Just thought I'd pass some observations along.
I recently got a new Dell laptop with the built in Dell TrueMobile 1400 a/b/g card. Now, I knew that this card was going to be a no go for WarDriving for numerous reasons (no external antenna connector, no Netstumbler support among them), but I thought it would be nice to use around the house. It would be convenient not to have to put the PCMCIA card in everytime I booted the laptop.
Anyway...the 1400 sucks donkey dick. I have installed both Win XP Pro and Win 2k Pro on the laptop and in both cases using 802.11b mode with my Linksys AP getting a connection is difficult...maintaining one nearly impossible. Furthermore, even when standing right next to the AP I experienced at least 25% packet loss...sometimes as much as 60%.
Linux is not an option with this card as it is a rebadged Broadcom card and Broadcom won't release the specs so there is no linux driver.
I have not tried the card in 802.11g or a modes (I am actually going to upgrade to the 802.11g AP this weekend and give it a try but am not expecting a lot).
Has anyone else experienced similar results with this card? Has anyone experienced better results?
From the Dell support forums this seems to be a pretty common problem with this card with no workarounds or fixes noted.
In short...if you are thinking of getting a Dell laptop, I would advise not paying the extra 40 bucks (or whatever it is) for the built in 1400.
I recently got a new Dell laptop with the built in Dell TrueMobile 1400 a/b/g card. Now, I knew that this card was going to be a no go for WarDriving for numerous reasons (no external antenna connector, no Netstumbler support among them), but I thought it would be nice to use around the house. It would be convenient not to have to put the PCMCIA card in everytime I booted the laptop.
Anyway...the 1400 sucks donkey dick. I have installed both Win XP Pro and Win 2k Pro on the laptop and in both cases using 802.11b mode with my Linksys AP getting a connection is difficult...maintaining one nearly impossible. Furthermore, even when standing right next to the AP I experienced at least 25% packet loss...sometimes as much as 60%.
Linux is not an option with this card as it is a rebadged Broadcom card and Broadcom won't release the specs so there is no linux driver.
I have not tried the card in 802.11g or a modes (I am actually going to upgrade to the 802.11g AP this weekend and give it a try but am not expecting a lot).
Has anyone else experienced similar results with this card? Has anyone experienced better results?
From the Dell support forums this seems to be a pretty common problem with this card with no workarounds or fixes noted.
In short...if you are thinking of getting a Dell laptop, I would advise not paying the extra 40 bucks (or whatever it is) for the built in 1400.
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