Best Wireless Router/AP + PCMCIA package to buy?

[gordita]

Here are the requirements:

I'm getting a laptop at work and have decided to order a wireless package for some testing.
I just want a ROuter + PCMCIA card or an AP + PCMCIA card so that I can plug it into my countless switches and just run some tests and scans and stuff.

I think an AP and a pcmcia card should be good enough because I have about 10 enterprise routers and about 80 10/100 switches (layer-2), so i can plug in the AP anywhere, and the laptop should pick up a DHCP addr and I can run off that...

now, I haven't dabbled in wireless before, so which is the best package?

I guess my budget is upto $500 ( a $100 package if it does what I want should be fine too), so I'm thinking maybe a cisco package or a 3com one if they have.

what do the wireless guru's suggest.........

I don't mind buying a wireless router with SPI and 128-bit WEP and other goodies so I can learn and really experiment.

oh btw.....the laptop is actually gonna be a Sniffer Investigator package.... )

 

[Electrode]

I'm no expert, but I've been using a Linksys WAP11 access point and a D-Link DWL-650 PCMCIA card and it works pretty well. Of course, those are 802.11b, you'll probably want 802.11a (5 GHz, 55 Mbps, short range) or 802.11g (2.4 GHz, 55 Mbps, long range, backwards-compatible with 802.11b) and I know nothing of those.

 

[gordita]

yup, I definitely would prefer going with either a 802.11b + 802.11a dual-band AP or a 802.11b+ 802.11g dualie.

 

[MuffD]

D-link 614+, D-link 713P or SMC router w/ built in wap and some type of Orinoco (rebadged or not) card seems to be what everyone's using.

 

[gordita]

any AP's out there that are dual-band......802.11a and 802.11b ??
and then I can couple that with the orinoco dualie pcmcia card and be all set...

 

[mcveigh]

yes there are dual band access points
linksys, netgear, etc all make them

IMHO the best card is the cisco aironet 352 series, it has more transmitting power and I like the software better than the orinoco

 

[gordita]

how is the dual-band orinoco card -pcmcia
that has got some rave reviews

 

[Soybomb]

Cisco's stuff can have an advantage especially from the power and security stand point. Orinoco (now owned by Proxim) would be my number one choice for manufacturer. Link to their AP's Dlink/SMC/Linksys/etc are all crap in comparison.

 

[azev]

I used Orinoco gold a/b combo card and I think they are awsome. I never had any problem connecting to different ap manufacture given that I knew the ssid or wap key. I would also recomend you to get it. pcmall has a good deal on them.