PCMCIA wireless cards

[Tringa]

My daughter's university has a wireless network for students to use from their laptops. I want to get her a card but need one with a large detection range - she lives close to the Uni but not on campus. I price range I've seen is from about £6 to about £90. Are more expensive cards likely to have a large detection range? I need one with about a 600m outside - is that beyond even the best cards.

Thanks

[peterb]

Four parameters - the sensitivity of the receiver at each end, and the output power of the transmitter (in the card and the access point). The transmitter power has a maximum value as they are unlicensed so it comes down to receiver sensitivity, which is rarley published. For best performance, a card with an external antenna may be preferable (have a look at www.solwise.co.uk) Other than that I wouldn't like to say if the more expensive the card the better - although generally you get what you pay for, this is often in terms of support. Might be better talking to a specialist retailer (like Solwise).

[Kumagoro]

You want a card which can accept an external antenna. Which must need to
directional to get that far i would have thought.

[Tringa]

Thanks guys

[chud]

The only way you would get 600m is with something you can overpower and a directional antenna.
The cheapest way of doing this is getting a WRT54G from eBay, installing DD-WRT firmware (where you can ramp the power up). You then need to buy or make(alot cheaper) a directional antenna.