Connecting my new Desktop to old a wireless router?

Question

So i just bought a brand new computer for £330 and i am usuing to to play online games. Now i am going to play it in the upstairs bed room, i have an O2 wireless router at the foot of the stairs. I cant have any wires going through the walls are out.

My original plan was to get a USB wireless adaptor but then found at these wouldnt support online games:(

So i was hoping i could get some sort of Ethrenet cable like the one i use to connect my Laptop to my other router(its only like 90cm). But here is my question(s)

1. Is it as simple as sticking the ethrenet cable in to the back of my router then into the usb port of my computer.

2. Can i and if were can i buy a long cable (prefer like 20 metres)?

Sorry for wall of text. Also would the cable also connect my laptop, i have a lot of trouble with it wireless to.

All help is greatly appeciated.

Answer 1

Gary has answered your first question.

As for cable length, ethernet cable can go as far as 100m, your local PC shop should have a cable of your required length, or you could order online. Just checked Amazon and you can get 20m cat5 ethernet cables for around £5.

Don't go to Comet/PC world as they charge the earth for cables.

Answer 2

Hello,

(ANS) No.1 DON'T confuse Ethernet technology with USB technology they are x2 completely different things entirely.

**YES! some routers do come with say x4 LAN ports which do allow for making wired connections but these require Ethernet cables NOT USB cables.

**No! setting up Ethernet connections i.e. wired connections requires a good working knowledge of networking and of TCP/IP in particular.

**You also need to be aware that Ethernet cables do have distance limits because signals degrade over distance & this is especially true with long cable lengths.

No.2 No! I DON'T advise you too use that kind of approach, plus you would have to find a specialist cabling company to make you up a custom made cable for 20meters.

**I would advise you to still to try using wireless, you can get PCI wireless network adapters with fit inside the PC and these are MUCH better than the cheap USB dongle type adapters.

**You would be MUCH better off having the WiFi router up stairs in the house/property than down stairs for signal strength reasons. This is what Microsoft themselves recommend.

Hope that helps?

Kind Regards Ivan.

IT Veteran.

Answer 3

ASP Tutorials-

http://asptutorials.info/

Answer 4

No it is not. You do not stick an Ethernet cable in the USB port of your computer. If you want to use an ethernet cable to connect to the router then you need a NIC card (a card with an ethernet port) that goes inside your PC in one of the free PCI slots. They cost next to nothing. The second option is to get a wireless card for the computer. This is a little more expensive and will fit in the same slot but you will no longer need any cables.

USB is not a good idea as the bandwidth is not high enough.

Answer 5

yes plug ethernet cable from router to pc or laptop and pc world or a local pc repair centre will sell you longer ethernet cables when you plug in ethernet cable in router and pc turn both off then reboot router then reboot pc and should work perfectly fine