Best (& cheap) USB wireless dongle?

**Arathranar** · 01-15-2005, 07:14 PM

I'm looking for a good cheap USB wireless dongle for my in progress car PC setup. My priorities (at my best rough guess at priority order) are:
1. Allow adhoc sharing with a laptop in the car with full security enabled. This is critical since I'll be remote desktopping into the car PC until I get my LCD set up (which I know will take me forever

).
2. Allow a laptop to share the car pc's T-mobile internet connection (when I have the phone hooked up).
3. Allow the car PC to connect to my home WAP to synchronize my music collection off my home network. This may be more critical given I've found I can run the PC off my 7.2Ah battery for 20 minutes or so which makes a delayed shut down with sync over the wireless network a much more viable possibility.
4. War driving (the phone connection is *slow*!).

Any thoughts? Cost is probably one of my most driving concern at the moment. Also, it needs to be small since I'm intending to have it sticking out the back of the computer directly.

I didn't see any specific product recommendations searching the forums, hence the question. Thanks in advance.

**Peoples** · 01-15-2005, 07:34 PM

Netgear MA111, bought it a couple weeks ago at best buy. $4.99.....i couldnt believe it.....no rebates nothin....just $5. Its also the size of a pack of gum, and has better range then my other netgear and both of my linksys 802.11b adapters.

**Arathranar** · 01-15-2005, 07:46 PM

That's ridiculously cheap and at that price it'd be a slam dunk but Best Buy doesn't appear to be selling it any more (not on their web site) and the cheapest I could find onlined was around $40.

**Peoples** · 01-15-2005, 07:49 PM

yeah i couldnt believe it either. I was walking down the isle and i saw the sign but the shelf was empty. Underneath they had the same adapter but the g version for $49, but i looked behind those, and someone had thrown one of the B versions back there. My bestbuy loves to hide easter eggs all over the store.

**toadster123** · 01-15-2005, 08:03 PM

damn thats efffing cheap, i got my Netgear MA111 for $10 after a 20 mail-in and 10 mail-in rebates... so i shelled out 40, got back 30 in mail...

**Arathranar** · 01-15-2005, 08:09 PM

My local best buy doesn't have any but I got searching with the hope of finding something close. I found this 802.11g at a price I *like*! Especially since my home network supports g (I just didn't think I'd get a g adaptor for anything like this price).

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...C-pr1c3grabb3r

$22 after $10 mail in rebate. Any one better this - or have any reviews of this one? I have a trendnet 100mb switch at home that's been doign me just fine.

**Hcomplyr** · 01-15-2005, 08:16 PM

i got the small USB netgear too works great (but i have the G version)

**Arathranar** · 01-15-2005, 08:23 PM

I decided to order the trendnet one since I was convinced it'd go out of stock if I waited

**Peoples** · 01-15-2005, 08:27 PM

wouldnt be suprised if it was the same hardware as the netgear with a different shell. The usb cable it comes with is the extact same.... not that that really says anything

**Arathranar** · 01-20-2005, 03:22 AM

It arrived today. was easy to set up. Concerns are:
1. It tends to only connect at 36Mb/s at bootup, repairing the connection then gives 54Mb/s.
2. The signal strength doesn't look promising. It's only across the room from the wireless router but it often shows less than a full strength signal. Doesn't bode too well for when it's in my car.

I also couldn't work out how to set up an adhoc network. Perhaps that only happens if there are no access points around.