Wireless PCI-E/PCI card or powerline adapters?

alexs2602 · 25 Jun 2012 at 18:33

Trying to get my best bang for buck while getting reliability and speed. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I heard powerline adapters are the best but they aren't incredibly cheap. £35 seems to be cheap for 2 adapters. But I'm not sure if wireless has improved since I last used it. I don't want to be dropping my connection often/at all if it can be helped.

At the moment I'm living at home and our ISP is BT. Later in the year I'll be moving back to uni into a house where I'll prob have my computer in my room and not close enough to connect to the router via an ethernet cable.

Thanks for all your help.

MissChief · 25 Jun 2012 at 18:40

People will say Powerline adaptors or Wired but i've used wireless for years and play BF3 etc every night and don't have any problems. Also, Wireless card over USB adaptor every time.

alexs2602 · 25 Jun 2012 at 19:16

Or perhaps an access point?

What kind of speed adapters/access points etc should I be looking at? 200/300Mbps?

docsonic · 25 Jun 2012 at 19:38

Wireless is a gamble - under the right conditions it's fine but it can also be horrible.

I used to get an awful connection (upstairs backroom) using Edimax PCI cards. I then bought a USB adapter for a tenner (Realtek RTL8191US) & it was a clear improvement. Might have had something to do with the whacking great antenna though...

Powerline adapters on the other hand are only as good as the wiring in the house. For eg: I lose about 20 mbps by the time it reaches my room upstairs. Appliances in the house can also affect them with noise.

I'd say try the cheapest option 1st which is wireless PCI or USB devices. If that's no good give plugs a whirl.

alexs2602 · 26 Jun 2012 at 17:51

docsonic said:
Wireless is a gamble - under the right conditions it's fine but it can also be horrible.

I used to get an awful connection (upstairs backroom) using Edimax PCI cards. I then bought a USB adapter for a tenner (Realtek RTL8191US) & it was a clear improvement. Might have had something to do with the whacking great antenna though...

Powerline adapters on the other hand are only as good as the wiring in the house. For eg: I lose about 20 mbps by the time it reaches my room upstairs. Appliances in the house can also affect them with noise.

I'd say try the cheapest option 1st which is wireless PCI or USB devices. If that's no good give plugs a whirl.

You make a good point. I think I'll get an edimax PCI/PCI-E wireless adapter
and should I not like the results I can always resell it on the bay.