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What the best Wireless USB Network Adaptor?

DanDrop

Senior member
In your experience which wireless USB adptor has the Longest range and best signal/reception. I am currently using a belkin wireless router and a Belkin USB Adaptor. It is used in a 2 story house but the USB adaptor that i have can barely get the signal on the 1st floor, not even 50feet directly below the router.

Any brands i should try that you've had really good experience with. Thanks!
 
Aironet, and Linksys comes to mind...however since Cisco completly screwed up Aironets design and implentation technologies, I wouldn't touch their new stuff with a 50ft pole, I don't think they even make nics anymore. I've had good luck with Linksys products, Ornico is just as good and offers some better security features. But if you have a metal frame you'll be hard pressed to find anything with real good range, I've set up the old Aironet equipment in 4 story buildings on the 3rd floors ceilings, and all floors were able to connect with pci nics. But they also ran 100mw of power unlike the current 802.11b specs for nics to be rated for no more than 30mw, this cut the signal range by 25%. Whichever way you go I'd use the same brand AP as your nic, some strange problems incurr when you cross branding. I'm not real familiar with Belkin Wireless products, but you should also be able to try different frequency's withing the 2.4GHz spectrum, a wireless 2.4GHz phone can wreak havok with 802.11b equipment. You should also be able to adjust your preamble to get higher data throughput. But at a distance of 50ft. you should be able to sustain 5.5 MB p/s @75ft you shouldn't have any problems with 2 MB p/s, and anything further than 100, it depends on the structures interference of what kind of reception your getting. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the heads up guys. I might have to try Linksys first as it is available locally, then if it doesnt suffice, i'll have to check the orinoco.

To give a further explanation of what i am experiencing here's the deal. At HOME, i have an SMC 700ABR wireless router. My DESKTOP has a LINKSYS PCI wireless adapter, the signal is ver strong, link quality is 100% ang signal Strength is at 82%.

My LAPTOP has an ORINOCO GOLD and signal is at 4/5 green bars.

I tried the BELKIN USB, and signal STRENGTH is at 90% BUT the LINK QUALITY is at 3%. I called tech support but was of no help. I moved my laptop with the Belkin USB next to the SMC WIRELESS router and the link quality is only up to 48%.

My other router at my friend's place, a bELKIN WIRELESS, also has a strong signal but weak link quality.

I will have to buy a LINKSYS USB to compare the two for signal/link quality.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. thanks
 
The bar, the signal strength etc, are visual representation for the ?Gullible?. There is no standard scale for signal strength on these gizmos; each vendor does his own shtick, as a result comparing signal strength by the WLAN software is meaningless.

1. You want to find the ?best? maintain the same parameters, choose a distance of 10?, and copy 10MB file from one Computer to the other over Wireless, using different Wireless cards.

2. Do the same tests 30? away in an other room.

However, I agree with TallGeese.

Agere ORiNOCO USB Client Adapter Gold.

The main advantage of the Linksys Wireless is the nice blue color.
 
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