Wireless Networking Card

B

broekage

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 21, 2003
Messages
176
I found the following on this page:
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prePrintView.jsp?mkt=B&pageNum=13&size=L
Click to expand...

Belkin 54G Wireless Notebook Card for $30 AR.
First of all, will this fit in any standard notebook for sale now, or are there different cards for different notebooks? And for a University network (I'm planning for next year), is 54G better/faster than the "B" standard? (Sorry for the n00b questions)

Also, is this a good deal for this card? Usually I see these for around $60, so I thought this was worth mentioning, but I was wondering if these are frequently sold cheaper.

Thanks,
Broekage
 
That is a pcmcia card which will work if you have a pcmcia port which most all laptops do. The difference between the new g standard and the old b is that the old b had a maximum transfer rates of 10mbs while the g has 54mbs (although you probably won't ever see that maximum). Couldn't tell you if it is a good deal. Hope this helps.
 
Hmm, interesting post, but what do you say between B and G for a college campus? I mean, I think right now my cable modem is about 4MB/s, so wouldn't B be more than enough to satisfy me? Or, if anyone knows, how fast is a typical campus network?
Thanks for the heads-up on Belkin though ;)
 
Wireless networking is so new that there's really no "typical" college campus wireless network. Check with the university you are planning to attend and see what they support(if anything). You'd probably want to plug into the wired 100mbit network for transferring files anyway. When you figure in error correction, wireless is just damn slow for transferring files. It would be nice for browsing the web on the quad, though.
 
Yeah, I'm not talking about mass file transfer, just basic web use and stuff like that. Would you figure B to be enough, or would there be a noticeable lag in performance compared to 4 mb/s cable modem?

and what are some of the cheap but reliable wireless cards out there?
 
i disagree about belkin wireless...i just worked at a place that has 14 desktops, all suited with belkin wireless pci cards, connecting to a netgear router. Works perfectly, every single one @ 54mbps
 
Ya Belkin makes some nice products, myself personally I prefer linksys but if I am in a tight spot I will pick up a belkin. Also with the dirt cheap prices lately how can you go wrong.
 
Well, if Belkin is OK, then I found a better deal:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=287284&pfp=BROWSE
Click to expand...

Wireless Notebook PCMCIA Network Card - 802.11b for $10 AR.

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm an idiot, didn't look before posting. The rebates expire tonight. I'm a little too late... Oh well, I'll keep looking...
 
If you read the thread about the Belkin router, which i had a lot of input in, it's just the Belkin router they were bashing. Personally i've owned 2 802.11 Belkin wireless notebook cards and they've worked just as good as any other's i've seen. Their cards aren't bad, it's just the Belkin Routers that are total Crap. If you have a Belkin Notbook wireless card and are connecting to a Linksys, netgear, d-link, etc. router, you shoudl have no problems.
 
OK, sounds good. But is this a good deal, or do these typically sell for less?

EDIT:

Or is this a better deal: 54g for $10 more
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50278827&pfp=BROWSE
Click to expand...
?
 
IF anyone here knows ANYTHING about wireless hacking/cracking, they will reccomend to you the following
#1 choice being Orinocco ( www.orinoccowireless.com )
#2 choice being cisco, which is pretty popular

These are the types of cards you would probably want, unless you enjoy having to restart downloads & such, I had HORRIBLE experience with dlink, the signal had to go through a few SIMPLE walls....dlink coudnt handle it...the router is great, which is what im running on...but the cards sucked...replaced with orinocco.....all better.
 
Can anyone confirm $30 for a wireless notebook networking card to be a [H]ot Deal?
 
Originally posted by broekage
Can anyone confirm $30 for a wireless notebook networking card to be a [H]ot Deal?
Click to expand...

meh,not a fan of belkin but it should be good enough for wardriving with a canister antenna
 
Well, I'm not necessarily talking about Belkin, just if it's a good price for any wireless notebook card.
 
I wasa little leary about Belkin the first time I bought an NIC, but it installed and worked perfectly. No problems at all, and data transfer is equal to any of the Netgear or Linksys stuff I have used.

Just my two cents... :)
 
Originally posted by broekage
Yeah, I'm not talking about mass file transfer, just basic web use and stuff like that. Would you figure B to be enough, or would there be a noticeable lag in performance compared to 4 mb/s cable modem?

and what are some of the cheap but reliable wireless cards out there?
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone completely answered your first question.

B would be enough and most likely the college campus is a 802.11b network. You should check with them for sure but B was the most widely adopted standard.

Lately (in the last year or so) 802.11G networks have become much more popular. B actually has a 11Mb/sec transfer rate while G has a 53 or 54 Mb/sec transfer rate. All numbers are of course theoretical maximums and actual transfer rates may vary greatly. The G standard is also backwards compatable with the 802.11a WiFi standard.

Bottom line is, you won't see any slowdown for just normal browsing of the Internet.

If you do any large LAN file transfers you WILL be able to greatly notice the difference.
 
Originally posted by FrothyByte


Lately (in the last year or so) 802.11G networks have become much more popular. B actually has a 11Mb/sec transfer rate while G has a 53 or 54 Mb/sec transfer rate. All numbers are of course theoretical maximums and actual transfer rates may vary greatly. The G standard is also backwards compatable with the 802.11a WiFi standard.
Click to expand...

correct me if i'm mistaken, but i think it might be that G is backwards compatible with B (and not A). that is why sometimes you still see 802.11 A/G cards floating around. the A standard was only around for a few months and quickly died out. dunno why they even bothered to make those products.

anyhow: colleges now mostly have 802.11b, and since most of them just deployed within the last few years, i don't think they will change for a few more. a G card however would be a good investment because it works with both B and G. b speeds are not slow, there is barely any noticable "lag" when you browse the internet and such. however it is quite slow for file transfers due to the low limit.

30 bucks for a 80211G PCMCIA card is a good deal. that's probably around the lowest right now for a G notebook card. B cards can be had for about 10 or even free after rebate.
 
Originally posted by FrothyByte
I don't think anyone completely answered your first question.

Bottom line is, you won't see any slowdown for just normal browsing of the Internet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, glad someone caught on to that... :)

As to your answer, that was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

Originally posted by zeezz
30 bucks for a 80211G PCMCIA card is a good deal. that's probably around the lowest right now for a G notebook card. B cards can be had for about 10 or even free after rebate.
Click to expand...

So then I guess this means that I should get this one
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prePrintView.jsp?mkt=B&pageNum=13&size=L

Right?
 
A couple things with wireless:

You will never reach '11Mbps' or '54Mbps' the reason for this is because wireless is a shared network. With standard ethernet, each person has 10/100Mbps to each and every port coming off of the switch. With wireless since it is shared, that 11/54Mbps is shared between everyone connected to any given access point.

Further, wireless throttles at the following speeds "11, 5.5, 2, 1"Mbps, as such if someone has poor reception due to distance from the AP or due to interference they will throttle to a lower speed. However, with many APs, they have to accomodate the lowest speeds and as such will throttle everyone (applies more to older APs).

Since 'b' operates at 2.4GHz it is subject to interference from cordless phones (I suggest getting a 5.8GHz or 900MHz if you are going to be in a high-wireless area) Microwaves also cause intereference. 'g' runs at 5GHz however, it does not have the range of 'b', also it is A LOT more costly from an infrastructure perspective. The reason for this, is that the most prevelant APs are Orinocos, specifically the AP-2000, with 'b' you can put 2 cards in the AP, using one as a bridge or both to transmit. With 'g' you can only put one card in thus doubling the number of required APs and thus significantly increasing cost. Therefore, many universities are holding out on upgrading to 'g'. Pay attention to those that 'are' they are usually in individual private funded buildings, or they are new installations.

Finally, 'smart' universities use a VPN client to protect the network (In case you aren't aware Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) is not exactly secure) therefore, one of the more effective means of security is to use a Virtual Private Network. Thus, to accomplish this you have to have a VPN client to negotiate across the network. The VPN client itself also includes 'packet overhead' which also decreases your effective speed.


As another poster stated, yes, from a 'wardriving' perspective the Orinoco cards are the best, but this is for specific reasons:
1) Their drivers are the most easily found for Linux which is what you would use for wardriving and using AirSnort to crack WEP.
2) They have an external antenna port to attach a Yagi antenna or a pringles can ;)

If you don't have a need for wardriving, most of the 1st tier wireless cards are created relatively equal (Linksys, Netgear, etc) I would be careful with the D-Link, as there are still some of their 'turbo' cards floating around which hit 'g' speeds using 'b' but only with their APs. The problem with these cards is I have seen a lot of compatability issues integrating those models with other APs, namely orinoco.
 
Thanks for the explanation Edvard, but listen to this BS:

Hi,

The best thing to do regarding the wireless card is to wait and buy one here on campus. We have a specific card that we support and, unfortunately, we don't support any other cards. The card is for sale at our Computer Store. The card is LUCENT WAVELAN SILVER 11MB and costs $69.
Click to expand...

By support do they mean that only they can help you if you have problems, or do they mean that that's the only card that will work with their infrastructure (is that even possible??? :confused: )

That would be SO LAME.

$70 for a B card.... I would rather ...:mad: Let's not go there.

PS: I'll reply asking them the same question. I'll let you know what happens.
 
Just ignore what they are telling you, I support the wireless on our campus, and many times the Linksys/Netgear and especially the Microsoft cards will get better signal than the stock Lucent/Orinoco/Proxim cards. The reason the University says that is because that way they only have to officially support one type of card. However, ANY 802.11b or g card will be compatible (excluding the D-Link ones I already mentioned above) The other reason they sometimes want people to get the Lucent's is because then it supports an external antenna, and as such they can loan you one if you are getting a bad signal. Ultimately, buy the cheapest one you can find (Best Buy and Circuit City routinely have one marked down significantly, also PC Club may still have one as FAR) I would anticipate spending $30-40. Another option, depending on your laptop, is it may be pre-configured for wireless (even if it isn't built-in) in these cases you can get a 'mini-pci' card which will integrate onto the motherboard. For instance I have a Toshiba, the model up from mine has integrated wireless, however, mine still had the 'switch' and antenna integrated into the screen, as such I hoped on Dell's site a bought a 'Truemobile 1300' which works beautifully in here and now I don't have to fiddle with cards etc.
 
It's the only card that's guarenteed to work with our system, as well as being the only card that we'll be able to help you with if there's a problem setting it up. We can provide basic support for off-brand cards, but priority goes to those with the recommended card.
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Trying to get me to buy their $70 card... damn rip-off



Anyways, is a notebook with integrated wireless usually much more expensive than one without? Keep in mind that I want to spend as little as possible, mostly for internet and word processing. I wouldn't really mind fiddling with the cards if there is a big price difference.
 
Originally posted by broekage
Trying to get me to buy their $70 card... damn rip-off

Anyways, is a notebook with integrated wireless usually much more expensive than one without? Keep in mind that I want to spend as little as possible, mostly for internet and word processing. I wouldn't really mind fiddling with the cards if there is a big price difference.
Click to expand...

The best thing that you could do is confirm what they exactly mean by support.

Reason:
They have the ability to block/allow any MAC address* that they choose. If they have thier WiFi network setup to only allow the MACs that they sell, that pretty much says that anyone that doesn't buy thier cards doesn't get access to thier network.

That is pretty shaddy of them but in all actuality, it is thier network.

*MACs can be spoofed . . .
 
We probably posted at about the same time, but if you read my post right above yours, they that any card will work.
 
As I was saying I would probably look for notebooks with integrated wireless as they are becoming cheaper (Hell, the eMachines with an A64, 60GB and wifi etc is 1299 at Best Buy after rebates) but yeah they are coming down significantly in price.

If you want performance look at the A64 or one of the sagers from Powernotebooks.com

If you want battery life an portability look at the Centrinos

Everything else falls into the middle ground.

I would also evaluate what you're going to be doing with it, if you know that you will be taking it to a lot of classes on a daily basis go for the lighter one with more battery power. If you don't think you'll be moving it often go for a desktop replacement and screw the battery and weight. It basically comes down to evaluating what you're going to be using it for etc.
 
As I said before, I really just want a basic notebook for wireless internet and word processing. I don't need performance. I'll have my trusty desktop for that. (but sagers do look damn cool - btw, I haven't seen powernotebooks.com, but I saw that they sell sagers at www.pctorque.com for cheaper than at the sager site itself)
My biggest limitation is price. I was looking at spending about $800 or less (without any peripherals or stuff like that).
Battery life and weight are important, but to me they're not worth an extra $100 or whatever.

Usually what I found is that notebooks that come with integrated wireless are usually more expensive than ones without, so that's why I asked. I don't mind fiddling with the cards if i means saving however much money.

so that's that.
 
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