ps56k wrote:
> We have a couple of Dell C610 laptops
> with the Dell internal mini-pci 1300 b/g wifi cards.
>
> The WAP is upstairs,
> and our son noticed that coverage downstairs
> was lower in the family room.
>
> He tried it with my wife's laptop - a Fujitsu tablet
> with the Atheros AR5006esx internal wifi card
> and it worked much better...
>
> Last night I grabbed the Fujitsu and installed NetStumbler,
> and setup both laptops next to each other running NS.
>
> Amazingly, the Fujitsu with the internal Atheros card
> saw 18 APs !!! and the Dell only saw about 4 ?
> It was a mix of B and G, and channels 1,6,11 -
>
> I sorted the NS list by signal strength and both laptops
> pretty much reported our own AP with the same numbers,
> but the Fujitsu clearly was seeing more of the wifi world.
>
> SO....not sure if I should consider trying a different
> internal mini-pci wifi card for our Dell laptop or ???
>
My bet is that the Atheros AR5006esx, being more modern, has a better
signal than the card in the C610. Design of the internal antenna may
also be a factor. The Latitude C-series all have the internal antenna
terminate on either side of the lower half of the chassis. Newer models
run the pair of antenna leads into the LCD screen. This is more of a
pain in the ass to repair, but positions the antenna better to send and
receive signals.
Some of the laptops I repair here pick up the signal from a router
across the street. Others do not. Luckily, there are not a lot of
routers around here to cause channel conflict and confusion.
I hope your router has a somewhat unique SSID, not something like
"linksys". With NetStumbler in action, you can at least change the
channel on your router to keep channel conflict down, if you have not
already done so... Ben Myers
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