linking 2 PCs: hardwire, or wireless

[Flyby]

One of these days when I get my act together I'll get that new gaming rig. Meanwhile I've been pondering how to share the internet connection with the wife's pc. I've read that the newest wireless routers are fairly secure. I've also read some time ago that hard-wiring two computers to a router is the most secure. Doing a hard-wire setup in my older home presents it's challenges.

What are you guys doing (those who have two PCs sharing an internet connection)? I happen to has a dsl connection too, if that matters.

Flyby out

[hitman]

Wireless routers are costly unless your using laptops with wifi connections. If not, youll have to purchase wireless network adapters for your pc and go from there...but you should know that the ranges are limited unless you have a killer router. On top of that, you have data loss as well. I stuck to a line instead of going wireless on my pc.

[opformaster]

I say run down to the home despot and get your self a long drill bit and a fish tape. Ive setup wireless networks in a variety of locations and its always a sure bet that you will have some dead spots. Unless its a requirement of yours to be able to compute wirelessly at home I say avoid it. A wired connection will be faster and more secure for the foreseeable future.

 

-op4

[Kuky]

Cable is definitely better then wireless in terms of performance (no lag or data loss) and it is most secure (as no one can connect to your internet) but then again I think Wireless is also pretty safe, once you enable protection and anyone that wants to connect needs to enter network key (that you choose). Then also there is an option (at least in two of my wireless routers) where you can also chose what PC you will allow to connect even if they have network key, and also you can chose not to broadcast your wireless connection name (SSID) so if someone is looking for wireless networks around your one will not show.

[Ramstein]

I prefer my gaming computer to be wired, which it is, and the family computers and wireless printer are all wireless. If it all possible, use wire. The three wireless computers and printer here are about 25 to 50 feet away as the crow flies. from the wireless router. My PC I use for me and gaming are on wire and only a few short feet from the router.

 

I use WinXP which is a little harder to setup wireless. Vista is much easier, as it automatically detects wireless and is much easier that previous Operating Systems when it comes to wireless.

 

If you have never done wireless before, you will have a learning curve. Document your passwords, and security info, because if you lose it, you will have problems. Don't invest in cheap junky router and wireless pc card. Spend a little xtra and get a good warranty. You may or maynot need to buy a boost antenna. I would rather not say which brand you should buy. I can tell you I have used D-Link for many years. I have had a failure on the D-Link Router while still under warranty. They replaced it with another router. It had developed a range problem where the wireless signals would no longer go the distance needed in the house. But that was the only failure I have had since around 1993 with a wireless router. Again, read up on the routers and try to get a decent brand and model.

 

Good Luck

:thumbup:

Edited January 28, 2009 by Ramstein

[Flyby]

thanks for the advice, guys

 

I will definitely read up on setting up a router. I had thought about using my WinXP disc, but it's a home upgrade, and I've been keeping an eye on Vista Home edition premium 64 bit. I'm leaning heavily towards going wired since I intend my new PC to be strictly for gaming, and mainly online gaming at that. ;)

So a big THANKS! to you guys for your opinions. Now to get the wife to go along with me drilling a hole!:P

Flyby out

[Acedy]

Another option is to use your inhouse electrical wiring as a network. There are special adapters that you plug into the devices that you want to connect and into nearby wall sockets. The device encrypts the data stream (so it should not be a problem to use this system even if you are living in an apartment house) and modulates it onto the frequency of the electrical current. The receiving device (connected to your router for example) demodulates the data and decrypts them.

 

We use this system at home and it works fine, the data transfer rate is 85MBit. However your power circuit may have to meet certain requirements. Here is the website of the manufacturer whose product we use, I guess you can get something similar at your place.

 

http://www.devolo.com/co_EN_cs/produkte/dlan/index.html

http://www.devolo.com/co_EN_cs/service/dLANFAQ.html

Edited January 28, 2009 by Acedy

[Pilotasso]

I share my internet with my sister with wi fi.

 

AVOID DEDICATED WIRELESS ADDON DEVICES TO YOUR ROUTER, they suck and increase the cable mess and complicates config and troubleshooting. Buy one thats both router and WI fi.

 

My PC is directly conntected to the router via the LAN plug at the back of the PC, its only my sisters that linked to the radio signal. Its much more stable for me like this (the router could be somewhere else linked via radio to both PC's)

 

A good WIfi Router costs 80Euro, a USB reciever costs about 30-50 euro. Wireless routers posess 2 types of security. WEP and WAP encrypting being the latter MUCH safer and harder to crack. I added my own safeguard by applying directional antennas on both my router and my sisters reciever. My sister sleeps under my floor so the antennas are aimed verticaly. Since the directional antennas have 30 degrees reception cone the probability that someone else can pick up the signal is extremely low.

Edited January 28, 2009 by Pilotasso

[Flyby]

Acedy, thanks for the links. I'll see if I can locate something similar here. It looks very interesting. I hope my electrical wiring is up to it. I once had an internet service that was delivered directly from the wall outlet, through a plug-in modem directly to my pc. It was great! until the rates when up and I had to drop down to dsl service. :(

 

Pilotasso, directional antennae is an innovation in routers I'm not familiar with, but I'll definitely keep it in mimnd if I go that route. Thanks for mentioning the encrytion software. I'll look for that when I read wireless routers. Interesting about your sister. I thought you lived on the first floor!:P j/k

thanks guys. good stuff and another reason I like this forum.

Flyby out

[Pilotasso]

errrr...the directional antennas didnt come with the router I made my own. ;)

[Flyby]

errrr...the directional antennas didnt come with the router I made my own. ;)

'xplains why I wasn't familiar with it.:music_whistling:

I'm trying to find an equivalent outlet plug-in here in the USA that's similar to the product line Devolo has. I found one, but where it's website lists places to buy, those places have no inventory of the item. hmmmm....

I'll keep looking

Flyby out

[Flyby]

is this a good one?

 

for online gaming, what's a good support speed for a router? I've located a plug-in unit stateside: http://www.compuplus.com/i-Netgear-XE102US-Wall-Plugged-POWERLINE-TO-ETHERNET-BRIDGE-1002736~.html?sid=ndp7386h2a4fvru#moreinfo

I've found others too, but gives a general idea. neat concept.

Flyby out

[Kuky]

For gaming you don't really need insane speed (even 10Mbps will do) what you wanna cut on is high latency which I believe all Wireless devices have. I have wireless modem/router and I use Cat 5 cable (LAN cable) to connect to my gaming PC and any other PC in the house or laptop use wireless connection.

[Flyby]

rgrt

 

Krickey, Kuky thanks a lot. :) I saw that were modles rated at 56mbps and 85mbps. I'll double check for latency. I once had an isp service that transmitted through the power lines; the modem plugged into an outlet and from there to the PC. For hosting coops I always had one of the best connections, and guys always commented on the low pings they got when I hosted. Alas I turned poor and had to adopt to dsl. :( sailor-vee! :D

Flyby out

[Pilotasso]

All wireless router barricades have possibility for cable routing as well. Youll have the 2 possibilities though of course they are much more expensive than simple cable routers.

[Flyby]

rgrt, P. a good thing to know.

Flyby out

[Vault]

Wireless routers are the best.

 

I have a Netgear DG834G 802.11G 54MBPS Wireless router with built in hardware SPI firewall (I dont use a software based firewall which saves alot of CPU cycles) which connects my computer to a 8 MB ADSL Broadband connection via a WPN311 PCI card. I also have a 1TB connected NAS HDD connected to my router so I can stream media, photos and music to my TV and my stereo both upstairs and downstairs. Considering the average SATA 7,200 RPM HDD's transfer speeds are approximatley 50 MBPS my router can transfer data across my wireless network as quick as my hard drive can read and transfer the data which makes routers ideal for home networking. I have imported an adblock list into my router so I dont need to run any Adblocker software which also saves CPU cycles.

 

My network is protected against unauthorised devices by hardware MAC address and a WPA2-PSK (8-64 digit) pre shared access key. I also have my wireless network SSID broadcasting on silent. My network is very, very fast and very, very secure. Using the routers WAN for connecting a computer to another computer via a wireless network is very easy, fast, reliable and secure.

 

Buy a wireless router you'll never regret it. You can get the DG834G for £40-£50.

[PoleCat]

If there is a choice wired is certainly better. That being said a combo unit that provides both covers you fine as well.

 

Out

[Vault]

If there is a choice wired is certainly better. That being said a combo unit that provides both covers you fine as well.

 

Out

 

Can I ask why you think wired is better?

[CE_Mikemonster]

I set up wireless in my house a few months back and had reception issues with 'G' cards in my house and my girlfriends house.

 

At the mo i'm using a Belking N1 router with a matching Belkin N1 card (eBay), and no issues. Sometimes the problem is that the 'G' cards can receive a signal but can't muster enough strength to send a signal back.

 

Obviously you can always just buy a massive length of Cat5 (ethernet) cable and route it through the house - this is what I would have done if it wasn't for the fact that I rent.

It's really cheap to buy online and there's loads of threads on doing it.

[Vault]

Hi Mike I have a Netgear WPN311 card and I have no problems transmitting to my router that is at least 8 meters from me now. My connection is very reliable. I dont like wires. If my router kept dropping packets or the wireless connection was unstable I'd have a slew of collisions. 01:51 uptime and not a single loss of packet/s or connection is extremley reliable.

 

Edited January 30, 2009 by Vault

[CE_Mikemonster]

Good stuff, i'm glad to hear it. I was transmitting through a couple of walls and floors when I was having issues, low signal and internet dropping out/slow etc. I think that I was using the Netgear card that you have - Is yours the 'G+' standard, or MIMO or anything like that?

[PoleCat]

Can I ask why you think wired is better?

 

Simple facts. In general terms reliability, speed, and security are better over a wire. Networking 101.

 

Out

Edited January 30, 2009 by PoleCat

[GGTharos]

Wired is better period; better speed, reliability, security - it is less convenient than wireless. As with everything, if you buy crap hardware you'll get crap performance.

 

But wired will always out-perform wireless as there's no interference to deal with, no channel hopping to do, and no noise (by comparison). It will also not cause you to get NAS ;)

Edited January 30, 2009 by GGTharos

[Vault]

Simple. In general terms reliability, speed, and security are better over a wire. Networking 101.

 

Out

 

Ah networking 101.

 

Your right a wired ethernet network can send data over a network at 100MB/S+ which is alot quicker than wireless routers. The flip side to that is that no SATA HD can write and transfer at that speed so 100MB/S is overkill between two computers on a wired home network. Only file servers & medium to large networks are really capable of utilizing an ethernet connection efficiently.

 

Reliability on my Netgear is unquestionable. My ISP is more unreliable than my Wireless router. I've never seen a log on my router for any collisions.

 

Regarding security a cabled network wins hands down. A wireless network can never be as secure as a wired network, cabled security is good for infrastructure and other sensitive networks but overkill again for a home network. Home networks that use wireless routers that have a minimum of a WPA2-PSK pre shared key as well as access by hardware MAC address are more than adequate against a local attack on your network. An attacker who knows how to by pass a pre shared key and spoof a hardware MAC address will get on your network but these type of hackers dont go around attacking home networks. As for any remote attacker trying to gain access to your network via a Netgear wireless router the SPI firewall and anti DOS attack is one bad ass beast and good luck to them. Their going to need it.