mini-pci wifi cards - Atheros

We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.

We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
can see about 12 nearby WAPs...

I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?

This was one of the few places I could find it -
http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html

comments ?

--
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"If everything seems to be going well,
you have obviously overlooked something." - Steven Wright

ps56k wrote:
> We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
> in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.
>
> We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
> My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
> can see about 12 nearby WAPs...
>
> I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
> to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?
>
> This was one of the few places I could find it -
> http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
>
> comments ?
>
How many do you need to see?
If you define "broke" as not being able to get done what you need done...
is it broke?

The sensitivity numbers are good. But probably more susceptible to
interference. And your results may depend significantly on the antenna
configuration.

But...

Is it broke? Or are you just dissatisfied with the numbers on your
screen? If you have spare money, you'll feel better if you give it to
me ;-)

FWIW, I decomissoned my 108 Mbps wireless router. I found that at the
range limit,
it was
more fragile than "B". And B can easily outrun my DSL connection.
If I want to transfer gigabytes, it's much quicker to walk over to the
router and plug in a cable. You'll find many web articles saying the
same thing about "N".

mike

In alt.internet.wireless ps56k <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
> in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.
>
> We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
> My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
> can see about 12 nearby WAPs...
>
> I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
> to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?
>
> This was one of the few places I could find it -
> http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
>
> comments ?
>
Which Dell laptops? Some of them have the antennas at the sides as
part of the speaker assemblies (C600 for example). Other makers seem
to place the antennas somewhere in the display, typically at the sides
near the top.

Perhaps the Fujitsu has better antennas or better situated antennas.

Jerry

"Jerry Peters" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:THmkl.19702$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In alt.internet.wireless ps56k <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
>> in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.
>>
>> We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
>> My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
>> can see about 12 nearby WAPs...
>>
>> I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
>> to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?
>>
>> This was one of the few places I could find it -
>> http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
>>
>> comments ?
>>
> Which Dell laptops? Some of them have the antennas at the sides as
> part of the speaker assemblies (C600 for example). Other makers seem
> to place the antennas somewhere in the display, typically at the sides
> near the top.
>
> Perhaps the Fujitsu has better antennas or better situated antennas.
>

Good point on the antenna placement -
hmmm - with the Fujitsu being a tablet,
I'll have to try with the screen up or down and see if the orientation
matters...

We have the Dell C610 - a couple of them in the house -
the internal mini-pci wifi board is the Dell branded 1350 (?)
with the actual marking -> Broadcom BCM94306MP

ps56k wrote:
> "Jerry Peters" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:THmkl.19702$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In alt.internet.wireless ps56k <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>> We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
>>> in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.
>>>
>>> We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
>>> My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
>>> can see about 12 nearby WAPs...
>>>
>>> I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
>>> to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?
>>>
>>> This was one of the few places I could find it -
>>> http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
>>>
>>> comments ?
>>>
>> Which Dell laptops? Some of them have the antennas at the sides as
>> part of the speaker assemblies (C600 for example). Other makers seem
>> to place the antennas somewhere in the display, typically at the sides
>> near the top.
>>
>> Perhaps the Fujitsu has better antennas or better situated antennas.
>>
>
> Good point on the antenna placement -
> hmmm - with the Fujitsu being a tablet,
> I'll have to try with the screen up or down and see if the orientation
> matters...
>
> We have the Dell C610 - a couple of them in the house -
> the internal mini-pci wifi board is the Dell branded 1350 (?)
> with the actual marking -> Broadcom BCM94306MP
>
>
The placement of the antennae inside a laptop is very important! Older
Dell laptops like the black Latitude C-series (and their evil Inspiron
twins) and the Latitude 100L (and its twin Inspiron 11xx and sibling
Inspiron 51xx models) all have the two antennae going out to the sides
of the bottom chassis.

Many newer laptop run the antenna wires up into the two sides of the LCD
screen for better reception. This complicates any disassembly and
repair a little bit for Dell systems (pretty good
design-for-maintenance) and makes the HPaq systems a screaming royal
pain-in-the-ass to repair.

It is more likely that the difference in reception has to do with
placement of the antennae than the wifi card itself. Still, I have seen
a difference in wifi coverage between Intel and Broadcom chips in the
same laptop, Intel being better. I have a lot less experience with
Atheros cards, which are used more on Toshiba, HPaq, (as you note)
Fujitsu and maybe other brands... Ben Myers

In alt.internet.wireless ps56k <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> "Jerry Peters" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:THmkl.19702$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> In alt.internet.wireless ps56k <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>> We currently have Dell internal 1300 mini-pci (not express) wifi cards
>>> in our Dell laptops. They use the Broadcom chipset.
>>>
>>> We can see a couple of nearby WAPs.
>>> My wife's Fujitsu laptop - with an Atheros internal card -
>>> can see about 12 nearby WAPs...
>>>
>>> I'm wondering about getting an Atheros card for our laptop
>>> to see if the sensitivity is actually better ?
>>>
>>> This was one of the few places I could find it -
>>> http://www.oxfordtec.com/us/MiniPCI-...duct_info.html
>>>
>>> comments ?
>>>
>> Which Dell laptops? Some of them have the antennas at the sides as
>> part of the speaker assemblies (C600 for example). Other makers seem
>> to place the antennas somewhere in the display, typically at the sides
>> near the top.
>>
>> Perhaps the Fujitsu has better antennas or better situated antennas.
>>
>
> Good point on the antenna placement -
> hmmm - with the Fujitsu being a tablet,
> I'll have to try with the screen up or down and see if the orientation
> matters...
>
> We have the Dell C610 - a couple of them in the house -
> the internal mini-pci wifi board is the Dell branded 1350 (?)
> with the actual marking -> Broadcom BCM94306MP
>
Yep, antennas at the front of the keyboard unit along the sides near
the speakers (actully part of the assembly that holds the speaker in
place.

The Atheros in my Aspire 1 sees at least twice as many AP's as the
Airlink AWLL3026 USB adapter I'm using on this Latitude C600. An
Atheros based Cardbus card also seems to be more sensitive.

Jerry