LoFi WiFi

I had often heard the nightmares about home networking, but thankfully, I have never had anything close to a nightmare, at least in this department. Recently, I did have some difficulties, and after some research I'd like to share the findings.

Just to refresh everyone, my home network is based around a Verizon DSL connection. This connects to a Belkin pre-N router, you know the one with the three antenna on top, and as far as distance covered, is still one of the better choices out there reportedly. I've been running it with WPA security lately. I use two USB connectors (Belkin N1 and Zyxel AG225H) to connect my computers. This week, I was really considering running some Cat 5e ethernet cable through the walls.

Networking is the kind of thing that works well- until it doesn't. Around six months ago, the Zyxel adapter would consistently take a break after 20 minutes of surfing. I mean that it would lose the connection, and take a while to recover it. As I also had the Belkin one, it ended up in the bottom of a drawer, and the alternate one did the job. Now this week, the Belkin N1 adapter, which has run very trouble free over the last several months conked out. Out of every minute, it was connected for around 20 seconds, and reconnecting to the router for the other 40 seconds. I was clicking on the browser reload button more than a few times, and surfing was difficult, at best. (Don't even get me started on what it took to upload this week's NudgeCast...).

Anyway, stuff breaks, and so the plan was to buy something new. Great, a new toy in a shiny shrink wrapped box! The Microcenter circular had arrived, and I spotted a true bargain, a WiFi USB adapter for the amazingly low price of $7.99, after rebate. My experience with rebates notwithstanding, I still was very tempted. however, after some research into this adapter from a lesser known networking company (Trendnet), I decided to pass. It looks like mixed reviews at best, with particular difficulty with networks involving encryption, where it seems to drop the ball, big time, and frustrate many folks. Well, as they say, cheap can be very expensive.

This prompted me to look up just about every WiFi USB adapter on the market. First of all, it seems that those notebook cards work the best, followed by the USB adapters, and the PCI adapters are the worst, generally speaking. Also, there's not too much testing of the uSB adapters. Most networking reviews focus on the router, and for the writeup, they typically connect via a notebook card adapter. That's great for being mobile to test a router's range, but it leaves the USB adapter as an afterthought (which it probably is).

Also, much of this is still proprietary. While 802.11b and 802.11g are open standards, there's any number of speed boosting technologies that fall under various names of "rangemax," "speedboost" or "turbo mode." However, for any of this to work, all of the gear needs to be from the same manufacturer. Most home networks are more of a hodge podge of gear bought at various times from several manufacturers as needs changed and developed. As I didn't want to spend $100 on this adapter, I was looking for something older, but that often means the drivers are old too. It seems that nothing gets really fixed, they just release a new product, even when the older one doesn't work right.

After going through a ton of user reviews on both NewEgg and Amazon, a few trends can be observed. The first is that no piece of networking hardware works for everyone, no matter the price. Plenty of folks are frustrated when a fair amount of this stuff never gets up and running. There is also a constant debate whether we should be using the included software, or to let Windows manage the settings, with folks firmly entrenched in both camps. Next, these USB adapters seem to get quite hot with use and stop working until they are cool again. It's no mystery that there is a lot of tech in that little thing, but some folks are resorting to fans on them to keep the connection up! Finally, there are plenty of people that claim that the adapter stops working after six months to a year. My own experience would confirm this.

So, what's the answer? I'm not sure there is one. Many of us need the wireless as it's still easier than remaking the house to pull cables through. If it's going to stop working, I'd suggest one with a longer warranty, and keep our receipts. Also, I'd rather not pay too much for one of these, as this way when it doesn't work, it won't be as painful. Typically in this situation, I end up buying one of the less popular models, as it has less written about it, and therefore, less negative. Be that as it may, I did make a purchase, and look for the review over on TNL-R in a week or two. I don't want to endorse anything until I've had a chance to use it for a while.

--Jonas

PS: If you've had one of these adapters die in a few months, or experience the heat problem, I'd love to hear about it. This info shouldn't just be buried in some list of NewEgg customer reviews!