Wanting to set up wireless router

[Smashed Ixnay]

I'm looking to set up a wireless router in my house because I hate seeing these cords in the hallway and scared the dog will chew on them cause he loves to chew on anything.

The first setup I chose is Linksys because that is the kind of wired router I have now and haven't had any issues with it. The 3 pieces would be:

LINKSYS WRT54GL IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband Router - Retail

LINKSYS WMP54G IEEE 802.11b/g, PCI 2.2 and 2.3 32bit PCI2.2 Wireless-G Adapter Up to 54Mbps Data Rates WEP, WPA, CCX 2.0 (x2 cuz there are 2 cpu's)

That comes out to $139.97 total with shipping. I went with the ratings on those cause I have no idea what to buy.


The second setup I looked at I went with price in mind. This setup includes:

TP-LINK TL-WR642G IEEE 802.3/3u/3x, IEEE 802.11b/g G & eXtended Range 108Mbps Wireless Router - Retail

Rosewill RNX-G300LX IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, WPA2, AES, TKIP with 2 dBi Antenna - Retail (x2 cuz there are 2 cpu's)

That setup comes to $70.19. This would help my wallet out much more as it's half the other setup, but would it be just as good? Are they even compatible?

I'd appreciate any and all feedback please! My computers would be about 25 feet away from the router also. I want to order this buy tonight, or tomorrow at latest. Thanks!

 

[msabo]

Well the TP-LINK appears to be out of stock. Personally of the two proposed, I would go with the Linksys. However, if I were doing this, I would choose aLinksys wireless router and a USB dongle WiFi adapter for the desktop. Appears NewEgg is running a combo deal on that as well.

 

[Smashed Ixnay]

Well the TP-LINK appears to be out of stock. Personally of the two proposed, I would go with the Linksys. However, if I were doing this, I would choose aLinksys wireless router and a USB dongle WiFi adapter for the desktop. Appears NewEgg is running a combo deal on that as well.

I'm seeing so many negative comments about that though to even want to consider it. That does seem pretty nice, but man I don't feel confident about that card one bit after reading some reviews. ;( I would prefer the Linksys, but dang they can be expensive, lol.

Thanks for the input though.

 

[msabo]

I'm seeing so many negative comments about that though to even want to consider it. That does seem pretty nice, but man I don't feel confident about that card one bit after reading some reviews. ;( I would prefer the Linksys, but dang they can be expensive, lol.

Thanks for the input though.

How's about this one? I would steer clear of Rosewill, I have had horrible experiences with two Rosewill branded cards.

 

[Zero82z]

I would never recommend a USB wireless adapter. I have not seen a single one that worked reliably. If you need to go with a cheap card, at least get a PCI one.

 

[msabo]

I would never recommend a USB wireless adapter. I have not seen a single one that worked reliably. If you need to go with a cheap card, at least get a PCI one.

That's interesting. I've used several over the years and have been very satisfied. The service providers, for example, typically go USB because they know consumers don't want to crack their case. Which ones have you had issues with?

 

[msabo]

Oh, and by the way, the OP only needs to go 25 feet.

 

[Zero82z]

That's interesting. I've used several over the years and have been very satisfied. The service providers, for example, typically go USB because they know consumers don't want to crack their case. Which ones have you had issues with?

I've had issues with a whole bunch of Linksys D-Link, and off-brand models. The off-brand ones tended to overheat and drop signal all the time. The Linksys and D-Link ones had fairly poor reception and connection speed, and I had terrible transfer speeds with them. They did alright for basic net browsing, but for downloading files and transferring stuff over the network they were just tremendously slow.

 

[sdotbrucato]

Way out of your price range, but to support that there is some luck with USB adapters...

I'm deployed probably about 8-9 Linksys WUSB300N adapters at family/friends houses, (coupled with :inksys WRT310Ns) and I've never had any complaints or random calls about signal drops. So like everything else YMMV

On a side note: the Linksys WMP300N is amazing. (Yes I like Linksys... I have CISCO stock lol)

 

[msabo]

Way out of your price range, but to support that there is some luck with USB adapters...

I'm deployed probably about 8-9 Linksys WUSB300N adapters at family/friends houses, (coupled with :inksys WRT310Ns) and I've never had any complaints or random calls about signal drops. So like everything else YMMV

+1 The WUSB300N is the best WiFi USB adapter I've ever used. They are expensive, I bought one on sale for $55, but they typically go for about $70.

 

[E4g1e]

I would never recommend a USB wireless adapter. I have not seen a single one that worked reliably. If you need to go with a cheap card, at least get a PCI one.

Unfortunately, I have had terrible luck with PCI wireless cards. The ones that I tried consistently got extremely poor signal strength and extremely poor signal quality even at just three feet away from the router. And those setups using PCI wireless cards almost always dropped the signal no matter what I tried. This is because nearly all of them share a common fatal design flaw: Their stock antennae simply cannot be positioned far enough away from the other computer cables and wires (all of which also serve as antennae, but not connected at all to the card) that can (and do) rob the PCI card of much of its potential usable signal. The result is often severe interference and frequent dropped connections. And even the best PCI cards are very inconsistent at receiving the signal from the router.

This is just based on the Wireless-G and Wireless Super G adapters that I tested. And in my area upgrade external antennae which could be positioned sufficiently far from the computer are very difficult, if not impossible, to find - and it's a crapshoot just to find an antenna which works well with a particular PCI wireless adapter card, especially if the card came standard with multiple antennae. And only the Wireless-N adapters come with such antennae that I would have desired - but it's way overkill to spend that much money on such a Wireless-N adapter if my router is capable of only Wireless-G or Wireless-B speeds.