3Com Wireless (802.11b) PC Card for $79 shipped

[ScAndal]

Ok guys, I just bit! Hopefully it doesn't take TOO long to get this thing.

Now to go get my SMC wireless router at CompUSA

ScAndal

 

[GetReal]

We received our shipment three days after placing the web order. We were not too impressed with the card other than the promo pricing. While the retractable antenna is nice for sub-notebooks and some PDA's it is more of novelity that a functional benefit. The range on the card in our current 802.11b enviroment is about the same as the SMC,Linksys and D-Link PC card products that we already are using and still falls short of our
Lucent and Aironet PC cards.

 

[kbaxter]

Heinekin,

Don't expect too much in the way of communication on this deal. I *never* got a confirmation of the order. They also never sent a shipment confirmation, so I never saw any tracking info. The box just showed up on the doorstep one day. They were also *very* slow in billing my card, but I had no complaint there!

Good luck!

 

[jplee3]

HeinekinMan,
3Com never sent me any kind of confirmation. To be honest, I was thinking it wouldn't come through or that it would take MONTHS to get here (like with the other 3Com promo on that 10/100 pcmcia card - that costed JUST as much as this wireless card too!). Anyway, you SHOULD be expecting it soon: within a timeframe of one to three weeks at the most. The charge on my CC showed up pretty recently as well (I think even before the card shipped). I found this phone # on my CC bill for what appears to be for this specific promotion: (734)367-6278... I have no idea what that area code is though. I guess you can call them up if you don't get anything.

 

[iamme]

<< HeinekinMan,
3Com never sent me any kind of confirmation. To be honest, I was thinking it wouldn't come through or that it would take MONTHS to get here (like with the other 3Com promo on that 10/100 pcmcia card - that costed JUST as much as this wireless card too!). Anyway, you SHOULD be expecting it soon: within a timeframe of one to three weeks at the most. The charge on my CC showed up pretty recently as well (I think even before the card shipped). I found this phone # on my CC bill for what appears to be for this specific promotion: (734)367-6278... I have no idea what that area code is though. I guess you can call them up if you don't get anything. >>



That area code is here in Michigan.

The Ann Arbor area (Univ. of Mich) and surrounding.

 

[freeloaderz]

GOT IT! I had good luck with this order!

I ordered my on Friday (January 18th) and got it yesterday (January 21st) via FedEx Overnight.

IT IS SWEET.

I upgraded the firmware to 2.02 and it now has 128 bit encryption! This card has some of the highest throughput. (See practicallynetworked.com)

 

[fengpc]

Bad day for me, just dropped my notebook and guess which part broke first.




I can not sell my Linksys PC card now, hope my 3COM order will come fast.

 

[HeinekinMan]

kbaxer, jplee3, iamme:

I guess I posted too soon, the FedEx guy/gal came by this morning and left me a Delivery/Pick Up Attempt slip (must have just missed 'em!). The sending address is Romulus, MI (sounds like a place out of Star Trek!!). Must be in the Ann Arbor area and it has to be the card which is unbelieveable timing (ordered late Thursday last week and get it via overnight FedEx for $79.00 total, this is a good deal!).

I don't care so much about the range, as long as it interacts well with my Netgear ME102 (using 128-bit WEP) and gives me decent access to my LAN from within any room in my medium-sized home I'll be satisfied. If it gives me access outside say in the garage or in the back yard, that's a plus! The only reason why I wanted this card is the X-Jack factor. I've used many X-Jack equipped PC cards from US Robotics and Megahertz and have never had any issues with this design. Push it in to extend the antenna, push it in again to retract the antenna OUT OF THE WAY! No dongles or anything sticking out of the box.

Thanks to whoever originally posted this deal (Bugs66)...

 

[atomoverride]

oh brother a bunch of honest goodie goodie's..

 

[Siamskunk]

<< ok heres the scoop. I ordered mine about 2 weeks ago got it today. and the box had the look of someone running it over with a car. so I opened it everything was in there and ok the box was ripped. but oh well. So I called 3com and told them the box looked like it was run over, and it seems the inner box was open "wink wink" and my pcmcia card was missing but thanks for the nice driver cdrom. then they said they were soo sorry and that a new card would be on its way. HA H AHA so 79$ 2 for 1 special. windows xp found all the drivers and I didn thave to install anything.

and if anyone calls it wasnt me. LOL >>



Go get a life

 

[dysdys]

<< ok heres the scoop. I ordered mine about 2 weeks ago got it today. and the box had the look of someone running it over with a car. so I opened it everything was in there and ok the box was ripped. but oh well. So I called 3com and told them the box looked like it was run over, and it seems the inner box was open "wink wink" and my pcmcia card was missing but thanks for the nice driver cdrom. then they said they were soo sorry and that a new card would be on its way. HA H AHA so 79$ 2 for 1 special. windows xp found all the drivers and I didn thave to install anything.

and if anyone calls it wasnt me. LOL >>



What to be so proud of?

 

[jplee3]

so I opened it everything was in there and ok the box was ripped. but oh well. So I called 3com and told them the box looked like it was run over, and it seems the inner box was open "wink wink" and my pcmcia card was missing but thanks for the nice driver cdrom.

- so uhhhm, if everything was in it (including the pcmcia card) why did you tell them the card was missing??? that does count as FRAUD i believe...

 

[Silex]

I dunno if you guys have seen the more recent post, but there's this card at overstock thats liek really cheap. Do a search for it. How owuld that oen compare to this?

 

[jplee3]

were you referring to the "RangeLan-DS" card that's going for 47.45??? That's a pretty low price, although I did notice in the item description- "Interface: 16-bit PCMCIA Type II PC Card" so it appears to be for older laptops.

 

[Siamskunk]

Did anyone get this to work under Windows 2000 or XP?

If so, which driver did you use?

I couldn't get it to run on either OS, it worked for a couple minutes, then the connection seemed to be lost............any idea?

Thanks

 

[Ewann]

Regarding the chipset... I think it's a PRISM chipset since the last generation of 3com cards used PRISM. Check chipset usage for all products at

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/pg/wireless_guide_index.asp?Rvw=1

It is useful to note that the antenna design makes more of a difference than the chipset. For example, the Aironet cards use the PRISM chipset, and they work really well. The cheap card designs don't always have a good antenna inside. I would have to guess that the pop-up antenna on this card would help a lot.

The USB based products I use significantly outperform the CardBus (PCMCIA) based versions. Reason? It's easy to adjust the location of the antenna(s).

I believe the PRISM chipset actually outperforms the Orinoco chipset in some tests such as multipath.

 

[GetReal]

<< Did anyone get this to work under Windows 2000 or XP?

If so, which driver did you use?

I couldn't get it to run on either OS, it worked for a couple minutes, then the connection seemed to be lost............any idea?

Thanks >>



We got the card to work in Windows XP using the update CD image on 3-COMs support website. However, in out eval, Windows XP did not recognize the card as a wireless networking component and shows the disconnect icon in the system tray for the wireless network status even though the card is working. You have to use the supplied 3-COM utility to setup the card. By default, this utility does not minimize to the system tray upon boot. However, you can select this option by right-clicking the 3-COM icon in the system tray. Another annoying feature of this card and the reason that I personally did not use it was that it continuously blinks that annoying bight green led while the card is active. The is a "design feature" according to the documentation. All other wireless NIC that we use that have a LED status indicator blink only when link is lost and glow solid when a link is established.

 

[Siamskunk]

Thanks GetReal,

I had that similar problem once I got it installed. The connection icon showed it's disconnected but the card worked (blink blink blink), then it just stopped working with no reason under both W2K and XP.

I started to believe I got a defective card.

Btw, the problem occured even with the new driver I got from 3Com site.

 

[Silex]

Looks like I might go for this deal then instead unless...here is the deal for an Orinco card. But then again it's kidna on the expensive side.I justw ant something cheap and will last me through college or until the new standard is released.

 

[eeman]

I have been running the card under Win2k for a couple of weeks so far without any problems. The secret with the PCMCIA cards seems to be, install the drivers on the CDRom before inserting the card. We have seen this with all the PC Cards we have tested.

As far as the chipset, yes it is Intersil. Other than the Lucent/Orinocco design, Intersil is the only game in town for now.

 

[yourharddrive]

<< hey have any of you noticed that when the antenna is pushed in, its kinda crooked, like its only hooked in on one side? or is it just mine. >>



mine too

 

[yourharddrive]

i have to say that the 3com works like a charm but my other orinoco usb gold is acting like a dick i can get win to recognize it as a tcp/ip device, however i can send files and such through, this is really pissin my off b/c w/o it i can share internet...anyone help?

 

[Silex]

I guess that then for the price, the Lucent one is fair game. Nice price for the 3com, but if I can had the Lucent Silver for around 63ish, then that has to be the hotter deal.

 

[Noobody]

ordered on monday 21st, shipped via fedex on tuesday, got it on wednesday morning, sweet card

 

[TurtleMan]

dude need an access pt or wireless router .. any hOT deal guys ?