Setting a wireless network

[matsta31]

Please, consider that I don't know much about wireless network and that I was planning to follow the How to in this forum.


My needs :

My main rig into which I'll do the gaming, the download and the main surfing will by wired to the cable modem or the router. I'd like to be able to do torrent (700 ish Kb/s) and surfing, which I am normally able to do when connected directly into my cable modem. Altough, if this is expensive, I'll do the heavy donwloading when not sufing....

The secondary rig, (Brother in law will be staying with us for a while ) will be a basic surfer and will Boinc when idle. The connection speed then is not that important, but still it needs to have an ok surfing experience. I also want the two rigs to be able to share files a communicate together at an ok speed.

Finally, my secondary rig does not have any wireless connectivity for now and has an PCI and PCI-X slot available.

I was thinking about getting this has wireless router :

Linksys WRT54G - Price Comparison - Canada's Cheapest Prices

no clue about the Wireless network card for the secondary rig....

Please, let me know what I should buy/do or if this is a bad choice.

[Supergrover]

How far away is the secondary rig going to be from the wireless router?
All my wireless are on the wifes and my laptops so I know nothing about desktop cards.

[matsta31]

Secondary is like 2.5 meters down... ok so research on a wireless card.

[JD]

Since your doing a new setup, why not go with 802.11n? Costs a bit more but you'd get better connection speeds. Though if it's only being used for Internet access, G will be fine but if your doing file transfers between PCs, you're going to want more than G i think.

[3.0charlie]

My setup at home:

WRT52G, rev.2 (one of the old version), located in the basement.
2 rigs wired to the router
HTPC wireless using a Dlink WUA-1340, since I had no more PCI slots available... (D-Link WUA-1340 Wireless G USB Adapter)
2 laptops
A Dlink DNS-323 NAS, wired to the router.

My G setup works great, no dropped signals. Speed is great, more than enough for surfing. All rigs and laptops are on the network, and share folders.

The adaptor you're looking for is this one: Linksys.com - Products/Wireless/Basic Networking/Adapters/Wireless-G/WMP54G. The Dlink version (D-Link WDA-1320 Wireless G Desktop Adapter) works great too. I have used both at one time (still have them, don't use them) and saw no difference.

I would love to change that WRT54G for a WRT310N Gigabit router, solely for faster speed between my wired rigs and the NAS. But I don't see myself spend $100 just for that, and have a router doing nothing.

[matsta31]

wow thanks for the answers, I dont have to do anymore research now :)

Stupid question, can I work D-link adapter with Linksys router ?

oh and Charly if you ever want to sell one of those adapter, PM me

[3.0charlie]

Or course you can mix and match manufacturers. I did so when I needed one, and the Dlink was on special.

PM sent.

[sswilson]

The only issue with mixing them is that you won't be able to use the proprietary speed boost functions on their higher end components. (I think D-Link calls it "extreme").

[3.0charlie]

Agreed, but all my components are basic wireless-G designs.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by sswilson

The only issue with mixing them is that you won't be able to use the proprietary speed boost functions on their higher end components. (I think D-Link calls it "extreme").

Most of those speed enhancers aren't that great and I've found at times they actually can add a bit more latency to the connection as they have a tendency to over saturate the data flow.