Wire vs. Wireless

[War_Caymore]

OK, heres's the sitch,

i am going to get internet in my room but in order to do that i will need either a normal router and 100ft of LAN cable OR a wireless router and a wireless internet card for my comptuer. Another suggesting i ahve recieved is to get my own cable modem (we already own one, so i don't know what kind of copmplications this will make) and get a normal router for my room and mabey 5ft of cable.

i need your suggestions.

Wire: Pros - Secure as hell!
- Internet only to my comptuer
Cons - 100ft. of cable required.
- lack of compadibility to wireless devices (Nintendo DS, exe)

Wireless: Pros - Get internet anywhere in the house
- Most likely cheaper than 100ft of cable
- compadible with wireless devices
Cons - Insecure

Thank you for your input, if any input is inputed ( ok i'll stop)

[rdrake]

You must ask yourself a few questions.

1. Do I need to transfer over files regularly?
   
2. How often do I play LAN games?
   
3. Do I feel like punching out holes in my walls?
   
4. Do I know what a crimp tool is?
   

Wireless may mean freedom in mobility and lack of holes punched into the wall, but there are some disadvantages too. You can have security on your wireless network (though md might argue me that ).

As for a wired network, I'd just cut my own network cable for a distance that long. It gets too expensive for longer cables.

Also, if you're going to have a lot of network traffic, wireless is no good. 802.11g is better, but still not the same as wired. LAN traffic includes things like transferring files and playing games.

[ZeroPaladn]

You could allways have both. Have your cable internet go from your blue box into a Wireless router, then into your computer. Thus, you have your wire internet for your file transfering, and you have your wireless for them wireless devices (DS, Laptop, PSP, ect.)

Turing:

Wall - - - - - - - - - - -BlueBox           - - - - Computer .                          | .            / .                          | .           / .                          | .          /                           Wireless router

sory for the turing sytax, but i think this will work. best of both worlds.

[War_Caymore]

*answering questions*

1. Yes, i do need to transfer files regularly. Even when i do get the net in my room.

2. LAN games will be a big part in this. i got plenty of games taht don't require cd keys that can play over the net and LAN. bessides, it's great fun! (shotgun my computer!)

3. I would not mind "punching holes" into my wall. mostly because the comp is going to be in my closet so no ugly holes will be noticeable from regular viewing. also, i am a bit of a security freak as well, so hence the reason why i made this topic

4. completely oblivious to what a "crimp" tool is...

i was thinking wires because they are much faster than most wireless and i get to hook up my PS2. but, the amount of wire would be the problem. to ge from the computer in my basement, to my room would take 100ft easy. i came up with the idea of moving the computer to a closer location but was turned town to the fact taht it would be too much work on my parents behalf.

my uncle came up with the idea of wireless jsut because it would possibly be cheaper depending what i got. but to get wired up speed, i need a strong Wireless Router. which, most likely, would cost more.

ZeroPaladn wrote:

You could allways have both. Have your cable internet go from your blue box into a Wireless router, then into your computer. Thus, you have your wire internet for your file transfering, and you have your wireless for them wireless devices (DS, Laptop, PSP, ect.)

Turing:

Wall - - - - - - - - - - -BlueBox - - - - Computer
. | . /
. | . /
. | . /
Wireless router

not a bad idea but to have both would be costly. considering i'm still making payments on my computer and the fact that i want to get it internet ready asap, that might not be an option. mabey in the future when i have time to screw around.

[md]

Wireless is not secure without a lot of eork, and even then it's only encrypted. Wired internet (if properly sheiled) cannot be monitored. In practice it's possible to run a VPN with strong enough encryption not to have to worry about it though

The other problem with wireless is that getting wireless drivers to work with *nix (linux, *BSD, minix) or 64bit windows is usually anything but painless and easy. In some cases it's downright impossible because of a lack of drivers.

Wired internet on the other hand almost always works. And is fast. But yes, wires are messy and are probamatic to run to places.

Two cable modems is actually a possibility, though you may not be able to do with both from rogers; they don't like doing things like that.

[War_Caymore]

md wrote:

Two cable modems is actually a possibility, though you may not be able to do with both from rogers; they don't like doing things like that.

thats what i was afraid of. we get our internet from Superior Wireless. so i don't know if they will allow that without any extra charge or if will even be allowed.

[rdrake]

War_Caymore wrote:

1. Yes, i do need to transfer files regularly. Even when i do get the net in my room.

By large files, I mean > 1 GB. Transferring 8 GB files over the LAN isn't so fun.

War_Caymore wrote:

2. LAN games will be a big part in this. i got plenty of games taht don't require cd keys that can play over the net and LAN. bessides, it's great fun! (shotgun my computer!)

Wireless is not really for you then.

War_Caymore wrote:

3. I would not mind "punching holes" into my wall. mostly because the comp is going to be in my closet so no ugly holes will be noticeable from regular viewing. also, i am a bit of a security freak as well, so hence the reason why i made this topic

The computer is going to be in your closet? Explain.

War_Caymore wrote:

4. completely oblivious to what a "crimp" tool is...

Strip the outside wire, put the wires into the connector, and use the following tool to put everything together.
Magic, really.

War_Caymore wrote:

my uncle came up with the idea of wireless jsut because it would possibly be cheaper depending what i got. but to get wired up speed, i need a strong Wireless Router. which, most likely, would cost more.

If you want something pretty quick, look into wireless-n. More expensive, but quite fast (as in, up to 300 mbps).

[Silent Avenger]

Now I'd suggest to do what my school does run, run a wired network and run the wireless of the wired network when you need it. So you could run a LAN cable to your PC and still be able to use your Wi-Fi and wireless items via a hub which is connected to the wired network. Although this does add some extra cost so I'd go with a wired network if I would be playing a lot of LAN games. Of course it's all up to you just think of what you're going to be using the network for the most and pick the type of network that best fits your needs.

[Blade]

I've yet to see a wireless router that doesn't have a built in 4 port switch. From the wireless routers I've had, I've always been able to disable wireless if I haven't had a need to use it. My family owns two laptops so we use wireless on a regular basis. Security isn't too much of an issue because I don't really live in a largly populated area, although I've setup security on the router to filter out most of the morons that don't know how to bypass it. Most motherboards come built in with a network adapter for wired use, so if you ahve that then all you'll be doing is spending a little more money for a router with wireless capabilities. It may not be a horrible idea to get a wireless router because you may change your mind in the future.

I use wireless for gaming and it isn't really too bad. I actually used it at a LAN party one time. In COD2 most of the wired players were getting a ping of about 10, whereas mine was about 15-20. It didn't really affect gameplay too much. However for transferring files, I got fed up with that and got an external hard drive.

[War_Caymore]

i do not live in a very big community so the worries of someone hacking me isn't all taht big of an issue. right now i'm dling all the drivers for my computer (i punked the internet cord from the home computer, after begging for half an hour).

actualy, i got a 1GB flash drive and it already has all the files i'm going to need. so i don't think i am going to be transfering any fiels right now. I think i'm going to go wireles. more input is appreciated though.

[BenLi]

More things to consider.

where is the router going to be placed? In my home setup the router is on the second floor and the computer i use is in the basement. The router, though is one of the better ones out there still has trouble reaching and is unreliable at times. Also, are you doing any console gaming? if so you need a usb adapter, not the card one

[rdrake]

Depends what kind of router you get for signal strength. Hell, mine's made by Microsoft and still reaches the top floor with a strength of 55% when it's positioned in the storage room in the basement .

[ericfourfour]

Why would you need a usb adapter for a console? My wireless router has 4 ethernet ports and I just run a line from there to my PS2 (more speed for gaming).

My friend has his router in the basement, and a connection in his room upstairs and he has no trouble getting a signal. It's made by linksys if your curious.

[ZeroPaladn]

rdrake wrote:

War_Caymore wrote:

3. I would not mind "punching holes" into my wall. mostly because the comp is going to be in my closet so no ugly holes will be noticeable from regular viewing. also, i am a bit of a security freak as well, so hence the reason why i made this topic

The computer is going to be in your closet? Explain.

I will do it for ya. He has an empty closet in his very small room. so he's sticking it in his closet for a) room, b) for the privacy, and c) cause he can.

[Mazer]

Are you taking into consideration things like ventilation?