Advice needed on setting up wireless network

SkScotchegg

SkScotchegg

SkScotchegg

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Hi there, please can you offer some assistance, am posting on behalf of my uncle who is wanting to go buy a PC tomorrow but he said he wants it to have wireless. His situation is that the PC and wireless modem he has with BT are in different parts of the house and aren't next to each other, and dont really want to use a long wire, so am I right in thinking you can buy some kind of dongle device to connect his PC to his wireless modem?

Whats the best way to go about it for his situation?

Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks for your reply, I've never used any of those devices before, I have wireless myself but my modem is right next to my PC and so my PC uses a wire and Ethernet but the only reason I have wireless setup is for laptop downstairs.

I have a question tho, weather we buy the dongle or the wifi card, will either of those slow down his internet and downloading?

Am just thinking wouldnt it be better for him to just use a long wire instead?

He lives in scotland and is going back on tuesday, he says his modem is at one side of his living room and the PC is at the other side...

Am just thinking am going to tell him to buy a PC that I've chosen for him and then buy this dongle or wifi card and then I can imagine him going home and setting it all up and then ringing me and saying my internet or downloads are going slow?
 
Also he says he's got BT broadband in scotland so will any USB dongle work with his modem?

Am not sure what modem he would have, and he doesnt know either? he said it's one they installed for him from BT, and it's wireless? Would it be wireless N? and does the usb dongle have to match his modem? N or G?
 
He's in the same room as his router and just using the internet so homeplugs are overkill in this situation.

Unless he lives in a castle and the living room is a couple of hundred metres accross then the wireless speed he achieves will be more than capable of saturating his broadband download so no being wireless won't effect him.

Any wireless dongle or card should be fine, personally I'd avoid the unltra cheap usb ones as they can be a little inconsistent and if it was me I'd always choose a PCI card for a PC with a decent aerial as they always seem to perform better.
 
usb wireless over add in card every time, you can use an extension cable on the USB to get a better signal, or to make sure the PC is not blocking the signal...

jsut make sure its a wireless N something in the £20 range on line or £30 in a shop would do...
 
SkScotchegg said:
His situation is that the PC and wireless modem he has with BT are in different parts of the house and aren't next to each other,
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a1ex2001 said:
He's in the same room as his router and just using the internet so homeplugs are overkill in this situation.

Unless he lives in a castle and the living room is a couple of hundred metres accross then the wireless speed he achieves will be more than capable of saturating his broadband download so no being wireless won't effect him.
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Different parts of the house? not next to each other? Homeplugs are not overkill, far more reliable than wireless and not prone to interference and he can move them about without worrying whether the signal will drop out etc
 
You can still get interference with home plugs depending on what domestic devices being used on your ring circuit.

Homeplugs are a good idea simple and effective but bearing in mind the level of expertise here (no offence) might be easier to go with the USB dongle style. I had a right hassle trying to get homeplugs paired up.

As said before go with a wireless N USB dongle such as the Tp-Link one from OC I linked to earlier. Easy to install, simple follow instructions it provides and just load up the drivers from the CD it comes with and plug in the USB dongle.

Any USB Wifi Dongle should work with his BT router assuming it is wireless. Also a device that has Wireless N capability will also work with B and G bands.
 
Thanks for all the info you've given me so far, my uncle has been down from scotland for a few days you see, and he's going home tomorrow and he's been asking for my advice on all this and what to buy.

I told him to buy the TP-Link USB dongle you mentioned today, his living room his massive as his house is big in scotland, so think where BT installed the modem is like 15-20 meters away from where his new PC is going to be setup.

Yeah they have a wireless modem given from BT he said it's wireless G.

I have one last question, my uncle spoke to a friend of his this morning and his friend told him that this USB dongle would slow down his speeds?

Can you please give me details on how this will work?

I really cant see it slowing down his speed? that USB dongle says 300Mbps High-Gain, and besides, hes only got 2mb, and he says the connection he has is rubbish in scotland and his 2mb only goes at 1mb lol!

Feel quite sorry for him, I'm on 30mb virgin media myself here in Leeds hehe!! :p

But say I was to use that USB dongle in my home, and the PC was in another room 20m away from wireless modem, would that PC then still download at 30mb? or would it be less? can you explain that part to me?

I built my PC myself and setup my own wireless network at home with encryption but I still only know the basics.
 
The USB Dongle if you use wireless G should run at 54mbps nearly all the time. his broadband, at the very most should work at a maximum of 20MBps. The wireless will far outstrip the actual broadband in terms of bandwidth. not sure what your 'friend' meant about slowing down the Internet? I'm lucky enough to get a full 20 meg connection from Sky and noticed no difference in speeds whether I was wireless G or wired.
 
Originally posted by Misscheif:
The USB Dongle if you use wireless G should run at 54mbps nearly all the time. his broadband, at the very most should work at a maximum of 20MBps. The wireless will far outstrip the actual broadband in terms of bandwidth. not sure what your 'friend' meant about slowing down the Internet? I'm lucky enough to get a full 20 meg connection from Sky and noticed no difference in speeds whether I was wireless G or wired.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, it wasnt my friend, it was his friend, my uncles friend that told him that, guess he was talking rubbish, thanks for clearing that up.
 
If he is buying a pc you will have to go with a USB over a PCI as nearly all manufacturers put a "warranty void if removed" sticker on the side panel... so fitting a card is out the question unless you don't mind throwing the years warranty out the window.

The usb dongle, wont slow down his internet what so ever. However I am with the other guy on this one. I would get homeplugs, they are a lot more stable than wireless and a lot less problematic... well problems to tech savvy users are inconveniences, unfortunately it means no internet until the nephew visits.

Home plugs also don't need any setting up what so ever... all the ones I've used don't anyway, and that's quite a few. Simply plug them in and away you go, you don't need to worry about setting up encryption on the router, entering the keys... if he knows what it is, maybe need to go into the router settings page to get the key... way toooo much hassle for someone who doesn't know what there doing.

Conclusion: Get the homeplugs, plug them in and enjoy hassle free internet without worrying about keys or voiding any warranty.
 
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