USB Wireless adapters - This might be of use to somebody

[stevenrw]

I just had a fairly torrid experience with USB wireless adapters that all ended well after all, so I thought I would share the story and the solution for future reference.
This all started with the possibility that FTTC (Via IDNet) would be available by the end of the year (2011). So in anticipation I moved my Billion BiPac 7800N router close to the master socket. This meant that I would now need to invest in a USB Wireless N adapter for my W7 Pro desktop.
So a bit of trawling got me to the Netgear WNDA3100v2 for which I duly downloaded the drivers and installed in one of the front USB conns on my Antec 100 case. Connecting was a bit fiddly but finally was sorted and all was well, with strong signal and reasonable d/l speed.
Then it dropped connection after about 1 week. So I rebooted and all was well again.
Then it dropped again after a few days. This went on and on, and a couple of emails to Netgear support (who were pretty good I have to say) resulted in them replacing the unit.
Not knowing how long this would take to get sorted I had to buy something cheap & cheerful to get me by, so I plumped for the Edimax Nano 150Mbps adapter, which I have to say, apart from only being 150, is just about the tiniest unit you'll find anywhere, about 1/10 size of the (somewhat bulky) Netgear unit.
All installed fine and again good signal strength and d/l speed.
Then it dropped connection again.
And again.
Well, you get the idea.
By this time the Netgear unit had turned up and this was installed.
Wait for it...
Yep, dropped signal after a few days.

The long and the short of it is that it appears that all these USB adapters see any USB other than the ones on the mobo i/o plate as hubs. This includes even one included on a card reader on the front of the machine.
And they don't like 'em. Oh no.
I connected (via a usb extension cable) to one of the USB's on the I/O plate on the back (ie direct onto the board) and everything has been fine for some time now. I've tried both the Netgear and the Edimax and they seem to be quite happy now.
So please take note. It will save losing any more hair.
As a postscript, the Edimax is a really cheap, really effective, and REALLY tiny little gizmo that I'd recommend wholeheartedly if you are happy with 150mbps limit.

[Steve]

Thanks Steven, it's damned frustrating when there appears no logical solution. BTW I'm awaiting a Buffalo Wireless-N Nfiniti Dual Band Ethernet Converter to connect wirelessly with my 7800N. This box has four ethernet ports and I'm hoping is fairly straight forward to set up.

specs http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=73681#specs