Suggestions for wireless card needed

[Texas Diesel]

My laptop needs a new wireless card. Tried Belkin but the range was way less than the other card.



Any suggestions?

 

[KBennett]

My wife has a Netgear in her laptop and it's pretty good, but not as good as the one that is built into my Dell D505 by about 10 feet.



The Netgear software is a little different to setup but after that is works well.

 

[RandyHamilton]

You get what you pay for

I would never go with some generic brand. . With that said, do you have a wireless router at home? If you do, then I recommend you match wireless card brand with router brand. I now use a linksys card and a linksys router and can do down to my pond 200 feet away and surf the web. Linksys (bought by Cisco) also has great customer service on their routers, cant speak for the service on the card cause I never had to ask for help on that.



My bottom line is as long as Linksys makes wireless products I will stick with them due to the good experiences I have had with them. . , Both before and after Cisco bought them. . Cisco bought em because they were the best of class. ,,,,,,,, They still are... .

 

[FordCummins]

Another vote for Linksys products. Matching the card with the router is a good idea though.

 

[Texas Diesel]

I'll look into NetGear & Linksys.



We just want to connect on the road. At home we prefer the CAT5 wired connections.



Thanks for the input.

 

[mberry]

Look into D-Link also. Stay away from Belkin wireless stuff. Been there, done that. You may also want to get an a/b/g compatible card to cover all your bases.



http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=0&pid=305

 

[jkalchik]

After what D-Link did recently to a friendly NTP server in the Netherlands, it's gonna be a long time before I buy any more D-Link equipment.



Cliff Notes: There's a stratum 1 NTP server in the Netherlands that was intended for use only to sync stratum 2 servers, and only after asking for permission to access it. D-Link including it's IP address in a recent series of routers and hammered it's link to death. Search for "Poul-Henning" and D-Link for more info.

 

[MLimpert]

Has anyone tried the USB units? I have been kind of thinking about getting a wireless card as well- I never moved into wireless since I have had a wired network forever.



What is the range tradeoff for USB vs a more traditional PCMCIA card?

 

[mberry]

That's not good to do to a fiendly NTP server.



The trade off isn't really going to be range, but speed going through USB rather than PCMCIA. Depending on what wired speeds your used to you might not even notice the difference.

 

[KBennett]

We have a Netgear USB adapter on a Win 2K desktop at home. It's an older machine so it's hard to tell if the speed is limited by the PC or the USB adapter but it's not bad. It is located on the level above the router ~25 feet away and the range as excellent.

 

[RandyHamilton]

Not sure if it still holds true,

But as of a couple of years ago, a USB router would not work for some VPN solutions. Specifically the Cisco VPN would not work with a USB router. My helpdesk used to support all of Sun Micro's PC users before SUN chose to use another company whose helpdesk was in India and we found this out the hard way. .

If you aren't using the wireless connection with a VPN connection then it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[MLimpert]

Thanks Guys!

 

[GAmes]

This link might help your decision



http://www.jiwire.com/top-wireless-tips-hotspots-travel.htm