Need Some Advice On Wireless Network Hardware

[practal]

Ive been running my 2 pcs on a wired network for a few years now. I recently built a file server and decided to go wireless as Im sick of seeing the wires dangling from the ceiling throught the house. Ive never used wireless networking and need some pointer on what I should be looking for.

I use SBC DSL for starters, 6MB package.

And I want to network:
2 Gaming PCs
1 File Server
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo DS

I use torrents frequently, host media files from the server, and also plan on having the file server host multiplayer games for the 2 gaming machines. Im obviously going to need a router but not certain on what I need for each individual system for good performance. One gaming pc and the file server have an available PCI and PCI-Ex1 slot so I can do cards unless USB adapters are good enough. The other gaming PC has no available expansion slots so USB is the only option I think. I would like this USB dongle to be compatable with the Wii and Nintendo DS.

My house is very small, one gaming system is in the bedroom with the Wii, which is less then 25 feet from the living room, which houses the other gaming pc and file server. I dont need very much range there but I do live directly across the street (4 lane road not sure of distance) from a Big Boy, Taco Bell, and Mcdonalds. All of them have free Wifi, so can I pick this up and combine it with my current SBC package for more bandwidth or does it not work that way?

Ive looked on newegg but all of the wireless technology baffles me. I need reccomendations on everything from the router to adapters. Im willing to go $300 max on this but its be awesome if I could do it for much less. I dont want to sacrafice speed or security, security is key for me and the main reason I havent went wireless in the past. Thanks

 

[mryerse]

Wireless is pretty secure if you do it right. Use WPA2 encryption and you should be fine. Most new routers support this.

You won't be able to get additional bandwidth by connecting to two networks at once, at least not easily. The easiest way would be to have one computer off your network completely doing it's thing on their network while the rest of computers are on your network. But If you want them all on the same network, I would just have all my computer on my own network.

Personally, I am not a big wireless fan. I use it at home, at work (large corporation, supporting it), and right now in a 6 building network in Iraq. I think wireless is over-rated. Yeah cables are a hassle, but if you do it right so they look nice, it works much better. Wired has been around much longer, and runs much more stable than wireless. I'm not saying it won't work for you... I'm sure it will with your small network, even considering some heavy gaming and file sharing. I'm just saying you are paying money for convenience (and security for some cases). Everything else about wired is better. Speed, reliability, even range (100M regardless of walls).

If you do end up going wireless, my advice is to scan all the networks that are in range, determine what channels they are on (1-11) and set yours to something furthest away from theirs. For example, if all the networks in the area are on 6 and 11, set yours to 1. Your network will perform better that way. Also, make sure you update your drivers on your router and wireless cards as I'm sure you already plan to.

My experience with Linksys routers has been disappointing. They work well for normal users, but throw some heavy torrenting, or in my case 80 users, and they shit bricks (yeah I know, they aren't designed for 80 people). I am impressed with Dlink's and Belkin's wirelss N routers, although I did have some problems with Belkins initially, but now it works great.

Intel makes good wireless cards for laptops. Not sure about the desktop wireless card market though.