Wired or Wireless?

Hotspur

New to this forum but have been lurking for a while!

I'm about to make the jump from dial up PAYG to broadband but am unsure whether to go for a wired or wireless setup. My master socket is downstairs, the PC upstairs and currently accesses the internet via the upstairs extension. I would prefer not to run a cable but logically a cable seems (to me at least) to be a more secure and reliable connection. I may be wrong. What are the pros and cons of each and, if I went the wireless route, would I need a wireless card for my PC or could I get away with something I can plug into a USB2 socket.

Thanks in advance for your advice/suggestions

Steve

xzibit

You can get a usb wireless dongle, and as long as you set up the security on a wireless system, it can be pretty secure! Check the stickys at the top of the forum for info.

going2die_rich

xzibit wrote:

You can get a usb wireless dongle, and as long as you set up the security on a wireless system, it can be pretty secure! Check the stickys at the top of the forum for info.

But nether the less, not as asecure as a wired connection.

However saying that, the odds of someone taking the time out to try and hack you wireless are pretty slim. You are more likely to be hacked from the net so it wouldn't matter if it was wired or not.

espresso

If you have a properly wired upstairs extension try using that first, as a few extra metres of cable should not make much difference compared to the length of the cable to your local exchange. Wireless is very handy for connecting several computers but I would recommend keeping at least one hard wired to the router and to avoid USB if at all possible.

BexTech

If you can like said above use wired. Wireless should only be the last resort and use of a USB dongle avoided if at all possible.

I have a wireless router as at the time it was cheaper than a wired one, but only use the wired side and have wireless switched off, unless friends pop along or I needed to test someone's PC.

JohalaReewi

In your situation, you would be able to install an ADSL modem on your PC (a USB one will be fine) and plug it into your upstairs telephone extension (via a microfilter) just like you do at the moment. No need for wireless or routers or anything like that. Keep it nice and simple.

As a general rule, if you have a choice between wireless and wired networking, wired is always best:-

1. It is faster.
2. It is secure.
3. It is reliable.

Wireless should only be used as a last resort where you can't use a cable.

Hotspur

Thanks all. You have confirmed what I suspected that wired is likely to be the more reliable connection. Just need a reliable, value for money ISP now.

Thanks again

JohalaReewi

Hotspur wrote:

Thanks all. You have confirmed what I suspected that wired is likely to be the more reliable connection. Just need a reliable, value for money ISP now.

Thanks again

You might want to have a look at primus...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=184392

Quite a long thread - head for the last few pages.