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brigade

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2005
6
0
hello all, i have a revision A iMac G5, and i'm in the market for a wireless card. i've looked at the airport extreme, but its only 54 mbps. is there any other wireless card that i should get? i'm at college, so i don't need a router. should i look into getting a USB dongle? i've heard good and bad things about these. any recommended wireless cards would be greatly appreciated. if you could also state why you recommend it (personal experience, etc.) that would be extremely helpful in making my decision. thanks!
 

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
4,557
Space The Only Frontier
brigade said:
hello all, i have a revision A iMac G5, and i'm in the market for a wireless card. i've looked at the airport extreme, but its only 54 mbps. is there any other wireless card that i should get? i'm at college, so i don't need a router. should i look into getting a USB dongle? i've heard good and bad things about these. any recommended wireless cards would be greatly appreciated. if you could also state why you recommend it (personal experience, etc.) that would be extremely helpful in making my decision. thanks!

Until the 802.11n comes out 54Mps is probably the fastest wireless you're gonna get.
 

brigade

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2005
6
0
what about any alternatives? and isnt 802.11g supposed to give you faster speeds than 54mbps? PLEASE recommend alternatives.
 

tivoboy

macrumors 601
May 15, 2005
4,052
853
802.11a

Peace said:
What are you trying to do wirelessly ?
802.11g IS the fastest wireless standard.


802.11a which is included in the NEW intel IMAC is just as fast, if not faster than 802.11g. Technically, they are both 54 mps spec, but since 802.11a operates on the 5gz spectrum in a normal household there may be less signal degradation and therefore better throughput.

But, in real world use the range of 802.11a is LESS THAN 802.11g. This simply has to do with the freq. Higher Freq don't travel as well or as far.
 

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
Do you need anything faster than 54MB/s? Remember, internet access is usually limited to 1.5MB/s - 3MB/s. Some people get faster, but it's still much less than wireless a/g.

Unless you're transferring large amounts of data between machines on the same network, wireless a/g is more than sufficient, and there are many more wireless g than wireless a access points.
 

shadowmoses

macrumors 68000
Mar 6, 2005
1,821
0
Wouldnt bother with anything other than the official Apple Airport Extreme card all the Dongle's etc are unreliable for wireless connection.....

Shadow
 
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