Get a wireless router or wifi card?

The Unwanted Letter

The Unwanted Letter

I've Got It
Its me again your friendly neighborhood.....yeah. I just wanted to see if any knew which option would better, im building a pc and usually you have wired connection..problem is my router and modem are all the way on the other side of the house and its pretty lengthy, so i wanted to see which option would be less costly and efficient buying a wireless router or getting a WiFi card for my pc, and if i go WiFi card would i be able to game well online?
 
The Unwanted Letter said:
Its me again your friendly neighborhood.....yeah. I just wanted to see if any knew which option would better, im building a pc and usually you have wired connection..problem is my router and modem are all the way on the other side of the house and its pretty lengthy, so i wanted to see which option would be less costly and efficient buying a wireless router or getting a WiFi card for my pc, and if i go WiFi card would i be able to game well online?
Click to expand...
Despite price, a wired connection is always best since it's stable and connects directly to the modem. Now you did say that your modem is on the other side of the house. You've got three options: move the modem closer to you, buy a 100ft (give or take on the distance), or buy a wifi card. Buying a cable for a wired connection is cheaper than buying a Wifi card. The cord would be around $8-$10, whereas a wifi card would be $15-$20 (prices differ depending on where you're getting it from). If I were you, I'd rather have a wired connection. With a Wifi card, I'm sure you'd be able to play games well. However, you're more vulnerable to losing frame rates, especially if you're streaming it via Twitch or whatever. If you're not streaming, you may be good to go.

Bottom line: If you want stability and cost efficient, have a wired connection. If you want convenience, don't want wires hanging around, don't want to move your modem, or possibly lose frame rates (espeically when streaming), get a Wifi card. Also, I think internet speeds may play a factor in this, If that's a case, a wired connection will always be faster.
 
I have to disagree with the above a bit. I hate running cables over long distances as a clean install takes a lot of work especially if doors are involved. As a result, I have been using wifi in my current apartment. My SpeedTest is 5ms ping, 33.53Mbps DL and 18.49Mbps upload with other devices using the wifi too (5 devices total, though iPad and AppleTV are usually sleeping). This speed has still worked fine for streaming and playing, so even if a wired connection is marginally faster and "more solid", wireless works fine as long as you have a quality router and a good ISP.

That said, as you have a long distance from your modem, you would probably have to use a booster between the wireless router and the computer to get a good signal, which makes the wired route a smarter choice.
 
sipilatommi said:
I have to disagree with the above a bit. I hate running cables over long distances as a clean install takes a lot of work especially if doors are involved. As a result, I have been using wifi in my current apartment. My SpeedTest is 5ms ping, 33.53Mbps DL and 18.49Mbps upload with other devices using the wifi too (5 devices total, though iPad and AppleTV are usually sleeping). This speed has still worked fine for streaming and playing, so even if a wired connection is marginally faster and "more solid", wireless works fine as long as you have a quality router and a good ISP.

That said, as you have a long distance from your modem, you would probably have to use a booster between the wireless router and the computer to get a good signal, which makes the wired route a smarter choice.
Click to expand...
As long as it's an 802.11n card, he shouldn't need a booster. However, you do make some good points. SOME people don't have that problem when using wifi. If he has a problem with wires going all over the place, then he should get a wifi card. Just know that interferences can occur when using wifi over ethernet. Not saying that it'll happen to him, but dropped signals, higher latencies, and lowered speeds can occur because of the layout of your home, objects blocking the signal, interference from electrical devices or your neighbor's wifi networks, etc. If you have a high quality router and a good ISP, yeah he shouldn't have any problems. But if he ever has a problem with how slow his internet may be at the time or why he's getting dropped frames (if he ever does), the question will lead back to "Is your internet hard wired to your router"? You have a damn good ISP from the sound of it, which I am jelly of lol. My ISP is currently CenturyLink and my DL speed is 25MBPs to whereas my UL speed is 1.5 to 2MBPs.

The only way he'll know is by trying out the wifi card. If he wants to see if anything like that occurs, he can find out really quick with the wifi card. If he doesn't experience problems with the wifi card, then great. But if he does have problems with it, he'll have to make the necessary upgrades (like getting a new modem, going hard wired, changing ISP's, etc).
 
sipilatommi said:
I have to disagree with the above a bit. I hate running cables over long distances as a clean install takes a lot of work especially if doors are involved. As a result, I have been using wifi in my current apartment. My SpeedTest is 5ms ping, 33.53Mbps DL and 18.49Mbps upload with other devices using the wifi too (5 devices total, though iPad and AppleTV are usually sleeping). This speed has still worked fine for streaming and playing, so even if a wired connection is marginally faster and "more solid", wireless works fine as long as you have a quality router and a good ISP.

That said, as you have a long distance from your modem, you would probably have to use a booster between the wireless router and the computer to get a good signal, which makes the wired route a smarter choice.
Click to expand...
That would work, but even the wireless on my router kind of sucks, we were looking into getting a new one but i think a wired connection may be possible and overall better since my wi fi is definitely not the best but thanks for the advice Guys appreciate it!:)
 
To give my advice and I'm no expert! I just made my first build about a month ago! My room is upstairs and there was no way I could run a cable upstairs to give my computer wired connection, I settled on a wifi card and despite being worried it wouldn't work or something its been working perfectly!

I haven't ever lost connection (knock on wood) and the speed seems good! I use my computer mainly for video editing though I have yet to try any online games! The wifi card I use is a TP-Link AC 1900 wireless dual band pci express adapter. It wasn't cheap but it does the job well!
 
CrashCraze said:
To give my advice and I'm no expert! I just made my first build about a month ago! My room is upstairs and there was no way I could run a cable upstairs to give my computer wired connection, I settled on a wifi card and despite being worried it wouldn't work or something its been working perfectly!

I haven't ever lost connection (knock on wood) and the speed seems good! I use my computer mainly for video editing though I have yet to try any online games! The wifi card I use is a TP-Link AC 1900 wireless dual band pci express adapter. It wasn't cheap but it does the job well!
Click to expand...
I really need to see if it is possible to get the router closer cause like I said my router is trash:( so I don't think wifi is a very good option
 
Look at homeplug devices too, they allow you to use your mains sockets to run a cat5/6 network cable more easily around your house. there are plenty of different types out there, search for homeplug.

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top