Usb wifi/ PCI wifi adaptors.

Crzwaco

Crzwaco

New member
Anyone use a wifi adaptor before are they any good?

Moving to a place where I don't want to add ethernet cable,
I normally use my laptop to supply my desktop with wifi for internet but since this is going to be for a bit longer would rather outfit my pc with wifi capibility.

You know since win 10 sees the connection as ethernet and not wifi it can't be metered.
 
I've used both USB and PCI WiFi adapers. It's all the same really, what I don't like about USB based is that you end up sacrificing a USB port on a near permanent basis. Unless you have super fast WiFi 802.11ac and a crappy USB 2.0 port/adapter you won't actually notice anything.

For reference I have a Netgear USB WiFi adapter (802.11n) and a cheap 802.11ac USB adapter and they both perform equally well.

I also had a Netgear 802.11a/b/g PCI adapter which performed reasonably well. The drivers we the biggest issue as it required some bloatware to work well.
 
And to add to this...

Some USB WiFi adapters will not work correctly under Linux no matter what you do.

The biggest constraints you will have is :

- OS support (as mentioned above)
- Operating frequencies (cheaper devices will be 2.4 GHz only)
- External/User replaceable antennas (most USB devices will not have these)

If you just want a cheap thing that will work :

http://www.dx.com/p/k11-mini-ieee-8...i-fi-usb-2-0-dongle-black-147188#.We3jqWiCyUk
 
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I agree with Psyco, added to that I think that unless you are going to be near the Wifi AP get a PCI Card so you can get bigger antennae if you need to its also more future proof if you end up in a different setup distance etc..
 
You can force your LAN to be seen as metered by fiddling with your registry. I've done it on my machine, useful for capped accounts :)

Otherwise yea I have used the netgear usb dongle that comes with some of the routers, and it worked ok. We've had some clients have usb wifi dongles break on them, but I reckon thats a client issue since they tended to not be very gentle with hardware.

Also want to agree that drivers can be a pain sometimes...
 
Crzwaco said:
Anyone use a wifi adaptor before are they any good?

Moving to a place where I don't want to add ethernet cable,
I normally use my laptop to supply my desktop with wifi for internet but since this is going to be for a bit longer would rather outfit my pc with wifi capibility.

You know since win 10 sees the connection as ethernet and not wifi it can't be metered.
Click to expand...

If you want more control over your network you can get Glasswire or Netbalancer. They allow you to limit, track and block applications from using your data.

I personally use Netbalancer and it really helps out a lot. When I game I just limit all the other applications so I know im save.

Also as for a a USB WiFi adaptor, I just like it because I can use it on other devices. But the internal WiFi cards are stronger and more stable.
 
I'm really interested in this thread. My PC is also too far away from my router to have a cable. At the moment the wifi barely reaches the PC though, so speeds are severly slowed down. This is due to it being upstairs and my router being down stairs. Perhaps I should look at a USB wifi device with an antenna.
 
DieGrootHammer said:
I'm really interested in this thread. My PC is also too far away from my router to have a cable. At the moment the wifi barely reaches the PC though, so speeds are severly slowed down. This is due to it being upstairs and my router being down stairs. Perhaps I should look at a USB wifi device with an antenna.
Click to expand...

Either run a cable to upstairs and slap in a wireless access point or do Powerline ethernet.
 
PsychoFish said:
Either run a cable to upstairs and slap in a wireless access point or do Powerline ethernet.
Click to expand...

Be carefull with Powerline Ethernet we have one and it worked great then some wires got changed and not its really spotty.
Thanks for all the input looking more carefully at them. Also no dlink then.
The places in kim only have ones supported till win 7.
 
Yea my Network has the option to be seen as Metered, and its Ethernet. so either Windows changed how it works, or my registry thing is still viable after the Fall update :)
 
USB wireless adapter is shit for fps.
Works fine for heroes of the storm.

My desktop/laptop wireless setup is better for fps.
 
I used to stay upstairs in a old house with really thick floors and walls , router was downstairs, I slapped 8 dbi antennae on the router and on my pci wifi card and tweaked the antennae directions using some software watching Signal Db. Mileage is going to vary on lots of factors but if your not going to run a cable that's where you will want to start. Also it helps to lower the band to 20Mhz to start with and see what kind of connection you get.
 
B1nary said:
I used to stay upstairs in a old house with really thick floors and walls , router was downstairs, I slapped 8 dbi antennae on the router and on my pci wifi card and tweaked the antennae directions using some software watching Signal Db. Mileage is going to vary on lots of factors but if your not going to run a cable that's where you will want to start. Also it helps to lower the band to 20Mhz to start with and see what kind of connection you get.
Click to expand...

Cool changed some settings will check if its beter now in fps.
 
The biggest issue with WiFi will ALWAYS be latency and you have near to nothing you can do to make this better besides moving closer to the AP
 
PsychoFish said:
The biggest issue with WiFi will ALWAYS be latency and you have near to nothing you can do to make this better besides moving closer to the AP
Click to expand...

You can get the latency pretty low 2-5ms , other than physical objects being a pain in the ass interference is a big cause of latency, yes wifi can be real fickle try not to fart the wrong direction :D
 
Crzwaco said:
Cool changed some settings will check if its beter now in fps.
Click to expand...

Run a continuous ping to a server or even Google's public dns and see what it is over a Min or so, does the wifi or usb dongle have software that you can check signal strength on ?
 
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