Wireless Card for Laptop

[jeanly]

I know this has been talked about before, but I can't seem to find the post. What card is compatible with the university wireless system? Does the card need to be 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g compatible?

Thanks!

[FoxTrot]

Here we use A and B. I don't think G is supported at Ross, but if you have a G card it's backward compatible with B. Just get a card that supports all 3 and you can use it anywhere you go, that is if you don't already have a card built into your laptop already. 8)

[nobody]

I think they're using G in the Multipurpose Lab and in the Library. I get a 54Mb connection in both places. B would only give you a 11Mb connection.

[Neuro3]

My computer has G and I have used it in the library. I bought an A card and brought it with me but our wonderful IT department said they couldn't get it to work so I needed to buy another card.

btw for all the people coming in Sept I suggest going to the IT department and get your name on the list for configuring your computer as soon as you get here. There are people that are still on the list to get theirs done next month.

[Junito]

Try to get a wireless card that is compatible with all three modes (A, B, & G). I purchased one online for about $75. I am sure you can get it for a lower price.

Juni

[Junito]

Unfortunately I have been experiencing some difficulty with my laptop (the screen died), and am in desperate need of a memory key. I am willing to trade my trimode wireless card (with accompanying driver CD) for a 256 MB memory key. PM if you are interested.

Juni

[singer]

JUni711:

How old is your laptop?
Do you have an International warrenty still in effect?

[gadget]

We recommend you purchase dual band A&G wireless card. Netgear makes a nice model that has given us few issues. Please say away from the Linksys and Belkin cards. These two vendors have had compatibility issues with our wireless access points in the past....hope this helps!

[FoxTrot]

Gadget, what do you mean "we" recommend so and so network card? By using that term you are saying that you representing Ross University and therefore you should identify yourself to the forum as to who you are. Thanks...

[link626]

it doesn't really matter what brand the card is. It's the chipset inside the card that matters. There are ~3 common chipsets out there.

I'm not sure about belkin now, but last I heard belkin uses the Realtek chipset, which is in a lot of other wireless cards too. The more expensive wireless cards use the Prism chipset.

the ADMtek chipset has gotten the worst compatibility results on some university networks here in the US. Brands such as SMC use the ADMtek chipset. ADMtek appears to be the crappiest of the 3 chipsets.

If the ross network isn't compatible with the realtek chipset, then the access points must be pretty crappy. (I'm only saying this cuz I have a wifi card with the realtek chip inside :) )

[Junito]

My laptop is about 3 years old. The warranty expired a while ago. I knew it was giving me problems before, but they seem to have been magnified once I got to the island.

Juni

[gadget]

You are of course correct in the wireless chipset explaination, however, the problems we are seeing are not chipset based but seem to be caused by the associated wireless utilities and/or a poorly written driver. For the record, I do represent ROSS, and we use the one of the best access points on the market, the Cisco Aironet 1100 & 1200 series.....

[link626]

well....... if wireless doesn't work....... I guess you could always go with wired ethernet.

by the way, are the wired ethernet ports functional in the newer classrooms yet? If wireless is causing so many problems, maybe students should go back to old fashioned trusty ethernet.
(I'm not enrolled yet, but I read months ago that the classroom ethernet ports were not functional.)

[evil mcnasty]

I have a brand new Apple Powerbook G4 that works on an 802.11g (backwards compatible with b)...Will there be a problem with using my Mac out in Ross? I hope not, because it worked fine on the campus-wide wifi network at UC Irvine (my undergrad university). Will the IT dept have a problem with configuring my laptop, without erasing anything) (especially since Mac software is considerably more expensive than its pc counterparts and quite hard to find as well) thanks...

[LuckyLuciano]

Evil Mcnasty
You and I seem to have our heads on straight....Apple computers are the way to go. I also use a G4 powerbook. The IT department was able to configure it for the laptop loung (not wireless and slow at that). I do use it at home via Cable and Wireless by using my roommates computer (a PC) as a router. I have had no problems doing it this way. I would not let the IT department fiddle with your computer. I regret it.

[evil mcnasty]

Lucky Luciano:

Thanks for the heads up on my powerbook...i know that people in general just dont understand macs (even though they are far superior to pcs)...so i just dont want any joe schmo IT guy messing with it without knowing what he's doing. I guess I'll stick to the school computers when i need to go online at school. Oh yeah, Apple just came out with this little device that looks like the charger. It's actually a little wifi router called the airportexpress. it creates automatic wifi connections for your powerbook just by plugging it into the wall... cool huh?