Re: Need Advise about far-range pcmcia card & Router

thenrik <thenrik.2v270s@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> hath wroth:

>My father is a retired mathematician, still very actively
>collaborating with other mathematicians. He travels to math meetings all
>over the globe and brings his Averatec Laptop.

<http://www.averatec.com>
Cool. I want one. Which model does he have and can you identify the
specific wireless card that is installed?

>Apparently the built-in
>wireless card doesn't have great range as he often has trouble
>connecting at wireless cafes when others can.

Holdit. Let's do some troubleshooting before we declare it to be a
loser. Most internal cards are MiniPCI and U-FL connectors. These
connectors are truely flimsy and fragile. They also have an
irritating habit of fallout of of place. Before you do anything, open
the bottom of the laptop (the most likely location for the MiniPCI
wireless card) and make absolutely sure the connectors (there are two)
are seated correctly. This would also be a good time to identify the
MiniPCI card.

Another common problem are drivers. Indicated signal strength and
ability to stay connected are heavily dependent on the drivers and the
parameters they shove into the MiniPCI wireless card. Check the
manufacturers web pile for updates. If an Intel card, download the
latest Intel Proset drivers from:
<http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/proset/proset_software.htm>
as the manufacturers tend to be somewhat behind.

>At home he has a wired router located in his study and wants to
>replace it with a wireless router. He would like to take the laptop to
>other rooms in his house, all located on a single floor.

His ability to do that is almost totally dependent on the number of
walls he has to penetrate and the composition of those walls. One
wall is no problem, unless it has aluminium foil back fiberglass
insulation inside. Two walls are a crap shoot. 3 walls can be done,
but the connection will not be reliable.

>So he would like to buy a pcmcia wireless card and a wireless router.

Why not just buy a better MiniPCI card and put it inside the laptop?
They're all over eBay for peanuts. If it doesn't work, then you
haven't lost much.

>I picked out a Lyncsys Draft-N router and card but found out they were
>manufactures in October and January respectively. The Draft-N PCMCIA
>card's performance was horrible--kept on losing the connecting from my
>Belkin54g router located 15 feet away, every ten or fifteen minutes or
>so.

Sigh. I'm not going to try and troubleshoot this without model
numbers and firmware versions. Check the web sites for updates.
Compatibility between even the same manufacturers Pre-N product are a
crap shoot. The advantage of 802.11n and some mutations of MIMO is
that they will allegedly handle reflections better. In fact, one
version of MIMO uses those reflections to improve thruput. However,
whether it can be used to fix a range problem in what appears to be a
sick laptop cannot be easily determined.

>My father needs range not speed as he mostly sends email or pdf files
>with his mathematical software and some light web browsing but could use
>some range. He doesn't necessarily need N just range.

If that's the case, you don't need or want 802.11n or any of the
108mbit/sec mutations. These are for speed, not range. You get range
at the slower 802.11g speeds, where you trade some speed for range.
See the FAQ at:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Performance_and_Speed>
The table of speed versus range is a bit optimisitic, but should give
you some idea of the tradeoff.

>Any suggestions or good reviews from folks that getting some range
>from their routers/cards?

See various reviews at:
<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/86/106/>
<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_chart/Itemid,189/>

One of the alternative firmware vendors is rating the router which use
their firmware:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices>
Looks like the Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 is the winner on range. I have a
mess of these and I agree. Please remember that you only need 802.11g
support. If it comes with anything beyond that, just turn it off in
the configuration and it won't get in the way.

I'm not sure what to advise for a card and router. My guess(tm) is
almost anything that does 802.11g will suffice for the wireless
router. Make sure it has removeable antennas so you can add a better
than stock antenna if needed. Antenna juggling has a huge effect on
coverage and range.
<http://www.freeantennas.com>

If you must have a PCMCIA card, get one that has the biggest external
projecting antenna available or a connector with an external antenna.
Again, it's the antenna that makes the difference. For example:
<http://www.ubnt.com/super_range_cardbus.php4>
Note that they also have a replacement MiniPCI card:
<http://www.ubnt.com/super_range.php4>
Unfortunately, the projecting external antenna is going to be used as
a handle and broken. The tiny connectors don't last very many
insertion cycles. It might be best to just get a disposable PCMCIA
card and just assume it will break.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558