Question Router/Wifi?

ronopp

Senior member
Dec 2, 2002
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Instead of buying a standalone router, can I get a wifi card for my computer and use it as a router? Am I barking up the wrong tree by doing this?
I currently have cable internet( WIFI 5) but have purchased my First Smart TV which has WIFI 6 standard. Thanks for input and help!!
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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You can, but absolutely not feasible. You have to keep your PC on 24/7 and share the internet with other devices. Which consumes a lot more power than a standalone router. And PC wifi router software sucks, free or paid.

But you said you have a cable internet( WIFI 5) , that means you have a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) modem gateway, why do you need another router? Your wifi 6 smart TV should connect to a wifi 5 router without problem, unless the modem gateway's wifi 5 signal is too weak, in that case, you should consider buying another wifi 6 router and run it in AP mode and uplink to the modem gateway with one of the LAN ports.

Wi-Fi 6 router is cheap now, no reason to use a PC as replacement.
 
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Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
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I setup a PC as a router and used an internal PCI / M2 card as an AP in the past but, to get WIFI 6 you don't have any options currently to do this. You can host an AP with a card though for AC speeds. I do have a WIFI 6 capable Intel AX411 running in AP mode but, the bandwidth is limited to ~200mbps through it. With the AC card I was using though I could get close to my full bandwidth up to about 1gbps. Using an AP though connected to the PC I can hit 1.5gbps using an AX411 client with DCT enabled which bonds both 2.4/5 bands into a single pipe for increased bandwidth.

If you want to run internal AP you'll need a QCA / MTK / BCM based card and use linux with hostapd. There are a couple of options with WIFI 6 out there and I tested the most recent MTK7921 and it wasn't all that stable for speeds and required disabling WIFI 6. There's a QCA based card I was looking at but, the vendor was out of stock and couldn't get my hands on it so I dropped the idea and stuck with my actual AP instead since WIFI 7 is around the corner and double the speed possibilities.

As for the whole DIY router it works better than relying on the buggy junk you get off the shelf and pay too much for. If you're thinking about using the 4790K system in your signature it would provide enough horsepower to get it done. It should be capable of providing enough speed if you're using a VPN on it as well. The PC option gets rid of the headaches with VPN's by allowing line speed encryption using wireguad compared to a router in a box.
 

MtnMan

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2004
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Instead of buying a standalone router, can I get a wifi card for my computer and use it as a router? Am I barking up the wrong tree by doing this?
I currently have cable internet( WIFI 5) but have purchased my First Smart TV which has WIFI 6 standard. Thanks for input and help!!
Exactly what hardware do you have, specifically the device provided by your cable company?
I venture it is a router with WiFi5 standard (ac), and should also handle your TV, just enter the SSID and password into the TV wireless settings.
You do not need anything WiFi6 (ax) for your smart TV, as WIFi6 devices will connect to WiFi5.
Nor do you need the speed of WiFi6 to stream TV, WiFi5 can easily handle 4K streaming.
 

ronopp

Senior member
Dec 2, 2002
290
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Just going for future stuff...I Like to be close to cutting edge :)
I use amazon equipment and that is WIFI 6, and I game so......I went for it.
Thanks for the input. Much appreciated!