I've seen a number of little USB adapters that resemble thumb-drives. What I'm wondering is whether you can use a male-to-female USB extender and dangle the USB adapter a few feet away from your laptop so it can pick up a signal that your pcmcia card can't.
Is there a limit in the length of the cable?
Thanks!
Yes. 16ft total is the official limit for USB cables.
However, there are amplfied USB extension cables that can go much furthur.
yes - most USB adapters ship with extension leads...well at least the Netgear ones Ive used do....and a little holder for them so you can mount them near your pc
The problem with this is that there are significant losses in the cable to the antenna.
If you want to locate the antenna far from the computer, then the best option is to get a USB (5 meters), or Ethernet (100 meters, access point, and use the internal antenna (or add an external antenna to the access point with a very short antenna cable). With the Ethernet access point you need to get power to it, but there are devices to send power to it over the regular LAN cable if you want to locate it far from an outlet.
Why not buy a pcmcia version with an external aerial skt and an aerial.
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