How to extend WIFI on SZ with antenna?

I'm currently trying to figure out a way to attach an extended antenna to the SZ laptop without putting in a seperate PCMCI WIFI card and using that extension plug.

any ideas ?

 

I think it would require some hacking. You would have to get an antenna and the corresponding connector. Find a place to mount the connector. Open up the laptop and find the wireless card, locate its antenna connection points, remove the factory antenna connections, install the wiring for your antenna port, and wire everything up. You would want to use shielded wiring between the card and the antenna connector, and make the length as short as possible.

That is what would be necessary to do this. Now, actually performing some of those tasks may be tougher than it sounds. Everything inside that machine is going to be very cramped, and probably not easy to get to.

If you do get that done successfully, you may even find that the wireless performance isn't much better than the OEM setup, and possibly even worse. That is a lot of risk to take with a new SZ. I would wait to see if any xp34 cards show up before cutting on my SZ.

 

Its not even worth it to try.

 

hmm....so best option is to turn off built-in wireless and put in a pcmcia wifi card and extend from there....

will installing a diff. network card bring any conflicts ?

 

hmmm i smell free internet from a neighbor =)

 

yeah or getting a usb wireless adapter. doing any mods to your internal card will just give you a headache and not to mention cost you your warranty.

 

I smell justice

no but seriously.. what if i installed another wifi card, and then i decide to unplug it and turn on the built in wifi again...... will this have any conflict with drivers or anything ?

 

I got a D-Link MIMO router for my home network and a D-Link PC card for my SZ so that I could surf at home using their Super-G (108) speed. I just turn WiFi off when the card is in and turn it back on when I am away from home. No problems. When the card is in it uses the D-Link drivers and software. When I turn on internal WiFi, the Sony/Intel software manages the connection. As a third option, I also have a T-Mobile PC card for Edge/WiFi. When I use that card, I disable the WiFi part of the card, use the internal for WiFi and the card for Edge.

 

Cool.... thanks for the reply

will try it out!

 

Granted, the mimo router has greater bandwidth capability, but do you really need the 108 speed? I mean, I know faster is better, but do you really notice a difference for accessing the internet? It seems to me anyway, that the SZ's built in G network card has more than enough bandwidth to prevent saturating the the air waves with internet traffic. The only real benefit I could see is if you are transferring gobs of data across your home network.

I have the DI-634M, and have not even considered getting a mimo card for the SZ because I don't think it will gain me anything.

Your experience?

 

you know what i was just gonna post something about how i thought the wifi range on the sz was a little weak but i wasent sure if i had tweaked the settings thoroughly.. guess i was correct..oh well with good comes some bad

 

Well the PC card had a $10 rebate. But that is not why I got it. My access speed through wifi has always been fine. I did notice that when I ran a broadband test from my desktop (wired) I got about 3.5 Mbps on a 4 Mbps cable modem connection. With my laptops, I never got above 1.5 Mbps. I could be wrong, but I attributted the difference to the wifi connection. With the MIMO PC card, I can get a consistent 3 Mbps connection. I do notice the difference in speed. My web experience on my laptop is now closer to my desktop experience. Was it worth the extra $20 after rebate? Yes!

 

Thanks for the info.

The bandwidth test I've done on mine don't show anywhere near that kind of loss, but my dsl pretty much tops out at 1.5. If there is any difference for me, it is very slight, and only detectable by doing a bandwidth test. I do however notice a huge difference between wired and unwired when transferring files on my LAN/WLAN. Right now, that is the only reason I can see for me to use a mimo card.

 

so anyone with some advice for me ?

What i want is to have THE MOST powerful directional antenna i can connect to my PCMCIA card (buffalo G54 S) ?