Just want to get some empirical evidence on the

[sammysams]

Just want to get some empirical evidence on the wireless card in the TC1000. For example, my signal strength drops to poor after only 20-30 feet rendering it useless. Just want owners to indicate yea or nea on whether they have had problems of this sort and whether they had any luck getting any fix from Compaq support. Be honest. Thanks

[Slate]

Nay. I don't have the problem. My wireless works well, or at least it did after I switched from a PCI wireless card on my desktop to an external Access Point. Apparently, PCI wireless cards can suffer from too much interference, being behind a computer case with all of its wires.

[rheuter]

Nay. Don't have the problem either.

[PCFireman]

The strange thing is that although the signal strength remains at good after twenty Feet my performance drops right off! At about 50 feet and 2 plaster walls I get performance equivalent to a 56k modem. At Less than 20 feet I get full 11mbps performance!

This wireless issue is the only serious one For me with the TC1000. The latest driver updates plus disabling the XP visual "themes" has significantly improved performance so that I no longer have any issue in that area.

I just need WiFi that's got useable performance after 20 feet!

[splintercell]

Nay. Normal performance to at least 50-100 feet away from an AP.

[mrose]

Mine drops to 5 Mbps at around 10-15 feet and less then 1 Mbps (if it works at all) at 15-25 feet indoors. I have a fairly clear shot up and down a hallway with few obstructions in the way.

I am on my second wireless card. I have installed the latest drivers and that seems to have resolved the dropped wireless connections, but the reception is still very poor compared to a external WiFi card.

[dhanesworth]

No obvious problem with mine. It is not noticably different than the SMC PC card I used before the internal unit came.

[rwnewton]

No problems here.

[tadams]

A little over 2 months of use, but so far, no wireless issues.

[detayls]

Mine drops to almost useless in less than 20 feet. Other PC cards in the same machine have decent range anywhere in my house.

David

[Spencer]

I'd like to add something here - What model/brand wireless AP are people using? I'm know this has a factor in how well it performs as well. I've had much better luck with Cisco units than I have with Linksys or D-Link. Anyone else want to share?

[Gareth Sargeant]

Linksys & no problems

[kyw]

Use wireless router by planex (japanese co). no problems in a 2 storey house

[Slate]

I'm using the D-Link 614+ and it works flawlessly.

[wheat]

I use Microsoft MN-500 wireless router and a D-Link DWL-900AP+ access point and get wall to wall throughout the house. Both the TC1000 and the Toshiba 3505 get the same reception. My TC1000 wireless came factory installed just like the 3505.

[rheuter]

quote:Originally posted by Spencer

What model/brand wireless AP are people using?


I have tried 3 Access points at home:

- SMC Access Point (don't recall the model number, the one with dual attennas)
- Netgear MR814 router
- Linksys (54G router)

Only the Netgear one gave me problem (slow transfer rate on both my TC1000's built-in attenna and my other notebook's 3Com wireless card), the other 2 work flawlessly.

The SMC one I used it with no 128bit WEP and the Linksys one I used it in mixed mode (802.11b and 802.11g) plus 128-bit WEP, these 2 brands gave me absolutely no problems.

The Linksys one even has a better range.

So my order of pref. for routers/access points:

- Linksys
- SMC
- Netgear

[Steverock]

Mine has a range of about 20 feet

[frede]

Linksys & SMC Access Points, no problems... [thumbsup]

[markltbaker]

I have very poor wireless performance-low reception through a thin wall at about 10 feet away! Should I try to get a new card?

[ajshapiro]

I have excellent performance with my TC1k (factory installed wireless card) and a Netgear MR314 wireless AP/router, using 128 bit encryption.

For those having problems, it would be interesting to try their TC1K with a different AP in the same environment if possible to see if there is a difference. I have experienced a lot of incompatibilities between APs and wireless cards, even where some cards crash the AP... 802.11b is not as "standardized" as we are led to believe. Some cards do well with one AP and poorly with another, while some APs work well with some cards and poorly with others.

[gilderan]

My Wireless drops out every 2 minutes or so even with Excellent signal strength. The wireless patch made no difference. Am in work in progress with support.

[acronym]

mine was never more than 2mbit 10 feet away from the access point.

I tested both SMC and an apple airport.

sent the whole unit back for a complete refund.

[sammysams]

I have a linksys befw1154. I have absolutely no signal problems anywhere in the house with my linksys usb adapter with another computer or with tabletpc. Therefore, I know my signal strength is adequate. All 3 of my TC1000's with internal wireless droped to low more than 20-30' from the source. Even the one that Compaq says they put a new antenna in. thanks

[splintercell]

Ahh, but see, therein hides in issue. Like ajshapiro said, 802.11b may be a standard on paper, but not necessarily in the real world. I posted my own experiences with different AP/client combinations producing different result. But as a rule of thumb, a Linksys AP and a Linksys client will always work together well. Try sticking another third-party client in the mix and see. Who knows, you may find that it, too, doesn't work as well as the Linksys. Plus things like channel settings, WEP configuration, and so forth really can introduce problems, even though "it should work".

[MooseMaster]

splintercell, that's not the issues. The problem is that someone originally had a TC1000 that worked perfectly on the Wifi network on a full range, but something was wrong like the screen cracked or the docking station had issues, so they sent the TC1000 back. In return they got a different TC1000, this time it had WiFi issues.

Also, this has been tested with many different devices, such as a Dell Inspirion 8200 notebook with built in TrueMobile 1180 WiFi Mini-PCI card, a Compaq iPaq PocketPC with built in WiFi, and the TC1000 with built in WiFi side by side and the defective TC1000 units don't work in the same places as the other units do, side by side.

[sammysams]

Thats great to know, but Compaq should be aware of this and provide appropriate feedback. Tech support has no clue. It behooves Compaq to test a variety of market AP's and determine if they will work with their card. This would take minimal time and provide inavaluable help to users. On the other hand I am a little skeptical it is that simple, because you would think these relationships would have been sorted out by users by this time. I am not aware that other tabletspc's with internal wireless cards have this much trouble. In addition, Compaq has indicated to me it is not the card, but the antenna that is defective on their units. I think Compaq is as confused as I am about this matter.

[splintercell]

MooseMaster, actually, your description is not quite the issue at hand. You are talking about Dennis' experience, when he dropped it, and after the repair, the wireless card has poorer range. That wasn't the original problem with brand new TC1000's having flaky wireless performance, which is what sammysams is talking about. A repaired/refurbished TC1000 may have wireless issues due to some other cause, who knows.

As far as the testing - I posted earlier that I had a problem at home, which I "tested" with a Pocket PC with a PC Card, a USB adapter, an Apple laptop, and all those worked fine, but my Thinkpad didn't. I didn't have a defective Thinkpad either. I changed to a different brand AP, and it worked fine. So testing with just different clients isn't necessarily conclusive in every case.

[Dennis Rice]

Correction! HP sent my original unit back (same serial no., etc)-- now I have a wireless issue...

[Dennis Rice]

I also agree that compaq does not yet know what to do with wireless issues!

[splintercell]

I wasn't sure, if that was the case or not. Did the fall itself hurt the reception, or was the Tablet not usable at that point, so you couldn't tell?

[GF]

quote:Originally posted by tabpcman

I also agree that compaq does not yet know what to do with wireless issues!


I don't agree with you. Because the problem may due to other manufacturers. For my case, I use the Cisco AP in the office, it works fine with the Cisco PCMCIA card. When I plug in the Linksys Wireless card, it has problem. I called Cisco they told me the problem is the Linksys Wireless Card. I called Linksys, Linksys told me the problem is the Cisco AP. I went to the shop, the sales guy suggested me to get a Linksys AP, as it is more compatiable with other Wireless Card. I bought the Linksys AP and found that the signal is not as strong as the Cisco. I called the shop again, another guy suggested me to buy the USB wireless adapter. He told me the reception of the USB adapter is better than the PCMCIA card. I bought the USB adapter. Finally, I made all the APs and adapters working by upgrading the firmware and driver.

[splintercell]

Exactly. Everybody just passes the buck all the time. I do a lot of support/configuration for wireless clients, and it happens all the time. Products from certain manufacturers just play better with others, and sometimes you have to switch equipment in and out until everything you want to work does. It shouldn't be this way, but, unfortunately, that's the state of the market today.

[michaelp]

I have the U.S. Robotics Router/AP (USR8022) with an external modem (no cable or DSL in our area) and my range is less than 12 feet and one thin wall. Basically, I am currently limited to one room. Once I move to an adjoining room, the signal drops to "low" or worse. Also, I am getting frequent disconnects. Have not yet updated the driver but plan to do so this week.

This wireless card problem and the USB docking station disconnects are my two problems. Would love to get them resolved without sending the unit back.

Mike

[ajshapiro]

This may have been covered elsewhere but in case not, those having problems might consider assigning a different channel to their AP. Depending on the RF design of the wireless card, they could have different susceptibility to interference (not just from other wireless LANs but from many other sources). Changing the RF channel might help if this is the case. This is done on the AP. This article might be helpful if you try this:

http://www.80211-planet.com/tutorials/article.php/972261

I am not saying this is the "likely" cause, but it is easy to try if you haven't already. There are many other 802.11b parameters that you can try to modify as well (see the Related Articles links on the above page for more info) that might have to be set differently for different combinations of wireless cards and APs. For instance, on one of my wireless cards (not the TC1k) I had to turn off auto power management to get it to work with my AP (determined through a lot of trial and error). Unfortunately, this is the nature of using unlicensed wireless spectrum (not helped by the lack of uniformity in 802.11b implementation). Every environment is different.