Intel 2100B Reliability?

[tomh009]

OK ... it was worth a shot, at least. Sorry for the extra work, though.

[anthax]

It was not a huge work to test it out. My only problem is now that I can't find those IBM Intel 2200bg cards here in Finland.

[danage]

The Atheros based cards have their own sets of issues. WiFi connectivity can be problematic for a number of reasons which have little to do with the specific hardware in use.

Hello Bill, I am interested in what the issues would be. Even though some people seem to not have problems with Intel cards, it appears a lot of their adapters are highly dependent on the access points/routers connected to. My flatmate has a centrino notebook and nothing but problems with our fon router (Cisco/Linksys hardware).

My Atheros cards have no problems at all. At the same time, they support roaming, meaning they will switch networks without interruption when I move between one access point and another.

The reception is much better as well.

[lilserenity]

just my two cents (or 2P as vicky is a brit)..

my only complaint about all the intel wifi cards i have ever had is the range is inferior to the atheros based card..

This I have also noticed. Broadcom/Lucent WaveLAN based chipsets on other cards have all had really good range. This 2100B's range is a bit whimpish considering the PowerMac has one thin wall between it and the T40--and about 20ft of distance. Not exactly talking other side of the Atlantic here.

Anyway yes 2p, although I think I have a couple of cents left from my last travels over there. Man I gotta do that again sometime and go off into the yonder, whoo-eee

Alas, the flat needs doing up first and that's where the pennies are being drained these days!

Vicky

[lilserenity]

I agree that Atheros cards tend to have somewhat better range -- but the Intel ones can still work well, and if you are trying to work on a tight budget (as I think Vicky is), the 2100B should be OK in the end.

It's not so much a tight budget, I could blow the £20 on an Atheros card or a 2200BG but it's another £20. And then I'd prefer to get a 7200RPM 60GB hard disk for it, and another gig of RAM...

And then last week I think I've mullered the USB 2 support on the machine when I picked it up one handed and XP popped up a disconcerting USB Port Overload something or the other systray balloon. USB still works but I've not got any USB 2 devices... That said the USB ADSL modem I have connects at about 5Mb/s which would sort of suggest we're over USB 1.1's speed of 1.5Mb/s...

So my main concern right now for the T40 is more RAM and then a bigger hard disk.

That said, on any channel but 11, it's working a lot better

Thanks!!

Vicky

[tomh009]

That's great news, Vicky -- glad we could help conserve your money for use in the hard disk acquisition fund!

Just remember for the future to keep five channels away to avoid conflict: channels 1, 6 and 11 are all non-overlapping, but channels 10 and 11 still interfere with each other.

[lilserenity]

Thank you indeed again.

Just as a way to 'confirm' my findings and perhaps answer things in the future for people I have concluded this:

- The 2100B does work well with Windows XP built in Wifi manager using all variations of the driver.

- Use a channel other than 11 if possible (such as 1 or 6 as noted here) and reliability increases a lot. I haven't had one disconnection in P2P situations or with a router since using a channel other than 11 (I'm using 1) If this isn't possible then you may find that you need to look into the Atheros or better Intel cards.

- The Intel 2100B has in comparison to other wifi chipset I have used (Broadcom, Lucent WaveLan, Atheros, ActionTec/Prism, Other Intel cards e.g. 2200BG etc.) has poor range and seems to loose bottle at distances greater than 80ft no matter what obstructions or lack thereof that exist. I don't get this with the above wifi chipsets.

So the 2100B does work it seems, but it's not great.

Either way, it's allowed me to share my work seemlessly with my PowerMac G4 which makes me a very happy bunny.

Now all I need is that .docx converter to come out of MacBU at MS and I'll be a happy bunny

Vicky
(...who is admittedly in love with Office 2007 Home and Student edition... though Word 5.1 on the Mac still rocks!...)

[tomh009]

So the 2100B does work it seems, but it's not great.

Vicky, I think your summary has it exactly right. The 2100B is a functional card and can be usable, but it's not very impressive in comparison to a number of other wireless cards.