kristell Posted January 4, 2015 ID:926255 Share Posted January 4, 2015 My son bought a gaming computer a few years ago which came with a wifi dongle rather than a built in wifi. It never worked well so he used a cable to connect to the router instead which was fine. He now needs to move the computer which is too far away from the router to use a cable but the wifi is very slow. It is an Advent wl700nm which I believe is 150mbps.I know nothing about wifi dongles and he probably should have bought a pc with wifi, but he obviously thought he knew what he was doing.So.... is it possible to buy another dongle that would be faster and allow him to play his world of Warcraft, call of duty, mine craft etc., over the Internet with decent speed?? Thanks for looking and helping if you can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted January 4, 2015 ID:926275 Share Posted January 4, 2015 The speed of WiFi is a function of the version of the Wireless Fidelity protocol and the ability of both the Router and WiFi NIC ( dongle ). The WiFi USB device may support 150MB/s but does the Wireless Router ? WiFi will also not be as good as Ethernet due to the additional overhead of packet encryption and other factors which may lead to packets being resent. A simple proof is run an Internet speed test ( such as below ) and compare a Wired PC and WiFi PC, on the same network, going to one or both of the below test sites.http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/http://www.speedtest.net/ Also note the USB interface is itself a limitation. I assume this Gaming Platform is a desktop PC. If yes, you may want to consider a PCI based WiFi NIC. Example:D-Link Wireless N150 PCI Adapter (DWA-525) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Spud Posted January 4, 2015 Staff ID:926276 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Standard routers have a limited wifi range (up to 30/50 Metres) depending on walls blocking the signal. He would be better buying an ethernet cable then running it from the PC to the router (tacked along the wall). These cables come in various lengths where 50m would suffice (if his machine is that far away). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristell Posted January 4, 2015 Author ID:926280 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Thanks for your reply. We have Virgin broadband up to 120mb and no problems with any other computer when using broadband. Am guessing it could be this which is I fact slow and not the router, but I thought we were supposed to have super speed broadband!!The computer in question is a desktop pc,I will run the speed tests to check.Is the adapter easy to I stall/configure? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted January 4, 2015 ID:926295 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Yes they are easy to install. What exactly is the "Virgin broadband" ?Please elaborate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Admin AdvancedSetup Posted January 4, 2015 Root Admin ID:926322 Share Posted January 4, 2015 You may need to add a router or access point to extend the range. My main router sits behind a closed door in the back of the house and had to move my wife's computer so it could no longer use an Ethernet cable so I put in an old used router setup the same as the main basically aside from a few changes and now one can connect to either router automatically depending on which signal is the highest for where you're at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Spud Posted January 5, 2015 Staff ID:926478 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Another option to consider is a wifi extender. A few are listed here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wifi+extender&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Awifi+extender Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristell Posted January 5, 2015 Author ID:926666 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Thank you again for your ideas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H. Lipman Posted January 5, 2015 ID:926668 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Please supply the information on your "Virgin broadband". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulAllen Posted April 19, 2015 ID:956738 Share Posted April 19, 2015 Can you not use these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-XETB1001-Powerline-Network-Adaptor/dp/B007TL4HNY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429444419&sr=8-1&keywords=Netgear+85Mbps+Powerline+Network+Adapter+Kit+-+XETB1001and then you cut out wireless all together, I've never used them for gaming but for hd tv they work fantastically Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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