Gadgets—USB Wireless connectors
When my husband came home from his active duty stint, complete with computer, we had to figure out how to connect his computer to the internet. I had installed a wireless router at home to use with my laptop, which already had wi-fi built in. Jimbo's computer did not have a built in wireless connector, so our choice at that point was running a cable to the DSL jack or install a wireless device.
The cable wasn't an option unless we wanted to run it across our bedroom floor or do something crazy like run it up across our ceiling. Since I have enough coordination to trip over a cable every time I come within 10 feet of it, we decided that wireless was a better option.
Off we went to our favorite store, Best Buy. Well, Barnes and Noble and the local comic book store are probably our real favorites, but we'll say Best Buy for gadgets. Anyway, we were on the hunt for a wireless card to install in the computer when lo and behold, we discovered a USB external wireless adapter. Now, I thought this was just beyond cool because it was a. a gadget for the computer and b. was incredibly easy to use and did not involve actually using tools to open up the computer case. You just plug it into a USB port, and voila, you've got wireless now. Of course, getting the computer to talk to the wireless network was another story, but for sake of a wireless device, you can't get any easier than this.
We have the Netgear WG111T, and it's held up quite well, in spite of the fact that the kids try to insert and remove the thing from the USB port on the front of the computer. Trusty Friend stingerhs insists that an internal wireless card is better because it allows more range. This may well be true (especially since stingerhs works in a computer store and knows a heck of a lot more about these things than I do), but a. we're already paying for our wireless and don't feel like mooching off of bob and jill's unsecured network down the block, and b. our router is about 12 feet away from our computers, and we live in a house that's a whole 1200 square feet big, we happily do not have to worry about range. If we had a bigger house we might have to be concerned about that. There's one advantage to a smaller house....
On a 0-5 scale:
Ease of use for geeks: 5 tech-silver sheep
Ease of use for non-geeks: 5 silver sheep
Features: It only has 1 feature. :)
Value for price: Well, I can't remember what we paid for it, but probably not too much, so I'll give it 5 silver sheep
User-friendliness for parents: 4.5 silver sheep--just don't let babies pull on it or it'll break off in the socket.
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