[GLLUG] Wireless Cards

[Marr]

On Tuesday 05 February 2008 10:28am, Charles Ulrich wrote:
> Here's a nifty page I just found:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open_source_wireless_drivers

Excellent link, Charles -- thanks for that info!

On Monday 04 February 2008 10:32pm, Chick Tower wrote:
> I'm in the market for a wireless networking PCMCIA card, now that I've
> gotten my laptop running.  I understand that 802.11g is supposed to
> handle 54mbps and 802.11b maxes out at 11mbps, but what do people really
> see for speed at public wireless hotspots?  Is it worth the extra money
> for an 802.11g card?  I'm going to buy a used one, to save even more
> money, but I could save a few bucks more on an 802.11b card.

Chick,

I'd echo Charles' recommendation on a card with the Atheros chipset. I've had 
good luck with mine (Netgear 'WG511T', purchased in Aug 2005). It uses 
the 'MADWiFi' ('Multiband Atheros Driver for WiFi') driver.

I also have an older Netgear 'WG511', purchased in Jun 2004, which has the 
Intersil 'Prism' chipset and works with the 'Prism54' driver.

Both models of my wireless cards are 802.11g-capable.

If you're going to buy a used card, I'd recommend checking out my detailed 
post (circa Aug 2005) on GLLUG about my experience with 3 different Netgear 
PCMCIA/CardBus cards (2 of which I still own):

  http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/public/linux-user/2005-August/009730.html

As you may have heard, the idiot manufacturers often change the chipset 
without changing the model number and (sometimes) without even changing the 
version number, so be careful!

In case it helps when you go shopping for a used model, both of my WG511T 
cards (with Atheros chipset) are FCC ID 'PY3WG511V3' and both say "MADE IN 
CHINA" on the bottom.

My older WG511 card (with Intersil Prism chipset) is FCC ID 'PY3WG511-F' and 
it says "MADE IN TAIWAN" on the bottom.

I mention that "MADE IN ..." bit because that sometimes matters too, as I've 
heard (since my Aug 2005 post referenced above) that the "MADE IN TAIWAN" 
variant of some cards can sometimes have a different chipset than the "MADE 
IN CHINA" version, despite having the same model and revision! Use of the FCC 
ID may prevent that, but I'm not sure. Caveat emptor.

As far as speed comparison, I've never owned an 802.11b-only card, so I cannot 
supply any actual comparison data. However, I checked my notes from when I 
bought and installed the WG511T card and it says that a transfer of an 18MB 
file reported somewhere between 1.3 and 1.8 MBytes/sec. That was on my local 
LAN using a 'g'-capable router (Netgear WGR614) with that 'g' card, not on an 
Internet connection.

I looked for some actual transfer speed numbers from any of my wireless 
Internet connections. All I could find was one example, where I used 'wget' 
to download some large ZIP files, using my older WG511 card. I was getting 
about 70-90 KB/sec, but this was at a library and I don't think they had a 
great Internet connection. I thought I had some numbers from my wireless data 
collection at 'Gone Wired', but I couldn't find anything. Of course, the 
speed of my wireless card for an Internet connection (e.g. at a coffee shop) 
has never been a big issue with me. Anything, ('b', 'g', whatever) is faster 
than my poor dial-up modem connection (4-5 KB/sec)! :^)

As others have recommended, I'd probably go with 802.11g because it seems 
ubiquitous these days, but I don't have as much experience (i.e. with various 
open access points) as others in that regard.

HTH....

Bill Marr