Wireless Adapter Brand matter?

[Mikepsyche]

So I figured I'd step inside Radioshack to check out what they had for wireless adapters. Didn't really plan on buying it there, but I was in the neighborhood so I figured I'd check it out.

The guy there said I should get a Lynksys adapter because that's what my router is, and it'd be a real hassle for me if I got a different brand adapter.

Would it be that much trouble to get a different brand adapter?

 

[Dauntae]

lemme guess, He just happened to have one there to buy at that point I've used many brands and not had much trouble with mixing brands, As long as the wireless signal is right.

Dauntae

 

[Hefemeister]

You can definitely mix brands but it is always a little bit easier with the same brand.

 

[mikesgroovin]

^^^ What they said.
Perhaps the radio shack guy is just speaking to you from personal experiences? hard to say.....but, regardless, it isn't a fact.
What os do you have and what kind were you looking at? (pci/usb?)

 

[zedman3d]

Once the router has emitted the wireless signal it is exactly the same as another branded router would emit.

 

[mikesgroovin]

well, yea but it's also what the device on the receiving end (wap) sees within the packets (device id) when it decides whether or not to take advantage of any "speed boosts" or whatever else the two devices may have in common.

EDIT: Happy Birthday BTW!

 

[zedman3d]

well, yea but it's also what the device on the receiving end (wap) sees within the packets (device id) when it decides whether or not to take advantage of any "speed boosts" or whatever else the two devices may have in common.

EDIT: Happy Birthday BTW!

Lol thank you.

And yes thats very true. I would also go with the same brand if it was one of those Dual Band ones. Like swap between 5ghz and 2.4 or something.

 

[zmatt]

Network protocols are network protocols. brand doesn't matter. Linksys may have some nifty auto setup utility, but aside from that it doesn't matter. They all have to be interoperable.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

The only, and I mean, ONLY expception, is Wireless Draft-N, it is still Draft, so that means the standards can still change for it, I have ran into quite a few situations where people bought Draft-N routers when they first came out, then a year or two later bought N cards to use with it, nothing was compatable because it had changed. And this applys to anything that is in its draft format.


BTW @ zmatt, wireless G is SUPPOSED to be backwards compatable with B, but it isn't on some cards, and if I remember right, that is part of the protocal. Just because it is a protocal doesn't mean manufactures will stick to it completly.

 

[zmatt]

If it doesn't work as specified then they can't actually say its certified. To be G compatible it must work with B. if it doesn't that false advertising, and there are ways to handle that.