Difference In Wireless Cards?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless (More info?)

Running WinXP Pro, SP1.

In using my older notebook computer, that doesn't have built-in wireless, I
use a D-Link DWL-650 (M) PC card wireless adapter. It is more than a year
old (I don't recall exactly when I got it), I think it has just the "b"
protocol, not "a" or "g".

I connect at different places-hotspots, etc., so the routers that it
connects to varies. Sometimes it connects fine, but other times I have
problems getting a good connection, or suddenly losing a connection, etc.

I am wondering if getting a different wireless card, a newer model, for
instance, either PC card again or USB, would make a difference in the
problems stated above. I know some of the newer models, especially with "g"
and "a", advertise faster speeds. I don't know that I am very interested in
higher speed. What would interest me is longer range, more reliability in
holding a signal, etc. Would certain brands and models of either PC card or
USB wireless cards be better in those regards than the one I have?

(Again, the routers it connects to varies, so there isn't the option of
buying the notebook card to be optimized with a particular router, such as
if one was only using it with a home network.)

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windows.networking.wireless (More info?)

MS wrote:
> Running WinXP Pro, SP1.
>
> In using my older notebook computer, that doesn't have built-in
> wireless, I use a D-Link DWL-650 (M) PC card wireless adapter. It is
> more than a year old (I don't recall exactly when I got it), I think
> it has just the "b" protocol, not "a" or "g".
>
> I connect at different places-hotspots, etc., so the routers that it
> connects to varies. Sometimes it connects fine, but other times I
> have problems getting a good connection, or suddenly losing a
> connection, etc.
>
> I am wondering if getting a different wireless card, a newer model,
> for instance, either PC card again or USB, would make a difference in
> the problems stated above. I know some of the newer models,
> especially with "g" and "a", advertise faster speeds. I don't know
> that I am very interested in higher speed. What would interest me is
> longer range, more reliability in holding a signal, etc. Would
> certain brands and models of either PC card or USB wireless cards be
> better in those regards than the one I have?
>
> (Again, the routers it connects to varies, so there isn't the option
> of buying the notebook card to be optimized with a particular router,
> such as if one was only using it with a home network.)

Notebooks, by their design, can shield the small antenna in the PC-card
from the signal source. You can try rotating the laptop slowly,
watching the signal quality, until you find the point at which the
notebook case and/or the LCD screen are not blocking the signal. The
mini-pci cards are particularly good since the antenna is in the screen
and the notebook itself is not blocking the signal.

Q