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A couple of questions about "dongles"

Fleetblue

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Posted February 4, 2013 at 3:45PM

I have 2 PC's, one running Windows 8, The other running Vista. They are in different rooms in the house. I am connected to the internet with Virgin Broadband and I have a Virgin Mini-Hub. On the Vista PC, which is 2 rooms away I cannot get the internet and have been advised by the Virgin engineer I need a "dongle". I've had a look at "dongles" on Google and I can see it's a USB connection. Fair enough I've used USB's for file transfers etc, but I take it this "dongle" is different. So my question is, bearing in mind the distance one PC is from the other, do I need a powerful "dongle". Put plainly are some "dongles" more powerful than others, and if so, how can you tell which is more powerful? Any help much appreciated.

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Forum Editor

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Posted February 4, 2013 at 4:19PM

The dongle the engineer referred to is a USB wireless adapter, although why he thinks that it will cure the problem I don't know. Presumably your Vista PC already has a built-in wireless network adapter, and a dongle isn't likely to be any better at connecting to your wireless router.

One of the best USB wireless adapters around is the Linksys AE1000 It's not cheap, but it out-performs pretty well everything else.

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Fleetblue

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Posted February 4, 2013 at 4:25PM

Thanks for the help and info.

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SillBill

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Posted February 4, 2013 at 4:27PM

Sounds more like you need a Wireless Range extender.

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted February 4, 2013 at 6:32PM

Or forget wireless and use a couple of homeplugs.

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