Why can't I add a 3rd wire to my wireless n card in my t60?

[fefrie]

I added a n card to my t60 a long time ago and it works mostly great.

It's a bit flaky and occasionally I have to restart the card since it loses connection to the router.

Not a big deal with a ssd, and it's a good time to get up anyways.

The t60 has only 2 antennas and the n card has 3 attachments. I've attached 2 as per the t60, but why can't I just get another wire ripped out from another laptop and attach that and route it somewhere internally, or maybe follow one of the other existing wires?

What's the ebay search term I need? I'm getting a lot of big plastiky results. I just need the wire with the small connector.

[Hans Gruber]

Foot in mouth. I checked on one of my thinkpads with the MIMO 3 band technology. There are 3 wires on my 6300 NIC card.

[fefrie]

Well my router is not 5ghz, but it does have 3 antennas.

It's a Asus rt n 16, and specs says that it is MIMO, So I should add that extra antenna right?

[Hans Gruber]

Here is the Intel 6300 MIMO tri band antenna array


The Intel 6200 with two antenna array.


I did speed tests and could not find a difference between the tri band 3 antenna array with either 2.4ghz or 5ghz bands.

[ajkula66]

So I should add that extra antenna right?

You'll gain next to nothing, especially with the router that's on 2.4 GHz band only.

[jronald]

George is correct, but if your just dying to add the third there are two sort of easy ways to do it:

Locate a T60, T61 or Z series machine and remove 1 or the other of two types of WWAN antennas that it may have. #1 type is added to the right hand side of the screen, and sticks out about 1/2 inch by perhaps 3 inches long. #2 type mounted over the the card cage, under the palm rest.

Ebay the wireless antenna from a Mac. Its normal sized but the wire is only 5 or 6 inches long. Mount it under the palm rest.

Ron

[mpcook]

I just tested out adding a third wire to an excess Intel 6300 I found laying around. Compared to the 6205 with two wires, or the 6300 with two wires, the 6300 with three wires made no difference in my system, X220 i7 and Asus RT-N56U, 2.4 or 5GHz. Copying files across the network takes about the same amount of time; don't really see a noticeable difference. I'll probably go back to the 6205.

[fefrie]

Thanks everyone for all your input. I think I'm going to pass on the idea of a third antenna.

[ajkula66]

Thanks everyone for all your input. I think I'm going to pass on the idea of a third antenna.

A newer, dual-band router would be an idea worth considering though. They are quite inexpensive nowadays, generally speaking.

If you're dealing with a large space and/or a significant amount of walls, then adding the third antenna is a good idea. But the router comes first.

[fefrie]

Thanks everyone for all your input. I think I'm going to pass on the idea of a third antenna.

A newer, dual-band router would be an idea worth considering though. They are quite inexpensive nowadays, generally speaking.

If you're dealing with a large space and/or a significant amount of walls, then adding the third antenna is a good idea. But the router comes first.

I'm moving into year 3 of my use of the Asus rt-n16 running a pretty efficient QOS and am just starting to upgrade to a 25mbps service from 7mbps with a 7 user network.

The only reason I'm upgrading is to increase my upload form 512kb to 2.5mbps just so some people can skype properly.

Other than that, I'm pretty fine with my router so far. I even run wireless access points using wrt54gl's.

[Hans Gruber]

The WRT54GL's are ancient. The 54 stands for 54mbps second from the wireless G days. You need wireless N gear that does 300mbps. The base N stuff is 150mbps. That is probably what is holding you back on your network. That is bare minimum in my opinion. I have 450mbps gear which does around 300mbps in real world performance. The 5ghz band come in handy because most people do not have it. Obviously most here have it because this is a tech oriented forum.

[precip9]

Just in case this point is missed...

With a router with three antennas that are optimally oriented, and a laptop with three antennas that are properly oriented, there is a speed increase compared to a 2X2 laptop radio. Comparing the Microsoft connection "status" pages, a 3X3 "n" laptop adapter connected to a 3X3 "n" router, at 5gHz, with 40mHz channels, can under optimal conditions indicate the maximum 450mb/s physical link connection. When 450mb/s is seen, it indicates three spatial streams. Actual throughput is far less.

When a 2X2 laptop adapter is connected to a 3x3 access point, at 5gHz, with 40mHz channels, the maximum physical link that can be indicated is 300mb/s.

With 20mHz channels, the maximum indicated is half the above.

At 2.4gHz, where only 20mHz channels are permitted, a 1X1 "n" connection will *indicate* a maximum physical link of 75mb/s. I've seen 150mb/s with 2X2 laptop to a 3x3 access point. I cannot recall an experiment of 3X3-->3X3, but there should be some increase in the *indicated* maximum beyond 150mb/s

The average value of actual file transfer speed is about 1/3 the the physical link values given above.

[fefrie]

Ancient routers using ancient service speeds using an ancient t60!

I don't even turn on the 40mhz channel!

[ajkula66]

Which wireless card do you have in that T60, BTW?

[fefrie]

Atheros.

I have seen it connect to the n router at 300mbps, but tha'ts when I was running 40mhz.

But it's mostly useless now because I connect to my ancient, ancient t60 that connects via wireless access point at 54g.

The ancient t60 just runs as a torrentbox and a media converter that burns media onto DVD's to watch on my dvd player onto my 13" LCD TV.

Yes, I'm that far behind on the times.

I'm not any less happier for it.

[ajkula66]

Atheros.

If that's the stock 42T0825/827/829, then 300Mbps is as good as it will do on a 2.4Ghz. Great card, connectivity-wise.

[TuuS]

The third MiMo antenna will give you better conectivity, if not speed. Even using it on a "g" card will help with disconnects and it's easy enough to put an extra antenna in the lid, just cut off the plastic mount and tape it to the lid in an out of the way location and route the wire to the same location and length as the one coming in on the hinge near your heatsink and you should be fine.

I haven't done extensive testing at N speeds, but I can tell you I've seen a notable difference between the 3945AG and the 4965AG cards and the only difference is the third MiMo antenna. I experienced greater range and less drop outs.

[precip9]

The third MiMo antenna will give you better conectivity, if not speed. Even using it on a "g" card will help with disconnects and it's easy enough to put an extra antenna in the lid, just cut off the plastic mount and tape it to the lid in an out of the way location and route the wire to the same location and length as the one coming in on the hinge near your heatsink and you should be fine.

I haven't done extensive testing at N speeds, but I can tell you I've seen a notable difference between the 3945AG and the 4965AG cards and the only difference is the third MiMo antenna. I experienced greater range and less drop outs.

Digging into my memory, I seem to recall that, at 2.4G, the maximum indicated physical link speed was 200 mb/s, versus 150 mb/s with 2X2. So modest improvement is possible.

[jronald]

Here are the two antennas I mentioned months ago.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad ... 5b09533dce

Ron