Packard Bell Istart 2311

fpcat

My friend, who's not very confident on computers, has a 2311. She's had an upgrade of the ram, and her husband, who knows nothing about computers, wants to have wireless access to the internet. I don't know if the thing has wireless built in, or whether they will require a router and adapter. Does anyone out there still have one of the 2311, and does it have wireless built in? She's expecting me to help with this, I've tried persuading them to buy a new higher spec laptop, but no joy at present. If she ends up buying a router which brand do you suggest? Thanks for any help.

SteveJH200

It is unlikely to have built in wireless but it's really easy to make it wireless enabled. Either fit an internal PCI card or and external USB dongle. Max cost aound £10 - £15 depending on the specification. If her internet comes down the phone line then you need an ADSL router and there's loads to choose from. I use a TP Link TD-W8961ND at the moment.

fpcat

Many thanks for that, that's what I had thought. I might haul my old router and adapter over there, and try those before being dragged round the local stores or checking Ebay. I suppose because the PC is old that there's no point in splashing out for the latest router, one of the older type, g or n, will work fine if I can find one online?

robmar0se

Packard Bell for some reason have remoived the istart series from their support site - the istart I believe is a desktop with Vista installed,

Desktops only in rare cases come with wireless built-in.

If you don't have broadband,you may be able to persuade your provider to "give" you a wireless router; even if you already have a router they may be persuaded to upgrade it if you extend yr contract (or threaten to leave).

As the last poster said you will need a wireless adapter for the PC, a dongle which inserts into a USB socket might be easier - if you can get one from the same manufacturer as the router, usually better, but not critical.

Just make sure that the adapter is Vista compatible, it should be.

TakeThis

You'll need to put another Gig of DDR2 533MHz RAM in there. That's the main thing.

Wireless adapters? From around a fiver. Look here

SteveJH200

TakeThis wrote: »

You'll need to put another Gig of DDR2 533MHz RAM in there. That's the main thing.

Wireless adapters? From around a fiver. Look here

I found that particular seller very dodgy. Had to use ebay's resolution centre to get my money back.

robmar0se

SteveJH200 wrote: »

I found that particular seller very dodgy. Had to use ebay's resolution centre to get my money back.

Me too, they did refund me - if you look at my feedback, same user name, you'll see a neg (and I don't leave many...........

TakeThis

SteveJH200 wrote: »

I found that particular seller very dodgy. Had to use ebay's resolution centre to get my money back.

Strange, I've never had a problem with them.

Worst that happened was that I bought a webcam that didn't meet my expectations. I gave them a call, went through Technical Support, but I still wasn't happy. So they processed a refund without even asking me to send the item back. This was with no quibbles at all.

Bought quite a few things from them. All still working with no problems at all.
So I disagree with the dodgy comment.

safekom ( Feedback score of
509658)

99.6% Positive feedback

Their Feedback score looks good. Perhaps you were just unlucky.

SteveJH200

TakeThis wrote: »

Strange, I've never had a problem with them.

Worst that happened was that I bought a webcam that didn't meet my expectations. I gave them a call, went through Technical Support, but I still wasn't happy. So they processed a refund without even asking me to send the item back. This was with no quibbles at all.

Bought quite a few things from them. All still working with no problems at all.
So I disagree with the dodgy comment.

safekom ( Feedback score of
509658)

99.6% Positive feedback

Their Feedback score looks good. Perhaps you were just unlucky.

If you look at the negatives, the most common theme is not sending the goods out, saying they had been posted but in fact they had not. They even lied through the resolution process and finally agreed to refund me as long as I didn't give negative feedback. I don't like being lied to or bullied and yes, maybe I was unlucky. If I want to buy cheapy 'G' or 'N' wireless adapters then I buy direct from a Chinese seller on ebay. Never had a problem there at all but you have to wait 10 days to get them!

TakeThis

SteveJH200 wrote: »

If you look at the negatives, the most common theme is not sending the goods out, saying they had been posted but in fact they had not. They even lied through the resolution process and finally agreed to refund me as long as I didn't give negative feedback. I don't like being lied to or bullied and yes, maybe I was unlucky. If I want to buy cheapy 'G' or 'N' wireless adapters then I buy direct from a Chinese seller on ebay. Never had a problem there at all but you have to wait 10 days to get them!

How do you know that they didn't send the goods out?

Why would they do that?

Every item I've purchased has been sent and received. It doesn't make any sense not to send them out, as in their T&Cs they will send you another after a certain amount of time has lapsed.

What proof do you have of them not sending the item?

robmar0se

TakeThis wrote: »

How do you know that they didn't send the goods out?

Why would they do that?

Every item I've purchased has been sent and received. It doesn't make any sense not to send them out, as in their T&Cs they will send you another after a certain amount of time has lapsed.

What proof do you have of them not sending the item?

Take This, the fact that 2 of the 3 of us have had probs should be enough to warn folks. they have had 900 negs in the last 12 months and nearly 1500 neutrals, in percentage terms small but nevertheless I don't think any of us can tell the OP what risk they should take - they can decide for themselves based on info that is available.

In regard to postal difficulties, they did admit to me when I spoke to them on the phone that they were having despatch issues - they accepted the problem was at their end.

Generally the RM is always the butt of issues, I find it surprising how many Ebay sellers blame the RM, I suspect that some of these are down to the poor control process within the despatch area of the sellers, as in the case of this seller.

The OP does have many other alternatives, I would buy from a reputable eseller, Scan, Amazon, etc. eg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=wireless+adapter

May I suggest that those probably may be less risky/less hassle?