Objective information about the range of wireless adapters

[LumbergTech]

Anyone know any good places to find objective information about the range of pci wireless adapters?

I understand that multiple factors contribute to the quality of a wireless connection. I just want to know what adapters perform the best assuming that there are no problems obstructing them.

 

[spidey07]

The only objective information you have is their receive sensitivity at given signal strength to noise. It's all published info, and if they don't publish it they don't for a reason.

There is no best in this area.

 

[LumbergTech]

The only objective information you have is their receive sensitivity at given signal strength to noise. It's all published info, and if they don't publish it they don't for a reason.

There is no best in this area.

It surprises me how I couldn't find any round-up reviews where they actually tested the range on popular cards.

Any advice on a card to get? My mother in law is only getting one bar to the router from the company "we go wireless". The router is literally about 8-10 feet from her computer. She currently has an old D-LINK wireless g pci card. If I buy some random wireless n card is it likely to at least add another bar or two or is it basically a hopeless guess? I am also aware that you don't get the benefit of N unless you are using N, but I figure its better to get that than a g card in case she does need wireless n in the future.

 

[spidey07]

"range" all depends on environment, antenna, positioning, etc all of which can't be measured objectively because it depends on the noise levels and how the radio deals with it.

I wish I could help, but the most common cause of poor wireless is antenna position and noise. Higher quality radios deal with that better which is where receive sensitivity comes into play. It all depends.

 

[mxnerd]

This is a USB adapter, not PCI. But seems have pretty good review. I never bought it though.

http://www.amazon.com/Alfa-AWUS036H-...lp_edpp_ttl_in

If all she does is web browsing, it really doesn't matter if she gets a N adapter or a g adapter. Most people don't even get 20M bps download from cable.

 

[JackMDS]

This card yield good results as compare to most cards in its class.

Edimax - PCI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833315041

Driver/Utility for Windows 98SE/Me/2K/XP/XP 64/Vista/Vista 64/Win7/Win7 x64

http://www.edimax.us/html/english/frames/b-download.htm



http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1274

 

[birthdaymonkey]

My GF's computer was using a generic PCI Wireless G adapter and getting 1-2 bars and frequent disconnections. I bought this device (based on the Egg reviews) and she now gets 5 bars and hasn't experienced a single dropout.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-056-_-Product

It's also pretty cheap. I realize this isn't objective information, but anecdotally this is a great wifi adapter.

 

[Modelworks]

Some of the best information you can get is on the fcc.gov site. All wireless devices have to go through FCC certification in the USA. To get that they have to submit their device with photos and schematics and test information to the FCC who verifies it before approving. Most of the data is public, sometimes they will make the schematics confidential but not always.

To find the adapter you are interested in isn't the easiest because something sold by netgear may be manufactured under another company and that is who it will be listed under. Sometimes you just have to click at the closest thing and check the photos.
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm

If I put netgear in the applicant name and search it returns 340 results.
Click details and you can get the RF reports and more. If you have problems with the site try using IE for browser. I couldn't get it to work correctly with firefox.