SparkLAN WPEA-214N 802.11 a/b/g/n draft 2.0

[mobilenvidia]

SparkLAN WPEA-214N 802.11 a/b/g/n draft 2.0 2.4/5GHz Dual-band Mini PCI-Express Module Specifications:

Standards IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi compliant

Frequency Band 2.4 GHz ISM Bands 2.412-2.472 GHz, 2.484 GHz, 5.15-5.25 GHz (FCC UNII-low band) for US/Canada, Japan 5.25-5.35 GHz (FCC UNII-middle band) for US/Canada, 5.725-5.825 GHz (FCC UNII-high band) for US/Canada

Chipset Atheros AR5418 (MAC/Baseband) + AR5133(Radio)

Number of Channels 802.11b USA and Canada ? 11, Most European countries ? 13, Japan ? 14, France ? 4, 802.11g USA and Canada ? 13, Most European countries ? 13, Japan ? 14

Modulation 802.11a/g/n: OFDM, 802.11b: CCK(11, 5.5Mbps), DQPSK(2Mbps), BPSK(1Mbps)

Data Rate 802.11a: 54,48,36,24,18,12,9,6 Mbps, 802.11b: 11,5.5,2,1 Mbps, 802.11g: 54,48,36,24,18,12,9,6 Mbps, 802011n: up to 300Mbps

Antenna Build-in inside host (U.FL-R-SMT)

RF output power 802.11a: typical 13dBm (54Mbps), 802.11b: typical 17dBm (11MBps), 802.11g: typical 14dBm, (54Mbps) ,802.11n:typical 9dBm (MCS 15)

Receive Sensitivity 802.11a: typical -65dBm at 54Mbps, 802.11b: typical -80dBm at 11Mbps, 802.11g: typical -70dBm at 54Mbps, 802.11n:typical -59dBm at HT40 MCS15

Environmental Operating: 0 ~55oC; Storage: -20 ~ 65oC

Operating range Open Space: ~300m; Indoor: ~100m(it may vary according to the environment)

Operating Voltage 3.3V + 5%,

Dimensions 51 X 30 X 3.8mmWeight 25g

This card I received from OxfordTec last week, took only a week to come direct from SparkLAN in Taiwan.

It was shipped before it's official release date, so can't 100% sure if it's their official card or a Generic Atheros one.

The parcel was really well wrapped, in a box many times larger than the card it's self :)

And as with all OxfordTec shipments, fully insured, should anything happen on it's journey.

The SparkLAN card comes as an OEM card ony ! there is no software or documentation.

I therefor recommend this card for the more experienced WLAN user who has done this before at least once.

Finding a driver was easy as I already had the Gigabyte draftn CD, see other review.

The Gigabyte drivers are WHQL for the SparkLAN card also, a big bonus.

Drivers like the Gigabyte version installed flawlessly, after reboot and logging into router, instant Parity error :)

This proved that the Gigabyte card wasn't faulty and that Artheros has an issue with it's drivers.

Whilst playing with the INF I stumbled upon the tweak to disable the draftn on the Atheros WLAN card.

The SparkLAN is now happily installed on my Inpsiron i9400 whist the Gigabyte is in my Wifes Dell Latitude D820.

The card now works flawlessly, it has not had a parity since the tweak was applied.

Now I would recommend who ever has not already done so to read the Gigabyte WLAN review as well.

This card is only for Atheros based routers with the current drivers out today.

My Marvell based router causes the Sparklan and Gigabyte dratn WLAN cards to have parity errors.

This card to the more experienced WLANner will be of more interest as it's has a generic Atheros PCI_ID (well the one I received does)

This means all the 7 series drivers suport this card, the Gigabyte only works with the latter 2 7 series drivers.

Also the Gigabyte uses a transmit mask that could make the Sparklan slightly faster in sending data, not of huge importance as data is usually received.

The drivers for this AR5418/5133 based chipset have been out for nearly a year so they should have most things sorted by now (except non Atheros router support)

I hope to come back to these 2 devices and test them properly with an Atheros based router.

[onedigit]

Here is my experience with this card.

I?m having a connectivity issue between my Sparklan wpea-124n card and my Dlink DGL-4500 (an Atheros based router). I?m getting 300Mbps at both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. When I transfer large files I get throughput (seen in task manager), about 10-15% with my laptop right next to the router. Not fantastic. The problem happens after a minute or so into the transfer, the connection is dropped and I get a ?network name is no longer available?. Sometimes the card completely hangs and I have to reboot to get it restarted. I?ve tried several driver versions but no luck.

od

Edited May 28, 2008 by ®®®
Removed Full Quotation of First Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!