need a vista wireless adapter

[sandcracker21]

Well I have the Netgear WG111t and it worked alright on my XP computer. Now I have a Vista machine and it is crap.

It will disconnect every few min-hours and I have to unplug and replug it. It is a trillion degrees at all times. It will crash my computer from time to time and has even (I believe this is the cause) led to the blue screen crash a few times a week.

I need a new wireless adapter, USB preferred; and it must work with Vista. I was wondering what everyone on this forum thinks of this.

Thank you.

[Paul Komski]

Which router are you using. It is often best to match any USB dongles to the specific router as well as checking about Vista compatibility which, as you no doubt know, your dongle is supposed to do (http://www.netgear.com/Products/Adapters/SuperGWirelessAdapters/WG111T.aspx).

[sandcracker21]

I am using a Dlink router

I was also comparing the pros and cons of a PCI wireless card and a different USB adapter

[mjc]

PCI cards generally have better reception, allow swapping of antennas, have a more stable power source (USB shares a limited amount of power among the devices plugged into that hub---that's usually a pair of ports, unless one of the things plugged in is an unpowered hub) and have more functions (and in many cases all) done in 'hardware'.

USB wireless usually are just a receiver and antenna with most of the networking done in 'software'. They are the networking equivalent of the infamous 'winmodems' of days gone by...

[sandcracker21]

I have heard that pci cards get worse reception? This is important to me because my router in a floor below me and a few rooms over. My Netgear junk usb adapter is only getting a 'fair' signal right now

[mjc]

The antennas on wireless cards are usually somewhat directional...a USB device has a small, fixed position antenna...

A PCI card has a larger, variable position antenna...

With the extremely low power levels that wireless network devices run at, the antenna is 'everything'.

So, no, overall, USB wireless does not have better reception...

[LadyGrey]

I needed a wireless adapter that worked with vista too and settled on a D-Link DWA-142. Price was within reason, small, does good working with my Netgear router/home network, pretty long cord so I can move the adapter around to catch the best signal. Don't know how good it would work with your router pretty far away but it might be worth checking out. One point, DO NOT use the driver disk that comes with the adapter if you decide to get it, go to the D-Link site and get the latest driver from there.
I had no trouble with the install.

[mjc]

The USB devices that consist of a 'base' unit connected by a fairly long cord are slightly better than those that just plug in...but usually are still limited to the default antenna...which means no performance boost by swapping out for a higher gain antenna.

[sandcracker21]

so what would be a good option to get online reliably and fast with my vista machine

i have 4 gb ram and a quad core processor