Wirless Adapter Issue

[CleBrownsfan]

I have a wireless router (Belkin_N_series) and a Linksys Wireless-G adapter for my desktop. I have had connection problems for sometime now. I also have a laptop that works perfectly fine and no network problems at all. I called the Linksys customer service (couldn't understand - must have said excuse me 40 times) and he said that I need to get a N series for good connection - and I have connection problems using a N series router and a G series adapter. Is this true? I just talked to a computer nerd friend of mine and he said they should be backwards compatible... any thoughts?

[flere-imsaho]

They should be backwards compatible, but I think I had the same adapter (USB?) as you and frankly it never worked great for me.

[CleBrownsfan]

They should be backwards compatible, but I think I had the same adapter (USB?) as you and frankly it never worked great for me.

thanks for the reply... I guess I'm going to go out and try a different adapter. My adapter is installed as hardware - not USB.

[flere-imsaho]

You could also try asking the guys here (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/469092836).

This is an area (add-in wireless adapters) that has never really worked out for me, to be honest.

[Alan T]

I have a wireless router (Belkin_N_series) and a Linksys Wireless-G adapter for my desktop. I have had connection problems for sometime now. I also have a laptop that works perfectly fine and no network problems at all. I called the Linksys customer service (couldn't understand - must have said excuse me 40 times) and he said that I need to get a N series for good connection - and I have connection problems using a N series router and a G series adapter. Is this true? I just talked to a computer nerd friend of mine and he said they should be backwards compatible... any thoughts?

Wireless - N is not a standard yet, and is still a draft, but for the most part all 802.11n wireless devices usually support 802.11b/g. There are some vendors starting to try to drop that backwards compatibility from their wireless-n line because that backwards support hampers their ability to do more with the product, but as of now Belkin and Linksys are not among the vendors starting to do that, so you should be ok there.

There could be endless numbers of reasons why you are having issues here, and kind of tough to start without really knowing more information about your setup. One of the main issues I have seen with using wireless adapters on desktops is that people place the antenna in a location that is not necessarily the best connectivity wise. A desktop is often under a desk or table and they end up putting the antenna with it there, blocking some of its signal strength. You don't see this as often on laptops because generally laptops are on top and have a less obstructed signal. If this is indeed your problem, then relocating your desktop's antenna might help some, or relocating your access point could help too. Switching to a 802.11n adapter for your desktop could possibly help as well if your access point is configured to take advantage of the stronger 802.11n signal. (Not always the case if you are running in backwards compatibility mode however).