Should I get a PCI Wireless adapter or should I make it wired?

[hari]

Hi, I am wondering if i should get PCI Wireless or should I buy ethernet cable and connect it to my PC. I am about 10 meters away from my router, and there are two walls between PC and router. I have two computers, the first one is connected to router with ethernet cable, but I do not know how to connect the second one, with cable or should I buy PCI wireless card. Thanks for the help.

 

[FYFI13]

1. Do you play competetive multiplayer games?
2. Do you share tons of files on local area network?
3. What kind of router you got?

 

[hari]

1. Do you play competetive multiplayer games?
2. Do you share tons of files on local area network?
3. What kind of router you got?

Thank you for your answer. I dont play multiplayer games, and I do not share too much files on local network, but I need stable and fast internet, and most of the time both computes are turned on at the same time. Router is Cisco EPC3928S, I got it from my ISP. What do you recommend me to do.

 

[Kursah]

Cable is always best, but if you cannot safely do a wire run to your PC location, wireless is fine. I prefer USB wireless, and usually go for the Wireless-N version for it's price/performance, the RNX-N180UBE from Rosewill is excellent. The antenna picks up signals far better than it should IMHO, and for the price it is tough to beat...it'll sit there and hammer the 300mbps Wireless-N speed all day long without breaking a sweat. I keep one in my tech bag at all times, with a smaller antenna for diagnostics and emergency deployment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166056

I tend to steer clear of PCI/PCIe wireless cards for their bulkiness and usually the performance gains aren't worth it...unless you do high-end AC gear. Meh. If you want network speed for file sharing and lower latency, cable is still the way to go.

Do you have access to the attic in your place? If so you could run the wire up the wall into the attic and down the wall into your room, use some mud boxes and single gang wall plates with a CAT5/6 jack on each end, plug one into the router, other into your PC and enjoy. Unfortunately for many home users, and especially those that are renters, this isn't an option.

 

[95Viper]

You would be better off with wired Ethernet, than the wireless.
For a lot of reasons... go wired.
Wireless, only if you need to for mobility, and unable/not allowed to run cabling for some reasons.

 

[hari]

Cable is always best, but if you cannot safely do a wire run to your PC location, wireless is fine. I prefer USB wireless, and usually go for the Wireless-N version for it's price/performance, the RNX-N180UBE from Rosewill is excellent. The antenna picks up signals far better than it should IMHO, and for the price it is tough to beat...it'll sit there and hammer the 300mbps Wireless-N speed all day long without breaking a sweat. I keep one in my tech bag at all times, with a smaller antenna for diagnostics and emergency deployment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166056

I tend to steer clear of PCI/PCIe wireless cards for their bulkiness and usually the performance gains aren't worth it...unless you do high-end AC gear. Meh. If you want network speed for file sharing and lower latency, cable is still the way to go.

Do you have access to the attic in your place? If so you could run the wire up the wall into the attic and down the wall into your room, use some mud boxes and single gang wall plates with a CAT5/6 jack on each end, plug one into the router, other into your PC and enjoy. Unfortunately for many home users, and especially those that are renters, this isn't an option.

I have access to attic, and I have a way to get the cable to my room, I am only worried that my internet won't be, lets say reliable, because two computers would be using it at the same time. I would like to go wired, I guess it is more stable then wireless, but I wanted to hear others opinions on this. So, wired would be best in my case?

 

[Jetster]

Wireless will be fine

 

[Kursah]

I have access to attic, and I have a way to get the cable to my room, I am only worried that my internet won't be, lets say reliable, because two computers would be using it at the same time. I would like to go wired, I guess it is more stable then wireless, but I wanted to hear others opinions on this. So, wired would be best in my case?

If you all are connecting to the same router, then the reliability factor you mention will be the same whether or wired or wireless. BUT, depending on your speeds and the router's ability to do QoS, you all should be able to enjoy connectivity to the network and the Internet.

Wireless will be the easiest solution, and at that distance and possible interference should be okay with the adapter I suggested or one like it, or even one of lesser quality. But if you want the guaranteed best connection to that router, then running CAT5E/CAT6 is going to be your best method. I do recommend using Plenum running into an attic, but if you're not striving to meet code and just need to get it done, standard CAT5E works fine...go no less than 5E though, that way you're good for gigabit LAN speeds or better. CAT6 if you think you'll be there a few years and might buy into the 10 gig network gear once it becomes more mainstream...likely a ways off.

Wireless is more susceptible to interference and regulation and being compromised than wired connection, keep that in mind as well. There are a lot of factors that can easily be added to this equation. But in the end, cable is the best option, period. If you can and are willing to run your own cable and terminate it, then really, you'll be providing yourself with better long-term infrastructure that a wireless adapter today only patches over...and depending on the standard an adapter can cost as much as or even more than a box of CAT5E, two keystones, two mud boxes and two single-gang plates...that depends on what you choose to go with. The wireless adapter I linked above is excellent for cheap. Just depends on what you want to do really.

 

[FYFI13]

Kursah pretty answered it all; with your needs WiFi should do it, although wired connection is much better.

 

[elitan]

It up to your choice. But i recommend you choose the wired for better connection speed

 

[hari]

If you all are connecting to the same router, then the reliability factor you mention will be the same whether or wired or wireless. BUT, depending on your speeds and the router's ability to do QoS, you all should be able to enjoy connectivity to the network and the Internet.

Wireless will be the easiest solution, and at that distance and possible interference should be okay with the adapter I suggested or one like it, or even one of lesser quality. But if you want the guaranteed best connection to that router, then running CAT5E/CAT6 is going to be your best method. I do recommend using Plenum running into an attic, but if you're not striving to meet code and just need to get it done, standard CAT5E works fine...go no less than 5E though, that way you're good for gigabit LAN speeds or better. CAT6 if you think you'll be there a few years and might buy into the 10 gig network gear once it becomes more mainstream...likely a ways off.

Wireless is more susceptible to interference and regulation and being compromised than wired connection, keep that in mind as well. There are a lot of factors that can easily be added to this equation. But in the end, cable is the best option, period. If you can and are willing to run your own cable and terminate it, then really, you'll be providing yourself with better long-term infrastructure that a wireless adapter today only patches over...and depending on the standard an adapter can cost as much as or even more than a box of CAT5E, two keystones, two mud boxes and two single-gang plates...that depends on what you choose to go with. The wireless adapter I linked above is excellent for cheap. Just depends on what you want to do really.

Kursah pretty answered it all; with your needs WiFi should do it, although wired connection is much better.

It up to your choice. But i recommend you choose the wired for better connection speed

Thank you all for your answers, I really appreciate it. After reading your suggestions, I think I will buy CAT5e cable and just plug it in the router, if the reliability will be the same whether I buy wireless card or connect it with a cable.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Just to clarify: plenum cable is designed to be installed in return-air ducts where there is a risk of fire. Plenum is fire-retardant. PVC is fine everywhere else (and cheaper).

CAT6 is only good for 1 Gb/s at 100m or up to 10 Gb/s up to 55m. CAT6A can theoretically handle 10 Gb/s up to 100m but it is about 50% more expensive compared to CAT6 which is about 50% more expensive than CAT5e.

CAT6 ends are much more difficult to install compared to CAT5.

CAT7 is a disaster (the cable itself is standardized but not the connectors). CAT8 will be the standard to replace CAT5e-6A.

Cable will always beat wireless in terms of reliability and performance. Wireless only wins when installing a cable is impossible or unreasonable.

 

[P4-630]

Well, I bought a Asus PCI wireless adapter, after a while I noticed my speeds weren't what they should be, sometimes it was good an the other day worse so I decided to buy a 10m cable and I'm glad I did that, continues stable speed all the time. If you want reliability/stable speed, buy a cable.

 

[Filip Georgievski]

I saw this post and im glad you asked OP.

I was in a same situation as you are now and i had these 2 options, but searching on the net i found a third option you can do.

1. Get a meter or 2 long Ethernet cable.
2. Get a WIFI Repeater ( or a Routher/Repeater combo).
3. Put the repeater near your PC and hook it up to your PC via the cable.
4. Open up the repeater (routher/repeater combo) and set it to connect to your Routher that is 10 meter.
BOOM, you got a wired net that uses a Repeater which can reach longer distances than normal USB WIFI adapter.

Note: I would prefer Routher/Repeater combo like the Tenda A30 Routher/Range Extender that i have and it does a good job keeping my connection stable. Never crashes or disconnects and im happy i did this.

Note 2: Plus you have an option to make another WIFI Hotspot in your own room to use for your phone/laptop/tablet and other stuff.

 

[slozomby]

Wireless only wins when installing a cable is impossible or unreasonable.

or if you're too lazy to climb into the attic and run another cable drop.... ( speaks from personal experience)

 

[remixedcat]

Well, I bought a Asus PCI wireless adapter, after a while I noticed my speeds weren't what they should be, sometimes it was good an the other day worse so I decided to buy a 10m cable and I'm glad I did that, continues stable speed all the time. If you want reliability/stable speed, buy a cable.

what one did you get? the realtek based one or the broadcom based one?

 

[Recon-UK]

I have used wireless ever since gaming on a PC, and never had any problems, my main issues have been my ISP and i'm a competitive gamer.

 

[Footman]

My preference in this order. Ethernet-Powerline-Wifi

 

[eidairaman1]

or if you're too lazy to climb into the attic and run another cable drop.... ( speaks from personal experience)

There are times where wall drops are not feasible. Id put a jack in the wall where the 2 components are and run cat 5 from wall to wall-punch through walls attach cable to baseboards.

 

[slozomby]

There are times where wall drops are not feasible. Id put a jack in the wall where the 2 components are and run cat 5 from wall to wall-punch through walls attach cable to baseboards.

I just went with this in bridge mode, like I said couldn't be bothered to run a cable to the back bedroom/office. plenty fast enough to max out my internet connection and stream media to the livingroom/garage. and I'm not vain enough to think the 1ms it adds to my ping times is why I'm getting my rear handed to me in in hawken.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KTLG9AK/?tag=tec06d-20

 

[P4-630]

what one did you get? the realtek based one or the broadcom based one?

Asus PCE-N15 11n , I should have bought the AC but

 

[Jetster]

a lot depends on your router. I have a room a N router would not even reach with a Netgear wndr4300. But with a AC router even the n reaches with no issues. 1080 stream all day

 

[P4-630]

a lot depends on your router. I have a room a N router would not even reach with a Netgear wndr4300. But with a AC router even the n reaches with no issues. 1080 stream all day

Yeah the problem lies at the router, I got it from my provider, it doesn't even have an external antenna.
However my PC is at just about a 3m distance.

When I have visitors here they use wireless and I use it for my phone and laptop sometimes, which is fine , just not getting full speed, I had 40Mb/s at first and sometimes it went down to around 10Mb/s on my desktop (some days I could get the full 40Mb/s), changed channel a few times a day, thats why I bought a cable and I also upgraded my speed to 150Mb/s now.

 

[remixedcat]

I would wire in more APs you can get ubiquiti ones for only 120 bucks.... .ac as well as having enterprise grade features

 

[de.das.dude]

Currently using wireless for Gaming. Would not recommend. Unless you can find a good setup, but even then if you live in a dense area like me where there are at least 10 other networks, there is just too much interference.

I have heard people using those power cables as internet have had better success than wireless when dragging a cable isnt possible. Im looking into it as well since i am rented and dont want to make holes in the wall haha.