Pci wifi card vs usb performance differences

[Charlz]

Can you help? I get different answers from various vendors when I ask the following question;

Which adapter (usb/WiFi board) is best for my use.
1 3 story block,brick town house (Modem is on second floor)
2 Some use in outside shed or on deck < 100' from inside home, (WiFi equipped) modem (Comcast)
3 Basically E-mail, on line product and service searches

Thanks
Charlie

 

[RealBeast]

Brick is tougher since it (like cement and metal) blocks wireless radio much more than wood frame. For the outside signal you will need something near a Window with line of sight to the area, like a router configured as an AP. Particularly, with neighbors so close who probably use wireless also, the outside connection at that distance will be more challenging than the inside without an outdoor AP.

The type of adapter does not matter as much as the size and quality of the antennae for the adapter, both PCIe and USB work well where there is a good signal. Your main issue will be getting a good signal to all the areas. If you have a laptop, you can take a look at your current wireless signal strength (and any competing networks) by channel using the free INSSIDER wireless analyzer.

With low bandwidth applications like you are going to use, you can add a wireless AP on the first and/or third floors using MOCA or powerline adapters instead of Ethernet cable, which is hard to add in an existing multi-story structure. You can use relatively inexpensive routers configured as APs to save money over buying actual APs.

 

[Charlz]

Thanks for the reply and information. It really helped.