802.11b questions

[Dan East]

I need to acquire various 802.11b wireless cards for use in a hospital, to be used in Pocket PCs and HPC devices. I've taken a look at the Symbol CF card, which looks pretty good. Do any of you have experience with this card? Are there any other manufacturers of CF WiFi cards yet? Is the battery life reasonable? If battery life is an issue we will go with the PCMCIA form-factor since the iPaqs PC Card sleeve contains an auxillary battery.<br>Any compatibility issues with other brands of 802.11b devices?<br>How about range? We will have fixed base points (so client <-> client is not an issue). Is there a way to increase range by better base hardware / specialized antennas, etc? We need wide area coverage, so directional antennas are not an option.<br><br>Thanks!<br><br>Dan East

[pbalogh]

You're probably better off with the compaq one, because it either drains a lot of battery or the coverage area is very small.<br>You should use external antennas on the APs and take really good care when positioning them, because network design can be more important than any antenna.

[Dan East]

Okay, I see their WL110 PC Card. Is that what you're talking about? They don't seem to offer a CF or Expansion Pack version.<br><br>Dan East

[Dan East]

I'm considering Buffalo Technology's for LAN / wireless bridges. Any experience with this or other LAN access points?<br><br>Dan East

[Digby]

Dan,<br><br>You might want to peruse Brighthand's forums.  There are a couple of threads in the "Compaq 36xx ..." forum on the Symbol cards.  Here's of them.<br><br>

[James]

I'm experimenting with the Symbol Spectrum 24 wireless card on a Jornada 568 and a corporate LAN. I just started using it (today) and I've spent most of my day teaching a class. We'll keep playing with it and get back with you.<br><br>James

[Chris Edwards]

linksys and dlink both make cf wireless 802.11b cards... as does symbol.. which you already knew<br><br> - inexpensive, high range/distance.. looks cool<br>dlink - bulky, less expensive than symbol<br>symbol - sleek, expensive<br>

[brntcrsp]

so, I'm using the symbol card at the moment on the Jornada 568.  I've so far not had the best experience mainly because I'm still working on the router.  <br><br>Overall, I like it but I still have lots of testing to do.  I'll let ya'll know how it works.<br><br> - brnt out

[Chris Edwards]

If you hate it that much, you could send it to me...

[brntcrsp]

Who said anything about not liking it?  /grin<br><br>My main problem was the that the connection between the Wireless Networker (what a stupid name) and my Linksys AP/Router never fully coalesced.  It was very flakey, and would sometimes just dissappear after about 1/2 hour of use.  Last night I finally got it working reliably.  It was great.  I managed to read all my webies (web funnies) from the couch.<br><br>-brnt