price drop on 3com 802.11b wireless card w/ xjack, now around $80

[gameworm]

Notice that the card (Mfr #3CRWE62092A) price drops a lot recently from above 100 to now 80 all over the Internet. Recommend to Dell home with 10% off coupon and possibly free shipping. If you buy something else, maybe you can use the 10 off 100 stackable coupon.

(search 3com in the peripheral/networking category)

 

[mathemagician]

that's cool.

maybe it's just me but i think it's funny to see a wireless card w/ an xjack

 

[dmk11]

i have one of these cards.. very slick looking..

 

[WarSong]

Link to specs.

Damn, these look sahhhwheet. I'm thinking of buying one of these just because it would look way cooler sticking out of my omnibook than my netgear card Does this card support an external antena? I didn't see anything about it on the site so I'm guessing no. Thats the only thing I wish my netgear did that it doesn't...

 

[WarSong]

<< maybe it's just me but i think it's funny to see a wireless card w/ an xjack >>




actually, i was thinking the same thing. from my understanding, xjack just meant it had the jack built into the pc card as opposed to having a dongle to worry about (read: lose). odd they are now using that term for a wireless card

 

[Mysterie]

There is no place for an external antenna. The idea of an x-jack was that it would not stick out from the card. This card's antenna is retractable so yes it's considered a x-jack. Saw it drop a few days ago, kinda made me depressed as I picked up one on e*bay for $9+ and could of saved a few and used my AMEX to directly buy the puppy (extra one year warranty). I wonder about the drop, is there some much more awesome coming out or is it just the 802.11a's pushing down the price.

 

[BMW330ci]

<< There is no place for an external antenna. The idea of an x-jack was that it would not stick out from the card. This card's antenna is retractable so yes it's considered a x-jack. Saw it drop a few days ago, kinda made me depressed as I picked up one on e*bay for $9+ and could of saved a few and used my AMEX to directly buy the puppy (extra one year warranty). I wonder about the drop, is there some much more awesome coming out or is it just the 802.11a's pushing down the price. >>




Maybe trying to jump on the 802.11a standard?

 

[jlee75]

All of the 3com 802.11b products are dropping in price. If you want to jump on an awesome deal, go to Tiger Direct and you can find some awesome deals on the 802.11b non X-Jack card for $50, and even the WAP for $100 (airconnect series). They do have a starter kit that comes w/ the WAP, 3 802.11b PC Cards, and that thing that allows you to use ethernet cable to power the WAP. I'm having the WAP and 1 PC card shipped to me right now (just waiting patiently) and i'm planning on ordering the external antenna for the older model.

Oh yeah, and it is the older model, and can't be found anywhere else for anywhere close to the price from Tiger direct. Try searching, and you will find that it used to be $1K+ for that WAP, and the PC Cards are still above $100 elsewhere. Don't buy em all out tho, cuz I may still need some more

HTH

 

[fr]

I have this card. It's cool, but if it overheats in my Dell i4100 after a few hours of use. It loses the connection with my AP no matter how close it is and I have to take it out and let it cool down for a few minutes before it will connect again.

 

[UCKnightmare]

THis is a question for those of you who own the card. How is the performance of these cards as compared to say the Orinco Gold cards or the DLink cards. are there ranges approximately what they have in the technical specs or are they way off base for a real application in a house. also where do you find these "coupon codes" at that i know you cannot post on the forum due to the rules.

 

[AlvinWang]

Anyone know if this card supports 128-bit WEP with the Belkin Wireless Router? The spec sheets list 128-bit Dynamic Security Link, but that's a feature only available with the 3Com Accesspoint 6000. Also, anyone using this with Win XP?

Cheapest I've found it is at Dell Home / Home office - $79.95 - 10% off (ends monday) + 2.75 for ground shipping (1/2 off) = $74.71.
Anyone find a better deal?

Thanks!

 

[fr]

I am using it with Windows XP and a Netgear MA102 AP. It does work with 128-bit WEP and the drivers are readily available for XP on 3Com's web site.

 

[Cybordolphin]

Ok..

I am new to wireless... and have a quick question.

What else would I need besides this to connect to the internet in a vehicle with my lappy?

Thanks.

 

[RossMAN]

I have the same question as UCKnightmare, how does 3Com's X-jack compare with Orinoco's Gold card?

 

[AlvinWang]

fr -

Thanks for the info! Glad to hear that it works with 128-bit WEP and well under XP. Now off to continue the search for a better deal...

 

[Insomniac]

It is nice to not have to pull the card in and out when you put your laptop in a case.

fr: I have an Inspiron 4000 series, but I never used the card longer than 2-3 hours. I better try that out. Thanks for the info.

I just need to find the Linksys Wireless AP + 4-Port Router for $100-$125. Anyone know where or recommend a different one over this?

 

[eeman]

RossMAN, UCKnightmare

For the average user, almost all the WLAN cards on the market will work adequately in a home environment. The 3COM card in question is based on the Intersil Prism 2 chipset just like the Dlink, Linksys, SMC, Belkin, and others. The Lucent / IBM / HP is based on the Orinoco chipset. The Cisco cards have their own chipset also. As for absolute performance (currently) I would rank them:
1) Orinoco
2) Cisco
3) Intersil Prism 2.5 (I would avoid any Prism 3 based solutions. The only one of these I know is the Linksys PCMCIA v3.0 card).

Now for real usability, the 3COM is an excellent card. There is no other WLAN PCMCIA card on the market that allows you to store your laptop in its case while the card is still in the laptop. The performace is very good, though I have not done any real range testing with this solution.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[kerokeroppi82]

I have this card too, its a great to not have to take it out everytime your done with it. I never had the overheating problem before, and i've left my laptop on 2-3 dys strait. hope that helps!

 

[superfooj]

Is there anyway we can verify officially that this card supports 128bit ecryption? I can never find it anywhere. Is it in the drivers?

My University is requiring we all have 128bit encryption to use the wireless network, but I can't stand antennas sticking out of my laptop.

I would buy this card right now if I knew it was good to go...(for $75) of course

Thanks,

SF

 

[fr]

I am using it with 128 bit encryption right now. It came with 40 bit, but there is an upgrade here:

http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/result.jsp?selected=all&sort=effdt&order=desc&sku=3CRWE62092A

 

[superfooj]

Thanks FR,

I checked out that download, and it says the cards got 128 WIFI Support...so off to Dell I go..

A quick search on the web for dell coupon codes helped even more!

Too bad the card is OOS...

Time for the waiting game

Cheers,

SF

 

[Maverick215]

802.11b encryption sux, and is useless, a couple days of packet sniffing opens your whole network up. do yourself a favor and use some kind of tunneling

 

[Packy]

This thing looks sweet, but I can't justify spending double what I can get a regular 802.11b card for.

But if I could afford it I would get this one in an instant!!

 

[Hotwater9]

You should! I did and don't regret spending the $80. It really makes a big difference if you pack up your notebook often.

 

[johto]

Originally posted by: Maverick215
802.11b encryption sux, and is useless, a couple days of packet sniffing opens your whole network up. do yourself a favor and use some kind of tunneling

exactly. even 128 bit is pointless... it can be broken in minutes.

do yourself a favor and forget about it... if using windows2000 and up setup some nice ipsec