D-Link Wireless 11mbps PCMCIA card

[IronSerif]

Found this over at TigerDirect.com (www.tigerdirect.com) . They have the D-Link Wireless 11mbps 802.11b PCMCIA LAN card for $49.99 - 20 MIR = $29.99.

Here's the link (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=D700-1024)

Not sure if anyone is really in the market for this or not, but this is the same exact model that I have. Got mine just a lil bit less than a year ago. I remember when I was in the market for one, the cheapest I could find was about $50-$60 After rebates. And now it's cheapder :D Oh well, it serves me real good!

[llbbl]

If you want to build a antenna from store bought items such as coffee cans and pringles tins than this probably wouldn't be the card for you. Make sure that it has a plug in the end of it to allow for an external antenna adapter.

[Ioman]

I am actually waiting for the 802.11G equipment to come out. According to a news article, Linksys will have an 802.11G Gateway for about $150 when its first introduced. Thats a pretty good price if you ask me.

[llbbl]

Compatibility with both standards is a good thing esp. if you live in an area where your 2.5Ghz spectrum is saturated. It is certain that 802.11a is nothing to get excitied over when 802.11g is coming out.

[Ioman]

Originally posted by vindisco
Compatibility with both standards is a good thing esp. if you live in an area where your 2.5Ghz spectrum is saturated. It is certain that 802.11a is nothing to get excitied over when 802.11g is coming out.

Exactly. 802.11G has the range of 802.11b with the bandwidth that 802.11a has, plus its backwards compatible with the 802.11b standard! Can't go wrong with that.

[IronSerif]

I wonder what my school's gonna do. Cause right now they have a few hundred 802.11b access points...wonder if they're gonna switch?

[llbbl]

Originally posted by IronSerif
I wonder what my school's gonna do. Cause right now they have a few hundred 802.11b access points...wonder if they're gonna switch?

They would probably look at how much bandwidth they are using and compare this the benifit of expected increase in bandwidth divided by the cost. It might be a better idea to upgrade some of the sites that are most used while leaving the others at the old standard. People would have to get new cards if they want to have the faster access.

I think it tries to connect at the fastest speed at a given wavelength (11a) and then if the connection degrades it will go for a slower more stable signal (11b). You would need a card that was able to switch between the different freqencies in order to take full advantage 802.11g. One thing that I am not too sure about is if it can connect two simultaneous users at different wavelengths?