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Hi guys, I was wondering if you could give me your opinions and insight. I need to get a PCMCIA wireless network card for access to Internet at school.
What should I be looking out for? Would Netgear or SMC be a good brand? I don't really wish to get linksys because it seems their products are pretty crappy on support as well as driver updates.
Assuming that your school Wireless is a standard 802.11b, the best card in this class will be the Proxim - Orinoco Gold.
You might also consider an 802.11g card.
These cards are backward compatible with 802.11b, and can be used with the newer 802.11g (Netgear or D-link might be a good choice).
:t
Yes, I was thinking of a "g" wireless card. It's 54Mbps (megabits) right?
Well, Comage, it's now the time to start buying what you can before the sale ends. There are many places like CompUSA, BestBuy, and Circuit City offering deals on wireless gear. Some of the prices are low and lower I've ever seen it.
May some reading would be in order: Wireless What Should I Get?Quote:
Originally posted by Comage
Yes, I was thinking of a "g" wireless card. It's 54Mbps (megabits) right?
:t
That's a dead link.Quote:
So should I get a B only adapter or is one of those dual band more worth it?
Get the dual band. G is pretty much standard right now...and, it's backwards compatible with B.
Don't get caught up with 11 or 54 MB/s.
That's only on the local network...
You won't be able to download anyfaster....unless you perch on top of a T3 line....:)
I vote Linksys...they're good products...and owned by Cisco.
I would've considered Linksys a few month ago, but after owning the BEFSR41 router, and the late f-ups with the firmware updates, I'm seriously disdained by Linksys already.
What would you guys recommend?
Everybody makes a bad piece of hardware now and then. If not...they'd have the market cornered...
Linksys...
If not, Netgear and DLink are ok, too.
These are cheap devices and you get what you pay for. Linksys is no worse than any of the others and realistically, because of thier enormous SOHO presence, they are probably better than most but only marginally. Toss a dart. At this price point it's a **** shoot anyway and for the most part, all of the equipment is very similar. Pick the feature set you want and buy it.
Also, a suggestion was mentioned earlier for purchasing a dual band card. 802.11a is pretty much a dead horse at the home consumer level. Unless you plan on going with a 5 Ghz solution later on then I wouldn't waste your money on a dual band setup unless you already have a dual band AP. I'd just go with .11g. Any G card will support .11b modulation types.
Censoring c-r-a-p? Are you kidding me?
Okay, thanks for all the helpful suggestions. It seems like I'll just have to check out the price differences between the various brands and see which one suits my budget most. :)