"Dell" labeled cards and internal antenna specs

[TPNewbie]

Hi everyone,

It's great to be back; after not having a Thinkpad for about a year I bought an X23 today and should have it next week. The model I bought does not come with internal wireless. After reading about good experiences here, I am interested in the 2915 A/B/G cards which seem so plentiful on the Bay. However, most of the cards there seem to be "Dell" branded. I certainly don't mind this, but is there anything different, hardware-wise, between these cards and the Intel cards which do not have Dell labels on them or are all 2915 ABG cards the same?

Assuming my computer will not come with antennas, is there anything I need to know about that? There seem to be quite a few choices. Is there an optimal length for the antennas? Any recommendations for sellers? Has anyone made his or her own antennas? I might like to try, though I realize that there would probably be no financial benefit; it would be mostly for fun.

Thanks in advance.

-Erik

[AndyL]

I can't say for sure but I think you'll find the Dell-branded Intel cards are identical to non-Dell-branded ones. Should work fine in an X23.

I bought some cheap no-name antennas on ebay, ones that were made from small, thin printed circuit boards. They worked but I found the range was poor. I replaced them with the proper IBM antennas and they were better.

[TPNewbie]

Great, thanks for the fast reply. Looks like I'll go with one of those cards. Do you know who the antennas you bought are made by (IBM or someone else)? Did you go next to the LCD or under the keyboard? Thanks again.

-Erik

[LtTPfan]

You may run into the 1802 error with a non-IBM branded (and even some IBM branded) wifi card as most TPs have a BIOS whitelist that only allow certain cards that were FCC certified for that particular model.

[TPNewbie]

I've heard of this before but I don't have any experience with it. I think I may have heard that there is a BIOS workaround for this issue? Can anyone help with that? Thanks in advance.

-Erik

[AndyL]

Just had a look at the non-IBM antennas I tried and on the back it says "Sansei KP-2". They would have fitted under the keyboard but I tried them along the sides of the screen. The IBM antennas will only fit at the sides of the screen.

The 1802 error won't affect an X23, the BIOS restriction only came in on later models (X30 on?)

[TPNewbie]

That's great news on the 1802 error. Is there much danger of damage involved in installing the antennas beside the screen? This is the location I would probably prefer, but I could certainly go under the keyboard as well if it seems like a much safer installation. Can anyone comment on the ease/safety of the LCD antenna installation, or can anyone recommend a high-quality antenna to use under the keyboard. Thanks very much.

-Erik

[infrar3d]

I don't know if this helps but, I bought a wire antenna for my 2200bg that I installed in my X22. I just put it under the keyboard and it works great. Here's the antenna I bought.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

[TPNewbie]

Hi infrar3d,

Thanks for your post; I just saw it tonight. It's good to know that those antennas work; I like to keep my options open, and the price is right. Looks like that was your first post; welcome to TP.com.

-Erik

[pcnoob]

I don't know if this helps but, I bought a wire antenna for my 2200bg that I installed in my X22. I just put it under the keyboard and it works great. Here's the antenna I bought.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

how good is the reception and how far is the range?