“We have tested many of the 802.11b wireless cards on campus [Del Mar College]. Our buildings
are mostly brick with aluminum studs in the walls and every other room is filled with computers; it is a harsh environment. In testing the effective range of 802.11b cards, the Cisco wireless card came out on top, but at $40-$60 higher than most of the others. To our surprise, in second place, came the inexpensive NetGear MA401 card. The Cisco and NetGear cards maintained the 11Mbps connection for much greater distances than did either of the Gold or Silver ORiNOCO wireless PC cards – which had a tendency to drop to 5.5 or even 2Mbps at half the distance of the Cisco or NetGear cards.” [Prof. Michael P. Harris, CCNA, CCAI, Cisco Networking Academy]

Everything on the planet could beat a Linksys card. Even my grandmother is faster than a Linksys Wi-Fi card. And she has macular degeneration! Some Gnomie (Mike Sloane) is sending me an extra Avaya Wireless Gold Card he had lying around. It uses the Orinoco chipset, so I should be set. And if it doesn't work well, I'm out nothing.