Making pc tower wifi- help needed

Zimzammam · 27/02/13 - 01:56

Is it possible to wirelessly make my pc tower unit wifi? At the moment I have to run an Ethernet cable from back of pc along landing, down stairs and across kitchen - hardly ideal. Any suggestions welcome.

LION8TIGER · 27/02/13 - 02:55

You could fit a wireless card inside the tower quite easily, something like this or get a USB wireless adapter like one of these or get some homeplugs ... the most expensive option but I read (on here) that they are good.

1saintly · 27/02/13 - 03:50

May of been better posing in the Computing section of DS.

What do you use the internet for, are your streaming HD films etc or just general browsing?

Also who provides youre internet, what 'Box' do they provide?

Zimzammam · 27/02/13 - 12:59

Thanks for the suggestions, will look into those. All I want to do is a bit of browsing, and synching my ipad etc as my iTunes is on my computer. Plus, using ipad upstairs, you can only get wifi signal on landing but not in any of the rooms. I am with Talktalk, just using their normal router.

Old Dude · 27/02/13 - 13:28

A few years ago I had a mate who had a tower PC in a spare bedroom which was both too difficult to wire an Internet connection to and unable to receive a WiFi signal. I lent him a WiFi dongle and a 5 metre USB extension cable. He just ran the cable round onto the landing to where the dongle got a signal and it worked just fine. It should meet your requirements.

rjb101 · 27/02/13 - 13:35

Zimzammam wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions, will look into those. All I want to do is a bit of browsing, and synching my ipad etc as my iTunes is on my computer. Plus, using ipad upstairs, you can only get wifi signal on landing but not in any of the rooms. I am with Talktalk, just using their normal router.

You need 2 things then. Somthing to make your PC wireless and somthing for it to connect to as you have no wireless upstarirs

[Deleted User] · 27/02/13 - 13:47

It's a slam dunk for Homeplugs. Maybe even put a WiFi Homeplug in upstairs to extend the WiFi coverage.

alcockell · 27/02/13 - 13:54

Or wired Ethernet run to the middle of the house, bung in a baby switch and a wireless access point there. As long as there's only one device doling out DHCP addresses (the router)... it'll work better than homeplugs...

Tassium · 27/02/13 - 15:36

Making a desktop PC wi-fi is very easy, a £5 USB dongle will do it.

But if the reception on the iPad is zero then it will be little better with the antenna inside a USB dongle.

Either do as "Old Dude" suggests, a 5m USB extension cable from the PC with the wi-fi dongle on the other end - run the cable into the landing, or a USB wi-fi device with a bigger aerial. Like this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WN722N-150Mbps-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B002SZEOLG/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1361961251&sr=1-4

£10

[Deleted User] · 27/02/13 - 19:17

The only problem with running a dongle on a 5 meter usb extension is that you will lose power in the cable run.As the output from a usb port is only 500ma.

The dongle will function but you may not get the full speed.

Zimzammam · 27/02/13 - 20:05

I have a spare dongle, but it is PAYG so assume that is no good? If I get a new dongle would I not have to subscribe to a network to use it ie more money?? Sorry if being dim, this stuff goes right over my head!

alcockell · 27/02/13 - 20:11

Zimzammam wrote: »

I have a spare dongle, but it is PAYG so assume that is no good? If I get a new dongle would I not have to subscribe to a network to use it ie more money?? Sorry if being dim, this stuff goes right over my head!

They're referring to a Wifi USB dongle - not a 3G mobile dongle.

chrisjr · 27/02/13 - 20:13

Zimzammam wrote: »

I have a spare dongle, but it is PAYG so assume that is no good? If I get a new dongle would I not have to subscribe to a network to use it ie more money?? Sorry if being dim, this stuff goes right over my head!

That would be a mobile broadband dongle, not a WiFi dongle. Two different animals.

A WiFi dongle connects to your home network so apart from the costs of your broadband service there is no other cost involved once you've purchased the dongle.

What you have connects to the mobile phone network, completely separate to your home network. That is why it involves an additional cost as you are using a totally separate broadband connection to the one you use at home.

But in any case if there is next to no WiFi signal where the PC is then I would be inclined to look at alternatives such as Homeplugs/Powerline adapters.

These are small units that plug into the mains and use the mains wiring to carry the network signals. You have one next to the router which plugs into a spare port on the back of the router. The other goes next to the PC and plugs into that via another cable. As far as your PC is concerned it thinks the cable goes all the way to the router even though most of the run is actually your mains wiring.

For example something like these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-PA411KIT-AV500-Powerline-Adapter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/

Zimzammam · 27/02/13 - 20:18

Thank you both for clarifying! Wish I was more 'up' on all this malarkey

Zimzammam · 27/02/13 - 20:23

chrisjr wrote: »

That would be a mobile broadband dongle, not a WiFi dongle. Two different animals.

A WiFi dongle connects to your home network so apart from the costs of your broadband service there is no other cost involved once you've purchased the dongle.

What you have connects to the mobile phone network, completely separate to your home network. That is why it involves an additional cost as you are using a totally separate broadband connection to the one you use at home.

But in any case if there is next to no WiFi signal where the PC is then I would be inclined to look at alternatives such as Homeplugs/Powerline adapters.

These are small units that plug into the mains and use the mains wiring to carry the network signals. You have one next to the router which plugs into a spare port on the back of the router. The other goes next to the PC and plugs into that via another cable. As far as your PC is concerned it thinks the cable goes all the way to the router even though most of the run is actually your mains wiring.

For example something like these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-PA411KIT-AV500-Powerline-Adapter/dp/B0084Y9N3O/

They sound good. Will check them out.

chrisjr · 27/02/13 - 20:30

Zimzammam wrote: »

They sound good. Will check them out.

If you do want you extend the WiFi into the area where the PC is you can get a version that has WiFi built into the remote unit (the one the PC plugs into)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA281KIT-Powerline-Extender-Wireless-Starter/dp/B0067GS29W/

Bit more expensive but with those you get a wired connection for the PC and WiFi for the iPad or laptop in one.

These types do need a bit more tweaking than the non-WiFi version as you have to set up the WiFi side of things. But shouldn't be that difficult to do.

Hey there!

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Making pc tower wifi- help needed

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