SparkLAN WPEA-110N 802.11n a/b/g/N draft 2.0 Dual-band review

[mobilenvidia]

This is the 2nd card I have been given the chance to take for a spin by OxfordTec

To me WLAN is almost :) more important to me that graphics as everything in life these days revolves around surfing the net, and most of us with our lappies will do so Wireless.

The SparkLAN WPEA-110N is an Atheros AR9280 based chipset WLAN MiniPCIe card.

Very similar in size and shape the the GIGABYTE Aircruiser N300 GN-WS30N reviewed earlier.

This is an OEM product, so no packaging or CD/Software drivers, but OxfordTec pack this product to be bullet proof.

So knowledge of how WLAN works and drivers etc are a bonus to save time setting this card up.

This card features just 2 antenna connectors so ideal for Notebooks with only 2 aerials.

Card is very easy to put in.

Drivers, you have a few options, get them via Driver update in the Sytem properties or grab the latest from here, Sparklan Support links do not work, the latest driver is available via looking at WPEA-165g.

Drivers install with no fuss.

Once installed you can use the Windows Client Utility to hook up to your router, hotspot or what ever.

There is no no Atheros based Client Utility to say what is going on with Vista, link speed, signal quality, you just have to trust that all is well.

The card behaves as it should, not quite as fast the the Ralink in connecting to the router coming from standby or just connecting if comng in range.

Now I dabble in WIFI driver mods, and have this last year specialised in Atheros based drivers.

I make a modded driver to first of all fix a Parity Error bug with some Notebooks, most notably the Dell Inspiron i9400/E1705.

The modded INF driver also seems to give the Atheros based Cards much better range, as I found out once on the road.

With modded driver the card gets very good range.

Pros

Very good driver support, released quite often.

Has many feature to tweak with modded driver

Cons

Only 2 connectors for antenna meaning 2R/2R not as effective as 2T/3R or now some with 3T/3R

No drivers included, no biggy as drivers are easily gotten and often much newer, this applies to Sparklan, Gigabyte does include S/W (often old)

No Client Utiltiy in Vista, some WIFI knowledge needed to get most from the card.

Without modded driver, poor range, this applies to all Atheros based cards I've tested.

Only driver version 7.6.1.111 works properly with this card.

Having issues with drivers and this card.

The latest current version (as at Sparklan) v7.6.1.122 is very unstable with connection to router.

Others have also noticed this with the WinXP version (7.6.1.160)

The only driver that works with this card (at all) is v7.6.1.111.

All previous drivers simply refuse to start.

Conclusion

Overall I would avoid this card with Vista, the drivers are still very new for this card.

Hopefully Atheros will sort this out soon.

The card is good for the advanced user as it take some knowledge to get this going.

No Client Utility is such a let down, I have no idea why Atheros are dragging the chain here.

It's sad for Atheros to be in this position as to me they have the most potential to do well.

But my previous review of the GIGABYTE Aircruiser N300 GN-WS30N Ralink based is a much better choice, can highly recommend this card for Vista use.

This has nothing to do with SparkLAN who overall make very good WLAN products, Atheros drivers not developed yet for the new 92xx chipsets and letting down their products.

I'm pretty certain that any other manufacturer's card will behave exactly the same.

One point to remember I tested the above with Vista x64, WinXP users may find different results and hence my conclusions are for Vista only.

[uPDATE]

Strange things happening even with driver v7.6.1.111, after a few hours it also disconnects from the router, aftwards it just behaves oddly.

Driver makes the WLAN LED either stuck on or off, no longer flashes with connectivity.

Can no longer switch the WLAN card on/off with the FN+F2 keys, it's stuck always on.

Driver also won't uninstall properly just hangs

Atheros have many issues to sort out with their drivers.