Thoughts about usb vs pci Hardware Wireless Interface

[Eddd]

I have been through a couple of usb network adapters and I suspect that they are cheap and not nearly as reliable and good as a pci adapter. Right now my laptop (in the same room) with a laptop card is blazing fast while my desktop is as slow as dial up. Any one have an thoughts? Thanks

[doctorgonzo]

I would tend to agree with this. USB is fine for printing and for pen drives, but in my experience it doesn't work very well for network connections. I would suggest getting a PCI Ethernet card; they are so ridiculously cheap ($15 at most) that there is no reason not to.

[bailey]

useing the usb ports for networking is the worst possible way to do it, it will work ok under certin conditions but usally will end up with some kind of problem sooner or later.
the best proven method is to use the pci eathernet card, it will be the best performance you can get, and there much cheaper than a usb device.

[Eddd]

I assume a pci ethernet card is the card that fits in the pci slot and has an antenna on it.

[allburnintegrated]

No, I don't think they read your title about wireless. They are talking about ethernet PCI cards, wired networking, much cheaper.
You want a wireless card which will probably cost a bit more, still not really expensive though. I got my Netgear wireless card for about $NZ60 which is about equal to $US40. But you'll be able to get it cheaper in the US as parts are much cheaper there.
This card is totally stable and I get the right speed on my DSL connection. I've never used a USB adaptor for networking so I can't compare it to my PCI one. But if I use a cable to my router, I can't notice any difference in internet speeds and it's no more stable than the wireless one.

[Prew]

I've had two USB network cards for my laptop- the speed was ok, but for some reason they both stopped working after about a month

[Statica]

Not to mention that they are usually processor hogs. It works well for you if you've got a blazing fast CPU, but take a middle of the road or low end processor, or if your CPU is running an intensive program, and your network connectivity will begin to suffer.

[glc]

USB's greatest claim to fame is its (usually) easy plug and play. However, it's a notorious processor hog as Statica indicated, and it's very prone to conflicts. If there's a reasonable alternative to USB, I'll choose the alternative every time. I prefer parallel printers and I prefer Firewire for fast external data transfer. I definitely prefer Ethernet over USB for networking and broadband modems, I prefer PCI wireless cards, and I prefer serial external dialup modems. I have a USB scanner, it works very well, but every few months it just disappears and I have to completely uninstall and reinstall it.

About the only other thing besides scanners I use USB for are card readers and memory sticks.

[maxnik]

i use a little Netgear USB wireless 802.11b card from time to time. Usually when I help my friends to clean up spyware and bring their box home. It's not too bad as far as connection goes. Very convenient and pretty easy to install. I would not use it on regular basis. The size is really small and the thing gets hot fast. Those power amps in transmit channel can get hot. I dont think thermal conductivity is that great on those devices either - too small of an area to radiate heat. So - PA gets hot, gain drops, range drops - start having connections problems.
When PCI card is inside, radio is somewhat open, circuit board is bigger and fans are blowing - much better conditions.

[Eddd]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to purchase a pci card. My current wireless system is a B. I have heard that I can purchase a G card and it is backwards compatable. Is that correct?

[Ob1]

yes, because the both run on the same frequency 2.4ghz. you just need to have a wireless g router/AP to take advantage of the speed increase.

[Eddd]

Thanks Ob1. I have a Linksys router. Any advantage to staying with Linksys? Do other manufacturers make better pci wireless cards?

[Ob1]

there all about the same. always good to stick with the same manufacturer, so if you have a linksys router stay with a linksys card, otherwise when you have trouble with your connection, each co. may pass the buck so to speak to the other co. stating that its there piece of hardware that is not working properly

[Eddd]

Thanks Ob1