Unwiring the Desktop

The main trouble with having several desktop PCs spread on different rooms and floors is the messy wiring all over. On top of that, the CAT-5 wires snaking around would end up torn or cut apart by the bedroom doors.

The obvious solution was to un-wire the desktop and totally get rid of all the cables. First thing that comes to mind is a wireless PCI LAN card but the price is a bit on the expensive side — Php1,980USD 34INR 2,860EUR 32CNY 246. Actually, it’s hard to find anything cheaper than this, unless of course you chance upon one of those unknown brands from China (I’m sure they exist and being sold somewhere). Now, multiply that with the number of desktop PCs you intend to unwire and it could get really expensive.

So, instead of a wireless LAN card, I got a compact Wireless USB Network Adapter (Linksys WUSB54GC) instead. It’s smaller, less bulky, no need to crack open the PC case to plug it in and costs as much as the former. Just plug it in any of the available USB ports and you’re all set. That way, you can easily re-use it on other future desktops or even laptops.

Problem though is that like any regular wireless connectivity, you’re maxed out at 54Mbps. Kinda slow compared to 100Mbps over cable wires which you’ll really notice when moving gigabytes of media files across the network (I have 108GBs of DivX movies/tv series, 25GBs of high-res photos, and 18GB of mp3 files). Time to find a cheap NAS solution.