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View Full Version : CF WiFi for $31, WM2003 supported


Kati Compton
10-29-2003, 06:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://store.yahoo.com/meritline/mewlwicoflad.html' target='_blank'>http://store.yahoo.com/meritline/mewlwicoflad.html</a><br /><br /></div>Meritline.com has the "Meritline MWL-672 Wireless LAN 11b Compact Flash Adapter (802.11b Wireless Network CF Card Adapter) for Your PDA and Laptop" for US$31. They claim to have drivers for WM2003 (and PPC2002).

kiwi
10-29-2003, 06:19 AM
I put thru an order.. I hope they dont charge stupid shipping price to canada! I might have to ship to a friend in the US otherwise and get them to ship to me.

Kati Compton
10-29-2003, 06:19 AM
Hmmm.... They don't tell you what shipping costs before you confirm your order?

DimensionZero
10-29-2003, 07:10 AM
did u get the wi-fi card?
Let us know how it goes when you receive it!

Rob Borek
10-29-2003, 07:24 AM
I put thru an order.. I hope they dont charge stupid shipping price to canada! I might have to ship to a friend in the US otherwise and get them to ship to me.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let people ship to you from the US via UPS Ground (aka UPS Standard) - you will get nailed with an exhorbitant (around $25-$30Cdn) brokerage fee for the privilege of them clearing the item through Customs.

Chris Edwards
10-29-2003, 08:31 AM
Ditto that. I had a $100US item shipped to me, and was nailed by UPS with an $80CDN charge when it arrived.

In addition, I have dealt with Meritline in the past and their service was very good. I had the item shipped to the US, so I'm not too sure about shipping costs to Canada.

(Waterloo is cold)

DimensionZero
10-29-2003, 09:08 AM
:D Lucky for me. My aunt just recently moved to the states about an hour away from home so I'll just ship stuff to her and pick them up on a weekend. YEY! :mrgreen:

dammitjim
10-29-2003, 02:24 PM
Yes, please let us know how it works. I'm seriously considering switching from my Sandisk SDIO Wi-Fi card, because it keeps draining my pda to only be usable for 1.5 hours :(
Good luck!

jolam97
10-29-2003, 03:50 PM
Yes, please do keep us informed on how the buying experience and on how the card functions. I've just about had it in waiting for Linksys to update their CF driver for WM2003

kiwi
10-29-2003, 04:47 PM
I was holdign out for a SDIO WiFI card but dont like how they are currently designed. At $31 this is a bargin.

Will let you guys know what happens.. They quoted $30+ for UPS Standard to Canada, so I am shipping to my friend in the US.

Anyone know if MiniStumbler will work with this card?

kiwi
10-29-2003, 04:50 PM
Hmmm.... They don't tell you what shipping costs before you confirm your order?


they do, you have to look up your location in a table. $30 to canada seemed a lot.

B

hyedipin
10-29-2003, 06:02 PM
Has there been any other users who owned this card previous to the article here at the PPCthoughts?

how about battery consumption? If it drains the battery quickly, it is no good deal.

I have Axim X5 400Mhz, would it work? They keep mentioning Ipaqs and Hps and sort.. :roll:

Hugh Nano
10-29-2003, 07:26 PM
I got one of these not too long ago. It's not too bad, I guess, though it doesn't seem to get as much range as my PCMCIA wireless cards. I've also had problems using 128-bit encryption--not sure whether that's a problem with my wireless router or with the card, but I suspect the card. I can use it OK without encryption, but haven't gotten it to work with encryption on--which is a bummer because I need to keep encryption on (school network policy). As a result, I haven't used it much, so can't say how badly (or not badly) it drains the battery.

Conclusion: Good-deal price-wise; stay away if you need long range and/or 128-bit encryption. (Or, if anyone else has one that is working fine with 128-bit encryption, please let me know what I'm doing wrong!!!)

[edit:] PS--I should mention that I'm using it on an old iPAQ 3650 with Pocket PC 2000 OS! Might work just fine on WM 2003, for all I know... Also, except for its anemic reception, seemed to work OK on my laptop (Win 98SE), using a CF-card adapter, though the install produced an annoying start-up folder that appeared open on my desktop every time I rebooted (and which I couldn't get to disappear until I finally uninstalled the driver in frustration!).

ctmagnus
10-30-2003, 02:51 AM
Anyone know if MiniStumbler will work with this card?

Nope. MiniStumbler doesn't work with any CF cards at the moment. Future versions may, but releases of the program are few and far between so you'll probably be waiting for a while.

PocketWarrior (www.pocketwarrior.org), on the other hand, will quite possibly work with the card but I can't say for sure.

Don Tolson
10-31-2003, 09:02 PM
I put thru an order.. I hope they dont charge stupid shipping price to canada! I might have to ship to a friend in the US otherwise and get them to ship to me.

Whatever you do, DO NOT let people ship to you from the US via UPS Ground (aka UPS Standard) - you will get nailed with an exhorbitant (around $25-$30Cdn) brokerage fee for the privilege of them clearing the item through Customs.

I've just cancelled my order, since they will ONLY ship via UPS to 'international' sites. Hence, my $US31 card will turn out to cost over $US120!!! (due to their shipping charges, which are more than the card, and then the UPS brokerage fees at the border).

Sheesh... with something that small, you'd think they could stick it in a padded envelope and mail it out, if that's what the customer asks for, and is willing to take the risk of loss.

silentmuse
10-31-2003, 09:12 PM
I agree. This is a major beef of mine. Some resellers have been helpful and been able to ship via alternate methods (my favorites are still either US Postal Service or Airbourne Express) to Canada, but some just flat out say "We will only ship UPS to Canada".

Frankly, when that happens I make sure that they know that they just lost my business and why. It's pig headed unhelpful customer service that costs many companies lots of business.

I mean, really, how hard can it be to ship via other methods? There isn't a shipping company I know of that won't come pick up the package from your door, and USPS is generally cheaper (even ignoring border stuff) than UPS anyways....

kiwi
12-12-2003, 03:13 AM
Well,

I ordered the WiFi card and requested that MeritLine.com get back to me so I can route the shippment to my friend who lives in the USA to avoid the high cost of shipping.

I checked the status after 10 days of the initial order and the order I put thru was listed as cancelled. Well I never cancelled it and they never called or emailed me.

I would never ever do business with this out fit again. I can only take it that Customer service does not exist.

JustinGTP
12-12-2003, 04:53 AM
Hmm,

Thats too bad. Its sad they assume you cancelled - they lost business. I want to invest in a WiFi card as soon as we have our own WiFi network.

-Justin.

summercool
12-12-2003, 07:30 AM
:roll: oh, really? it is too bad. Haven't they told you that if you have your carrier account, they can use it for you , but charged a little handling fee.
I appreciated their service.