WLAN (Intel) comparison T30, T43p, T60p

[jgrobertson]

I noticed that my T60p did not seam to work as well on WiFi as did my other laptops so I did a side by side test.

T30 (XP) (Intel 2200BG) Best - finds several more signals than either of the others.

T43P (XP) (Intel 2915ABG) Almost as good as T30

T60P (Vista 64) (Intel 3945ABG) About 3db less signal reported. Not as reliable. Finds fewer signals.

I checked and all three are set up for maximum performance. I did the test will all three lined up on the kitchen counter. I am in a high rise with lots of neighbors using wireless so there are lots of signals to compare with as well as my own access point.

My hunch is that this is an antenna issue. The T60p is as 2623DDU with 15 inch screen and Verizon EVDO and blue tooth all built in. The wires to the Intel card from the antenna seam long and I had problem with one of them getting tangled up with the fan blades. I had to go in and tie it off.

[bill bolton]

T60P (Vista 64) (Intel 3945ABG) About 3db less signal reported. Not as reliable. Finds fewer signals.

When I installed VISTA x86 on a T60 with an 3945ABG I immediately noticed that it was giving me a 60% signal level, whereas I'd had a 100% signal level with the same card and the same machine when running under Windows XP.

On the Lenovo driver matrix for the T60 I turned up a newer Vista driver (from within the last two months) for the Intel WiFi cards than Software Update had choosen to automagically install

This brought the signal level up to 100% again. I don't know if the same driver is applicable for both Vista x86 and Vista x64, but you might want to check into that.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[SHoTTa35]

yeah, i did notice it with my Atheros A/G card in Vista also, With the driver from Windows Update the signal is full compared to the other where it was only 3/5 bars in the same location. Right after the update the signal was "Excellent" again.