Router or Network Adapter? Help needed..

C

cyclopsx23

Disciple
My brother is coming home on April. He has a Laptop with broadcom 802.11b/g/n chip. He asked me to setup a Wifi network in my desktop for accessing and viewing my files (movies, Music etc.).

Now should I buy a 802.11n adapter or a draft n router? Please help guys....
 
titana said:
you need both..a wifi router b/g/n and an adapter according to your requirement
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What if I connect my computer to the router via Ethernet? Then i won't need an adapter.

And what if I use the adapter to communicate with the Laptop via ad hoc connection? Then I won't need a router.

I need a cost effective solution with good transfer speed, at least for watching 720P videos.
 
get a used router from the market section here. It should cost you anything between 700 to 1500. You can connect to the router via cable and the lappy will connect to it via wifi card.

If the lappy near the router it will get good strength signal and will easily play 720p movies stored on your desktop.

Optional : If your brother is coming for a short duration, you can later on sell the router here for few bucks less. How's that for being cost effective ;)
 
Get a N router. The adapter would be wasted after your brother leaves while a wifi network can always come in handy. Anyways, ad-hoc connections are much slower (on Wifi G, haven't tried over N).
 
Naga said:
ad-hoc connections are much slower (on Wifi G, haven't tried over N).
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But I heard that Ad-hoc is faster than access point :huh: for a network where 2 systems are present as there is no interference. Router implements more security thus slowing down the network.
&,
"Infrastructure networks cut the data transfer rate about in half, because of the time it takes to send the signal to and from the access point rather than directly to its destination, as in an ad-hoc network."
InformIT: Your Home Network: Should You Go Wireless? > Ad-Hoc vs. Infrastructure
 
Best solution is to buy router. You will waste more time n effort setting up AD-Hoc Sharing. Rs 1200 or so is for a Netgear Wireless G router which will easily suit ur needs. Or get a used one here for 700-800.
 
How to Build a Wireless Network Without Using a Broadband Router | Hardware Secrets

Your network speed will be limited to 11 Mbps, even if you only use 54 Mbps or faster cards on your network.
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Ad-hoc wireless connections limited to 11mbps - The Test Bed

Reader Ian Longdon has drawn our attention to a little-known limitation of ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) wireless networks, typically used between two or more notebooks with Wi-Fi adapters. The IEEE 802.11 standard specifies that performance in ad-hoc mode must achieve 11Mbits/sec, but no more, regardless of whether the adapter is 802.11b or 802.11g. There's no requirement for manufacturers to exceed the 11Mbits/sec specification, and as Ian found with his D-Link cards, some don't.

We asked D-Link and the Wi-Fi Alliance about this problem. D-Link replied:

"Unfortunately we only meet the standard and don't exceed it. D-Link wireless products follow the IEEE 802.11 standards. The 802.11b and 802.11g standards specify that Ad-Hoc mode only needs to support up to 11Mbps. For best results, use an access point or wireless router and set your adapters to Infrastructure (station) mode."

The Wi-Fi Alliance told us that as the standard only specifies a maximum of 11Mbits/sec performance in ad-hoc mode, testing above this speed is not performed as part of the Wi-Fi certification procedure.
Click to expand...

ad hoc wireless speed-URGENT

Ad-hoc is only specified to 11Mbit/sec connection speed. Some

wireless devices will go faster in ad-hoc mode, but it's NOT

officially supported.
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Those links are the 1st 3 links that google shows with the search string "ad-hoc wifi speeds".

I realise you were just asking for confirmation, but I thought if I'm going to give a link, why not 3 :p. No offense, but google is a handy tool. Most of my "gyan" comes from their search results. The dropping of speed I'd experienced personally, but google helped me confirm that mine was not an isolated case :).

P.S. Noticed that the article you linked to is from 2003 and talks about a and b. G standards were announced sometime in 2003 so I bet the author did not take wi-fi G speeds into account when he prepared the article.

Edit: Just thought I'd mention that WEP security does bog down speed a bit, but not the newer WPA 1/2 standards. Haven't really tested speeds, but I remember reading that WPA with AES encryption is faster than WPA TKIP. No confirmation but there's always google...
 
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