Desktop WiFi Question

[cctaylor88]

As an avid PC gamer my desktop has always been hardwired via Ethernet. However, after just having bought a new home, I've sadly come to the realization that the best space for my mancave/battlestation is in the basement, which has no options for hard-wiring. Now the issue that I'm having is... is it even worth it to move my entire setup down there only to be hooked up to the internet via WiFi? I don't want to throttle my internet to essentially half speed which I feel may occur. Why?

I live in a standard two story home, the modem is in the upstairs loft, so essentially I will be two-stories away from the modem and I'm not sure how strong (or weak) that signal is going to be. Will it be vastly noticeable? I like to watch a lot of videos/streams/and game. I know a lot of it will "depend on your ISP/internet speed" but lets just throw that out the window for the sake of simple discussion. I've never been connected to the internet via WiFi (when considering my home desktop), am I going to notice a massive decline in load times etc?

If I go through with the move, what are my best options for a wifi adapter? Is it as simple as plug and play? I've seen pictures of wifi adapters plugged into the mobo on the back of the PC. Is there an actual difference between a $20 adapter and a $100 version?

 

[razel]

When there is a will there is a way. There is electricity going to your basement, meaning they found a way to get wires there. You can find a way to get Ethernet there. If there is COAX there, check out MoCa. Expensive but it's awesome.

 

[Rifter]

I would not game on Wifi, its not worth it. Unless the Wifi router/AP is in the same room with direct line of sight to the computer, then it wont be so bad.

But through walls/floors etc forget about it, find a way to wire it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Obviously, wired gigabit (or better?) ethernet is the best solution, but there are alternatives.

If you go Wifi, then investigate 3x3 or 4x4 stream Wireless AC (802.11ac) routers and access points, find ones that can do "client bridge mode". Also called "Media Extenders". Basically, they communicate with the router, using 3x3 or better wireless AC, and then have one or more ethernet jacks, for local devices to plug into. This is generally a preferable setup, to using an actual WiFi adapters in the PC. If you choose your parts correctly, you can get close to gigabit wired speeds. (But the wireless hardware needed to pull this off isn't cheap. We're talking $200-400 for the router, and $200-300 each for the wireless bridges, that are capable of 4x4 AC.)

Other alternatives are MOCA LAN, and Powerline Ethernet.

 

[cctaylor88]

Obviously, wired gigabit (or better?) ethernet is the best solution, but there are alternatives.

If you go Wifi, then investigate 3x3 or 4x4 stream Wireless AC (802.11ac) routers and access points, find ones that can do "client bridge mode". Also called "Media Extenders". Basically, they communicate with the router, using 3x3 or better wireless AC, and then have one or more ethernet jacks, for local devices to plug into. This is generally a preferable setup, to using an actual WiFi adapters in the PC. If you choose your parts correctly, you can get close to gigabit wired speeds. (But the wireless hardware needed to pull this off isn't cheap. We're talking $200-400 for the router, and $200-300 each for the wireless bridges, that are capable of 4x4 AC.)

Other alternatives are MOCA LAN, and Powerline Ethernet.

Do you have any experience with Powerline Ethernet by chance? That sounds like a much more feasible option to explore.

 

[mnewsham]

Do you have any experience with Powerline Ethernet by chance? That sounds like a much more feasible option to explore.

Powerline is highly dependent on your houses internal wiring quality, and how old it is. If you have Coax runs already MoCA is by far the best option from a pure performance and stability perspective. Powerline i've found can mess up if you have noisy high power devices on the same circuit, so a Microwave or hairdryer, etc.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Powerline i've found can mess up if you have noisy high power devices on the same circuit, so a Microwave or hairdryer, etc.

This. Powerline ethernet would drop out every time someone used the microwave, at a friends house.

 

[sdifox]

It's not that hard to drop a line through the cold air return

 

[JeffMD]

I have some experience with ethernet over powerline. Not exactly ideal. Originaly it was for a cable cutting conversion, I was thinking the living room apple tv may need a more direct connect, but it got more then enough speed in the single level house over wifi. Instead I ended up breaking out the kit to use on an old pc I converted into a plex server to give them streaming access to my movie collection. The desktop had a crappy 802.11g unit that wasn't getting a fast signal in the part of the house I stuck it so I tried the powerline adapter. Not realizing we were in the age of 1200 and 2000 level adapters I went with an inexpensive but older 500mbit (name only) model from tplink.

Let me just tell you right out, the number on the box is only for the maximum supported limit of combined devices and you will see a small fraction of it on a single device to device link. So at first hookup I was only getting about 15mbit. I found another outlet in the same room where I could get about 20mbit. so for a single stream the plex server was still able to function fine, but not ideal if I wanted my man caves main PC hooked to the internet with.

The good thing however is as the tech improves, so does the transfer speed. I was able to score a pair of 1200mbit netgears on clearance and it was able to double the link speed. I suspect the 2000mbit model could max my net connection at 60mbits, but not so much for speedy local network file transfers. Still, if you were just looking to add internet access to other rooms and wifi was choked in your area, 1200mbit+ adapters give sufficient speeds for 4k streaming. Also you shouldn't see (not tested) speed hits as you add users to the powerline network.

 

[JeffMD]

This. Powerline ethernet would drop out every time someone used the microwave, at a friends house.

Not the case at my house but I have heard some strange things happening.. i think something was picking up the rf noise that was going through the powerline adapters. Probably depends alot on your wiring insulation. Should be worth a note that you should just grab 2 adapters and test before going whole hog house.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

WEll, I came into this forum today because I've augmented my use of a built-in access-point in my Netgear Nighthawk 7800 router. I was looking for ideas. Compared to the CISCO that died after continuous use from 2009, I'm still getting over the suspicion that the miraculous auto-configuration features have drawbacks.

I just don't see why the OP doesn't want to do a little DIY "home improvement" and make a vertical cable-drop in the walls of his house for a CAT-5 or CAT-6 of appropriate length. On the other hand, I too have succumbed to alternative approaches when I considered running a twisted pair between two rooms and across a ceiling, or making a second cable-drop inside the walls to reach the target room.

I'm still ironing out some quirks for a wireless-AC connection between the Nighthawk upstairs and the "Moms'" computer directly below it on the first floor. Sometimes the media-center feed from the silicon-dust HDHR'-s needs to be "searching for tuners" when we wake up Moms' computer. I'm wondering if these quirks occur from scheduled DHCP renewal, or something else. There must be some tweaks I can make to alleviate these occasional troubles, because they would cause Moms to panic needlessly.

But I was impressed by the new wireless-AC speeds -- even if we chose the stronger signal and lower speed provided by the 2.4Ghz band..