After installing a Wi-Fi router, many people have a question, how can you now connect a regular stationary computer that does not have Wi-Fi to the Internet. Previously, the Internet was connected to a computer via a cable, but now what to do? I don't really want to lay a network cable from the router to the computer. That's why we installed a router to get rid of wires in the house.
Yes, after installing the router and setting up the Wi-Fi network at home or in the office, all laptops, tablets, phones and a number of other devices will be able to connect to the Wi-Fi network "over the air". These devices have a built-in Wi-Fi receiver. And if you also have a stationary computer to which you also need to connect the Internet, then there are only two options:
- Lay a network cable from the router to the stationary computer. But, this option is not often suitable, since you do not always want to fiddle with cables, and sometimes there is simply no way to lead this cable to a PC.
- Well, the second option, which we will talk about in this article, is connecting an external or internal Wi-Fi adapter to your computer. With its help, an ordinary, stationary computer will be able to connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi.
I faced exactly the same situation at home. After installing the router, all devices connected wirelessly. But the computer that I had to leave, I connected via Wi-Fi using a USB Wi-Fi receiver. It is about these receivers that I will now tell in more detail.
One important point: if you have an extra Wi-Fi router that is idle, then you can try to configure it as a receiver. It will receive a Wi-Fi signal from your main router, and provide Internet to a stationary computer via cable. For example, ZyXEL routers do an excellent job with this work. I wrote about setting up such a function on ZyXEL in this article. Other routers can be configured in bridge mode.
Using a Wi-Fi adapter, which I will discuss below, you can distribute the Internet via Wi-Fi. For example, you have a cable Internet connection to your PC. We connect the adapter to the computer, and it can distribute the Internet to other devices. How to configure all this, I wrote in a separate article: https://help-wifi.com/nastrojka-virtualnoj-wi-fi-seti/nastrojka-tochki-dostupa-cherez-wi-fi-adapter-na-pk-s -windows-10 /
Connecting a computer to Wi-Fi using an adapter. Without cable
As I wrote above, for ordinary computers that do not have built-in wireless receivers, there are a large number of network adapters on sale. These adapters are both external and internal. As for the prices, they are not very expensive. There are, of course, different models from different manufacturers. But, the cheapest will cost you about $ 6-7 (these are devices from popular manufacturers). Tenda has inexpensive models. For example, I also have an inexpensive, external USB Wi-Fi adapter TP-LINK TL-WN721N. It looks like this:
Works great. You will need to prepare instructions for setting it up on a PC. By the way, many people call such adapters "flash drives for connecting to Wi-Fi" :)
How to choose a Wi-Fi adapter for your computer: external and internal
Let's see what these adapters are, and how to choose such an adapter for your PC. This means that they are external and internal.
External adapters
They are connected to the USB connector of the computer. To install it, you do not need to open the system unit, this is undoubtedly a plus. They look like ordinary flash drives. There are small ones, such as in the picture above, and there are also antennas. Those with antennas, I advise you to buy if the Wi-Fi network signal is not very strong in the room where you have a computer.
If you are not very computer savvy, then I recommend buying an external Wi-Fi receiver. Almost anyone will do. The installation is not false: we connected the adapter to the USB connector of the computer, installed the drivers, and that's it, you can connect to Wi-Fi.
Here's another photo of external adapters:
With these devices sorted out. Move on.
Internal adapters
These adapters plug into a PCI (or PCI Express) slot on your computer's motherboard. It is clear that to install such an adapter, you need to disassemble the system unit. The installation, in principle, is also not difficult. We removed the cover from the system unit, installed the adapter in the PCI slot, rebooted the computer, installed the driver and that's it.
Outside the system unit, the adapter antenna, or even several, will look out. This is all for the best reception. After all, if an ordinary USB receiver can be connected through an extension cable, so that it receives a signal better, then this will not work with an internal adapter.
This is how internal PCI adapters look like:
Which adapter is better to buy for connecting a regular computer to Wi-Fi? In principle, what's the difference. But, for some reason, it seems to me that external USB adapters are more convenient and practical. They can be easily connected to another computer. The connection and installation process is a little easier.
As you can see, connecting a desktop computer to a Wi-Fi network is not at all difficult. But, you can get rid of the wires. This is especially true if the router is far from the computer.
