Will a wireless router work on its own or are other components needed?
Return to DiscussionsFrom a spammer's post on the main forum, re-posted (without the links)here, as it will shortly be deleted and may be useful to some members.
The Spammer said .....I am interested in getting a wireless router so I don't have wires and cables all over my room. If I buy a wireless router, is that all I need to get it working or do I have to get a PCI card as well? What is a wireless USB adapter? Will that work alone with the router or just the router? Confused!! Also what is the difference between B-G and N routers? Thanks!
orion61 replied .......First off, do try to minimise cut and paste within posts - your post is full of extra html code that this site is not good at dealing with. Perhaps you can edit your post to remove it. The wireless router will send out the signals, you need a receiver at the computer. You can have either a pci card, which fits inside the computer, or you can have a usb receiver which just plugs in to a usb slot and sits outside of the computer. The advantage of the usb stick is that it can be more easily moved for better reception, but if you have a strong signal then that will be unnecessary. Most internal pci cards fitted with an antenna have good reception. The downside off the usb option is thta it uses up one of your usb ports. As for B-G or N, B is the older type of transmission speed, G is relatively newer and better, and N is even better still. Unless you do a lot of intensive downloading at a fair distance from the router, G should be sufficient. Do not be tempted to get a secondhand B router for cheapness - that is a false economy as you will be disappointed in the performance. Hope this helps