| The wireless equipment market is ever developing | | | | bit and 32 bit models available (if you need a 16 |
| and growing. Not so long ago only corporations | | | | bit PCMCIA wireless card, be sure to look for a |
| and businesses were using wireless networks. | | | | Type I card or a 16 bit Type II or III card. Type |
| Now there there are thousands of free WI-FI | | | | IV cards are 32 bit only). There are PCI to |
| spots across the country in restaurants, hotels, | | | | PCMCIA adapters, allowing you to install and use a |
| college campuses, bars, parking lots and malls | | | | PCMCIA card on your standalone computer. |
| allowing you to access the Internet from | | | | If you have an Asus motherboard and you are |
| anywhere within these areas. Laptops recently | | | | looking for a simple, easy to install and use |
| produced include wireless capabilities from default | | | | PCMCIA wireless card, the Asus WL-127 model is |
| so using them within a wireless setup is very | | | | a good solution. It supports the 802.11b standard |
| easy and accessible. However, older models do | | | | and it has an external and removable wireless |
| not have Wi-Fi capabilities and if you want to use | | | | antenna. You can manually select the speed rate |
| an older laptop within a wireless LAN, you will | | | | from its three supported speeds: 0.5, 5.5 and |
| need to purchase a PCMCIA wireless card. They | | | | 11Mbs. It comes together with drivers for all |
| are add-on cards that you insert in your laptop's | | | | Microsoft Windows operating systems and it |
| expansion slots to add it Wi-Fi support. | | | | supports WEP 64/128 security features. The |
| There are many such PCMCIA cards on the | | | | Asus WL-127 PCMCIA wireless card has two |
| market. Some offer only the basic wireless | | | | activity LEDs allowing you to see the card's status |
| capabilities, while others are more complex, | | | | (an Air LED that is lit when a data transfer occurs |
| offering other features as well, such as Bluetooth | | | | and a Link LED that shows that there is an active |
| support for example. If you have an older laptop | | | | link). Asus ships its Asus WL-127 card with the |
| model, you should not worry about finding a | | | | necessary documentation, drivers and the |
| PCMCIA wireless card for it, as there are both 16 | | | | external antenna. |