which CF Wi-Fi card?

[pschultz]

I am thinking about getting a CF Expansion Pack for my iPaq 3835 and a Wi-Fi card. What do you think is the best card, and why?

[Jason Dunn]

I prefer the Socket Wifi card - very small, very easy on the battery life, and great drivers. I'm hoping to have a special for Thoughts readers, so keep your eye on the front page.

[jdhill]

The Symbol Wireless Networker may be more expensive than other cards but it is one of the smallest and has a wide variety of drivers for Pocket PCs as well as handhelds and laptops.

Highly recommended !!!

[Merlion]

Socket's WLAN CF card doesn't have any drivers for desktop OSes, Symbol's does. But, the "Wireless Networker" is Symbol's WLAN CF card model's name, not Socket's. However, :) Socket & Symbol's WLAN CF cards looked identical physically, so I supposed they have the same hardware. If you own a Xybernaut Poma (http://www.xybernaut.com/newxybernaut/Solutions/product/poma_product.htm), only Socket has drivers for it, Symbol doesn't. But then, :D Symbol's drivers for desktop OSes can be used by Socket's card, so, Socket's card could be used with 95/98/ME/2K/XP as well. :D

For those interested, this simple mod from Socket's forum (http://www.socketforum.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=221) will make Symbol's 95/98/ME/2K/XP drivers run Socket's card on notebook computers. Symbol's 95/98/ME/2K drivers are here (http://www.symbol.com/services/downloads/dl_spec24highrate.html), & XP drivers are here (http://www.symbol.com/services/downloads/spec24_windows_xp.html).

I own the Socket card myself & I do highly recommend it. But if you need notebook computer support, go with the Symbol.

[Underwater Mike]

Jason,

Wish I'd known that before I bought my Linksys WCF12 card a couple weeks ago! Great card, but no drivers for my XP notebook (or for any non-CE OS).

[don dre]

Does anybody have anything to say about Pretec's card? It's the cheapest.

[msprague]

But then, :D Symbol's drivers for desktop OSes can be used by Socket's card, so, Socket's card could be used with 95/98/ME/2K/XP as well. :D

I have had good success with the Socket card and Symbol drivers, both with Win XP and Pocket PC 2002. On my Maestro the Symbol driver seem to be more rock solid. I also have the D-Link 713P access point that Socket says is incompatible with their driver, but the Symbol driver works great. :wink:

[Julio]

Be careful with cheap CF WiFi cards. They typically only support the popular brands/CPUs - this is particularly a problem for people who still have PsPC or PPC2000 systems (like me). What's worse, the marketing literature on the box may be deceptively broad - so you may think that it supports your PPC, but it doesn't. So, you should call the company before buying to ensure that they actually support your PPC.

For instance, I have a Casio E115. I originally purchased a Linksys WCF12 (~$70). The box said that it supported all WinCE 3.0 devices. However, several frustrating calls to tech. support later, they finally reveal that they only have drivers for SH3 and ARM - not MIPS. :evil: I now have a NetGear CF WiFi card (~$110) and it supports my Casio :D as well as PsPCs.

So, buyer beware - and really interogate the individual companies. Store personnel will, typically, not be sufficiently knowledgeable.

Julio

[amcmoe]

Does anyone have a NetGear WiFi card? I am thinking about getting that for my iPAQ. If you have any comments about it, please respond. Also if you know, about how far is the farthest range you can gett? Netgears website only says it has 11mbit at 500ft and 5.5mbit at 1000ft outdoors. That is farther than most of the other cards I have looked at at that range.

Thanks, :D

Adam

[bdeli]

There is a very good deal at http://www.buy.com for the Netgear cards. They are selling for $48.62 after a $30 rebate from Netgear - check it out: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10321502&loc=101

[amcmoe]

Hey,

Thanks for that!!! Wow what a deal! I might just have to get one :D

Thanks again,
Adam

[yellow1]

Well my tiny ambicom works really well but it sucks batteries like there's no tomorrow, litterally !

Has anyone compared battery life between a Socket/Symbol and the flurrry of Prism based CF cards (Linksys, Netgear, Dlink, etc..) ?

cheers

[sub_tex]

Jason,

Wish I'd known that before I bought my Linksys WCF12 card a couple weeks ago! Great card, but no drivers for my XP notebook (or for any non-CE OS).

Boy do i wish i had found this thread before today!

Just wasted $70 on the same card wanting drivers for both my laptop (win2k) and my soon to some pda (possibly the new zaurus?).

[don dre]

While I swear by their 802.11 stuff, great prices and quality, their CF Card eats battery power and is bigger than it needs to be. I looked at the date on the boc and it was 2000 so I guess it is just old but stay away from it unless yousee they have a new model. Wishing I had bought the socet even though it was $70 more at the time.

[Jorgen]

WHich d-link card? There are two CF cards: the CF2 card is older than the CF1 card (660W).
What are you comparing this d-link card with?

All WLAN cards use far more power than to other types of cards.

Jorgen

[Merlion]

While I swear by their 802.11 stuff, great prices and quality, their CF Card eats battery power and is bigger than it needs to be. I looked at the date on the boc and it was 2000 so I guess it is just old but stay away from it unless yousee they have a new model. Wishing I had bought the socet even though it was $70 more at the time.
The newer generation of Wi-Fi cards are much more power-conservative then their older versions, you can search the Web for some comparitive testing. Like Jorgen said, the new D-Link 660W CF-I card is much more power-friendly then the older CF-II card. Same thing with the LinkSys's WCF11 & WCR-12 cards. I use a low-powered Socket & loved it but it's quite costly. LinkSys's WCF-12 is very low-powered too & had received a lot of good comments on discussion forums. It's currently only $53.54 (after rebate) at Buy.com.

[Perrin]

Are you sure? it says there's only a $15 rebate ?

[Merlion]

Are you sure? it says there's only a $15 rebate ?
I just checked coz my post was quite sometime ago.
The Linksys WCF12's item # is C9P8KE.
Its original price is $63.54. There's a $10 rebate. So final price's $53.54. :)