Wifi PCMCIA card recommendations

[Thinker]

I'm trying to make my T23 a wireless computer, and I have pretty much decided to go the PCMCIA route.

Could anyone recommend a nice card? I would rather have a card with the Prism or Atheros chipsets. Not too much output power (less than 80 mw if possible), since I would be working often with the T23 in my lap, and I don't want to fry "the boys" (plus I'd rather keep my side of the family mutant free ). Another nice feature for this card would potentially be to have connector for an external antenna.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[GomJabbar]

I saw this WiFi card posted as a response to a simular question on another post. It is a 3COM PCMCIA card with a retractable antenna. Haven't tried it, but it looks pretty neat to me!

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=250047

[Nolonemo]

I got the 3Com XJack bg card (similar to the one mentioned above, but without the "a" channel, and cheaper) a couple weeks ago for my T22, and I like it very much. It has the Atheros chipset, you can adjust the power output with the client application (download and install the Atheros client, not the 3Com version). It does not have an external antenna jack, though. Some people have said that it is a little less sensitive than most PC Card wifi cards because of the retractable antenna, but I haven't really noticed. BTW, the best price I found on it was at ebuyer.com ($54). Unfortunately, you just missed out on a 3Com rebate deal.

[makai]

I actually own a Dlink DWL-G650 that I modified to accept an antenna (RF SMA connector). I use it on my Compaq M700 and it works quite well. If you want, I can email you some pictures of what needs to be done to modify the card. Be warned that you need to know how to solder "very" small components as you need to move one capacitor, and then add your cable.

But... if I were you, I would go with a USB adapter instead. Experiments with the USB adapter show it's just as good if not better for reception than either my DWL-G650 (laptop), or my DWL-G510 (PC). And yes, my USB adapter is also a D-link... DWL-G132.

The reason I use Dlink is because of the software. Its more user friendly when it comes to changing/selecting which ap to connect to. I tried using a Netgear adapter once and I was picking up all kind of aps in Starbucks and it wouldn't let me select which one to connect to. It just kept auto-selecting a channel of someone elses laptop nearby and stopped me from connecting to the actual Starbucks server.

In any case, check out USB adapters, and also this neat webpage >>>
http://www.usbwifi.orcon.net.nz/
Now I'm not saying to "smooch" off anyone, but it might come in handy for say... when you go camping or something!

makai

[carbon_unit]

If you wanted to have an IBM logo hanging out of the side of your T23 you could get an IBM 09N9904 High Rate Wireless Lan Card. It is the IBM version of the famous Orinoco gold card. It has a good client manager but it is "B" only and WEP encryption only, no WPA. However it does have an external antenna connector.
A quick search revealed this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

[daeojkim]

I got viewsonic one from compusa. $10 after rebate + $5 shipping.
Pretty cheap.
It has WPA, b/g support and it works pretty well for me when I use it at home. The reception as not as good as built in antenna in T42 but still very good. Tried to send 1GB worth of files and it did not get disconnected.

One suggestoin is not to use their software package. It does not work well.
Also you cannot get driver alone from the CD unless you install the software. So this is what I did to extract the driver. I installed the software, then copy the software folder installed in the Programs folder to another location. Then Use add/remove program to remove the software.
Then use hardware manager to reinstall the driver from the folder copied previously since the driver is extracted in that folder.

Once the card driver is installed you can use windows connection or Access Connection. My personal preference is to use windows connection.

[JaneL]

I saw this WiFi card posted as a response to a simular question on another post. It is a 3COM PCMCIA card with a retractable antenna. Haven't tried it, but it looks pretty neat to me!

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=250047

I use this one in my work-issued T40, and it works fine.