Does anyone have any recommendations for decent PCI wireless network
cards? I'm not worried about Linux support here (well, I do want Linux
support, but that's not the question I'm asking). What I'm interested in
is quality of connection and compatibility with WAPs.
I currently have a USR card in a machine and I'm very disappointed in
the quality, although this may just be the driver quality or a Windows
issue (it is running XP at the moment). When used with my original 3com
WAP it would drop the connection quite frequently, and now it is
connected to a Linksys WAP this problem is even worse. This even happens
when the signal quality is registering 100% and strength 95% (according
to the driver software). It may be an issue between manufacturers, but
since I have to work with both WAPs I need a fairly flexible PCI NIC -
or a PCI card that will take one of my existing PCMCIA cards perhaps.
On the driver issue, how's this for stupid design? The wireless network
only connects after the user has logged on - and this can take a minute
or more, and sometimes requires me to reboot my WAP as it fails at the
authentication stage for some unknown reason (no logs or diags available
and USR never respond to my support questions). If I log on as a user
other than an administrator I cannot get a connection at all - it will
scan the network and allow me to enter and change the parameters, but I
never even get to the authentication stage of connecting. If switch user
to an administrator I can hook straight in and then switch back to the
limited user without problems - until the next connection drop that is
:(
Don't ya just love Windows? Answers in some malware code sent to... ;)
Anyhoo...
--
Paul Tansom | Aptanet Ltd. |
http://www.aptanet.com/
