Good WiFi adaptor

No1newts · 1 Dec 2017 at 17:55

hi all,

Can someone recommend me a good WiFi adaptor. Want the best I can get in terms of transfer speeds but it must be plug and play as I don’t have a CD drive on my PC.

Thanks!

new boy · 1 Dec 2017 at 19:33

what router do you have? How far is the pc from the router, and how many walls in the way etc.

No1newts · 2 Dec 2017 at 07:58

new boy said:
what router do you have? How far is the pc from the router, and how many walls in the way etc.

BT home hub router, probably 25-30 foot from the router, 2 walls in the way.

Thanks

joeyjojo · 4 Dec 2017 at 10:22

No1newts said:
Want the best I can get in terms of transfer speeds...

Need to be more specific here. The "best" is matching whatever your hub has (if it's the HH5 it's 3x3 MIMO 802.11ac, if it's the newer "Smart Hub" it's got an extra antenna, 4x4).

Assuming you mean the Smart Hub then from ocuk's range you're looking at on of these

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Asus PCE-AC88 Dual-Band AC3100 Wireless PCIe Adapter= £89.99

Total: £98.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

That'll give you the best chance of reaching the max 2167 Mbit/s.

However you probably don't actually want that

unless you want extreme LAN performance.

So probably a good idea to mention now your broadband speed as that's probably more important.

Also a budget, and USB or PCIe?

Enigma80 · 4 Dec 2017 at 14:32

Sorry to hijack, but I'm also looking at a good wifi adaptor. The one that came with my Virgin router (dual band) is USB2, so I see this as the bottle neck. Whether I'd simply benefit from a high-end adaptor like this one:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-usb-ac68-dual-band-ac1900-usb-wi-fi-adapter-nw-106-as.html

or whether any simple USB 3 adaptor would be enough? My broadband speed is 200Mbps, of which when running speedtest I get about 150Mbps at worst and around 198Mbps (around 12-15Mbps U/L) at best on the laptop and phone. However, on my desktop up stairs at the back of the house I'm getting a measly 30Mbps, sometimes only 12Mbps. Aside from streaming media and online gaming, I tend to share media across my laptop and desktop, and to my TV now and then.

I've thought about Powerline adaptors like the Netgear PLP1200, but I've read that 5Ghz wifi is much faster anyway.

Any help appreciated.

HEADRAT · 4 Dec 2017 at 15:28

joeyjojo said:
1 x Asus PCE-AC88 Dual-Band AC3100 Wireless PCIe Adapter= £89.99

Total: £98.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

That is a seriously expensive WIFI NIC!

neil_g · 4 Dec 2017 at 18:36

No1newts said:
BT home hub router, probably 25-30 foot from the router, 2 walls in the way.

Thanks

What sort of walls. Different materials and construction will have different amount of blocking of wireless signal.

Philtor · 4 Dec 2017 at 23:22

I got the Linksys WUSB6300-EJ a while back for £25. It's a USB 3.0 adapter and dual band. Works a charm.

No1newts · 5 Dec 2017 at 11:13

neil_g said:
What sort of walls. Different materials and construction will have different amount of blocking of wireless signal.

One is brick, other stud.

Philtor said:
I got the Linksys WUSB6300-EJ a while back for £25. It's a USB 3.0 adapter and dual band. Works a charm.

I’ll have a look, thanks

Edit: it needs a cd setup, I need just a plug and play. Haven’t bothered with a CD drive on my new build.

No1newts · 5 Dec 2017 at 11:19

joeyjojo said:
Need to be more specific here. The "best" is matching whatever your hub has (if it's the HH5 it's 3x3 MIMO 802.11ac, if it's the newer "Smart Hub" it's got an extra antenna, 4x4).

Assuming you mean the Smart Hub then from ocuk's range you're looking at on of these

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Asus PCE-AC88 Dual-Band AC3100 Wireless PCIe Adapter= £89.99

Total: £98.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

That'll give you the best chance of reaching the max 2167 Mbit/s.

However you probably don't actually want that unless you want extreme LAN performance.

So probably a good idea to mention now your broadband speed as that's probably more important.

Also a budget, and USB or PCIe?

I’m easy on budget, Ive been looking at;

http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3389...hthG1fhSYomBPV8NPtqj8G8Zvp95A2zxoC3IcQAvD_BwE

But I’m easy and not just after a cheap option.

The one above looks cool but I’m not necessarily after overkill either

neil_g · 5 Dec 2017 at 13:39

No1newts said:
One is brick, other stud.

You may be at the limit at which the router can transmit through then especially at that distance. No matter what WiFi card you have in the client.

Are you using 2.4 or 5 Ghz? Try connecting on 2.4 as this has better ability to transmit though walls etc. Albeit having a lower throughput.

No1newts · 5 Dec 2017 at 14:01

What about using a repeater?

I could put a repeater in which could have an (almost) direct LoS on the WiFi receptor from about 10 foot away. Or would this murder speed?

bledd · 5 Dec 2017 at 14:06

https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-sds-plus-masonry-drill-bit-8-x-450mm/51862

Philtor · 5 Dec 2017 at 16:25

No1newts said:
One is brick, other stud.

I’ll have a look, thanks

Edit: it needs a cd setup, I need just a plug and play. Haven’t bothered with a CD drive on my new build.

Didn't need the CD fella. Windows 10 installed the driver.

No1newts · 5 Dec 2017 at 17:05

bledd said:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-sds-plus-masonry-drill-bit-8-x-450mm/51862

I’m guessing you are hinting at running a cable?

Unfortunately we’ve had the house redecorated before my wife changed her mind and I’m not particularly willing to drill walls/lift floorboards to run a cable. If she’d made the decision 3 month ago, as I told her to, this issue could have been averted but ho hum. It at least means I get to be smug and say “I told you so”

bledd · 5 Dec 2017 at 17:10

When you had the house redecorated was the time to install ports in all rooms