Linksys WPC54G Limited Range

I have a 2 year old WPC54G and WAP54G.
I moved the WAP to the middle of the house,
but the link still drops from 54 Meg to 1-2 Meg at 30-40 feet.
I thought this was normal.
Yesterday my son got a new Dell Inspiron 6000 with integrated 802.11a/b/g.
At the same distance with the same WAP it is at the full 54 Meg.
Linksys suggested a driver update. Well for my model, I have the latest
driver (2003).
I see there is a Version 2 and a Version 4 of the card.
Do the newer versions have better range?
Is the problem the little antenna in the PCMCIA card,
maybe the Dell has some huge antenna covering the whole case?

Trying to find out if a newer PCMCIA card will allow my old laptop the
connectivity of the Dell.

Thanks.

Tom Darlington <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I have a 2 year old WPC54G and WAP54G.
....
> Yesterday my son got a new Dell Inspiron 6000 with integrated 802.11a/b/g.
....
> Is the problem the little antenna in the PCMCIA card,
> maybe the Dell has some huge antenna covering the whole case?

If the Dell has an internal WiFi, it probably has a large antenna embedded
in the lid of the laptop, so it is much larger than your card.

> Trying to find out if a newer PCMCIA card will allow my old laptop the
> connectivity of the Dell.

Some cards are better than others. Larger antennas help. USB adapters
like the Linksys WUSB54G have fairly large external antennas, and you can
also add a reflector to this style of antenna. This limits the mobility of
the laptop, but that might be okay for some uses. You might also try a
reflector on your WAP54G.

http://www.freeantennas.com EZ-12 is my favorite.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5