Wireless USB adapter (1 Viewer)

thebalance

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  • August 11, 2008
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    Hi,

    Can anyone please recommend a reliable, low power use, preferably cheap to purchase USB adapter.

    I've had a number of cheapies over the years and they were universally junk and I've been suffering with a netgear WPN111 for the last couple of years - when it works it's great but tends to get very hot and sometimes it just fails to work when the machine is booted and having just put on the latest Windows 7 drivers it's no better so I've had enough and would appreciate any suggestions!

    Thanks
     

    MLH01

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  • March 11, 2009
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    I had a WN111 Netgear wireless USB adapter on a Vista HTPC. It worked OK until the HTPC went to sleep. After resuming, the adapter would not reconnect to the router. After some investigation, I realised that USB devices aren't always reliable with sleep/resume. Whether the cause was related to the hardware, drivers or Windows (or some combination) I have no idea.

    I ended up giving up on the USB adapter idea and got a Netgear WN311B (wireless PCI adapter). I haven't looked back since, and it works well for Vista and Win 7 (and presumably XP). It might drop out every 2 to 3 weeks or so, but that is acceptable for me - better than every time the HTPC resumes from sleep, which could be several times a day on some occasions.

    The only downside is it takes up a PCI slot that could be used for tuners or other cards. Maybe other members could recommend a reliable USB adapter if you definitely didn't want to go the PCI route. I'd be keen to find out too :)

    MLH01.
     

    Paranoid Delusion

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    SiLenTYL

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  • April 23, 2004
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    i had problems with my wireless also...from a bandwidth standpoint also..

    so i bit the bullet and got an electrician to come to my house and install straight-thru ethernet cables to 2 wall sockets in my house... one for the PC room(where my files are downloaded to) and the other to my loungeroom(where my bigscreen/5.1 system are located)

    having the bandwitch of proper 10/100 MB networking is great for high def content and it never skips a beat ..ever! /crossfingers /knockonwood
     

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