an using wireless with the Vodafone router and it works well, the car is slow but that's because of me ha ha.

Yoda_NZ
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Yoda_NZ » Mon Jan 20, 2014 11:36 am

What model of router was it?
Gamuz wrote: the car is slow but that's because of me ha ha.
There goes another excuse for me

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Riftcreator
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Riftcreator » Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:41 pm

For a long time I used a TP Link internal wireless card with an additional TP Link antenna, which made a huge difference in signal. Ran through an old D Link 604T router. Never had any issues.

The extra Antenna was a big help in boosting the signal strength. Mounted it to the top of the monitor for better height.

When I got some work done under the house (EQC repairs) I had a cable run to both spare rooms. To be honest, there has been no difference in connection quality.

Yoda_NZ
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Yoda_NZ » Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:57 pm

So something like http://www.globalpc.co.nz/computers/net ... 28018.aspx

I guess it is better to replace the adapter first, then if necessary the router

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Maniak
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Maniak » Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:35 pm

I'm using Cisco linksys EA2700 and the Cisco WUSB600N adapters without issue - can go to 5Ghz to minimize interference. The only think I'd like is to go up one more model and get a USB connection on the router so I could drop in a shared drive for the family to use.

Yoda_NZ
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Yoda_NZ » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:33 pm

Cheers for that

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Bold
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Bold » Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:19 pm

If your current router is not wireless N, upgrade it now. The N standard has a lot better range.

Otherwise a good adapter with external antenna is a good bet.

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Riven
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Riven » Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:52 pm

Bold wrote:If your current router is not wireless N, upgrade it now. The N standard has a lot better range.

Otherwise a good adapter with external antenna is a good bet.
N introduces multipath which gives the impression of better range by bouncing of various objects.
All wifi cards and chipsets using N run at a lower output power than B or G which reduces range.

So if you have a model that only has one aerial then N will not increase your range but rather reduce it.

Also bear in mind that if all your neighbours are using multipath N, then the chances are that everyone is using all 3 channels that are available which can cause major headaches in dense housing environments.

The other factor is how many devices are going to be attached to the AP, the more devices the more the AP has to time slice between each one.

Yoda_NZ
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Re: Wifi and adapters

Post by Yoda_NZ » Mon Jan 20, 2014 7:40 pm

There would be 5 to 6 devices connecting. iPhones, tablets, laptop plus the PC.

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