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mekran12 · Aug 22, 2005, 05:24 AM

I have a LinkSys Wireless-B 2.4 Ghz 802.11B Notebook adapter on my laptop. If I ever want to switch the adapter or replace it, can I use another brand? I have a LinkSys 11mbs 802.11b Wireless router in my network. Will this work okay with my network as long as the specs of each adapter are the same? I was looking at an SMC 2.4 GHZ 802.11B Wireless PC Card.

ScottGem · Aug 22, 2005, 05:49 AM

Originally Posted by mekran12

I have a LinkSys Wireless-B 2.4 Ghz 802.11B Notebook adapter on my laptop. If I ever want to switch the adapter or replace it, can I use another brand? I have a LinkSys 11mbs 802.11b Wireless router in my network. Will this work okay with my network as long as the specs of each adapter are the same? I was looking at an SMC 2.4 GHZ 802.11B Wireless PC Card.

First, if the adapter is built in, then almost certainly you can't change or upgrade it since its probably soldered to your mother board. However, that doesn't mean you can't use another adapter. If you laptop has a PCMCIA slot you can just get another adapter that uses that. Also there are adapters that plug into your USB port.

It is recommended that you try to remain in the same brand for wireless equipment, but its not necessary. I have a laptop with an Intel 802.11b adapter built in and an Ipaq also with an 802.11b adapter. Both connect flawlessly to my Linksys Wireless Router.

Another point to make, your entire network will operate at the speed of the slowest component. So, if you have one B adapter even if everything else is B the speed drops to 11MBps on the while wireless segment.

Why are you looking to replace the adapter? I can understand if you have a 802.11g router and want to replace a b card with a g one. But I don't see any advantage of replacing a Linksys b card with an SMC b card.

Press2Esc · Oct 25, 2005, 10:00 AM

Mekran,

Anything 802.11b/g, which is the current/defacto standard, will work... For security reasons and avoid confusing Winders, I would recommend you disable ALL unneeded/unwanted network adapters.

P2E

Originally Posted by mekran12

I have a LinkSys Wireless-B 2.4 Ghz 802.11B Notebook adapter on my laptop. If I ever want to switch the adapter or replace it, can I use another brand? I have a LinkSys 11mbs 802.11b Wireless router in my network. Will this work okay with my network as long as the specs of each adapter are the same? I was looking at an SMC 2.4 GHZ 802.11B Wireless PC Card.