I'm a dummy who needs some help

pseudopensioner

I'll try to make this simple.

Atm. I have Virgin for phone broadband and TV. Am in the process of moving to BT phone/broadband and BTVision TV. OK so far?

Main BT telephone is in my hall, desktop PC is in my study, 4-5 metres away and in a different room. TV is in the sitting room, 5+ metres away. Don't want wires and cables snaked across floors (potential death traps for an older person, so trying to sort this out 'wirelessly'(sp)

The BT man says I need a Powerline Adaptor for the for the BT Viewbox and he has implemented replacement order for the same (how can you replace something that was never there ? Ah well it's on order for delivery in the next three working days.

My desktop PC is an Advent and I need to purchase a 'dongle' or whatever to a connect wirelessly to the BT Home Hub

With me so far?

Will any 'dongle' suffice, are some better, more efficient than others? It's Black Friday so I may get a good deal. Oh, and if and when I get a 'dongle', which aperture do I stick it into.

To paraphrase.... confused.com

Any advice other than stick your head in the oven will be appreciated.

gjchester

pseudopensioner wrote: »

Main BT telephone is in my hall, desktop PC is in my study, 4-5 metres away and in a different room. TV is in the sitting room, 5+ metres away.





The BT man says I need a Powerline Adaptor for the for the BT Viewbox and he has implemented replacement order for the same (how can you replace something that was never there ? Ah well it's on order for delivery in the next three working days.

My desktop PC is an Advent and I need to purchase a 'dongle' or whatever to a connect wirelessly to the BT Home Hub

With me so far?

Will any 'dongle' suffice, are some better, more efficient than others? It's Black Friday so I may get a good deal. Oh, and if and when I get a 'dongle', which aperture do I stick it into.

To paraphrase.... confused.com

Any advice other than stick your head in the oven will be appreciated.

Two options, one is Wifi, the 2nd is a 3rd powerline adapter.


Powerline adapters use your mains wiring to send the Ethernet signal, think of it as there is still a cable snaking through the house, but its the mains cable already hidden in the walls.


Wifi dongles you probably will get a USB one, they are cheap less than a tenner but the performance will depend more on the walls if your house than anything else.


Powerline adapters you need to buy the same type, there's two different types and differing speeds.


Overall I'd say go powerling, there's less chance of issues with your neighbours wifi and they work pretty transparently to you once set up, but they cost a little more.

Nodding_Donkey

Another vote for powerline adapters here Like the previous poster said, just make sure the one you buy will talk to the ones you are getting from BT. Just check what BT are going to charge you for them. You would probably be better off buying a pack of three from your local Maplin

gjchester

Nodding_Donkey wrote: »

Just check what BT are going to charge you for them.

BTVision installs often gives them away with the install as they know that phone lines are often not near a TV.
For years I used ComTrends that BT included by default with every install and people flogged on cheap on Ebay. Then BT got wise, and only send them if needed, rather than by default...


I suspect they will use the BT Branded ones, while other brands will work as the OP pointed out they were not technical I'd suggest buying another of the exact same model to make sure they work together.
However don't buy direct from BT, That will be expensive...