Thinkpads Forum

Hi Guys,

I have a T60p and has gotten the Intel 5300 Wifi card and planning to install it. I reallised that I have to order a separate 3rd antenna to get it to work from the threads that I read here.

Also, I am using a DIR-655 router. If I go without the 3rd antenna, will it still hit 300Mbps transfer speed?

I am thinking of upgrading my existing router to support higher speeds. Which one do you recommend? WRT610N or DIR-825?

Thanks and Cheers,

Looks like WRT610N is better in mixed modes. Happen to see some reviews in computershopper. Is that true?

Should I just stick to my Intel 5300 wifi card on my T60p without a 3rd antenna and jus use my existing DIR-655?

Thanks,

Hello (this is in reply to PM, so that others can read it too),

I don't have any experience with these (and would like to buy WRT600N for myself, just for the placebo feeling of better range with real antennas and not only some small lines in printed circuits), though I can say some generic things about 802.11n.

802.11n brings the maximum theoretical speed to 150Mbps per one MIMO link (spatial stream). Both of the routers are capable of two spatial streams at once, which means max. 300Mbps. So basically two antennas could be enough for this - however, if the signal reception isn't perfect, the third antenna comes handy allowing for better separation of the individual spatial streams (using reflections etc to its advantage).

Intel 5300 should be able to go up to three spatial streams / 450Mbps, but no Access Point supports it as of now (to my knowledge). For that you'd definitely need third antenna, unless you put the notebook on top of the AP. You should be able to reach 300Mbps (in link speed, not real throughput) with two antennas, but three would give you better range (for 300Mbps and for lower speeds too). If you don't feel like disassembling the LCD, buy some generic 2.4/5GHz antenna and route it under palmrest (as recommended here by bill b. - use the part of palm rest where you don't rest your palm much )

Theory aside, see benchmarks at SmallNetBuilder.

I would definitely stick to using the WRT160N, so long as it is not the WRT160Nv2 and install the custom firmware DD-WRT http://www.dd-wrt.com. It's great and really stable.

The only catch is that this can only be installed on v1 not v2, as it uses a different chipset.

Kamika007z wrote:I would definitely stick to using the WRT160N

The WRT160N has 2.4Ghz band only capability and will not deliver 270Mbps throughput with an Intel 4965AGN or later WiFi card!

Cheers,

Bill B.