MobileTechReview.com: PDA WiFi - Linksys CF WiFi cards WCF12 and WCF11 Review

Linksys is one of the big names in wired and wireless networking products. They make access points for home and office, PC card WiFi cards, the older CF type II WCF11 reviewed below, and now the WCF12 Wireless CompactFlash Card for PDAs. This card works with Windows CE 3.0, Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002 PDAs that have a type I or type II CF card slot. This is great news for HP Jornada users, since the Jornada CF slot can only accept type I cards.

Linksys WCF12

Besides being a type I card, the WCF12 is smaller than the WCF11, and the LED is more visible when in the PDA. The WCF12 has excellent range, especially for a card with such a small antenna cap (the black plastic section that sticks out of the PDA when the card is inserted). I was able to roam 100 feet from the nearest base station indoors and outdoors, through walls, glass and concrete. The card is very battery friendly and did as well as the Socket WiFi type I card. Both of these cards are excellent choices if battery drain is a concern.

The installation process is a bit different than with other WiFi CF cards. First you place your Pocket PC in its sync cradle, connect to your PC and then run the installer where you'll enter your network settings. A card managment utility is also installed on your PDA so that you can change your settings any time you wish after installation. You can also save multiple configurations and use a pop-up menu to switch between them, which is handy if your work and home configurations are different. You'll configure your IP address, DNS and DHCP settings using the built-in Connections Network Adapter control panel that's a part of the Pocket PC operating system (you can't do this in the Linksys app).

The software is installed as a control panel applet and also appears on the taskbar when the card is inserted (you can turn off the taskbar display if you wish, but why would you?). From the taskbar, you can click on the Linksys icon to bring up advanced configuration settings such as SSID selection, encryption settings and link strength. There's also a handy feature that will seach for all WiFi access points within range. If you wish, you can turn the wireless radio on and off-- a nice power-saving feature that you don't see on many CF cards.

The card supports 64 bit and 128 bit encryption, Ad Hoc and Infrastructure mode connections, automatic fallback of transmission rate when the signal is low and has a signal LED. The maximum power drain is 250 mA. It also works with the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux PDA (the driver is included in the OS).

Linksys WCF11 Instant Wireless Network CF Card (type II)
(discontinued and replaced by the WCF12 above)

The Linksys WCF11 came out prior to the WCF12. It works with Windows CE 2.1 and up, Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002 PDAs that have a type II CF card slot (most all the recent Pocket PCs except the HP Jornadas, which have only type I slots).

Linksys WCF11

Linksys claims that this card has a long range (up to 1500 feet outdoors and 300 feet indoors) thanks to its high powered antenna. However, as you get further from your base station, the network transfer rate will fall back to a lower rate (11 megs when you're in ideal range, and 1 meg when you're far away). A high powered antenna can suck more power from your PDA. However, we found battery life to not be significantly impacted compared to some other wireless CF cards and power consumption specs (right) are excellent.

As with the WCF12 above, the installation process is a bit different than with other WiFi CF cards. First you place your Pocket PC in its sync cradle, connect to your PC and then run the installer where you'll enter your network settings. A card managment utility is also installed on your PDA so that you can change your settings any time you wish after installation. You can also save multiple configurations and use a pop-up menu to switch between them, which is handy if your work and home configurations are different. You'll configure your IP address, DNS and DHCP settings using the built-in Connections Network Adapter control panel that's a part of the Pocket PC operating system (you can't do this in the Linksys app).

The card supports 64 bit and 128 bit encryption, Ad Hoc and Infrastructure mode connections, automatic fallback of transmission rate when the signal is low and has a signal LED. It also works with the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux PDA (the driver is included in the OS).

Power Consumption:
Sleep/Idle Powersave ON 44.8 mA
Powersave OFF 75.6 mA

Download (RX) Powersave ON 97.8 mA
Powersave OFF 93.2 mA

Upload (TX) Powersave ON 96.0 mA
Powersave OFF 89.4 mA

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