What is a good Wireless NIC ?

[valnar]

Can anyone recommend the best 802.11g miniPCI card for a WRAP board?  WPA/TKIP support is a must.

Thanks, Robert

[GruensFroeschli]

I dont know if it's the "best" but i use in several places the WLM54G from pcengines which is an atheros-based card and i never had any problems.
http://pcengines.ch/wlm54g23.htm

(webshop here: http://pcengines.ch/order.php )

[lsf]

Just for information, the cards from compex work very well ( http://www.compex.com.sg/home/index.asp ).
They are also the makers of the wlm54g23, I prefer to buy ABG cards so I can live quietly on the 5.XGhz band.
My favorite card atm is the WLM54AG-23dBm (MiniPCI).
see: http://www.compex.com.sg/home/products.asp?112519 for more information.

[cybrsrfr]

I've been looking for a USB wireless 802.11b/g device that works on PFSense and I finally found the Linksys WUSB54G v4. It uses the Ralink chipset. You need to make sure that it is version 4 otherwise it will not be the right chipset. The only place I have been able to find them has been on ebay search for 'WUSB54G v4'.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?query=WUSB54G+v4&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&ebaytag1=ebayreg&srchdesc=n&maxRecordsReturned=300&maxRecordsPerPage=50&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

Antenna Mod links.
http://daouid.googlepages.com/wusb54gantennamod2
http://wifi-modification.blogspot.com/2007/04/linksys-wusb54g-modification-for.html
http://egidy.de/wifi/wusb54g/
http://0wned.it/view/2007/04/14/modified_linksys_wusb54g_antenna_for_fun_and_profit/

For other devices that may work see this list.
http://ralink.rapla.net/

I Hope this helps someone.

[eckman]

I have done some extensive searching of the list of wireless adapters that work with pfsense. I have found the 311T to be the only one still sold, but there is some debate if the revision 2 that is sold new will work with open source OS's like Free BSD and versions of linux. Anyone that could link me a good new adapter thats less than the cisco adapter at 150$ it would be appreciated. It seems alot of the Dlink adapters that are on the list are no longer sold new. Any information at all would be helpful.

Thanks
Eckman

[cybrsrfr]

I've been considering an atheros based mini-pci cards from Netgate combined with mini-pci to PCI adapter.
http://www.netgate.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_34&products_id=221

I've tested this mini-pci card which works fine but I have not yet tested it with the PCI adapter card.
http://www.netgate.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_34&products_id=474

[eckman]

I would be interested in how that works out. It looks like an option but I have been thinking about swallowing the 150 bucks for the cisco card.

Thanks
Eckman

[sb1]

Mentioned earlier by someone else - but to just reinforce this, I've had success with the 3Com PCI WLAN adapter, model 3CRDAG675B.

As an FYI… I did not have success with a Belkin PCI WLAN card (RTL8185L).

Also, I had a non-Intel PCI NIC setup for captured portal on the pfSense box as well (and working), but after adding the 3com WLAN card I couldn't get pfSense box to boot up all the way (same issue with the Belkin).  After removing the non-Intel NIC, and leaving the 3com WLAN adapter installed, all was well (the Belkin was never detected).  After clicking Interfaces>Assign I was able to add the new WLAN interface and configure it to associate with an AP.

[wrodina]

I just bought an old Linksys WMP11 PCI card at a hamfest (there was a whole box of them for $5 each). This is the oldest version of the card, that has the Prism2 chipset. Works like a champ, came right up as interface wi0 upon reboot. A quick check on ebay shows a few available for very low cost.

Only thing to make sure of is that you get the earliest version (there is actually no version number printed on the card). The newer versions (2.7 and 4.4, I think) use different chipsets which may not be compatible.

Obviously, this is only for 802.11b… but if you've got an "internet only" link, 11 Mbit/s should be fast enough.

[SaFi]

Just for information, I use D-Link PCI card DWL-G520 rev.B and it's work ok with PFSense 1.2-Release

[mechanicalmetal]

CONFIRMED WORKING WIRELESS CARD

This was used with bsd7 pfsense v1.2.1.

It is confirmed that Linksys WMP54G Wireless G version 4.1 works and detects flawlessly with bsd7 pfsense v1.2.1.
This card was purchased from CompUSA, and im pretty sure that your local walmart or bestbuy should carry it as well.

[bricekrispy]

easy way of checking for atheros chipset…...anything thats 108mb is a atheros chipset they own 108mb