Laptop Wireless miniPCI

My niece got a Toshiba laptop for xmas. The range on the wireless LAN seems
terrible compared to others including her moms sitting right next to her at
times. I noticed on the bottom there is a plate you can take off and remove
the integrated wireless adaptor. She is in college now and would like it to
work better. Does anyone know of a better adaptor I can put in for better
range?

If your Toshiba has a PC card slot, there
are many wireless adapters which will
extend your range..LinkSys, Netgear, Belkin,
Hawking.. Anywhere from $35.00 up. I
wouldn't try to improve the mini-PCI
setup. It's buried down inside the computer.
Luck

> My niece got a Toshiba laptop for xmas. The range on the wireless LAN
seems
> terrible compared to others including her moms sitting right next to her
at
> times. I noticed on the bottom there is a plate you can take off and
remove
> the integrated wireless adaptor. She is in college now and would like it
to
> work better. Does anyone know of a better adaptor I can put in for better
> range?

What card is in there now? Make sure the antenna wires are properly
attached to it. Be careful as the wires and connectors are rather delicate.
They just pop on/off with a slight snap. It's possible to use any other
mini-PCI card in that slot. Just make sure whatever other card you use has
the same connectors on it. Most mini-PCI setups use u.FL (aka Hirose)
connectors. Some have a newer style (whose name escapes me at the moment).
Start by looking to see what card's in there now and post that model number.

Otherwise you could add a regular PCMCIA card to the slot. Then either
disable or remove the existing mini-PCI card. The downside to this is the
PCMCIA cards tend to stick out the side of the case. This makes the laptop
too big for the carrying bag. Some bags have more room than others so check
first. You don't want to get into a situation where you're constantly
removing and reinserting the card. Mainly because it's tedious, but there's
also the issues of losing the card or wrecking the slot.

Your other alternative is to use a USB wifi device. These just plug into
the USB slot. Same hassles though as they stick out to much to fit in the
bag and/or tend to get lost/broken.

There's no way to easily improve the antenna that's built-into the case.
It'd require near total disassembly of the laptop just to get it out. Then
what to put in it's place? There aren't any aftermarket replacements that
work any better, at least not that I've found. If you're brave and feel
like hacking up the case you could put in an external connector that'd let
you use an external antenna. But that's more than most normal people would
be prepared to perform.

-Bill Kearney

"M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My niece got a Toshiba laptop for xmas. The range on the wireless LAN
> seems terrible compared to others including her moms sitting right next to
> her at times. I noticed on the bottom there is a plate you can take off
> and remove the integrated wireless adaptor. She is in college now and
> would like it to work better. Does anyone know of a better adaptor I can
> put in for better range?


I recommend an Atheros minipci card such as this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ATHEROS-54MBPS-B...S-CARD-T60H786

or any from this page
http://search.ebay.com/search/search...+pci&category0

Atheros made a big diference for me.

"Curly Bill" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Y_cDg.5953$Gv.2054@fed1read09...
>
> "M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> My niece got a Toshiba laptop for xmas. The range on the wireless LAN
>> seems terrible compared to others including her moms sitting right next
>> to her at times. I noticed on the bottom there is a plate you can take
>> off and remove the integrated wireless adaptor. She is in college now
>> and would like it to work better. Does anyone know of a better adaptor I
>> can put in for better range?
>
>
> I recommend an Atheros minipci card such as this one
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ATHEROS-54MBPS-B...S-CARD-T60H786
>
> or any from this page
> http://search.ebay.com/search/search...+pci&category0
>
> Atheros made a big diference for me.

That first link didn't work , try this
http://cgi.ebay.com/Atheros-mini-pci...QQcmdZViewItem

On Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:47:53 -0500, "M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>My niece got a Toshiba laptop for xmas. The range on the wireless LAN seems
>terrible compared to others including her moms sitting right next to her at
>times. I noticed on the bottom there is a plate you can take off and remove
>the integrated wireless adaptor. She is in college now and would like it to
>work better. Does anyone know of a better adaptor I can put in for better
>range?

The problem is probably the antenna or antenna cable (as suggested by
someone else), not the Mini PCI card.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
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