Fast Wireless Setup

Fafnr1984

Junior Member
Jan 9, 2010
23
0
0
Hey,

I've recently moved to a bigger place, and a desire for having less wires is leading me to look into the wireless option...

As I will need to transfer relatively large files over the network, I'll need a pretty decent connection... 10mb/s would be nice, but 5 will probably work. These speeds should be doable over a wireless connection?

I have a Macbook Pro with a draft N wireless chipset, so that's fine.
I live in an apartment in the city, so in a straight line there's never going to be more than 1 wall and maybe 10m between any network card and a router.
Living in the city, there are about 10 other networks around, though...
Anyway, I'm looking for:

a) A router
b) 2 x wireless network cards

Some recent reviews led me towards http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/d-link-dir-655/4505-3319_7-32145084.html#reviewPage1 as the router, as it is very fast.

I've also been looking at the wireless cards - and in the philosophy that same brands usually works the best together, I've been looking at http://www.dlink.dk/cs/Satellite?c=...95806935729&pagename=DLinkEurope-DK/DLWrapper (DWA-547) and this one http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=DWA-556 (DWA-556).

The 556 is about twice what the 547 is, but the only difference I can see is that the 556 uses the PCIe port rather than straight PCI? And, iirc, straight PCI can transfer about 133mb/s so it shouldn't bottleneck the network?

I guess my question is - does anyone have any experiences with a DIR-655 + DWA-547? Or, does anyone have any other recommendations on what equipment to use for a fast wireless setup?

Any advice much appreciated!
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
19
81
How crowded is the 2.4Ghz band where you are? If you macbook supports 5Ghz I would take a serious look at it. Since it's biggest limitation is distance and your not going far enough for it to matter I would give it a strong consideration.
 

Fafnr1984

Junior Member
Jan 9, 2010
23
0
0
I have to admit that I'm not sure how crowded the 5ghz band is here - I can't find app to check the spectrums... I have wifi-analyzer on my Desire, but I'm not sure it supports 802.11a... If it does, the analyzer tells me there's no 5ghz networks around, which I guess is possible...

Do you have any specific recommendations for router / network card with 802.11a?
Of course I don't want to spend a fortune if less will do, but I'd rather pay more for something thats fast that I'll be happy with, than crap I'll have to replace soon out of irritation :)
 

boomhower

Diamond Member
Sep 13, 2007
7,228
19
81
You want .11n, not a. You are going to want a dual band if you go that route. I have a Linksys WRT610N that I love. Netgear and D-Link make good stuff. I am on my phone or I would give you some links.

smallnetbuildet.com is a good site for wireless reviews.