Orinoco Gold wireless PCMCIA card I hear is great, but what about 3Com?

[snowairg]

3Com® 11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card with XJACK Antenna

I really like the idea of having a retractable antenna such as the xjack, but how does this card compare to the Orinoco Gold card everyone raves about?

TechTV Liked It

CNET Gave It Editor's Choice

 

[JackMDS]

If you read carefully the Reviews that you posted, you would see that it does not indicated being much better then other cards.

One of your reviews state this:

Minor limitations
One annoying feature of the 3Com WLAN Launcher is its constant search for a connection. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple way to disable the search when access points aren't available. The application opens a distracting "searching" window in a futile attempt to connect. Sliding the antenna in doesn't shut off the card, so users will have to remove the PC card to disable it or shutdown the application running in the system tray. A simple software-based on/off option would have made it much more convenient. (http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/products/story/0,23008,3358870,00.html)


The other:

In performance tests with NetIQ's Chariot benchmark software, we obtained respectable scores. The response test returned a score of 3ms, identical to other 802.11b Wi-Fi cards we've tested. Our throughput scores were slightly above average, at 4Mbps. In the unofficial coverage test, we found good penetration of thin or hollow walls within a 30 meter radius.

We could not get our card to connect to our Orinoco 1000AP access point, a fault we've often had before with certain cards, but there was no problem connecting to our more forgiving Linksys EtherFast wireless access point/router, using 40-bit WEP encryption.
(http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/hardware/networking/0,39001738,39003468p,00.htm).

In such a situation it comes down to price, and cosmetic preference.

Make sure that the Antenna is not breakable, since it is not integrated the way other cards do.

 

[Santa]

huum..

Shouldn't the PC Card be entering some sort of power save mode or shutting off when you push the antenna in?

According to the quote from the page it says this.

Patented XJACK antenna with smart switch extends for excellent WLAN performance and conveniently retracts to activate power-save mode, preserve battery life, and protect the antenna

Would be nice since I hear people have had to take out their Wireless cards since they drain battery life even if not in use.

 

[snowairg]

Originally posted by: Santa
Would be nice since I hear people have had to take out their Wireless cards since they drain battery life even if not in use.

Even the Orinoco Gold? I won't even worry about the xjack feature since I'll be pulling the card out anyways if that's the case. The fact that the xjack may break is something I'm concerned with.

 

[andrey]

I'm using 3COM XJack 802.11b PCMCIA card as we speak, and I have absolutely no issues with it whatsoever.

I originally tested this card for 3COM before the card was introduced to market, and apparently there are two revisions of this card. While both have model SL-1110, one has revision "A" and another has revision "B". Make sure you get "B" revision (3CRWE62092B), since it uses different chipset and from my experience, it has a much better range than both "A" version, as well as Orinoco cards.

Several more things I'd like to point out and I'm not sure if they'll be an issue for you.

1. Orinoco cards work in Linux, while 3COM does not.
2. 3COM has excellent driver and documenation support, while Orinoco is very far from even desirable.
3. 3COM's XJack design is very convinient feature! ;-)

I hope this helps.
--Andrey

 

[Santa]

The power save feature was something they were marketing. I have not made the leap to wireless yet because of the insecurities but I have heard about how the cards work in trying to constantly get a signal so it would make sense even when your not intending to be on a wireless network it is still sapping battery life from your laptop.

Most friends just take out the card from their laptop but if it is possible to just turn off or retact the antenna and it would turn off then it would definatly be worth the money.

Granted it has to work in what OS you plan on using also

 

[snowairg]

Andrey, what about this:

Minor limitations
One annoying feature of the 3Com WLAN Launcher is its constant search for a connection. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple way to disable the search when access points aren't available. The application opens a distracting "searching" window in a futile attempt to connect. Sliding the antenna in doesn't shut off the card, so users will have to remove the PC card to disable it or shutdown the application running in the system tray. A simple software-based on/off option would have made it much more convenient. (http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/products/story/0,23008,3358870,00.html)

Thanks! Everyone's help is greatly appreciated!

 

[andrey]

Originally posted by: snowairg
Andrey, what about this:

Minor limitations
One annoying feature of the 3Com WLAN Launcher is its constant search for a connection. Unfortunately, there isn't a simple way to disable the search when access points aren't available. The application opens a distracting "searching" window in a futile attempt to connect. Sliding the antenna in doesn't shut off the card, so users will have to remove the PC card to disable it or shutdown the application running in the system tray. A simple software-based on/off option would have made it much more convenient. (http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/products/story/0,23008,3358870,00.html)

Thanks! Everyone's help is greatly appreciated!

If you're using Windows XP, there is no need to install WLAN Launcher in the first place, since Windows XP already has built-in Wireless Zero Configuration, which is exactly the same as WLAN Launcher. All you'll have to do is install drivers and Windows XP will take care of everything else.

With WZC once antenna is inside, 3COM card will not search for any connections, therefore saving you the battery life and making life more convinient. Only when antenna is retracted, the search for connection occurs. In other words, antenna being inside equals to the card being disabled and retracted antenna is the same as the antenna on the regular working card.

--Andrey

 

[andrey]

One more thing from TechTV's article:

The 3Com wireless LAN PC card is not compatible with Pocket PC devices like the Compaq iPAQ. 3Com hasn't developed the necessary drivers to make it possible, whereas Cisco and Xircom have.

This is not true at all. My 3COM XJack works perfectly fine with Compaq iPaq 3835.

 

[snowairg]

Sweet. Thanks again andrey. I think I'll probably end up going with whatever card is the least expensive.