Is this Wifi Card any good? 300mw

[Dustbinman]

Ubiquiti 300mW

Should I get hold of one of these, they seem pretty pricey, but will they pick up a lot more networks than my standard linksys card.
Also on Ebay they seem cheaper, is it worth the risk?

Any help would be good

[rumburak514]

Try search button for Ubiquiti on this forum , many of people shared their opinions here.
It is good but probably not that good as you expect.

[theprez98]

Ubiquiti 300mW

Should I get hold of one of these, they seem pretty pricey, but will they pick up a lot more networks than my standard linksys card.
Also on Ebay they seem cheaper, is it worth the risk?

Any help would be good

USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION!

There are many, many threads devoted to this particular card.

Also, high transmit power does not equal increased sensitivity.

[Barry]

USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION!

There are many, many threads devoted to this particular card.

Also, high transmit power does not equal increased sensitivity.

It will heat your coffee faster though.

[beetle]

Also, high transmit power does not equal increased sensitivity.

Yes, but the Ubiquiti DOES have great receive sensitivity. Heck, ANY card around -90 dBm is respectable. We all used to just LOVE the old-school Lucent Orinoco Golds because they had -85 or -87 dBm receive sensitivity. Now we poopoo on anything short of -95 dBm? C'mon. Antennas should make up for the rest, anyway.

Things I DON'T like about the Ubiquiti are more tied to Linux driver bugs than anything else. I.e., you can't adjust TX power in Linux (it LOOKS like you can, but you can't--read it with a spec-an and see) and signal received is inaccurately represented (once again, test on the bench at your local college and find out).

But those problems don't exist in Windows, strange enough. RSSI is accurately represented in the Windows driver, and TX power can be adjusted, too. Note, if you adjust the power settings in Windows, they carry over for reboot into Linux. heh.

But then, when you have the Ubiquiti card in Windows, beware the power savings mode is on by default when you're on battery and the radio basically runs half-blind. Fix that by turning off power savings in the card's device properties (third tab and from the drop-down on that tab, IIRC).

I need to test the card's various firmware revs vs performance, still. So some performance issues (mobility, range, throughput) are certainly still questionable in extreme situations--but not so much as to break your heart, I'd say. The card breaks the BANK more than the heart--I'm not sure I agree with a $100+ price tag for any 802.11 card.

Oh, and the card runs a tad hot. And most amps won't accept 300mW for TX input--you have to get them custom made for 300mW input. Or make damn sure you remember to adjust TX in Windows before using the card in Linux w/ an amp.

So long story short, despite it's freakish nature, I love the Ubiquiti SRC 300mW.

Sincerely,

Beetle

[streaker69]

It will heat your coffee faster though.

As well as make you sterile, if you happen to have your machine sitting in your lap.

Although, from reading some of the posts here, that might be a good thing for some of the users.

[theprez98]

Yes, but the Ubiquiti DOES have great receive sensitivity. Heck, ANY card around -90 dBm is respectable. We all used to just LOVE the old-school Lucent Orinoco Golds because they had -85 or -87 dBm receive sensitivity. Now we poopoo on anything short of -95 dBm? C'mon. Antennas should make up for the rest, anyway.

I wasn't trying to suggest that it didn't have good/great sensitivity, only that users here tend to think in terms of power out, period. I want them to understand that the range equation consists of much more than simply the power out of any given card.

I've never used the Ubiquiti myself, but the reviews of it here seem to be generally negative in terms of expected performance.

[beetle]

I wasn't trying to suggest that it didn't have good/great sensitivity, only that users here tend to think in terms of power out, period. I want them to understand that the range equation consists of much more than simply the power out of any given card.

Roger THAT. And I wasn't trying to suggest you thought otherwise, either. I know better. heh.

I guess I was just complaining out loud that folks are always on the look out for the holy grail of 802.11 hardware and the target specs for that are constantly shifting. Today's rockstar card is tomorrow's PoS.

But I'm doing a little forum digging to iron out what the beefs are with the Ubiquiti now. While I don't think its a perfect card, it's generally kicked some serious ass for me. I'm all about hearing what's wrong with my hardware before I find out the hard way in the field.

Sincerely,

Beetle

[theprez98]

Roger THAT. And I wasn't trying to suggest you thought otherwise, either. I know better. heh.

I guess I was just complaining out loud that folks are always on the look out for the holy grail of 802.11 hardware and the target specs for that are constantly shifting. Today's rockstar card is tomorrow's PoS.

You'll find here that (not surprisingly, really) a number of people are always looking for the one "do it all" card, and they don't seem to want to settle for having several cards to do different things. At least that's how I see it.

But I'm doing a little forum digging to iron out what the beefs are with the Ubiquiti now. While I don't think its a perfect card, it's generally kicked some serious ass for me. I'm all about hearing what's wrong with my hardware before I find out the hard way in the field.

I don't have a Ubiquiti, just the accumulated knowledge of the praises and complaints of the card as they've been posted over the past few months. As you mentioned in the other thread, it could be a power settings issue, or some other firmware limitation, or who knows what that is limiting performance on the card.