USB Wifi?
Posted on:: October 5th, 2003
Don’t ask how, but a small bit of plastic got jammed into the PC Card slot on my ThinkPad X22, so when I put my wifi card in, I bent the pins inside the slot. I’m going on the road for much of October in a few days and need muh wifi.
So, does anyone know of a solution? I have USB 1.1 slots. I’ve found some wifi dongles that look like they’ll do the trick. Are there gotchas? Do they work?
Let me rephrase that: Heeeeelllllllppp!
Categories: Uncategorized dw
Buy an Apple iBook or Powerbook. I’m not kidding — having the Airport card built-in means that you don’t have to screw around with PC cards to get wifi. It’s always there and it doesn’t stick out so you can just put your laptop in your bag.
Being without connectivity sucks. ” I have no IP address yet I must scream.”
I’m a linksys fan – my office is all black-and-blue devices (lavender, my ladylove corrects). Linksys WUSB11 for 802.11b or WUSB54G, supposedly compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0, should do the trick. Install the CD software first (you’re still running Windows, right?) and then plug in the device. Works pretty well, in my experience.
Also suspect that matching devices from Belkin or D-Link or even Microsoft should have the same ease of use, but I can’t testify to that. Good luck!
I have seen these work quite well:
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=34&scid=30&prid=402.
But BestBuy has a no questions asked return policy, get one, try it, and if it doesn’t work, return it. I am not sure what the time window is, but the prices probably is under $50. They are small, light and fit into the USB slot.
Uh, your solution for a bent USB port is to switch hardware PLATFORMS? I understand you are a Mac fan, but let’s not be a moron. If he has a PC-based laptop, odds are it’s not because he just didn’t know about Powerbooks.
What a stupid suggestion.
WD
I agree completely with WD.. I have a Mac and I love it to death but it seems much more reasonable to tell the guy to buy an IBM laptop with a built in wifi card if anything… hehe.
I have a 7 year old Dell Latitude with one 1.1 USB port. I’ve never been able to get WiFi at school or work with a PCMCIA card because the computer predates WEP, WPA, and WPA2 security (and it does not have an internal).
I bought a Wi-Fire from hfield.com. It’s a USB adapter and directional antenna. Not only can I use the security connections, but the signal I get is a lot stronger and more reliable than internals and PCMCIA cards. Set-up was a piece of cake, and the gadget is small enough to rest on the screen of my laptop.
If anybody else still has an old laptop (or if you just want stronger signal on your new one) I would definitely recommend checking out the Wi-Fire.