Comments on: Quick! Fetch the divining rod!

By: becky

becky — Sat, 25 Sep 2004 07:15:29 +0000

i have a powerbook & my office has an ibook. the ibook always gets a much better signal. for me, i think it’s the metal case.
but maybe they don’t provide much signal strength in those free areas. or maybe airport doesn’t pick them up as well as it should.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 16:07:24 +0000

I’m starting to wonder if it is just the network strength in the free Wi-Fi spots, because the iBook worked impeccably on Denise’s wireless network last night. Thinking I should go coffeehouse hopping around town and do a compare and contrast between the signal strength of the different locations.

By: tam

tam — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 15:41:11 +0000

Yeah, you can crack open the case and futz with the internal antenna but there’s always the chance that it will slip back. That’s a pain in the ass.
The best fix I found to get past the metal case interferring with the signal was to get a card with an external antenna. I’ve got an Asante FriendlyNet AeroLan -XG (its model # AL5402-XG) card hanging out of my TiBook and I haven’t had ANY problems outside of the normal ones. (like microwaves, tvs, radio… who knew there were so many things clogging the airwaves?)
It was like $80 bucks, but considering everything I spent on building a wireless network in my house, I thought it was well worth it.
If you need help futzing with the internal antenna, let me know. I can walk you through it as well.

By: DogsDon'tPurr

DogsDon'tPurr — Sun, 29 Aug 2004 06:23:11 +0000

You should contact Trailer Park Girl (http://www.crossroads.net/jnazak/blog/) ....she wrote about a quick fix for the iBook's AirPort card a few weeks ago. It was something simple, like opening it up and slightly bending a little piece of metal. You might ask her or search her site. She's very cool, and would probably be willing to walk you through it if necessary.