Good Wireless Network Adapter?

superpig10000 · April 9th, 2005, 08:14 PM

Can you guys recommend a good network adapter for a reasonable price?

Thanks.

VHockey86 · April 9th, 2005, 08:22 PM

For a laptop or for a desktop?
What wireless standard are we talking about
B? A? G? something besides 802.11x ?

superpig10000 · April 9th, 2005, 08:23 PM

Oh. Sorry. This is for a desktop, 802.11G

VHockey86 · April 9th, 2005, 08:31 PM

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=252018

I tend to like anything Linksys or D-link, but everyone has their own personal opinions on it.
Netgear is generally good too.

Wireless PCI adapters are generally not all that cheap for some reason (compared to pcmcia cards for a laptop). Might be worth looking around for a rebate deal. I saw some cards for 20-30 on some random sites but I haven't had any experience with them, hence no recommendation.

superpig10000 · April 9th, 2005, 08:35 PM

Yeah. I found this one but not sure if its good: http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...438&pfp=BROWSE

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...640&pfp=BROWSE

Any opinions on these two?

Ka_Nai`a · April 9th, 2005, 08:37 PM

I just bought myself a Hawking technologies wireless G adapter (hwp54g) and it works great. Its not too terribly expensive either. I picked mine up retail for $26. The access point is too far away and the other computer I have uses a Linksys card and needs a big booster antenna. The Hawking doesn't need the bigger antenna and works fine with the stock antenna. I am not sure if this card has the right chipset to use under Linux though.

bubbalou32 · April 9th, 2005, 08:39 PM

I have the AT & T wireless G router and PCI network card I got from Compusa and they both work great. I think the technology has improved it the last couple of years and it's hard to go wrong - most probs tend to be newbie issues.

JLK03F150 · April 9th, 2005, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superpig10000

Yeah. I found this one but not sure if its good: http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...438&pfp=BROWSE

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...640&pfp=BROWSE

Any opinions on these two?

Avoid the Belkin - it doesn't have WPA Encryption and its max speed is 54Mbps instead of 108Mbps.

erhan28 · April 9th, 2005, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ka_Nai`a

I just bought myself a Hawking technologies wireless G adapter (hwp54g) and it works great. Its not too terribly expensive either. I picked mine up retail for $26. The access point is too far away and the other computer I have uses a Linksys card and needs a big booster antenna. The Hawking doesn't need the bigger antenna and works fine with the stock antenna. I am not sure if this card has the right chipset to use under Linux though.

There is one from the hawking company that is directional, so if you have one router, you can direct it to one path makeing the singal stronger and/or longer. I like that one and believe it is fairly cheap.

Edited: I personally don't like pci cards because they 1st take up 1 slot, they are placed low depending on you pc that makes a weak signal and I had no good experience with them.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...164-105&depa=0

I dont know about the small flash drive size usb ones but I think they are useless because of the size but i never used them

Ka_Nai`a · April 10th, 2005, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erhan28

...

I dont know about the small flash drive size usb ones but I think they are useless because of the size but i never used them

I tried using one of the USB to WiFi adapters on my hacked TiVO and the power issues are a big problem. I had to keep re-init it in the TiVO to keep it operational. When it did work the signal dropped.

What I did end up doing is getting a USB to wired and then a wireless gateway. That works great. So theres another possibility if you don't want to give up a PCI slot and have problems with the USB WiFi adapter.