Wireless home network, information everyone needs!

[Shaftatplanetquake]

hehe, just trying to get more people into my thread

anyway, please tell me what you think the best option is for a wireless home network. I have 2 computers that are on different floors of the house and setting up a cat5 based ethernet lan is just too much drilling, crawling, and pulling for me. I already have 2 10/100 nics in each system, so if this is usable let me know.

I guess my question is, what is the fastest (I'm sure there are 10 mb/sec kits, what about 100), smallest(not too much deskspace), and cheapest(but still reliable), 2 computers option out there that would eliminate all needs for drilling?

 

[BCYL]

I think there are 2 options for you: wireless home network and phoneline network kits...

Do a search at CNet to see what fits your need and price range...

I would say 100mbps would be out of the question... even if those are avaliable they would be too expensive... so may be stuck with 10mbps...

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

I went through all the information cnet had on wireless as well as the information they had on phone network kits. I just happen to have 3 lines right now, one of which is completely free and isn't beeing used at all. So a phone kit would be good. However, after picking through everything they had I only found one option. Linksys Homelink Phoneline 10MB/sec.... that kit is the only 10mb/sec kit.

Does anyone know of a 100mb/sec kit for wireless or phone line network? Even this, does anyone own a Linksys Homelink Phoneline 10MB/sec and can give me a recomendation on the product, because I would not purchase a piece of garbage.

 

[Scarpozzi]

This really kind of belongs in the hot deals section, but for a cheap laptop to desktop solution, I saw something on overstock.com today that caught my eye. They were selling an outfit made by ACER that ran an ISA card adapter to a PCMCIA type II card. 2.4GHz is the frequency it runs at... $69 w/free shipping. Sounds pretty cool, but ISA is kind of out...plus the fact that it's ISA and type II PCMCIA makes it sound like an old product...not sure how stable it is... But it might be something you'll want to research.... It sure does beat those $350+ solutions I've seen on the market.

For what you want to do, I would recommend using a phoneline kit. However, if at all possible, go with Cat5. That will give you the 100mbps transfer rates that everyone loves. If you pull cable, you only have to do it once. Just pick an afternoon to do it and get all your tools and cable and walljacks in advance. But, then again, I did this for about a 3 years so I'm used to it. Phoneline kit would be the most painless on your piggybank and on your trouble.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

This is desktop to desktop. One of these desktops is using the Asus a7v (thunderbird motherboard) that doesn't have an isa slot.

I don't have a practical solution to pulling cat5. I do not have a drill large enough(only large enough for real thin telephone wire), I have to drill through a 7" floor and then through an 8" wall that is 15 feet up in the air. So, having already networked 2 phone lines and crawling underneath the house, I think you understand why I do not want to pull more cable. I would love to have 100, or even 1000mb/sec, and I really feel 10mb/sec is going to limit me from time to time.

So I'm in a pretty sh*tty position... can anyone just tell me they have networked a specific home phonline kit with a good amount of success?

I just want a home phoneline kit product recomendation at this point.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

hmmmm...10/100 MB/sec phonline kit?

So it is possible to get up to 100 mb/sec over phoneline kit?

If so, then this is pretty nice...

USB too..

 

[TaylorD]

You can't get 100mbps phoneline networks, unfortunately. I have used intel's 10mbps phoneline networking and I was disappointed. One thing I wonder about is if it works better if you just hook both ends up to one long phone cable, not on any phoneline. I just plugged each end into the wall.

Just to let you know, I am in a similar situation to you (cat5 not an option) and I just bought the wirelss Acer thing from overstock (ISA and PCMCIA) for $69.99-$20 coupon = $49.99 shipped.

They also have a pack with two ISA cards (for two desktops) for the same price.

What I think I am going to to is see how well these cards work, and If I am satisfied, I will buy one more, hook it up to an old crappy PC to be my server/router/whatever. I just need to learn how to do that.

Best of luck.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

Hmmm.. what speed file transfers were you getting taylord? Anandtech- these are anandtech's benchmarks. You just need to go through about 5 pages to get to the real meat of their report. They say that with your setup they were getting somewhere around 8.5mb/sec if I am not mistaken. But, then again, everyone doesn't have the same conditions. Also, please keep informed about the wireless networking option, I would like to get a fast wireless network, but I would't even know where to begin. I'm going to research it tonight.