basically ive got a normal desktop pc . its running just as i want it and has all the progs on it just as i want it . im moving house on friday and am going to be staying at my mums for 2 months till me and the girlfriend move in together . now my mum has wireless internet and the router is down stairs . my computer is going to be in the spare bedroom up stairs so theres no chance of my putting a lead between the both so im going to have to get one of those wireless USB adaptors .

looked in argos and they have some belkin ones for sale . theres 3 different ones . one is up to 56 mbps , ones upto 150 mbps and the other is upto 300 mbps .

how do i know which one i want ?

is it to do with the broadband speed my mum has got ? or the speed my PC runs at ?

i dont want to go and buy the best one and then find my pc would never run above 100 mbps anyway etc ? so just needed a bit of help understanding what mbps means etc

the spec of the PC if needed is 160gb HD and 2 gb ram ? well 2 gb something . my mate said its the speed the processor works ? i will find out the broadband my mums got if needed.

i just dont want to get one , and then it takes 10 mins for the PC to change page etc ?

hope this makes sense to someone lol

 

i use the pc for surfing the net etc , downloading music and the odd film but it takes all night at the moment to get a film through so im not bothered on the speed in that dept , more to do with how quick i can go to different pages etc ? if you know what i mean

 

if your wireless is 54mg get one to match

just get a belkin USB

 

54 meg is more than enough, i bet you can only connect at up to 8 meg on internet connection anyway

 

just get a 54mbps one as that is the most common type. Will work fine. Either Belkin or netgear

 

This will be what you require mate:

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...8&category_oid=

Should do everything you need it to do and not a bad price either.

Tim

 

lovely. so is it to do with what mbps the router is then ? i will have to check .

in the argos book it says the 54 is for occassional user? and the next one up i think is 128ish is what i need for viewing vids etc ?

so if i get the 54 i wont notice my PC being any slower then ?

 

It's all about hte lowest common denominator.

The speed you actually download from the internet is dictated by the connection between the router and the phone exchange down the road. This is anything between 1 and 16Mbps.

The speed your computer communicates with the router is anything between 10 and 100Mbps for an ethernet cable, and between 11 and 128Mbps for wireless (Wi-Fi).

The maximum speed your computer communicates with the router is dictated by the lowest speed of the two - so if your computer has a 128Mbps wireless card and the router only works at 54Mbps, your computer will only talk to the router at 54Mbps. This connection has almost no bearing on your connection 'speed' to websites, etc, because as you read above, the router's connection to the internet is much slower - so even if you have a 128Mbps wireless card and router, you'll only actually get data from the internet at 8Mbps (for example).

Hope this helps. If not, think of it this way - you have a 600bhp Cossie that can top 180. But you're stuck on a 30mph road.

a 54Mbps wireless card/USB device will be more than adequate.

 

lovely . i will get a belkin from argos . Ł20 job done . cheers !!!!

and id love to have a 600bhp cossie on any road lol

 

Does your mum actually have a wireless broadband router or just the standard free USB modem most companies provide? A 54G connection is currently the most popular and is fine for general internet use, however if you like to stream any HD content then it will not be up to the job. Thats where the higher speed 108mbps+ connectors come in, they offer a higher data rate than 54G as well a stronger signal.

Many on here belive that 54G transmits at 54mbps, which is incorrect. The speed rate decreases the further away from the router you are, and concrete walls can also restrict the signal range as well. The typical average speed of a 54G wireless connection is around 15-20mbps and depends on the make and model of the wireless device.

The belkin device should be ok, my mum actually uses one and it has been fine since it was installed.

 

Wireless (wifi) speed isn't down to what speed the broadband is - it's to do with the speed of the hardware. Wireless only really comes in three formats for the home user (there are variations, but three are the most common), and these are all based on the 802.11 protocol. 802.11b, 802.11g, and the newest, and still not a strict protocol is 802.11n. .11b transfers at upto 11Mbps, .11g upto 54g, and .11n can acheive speeds upto 300Mbps (country code dependant)

the good news is, even if you don't know what speed your router can run at, they are backwards compatible. IE, G routers can work with B cards. (N can also work with G + B, but only if the frequency is set to 2.4Ghz and not 5Ghz)

Some routers, like the Netgear "Super G" routers use two channels to send two G signals to create a 108Mbps signal....

If you can post the model number of the router someone can tell you what adapter to get.

My laptop has an internal card and is only B speed, so only gets 11Mbps but is fine for surfing and even the odd programme download, and manages okay streaming music and video... My router is a Netgear that is B+G compatible (and 108Mbps Super-G) so works with my laptop fine....

 

If you mean streaming anything (HD or otherwise) from the internet then you're wrong - a 108mbps wireless adapter and router won't make the internet enter your home at 108mbps. That's merely the connection between the router/access point and the computer - the internet will still enter your home at a relatively meagre 8mbps (for the sake of argument).

If you mean stream from one computer in your house to another one in your house, then arguably yes, the faster the better, because the actual throughput will decrease with each additional station that adds traffic to the network.

 

all i meant is watching you tubes vids etc ?

and of course some porn every no and again , when my mums out lol

i will be ropping some stuff of round therer later so i will post up the model number etc . i think she got it with sky about a year ago ?

 

54G will be ideal for what you need.

 

Woodz,

dont get confused with all the lingo written above mate. For normal internet use such as youtube and a bit porn, emails, PassionFord then the normal 54mbps wireless usb dongle is good enough.

 

I am talking purely streaming one proper HD source from a computer to another computer. Typcially the video can run at 15-22mbps and then audio can be another 1.5mbps, so as said beyond 54G rates. IF you are going to stream HD why would you not choose a 300mbps router and card combo?

 

If I were to stream video from my machine upstairs to the one downstairs, I'd use the gigabit ethernet I already have

 

have you thought about using one of these. Far quicker and more reliable than normal Wireless.

uses your houses internal power cables!

VERY VERY easy to use. no setup required. Even I could do it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-Micro...3743835&sr=8-1

This is exactly what you need I think

I hardly ever use my Wireless anymore now I have these. really impressed with them. SOOO easy.

 

lee,

not that easy on some wiring circuits in homes

 

oh ok. Works great for me though. Really impressive. I have a BThome Hub2 and a Netgear wireless hub.. this blows the socks off both of them in my house.

 

let me do the netgear config and then we can compare

 

I know quite a few people that use homeplugs as a replacement for wifi connections for PS3's (seems some games don't like wifi connections) and have said good things about them. I have also heard of some having problems due to dodgy/old/strange wiring tho, as Ranj pointed out. I was going to use a pair for my media PC downstairs (my router is upstairs) but then got hold of 25m of cat5 for nowt

I do like having wifi, but only use it for my laptop and iPhone. It's nice to be able to sit in the garden in summer and surf the web and stream tunes from my server to my laptop, or sit/lie in bed browsing, but I don't think I'd rely on it as a main connection. You know where are with cables

 

It will most probably be a Netgear DG834GT, the same as what I've got.

 

 

More than likely yes. The DG834GT is a nice and simple router to set up, all very intuative. I managed to get hold of a Sky branded one for nowt off a pal, and figured out how to flash the Sky-restricted firmware off it and re-flash with stock Netgear firmware, so now it's "unlocked" and set it up for my mum's Orange broadband