Should I switch to wireless router?

[#1]

Hello,
My PC is at the opposite corner of the room to my telephone connection, so I have to use about 25 ft of (good quality) wiring to reach my router. Put simply, would I be better off using a wireless router?
TIA Simon

[#2]

if it is the correct Ethernet cable, the answer is no,  WiFi will be slower

[#3]

Stay with wired. the wireless routers plusnet (And most other isp's) provide is rubbish (TG585v7)

Eithernet runs at 100Mbps Wireless runs at 54Mbps

[#4]

The wire from the router to the PC will have no effect on your connection speeds or browsing.
The only reason for switching to wireless is either
SWMBO wants the wire removed because it is untidy  
You or the children keep tripping over it  

[#5]

Quote

Eithernet runs at 100Mbps Wireless runs at 54Mbps

It depend really on whether or not you transfer large files through your network to different pc's. If you just have one system and just surf the speed will be irrelevant as wireless 54mbps will be a hell of a lot faster than your broadband connection.
I have the same problem and used wall plug adapters which are fairly cheap prob get a pair for £25 new. They use your existing 240volt wiring in the house.
I changed from wireless to these with my ps3 and get better pings than when it was on wireless. May be an option if you have a 240 socket near the pc.

[#6]

Yes I too can vouch for the powerlines, My girlfriend lives in a large house and her master socket is in the kitchen which is no use at all really, We got a pair of belkin powerlines and I have to say they are much much better than using a wireless adaptor, Def worth the money. We got a pair of these for £30.00 on ebay and they have been a blessing to her.  http://www.powerlinenetwork.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=bel-gigabit-sp

[#7]

From my own experiments in a similar setup, I found ANY length of extension wire between the router and the master socket makes a difference to your broadband speedtest results.
I now have NO extension wiring, and the router connected by a 50cm high quality cable, into the front of an ADSLNation filtered faceplate on the master socket.
From there my network is all wireless, but this is mainly from the router to wireless bridges further connected to ethernet switches which connect clusters of equipment with ethernet cables.
The 54g wireless is more than fast enough for at least four computers accessing the internet at the same time, although I do schedule major downloads overnight.
To improve the range and link quality of the wireless devices, I have fitted the router and the bridges with 36cm booster aerials, which did improve all the links by between 2dB and 6dB.
For the future, I am moving towards streaming video around the house, I am looking to install a few homeplug devices to take the extra load off the wireless - which will still be used for the internet.
The homeplugs I am looking at are the Devolo AVeasy plugs http://www.devolo.co.uk/consumer/dlan-mains-supply-network-fastest-200-mbit.html?l=en.

[#8]

I have the 100mbps equivalent ones, the 200 are seen to be the standard these days if you intend streaming hi-def video to anything.
A lot of people say that the speed they advertise is no way near that achieved with powerline plugs but when I timed a 700mb video file transferred to the ps3 I was nearly getting full wack. They're often overlooked in peoples networks but I find them a very handy addition to mine. 

[#9]

There appears to be some confusion  - not least by me
My advice was based on having the router next to the socket and a long wire from the router to the PC not the other way round

[#10]

I see what you mean Jim, the original posting could be read as having the router either next to the computer, or next to the phone socket, connected by a long cable.

[#11]

I think other than moving the pc nearer to the telephone socket  Out of all suggestions the telephone extension cable is probably the worst. Out of the three options I would go wireless especially as the router is in the same room as the PC.
Running a cat5 cable from the router to the PC doesn't look nice but just as bad as a phone wire and the wall plugs are a handy workaround but to be fair the price they are new getting a wireless router will give you more options.

[#12]

There are disadvantages of going wireless though -
1) Less secure - as potentially other people 'could' connect to your network - if determined enough.
2) You might have to open the PC to add a PCI card - that prospect might be daunting to some.
3) Potential problems with yet more drivers to install on the OS - presumably Windows.
4) If you have many neighbours with wireless then you might have trouble finding a clear channel.

However as I said earlier, my setup uses ethernet-to-wireless bridges.  This has several advantages -
1) You plug the ethernet cable into the PC and it just works. Configure the bridge once, and no changes at all to the PC.
2) You can physically position the bridge near the PC to get the best wireless reception from the router.
3) You can add other network devices (e.g. printers) by just adding a cable to the bridge (or using a switch or hub).
4) You can easily upgrade your wireless from B to G, or G+A, to N, etc. by changing just your bridges and wireless access points, without altering the PC's

[#13]

[quote=AverageWhiteBloke]Out of the three options I would go wireless especially as the router is in the same room as the PC.
So far we don't know whether prynne's existing router has wireless capability or not,  so the cost of the homeplugs that you mentioned has to be balanced against the potential cost of a wireless router, or adding a wireless access point to the existing router, and also the additional costs of either a wireless PCI card for the PC, or a wireless bridge.

[#14]

Good Points.

Quote

Hello, My PC is at the opposite corner of the room to my telephone connection, so I have to use about 25 ft of (good quality) wiring to reach my router. Put simply, would I be better off using a wireless router?

The question suggests that he has a wired router and would he be better off with a wireless one unless I'm presuming too much. Also the nature of the question which is quite simple also suggests that they just want to get a PC in the same room without having to use 25 foot of cable so I'm guessing that they don't want to get into bridges, routers and hubs etc.
I agree a determined hacker may get onto your wireless without you knowing but there are plenty of counter measures you can use to at least not make it easy. Powerline adapters are also vulnerable to this, some blocks of flats or houses with a shared common earth can pick up adsl signals from other houses through the 240v wiring, most decent powerline plugs come with a small utility to encrypt your information travelling round the system so users need to enter the code to get online similar to a wep key on wireless.
So if my assumptions are anywhere close I would still stand by my original suggestion. They may have to put a wireless adapter in the pc but that might be as simple as a USB dongle. Even though I big up the powerlines I also hear of plenty of people that just don't work properly for them due to dodgy house wiring or extensions/surge protectors plugged into near by sockets. They are not going to know whether they will work good for them until the adapters are bought which is all too late.
My pennies worth anyway.