USB Wireless adapter/dongle/thing needed for PC

albertross_2

As expresso said, it is always good to have a wired connection available to help diagnose the odd wireless problem, it is also faster than wireless, so worth the £3 +p&p..

Crabman

espresso wrote:

Well I would never use USB for a network connection, so either a network card or a Wifi card. I prefer to have at least one PC connected using an Ethernet cable. I can never understand why people think that a few extra metres of internal cable in the property is significant when compared with several kilometres to the exchange. This cable could easily be 25 years old as well.

:eek:

That's very true about the wiring - you are a wise fellow :T I'll order the card and get fixing - oh the lifehacker site guide is brilliant I'll be using that while I install it

Good point also albertross - I would never dream of putting all my eggs in one basket

Crabman

OK so I've looked into my PC and there isn't a PCI slot free so I'd have to kiss the modem goodbye. However, if we can get the wireless on the desktop then we can kick it out of our living room and create much needed space in here. My laptop has WiFi and an Ethernet socket to clear any problems that arise.

So the search is on for a USB wireless - is the one from Amazon (above in my earlier post) any good? It only has WEP not WPA encryption but how much more important is it?

AOL say the Netgear router will be here by Monday/Tuesday.

albertross_2

I'd get a WPA one, because WEP is not as secure, but better than nothing.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?strSearch=&intCatID=39&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=1020

espresso

If you must use a USB dongle get one capable of WPA-TKIP encryption. An example here where you can download the User Manual and Quickstart Guide.

HTH

Crabman

OK how can I tell if it's WPA - the ones on ebuyer don't seem to mention it Also what's the "2.4Ghz" all about? It's listed on one of the USBs...

I've got my eye on this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114777 which has 64/128/256-bit WEP, WPA Data Encryption function it isn't the TKIP I know

espresso

You need to look at the technical spec and look for WPA. 2.4Ghz is the frequency band used by WiFi devices. The one that you have found is suitable but costs more than the example in post #16 which comes out at £14.94 inclusive.

albertross_2

That should do the job, 2.4Ghz is just the radio frequency that they all use to talk. Don't worry about the tkip.

Crabman

The one I highlighted actually does have TKIP: Supports 64/128/256-bit WEP, WPA (TKIP, IEEE 802.1x) and AES functions for high level of security that'll teach me to read things properly - it's under key features.

The £14.94 one seems good value I'll get ordering though it doesn't matter whether I do it now or Sun as they only open again Mon morning

erb

albertross wrote:

if it is going to be next to the router, just get a cheap ethernet card..

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?strSearch=&intCatID=109&bolShowAll=true&intSubcatUID=1151

Are you positive it doesn't have one, most stuff made in the last 10 years have them built-in.

Dumbo here not sure if I have an ethernet on the PC which is 7 years old. There are 2 sockets next to each other at the back of the PC that look the same and one I use to plug into the telephone for dial up. This obviously connects to internal modem but would the other one be for ethernet? Same 2 socket on another PC 3 years old and on the casing one say phone and the other says line.