Best/Favorite WIFI cards (internal)?

[Pj]

So I have yet again come to the conclusion that many of the Intel internal wifi cards are pretty much junk. Anyone have one that they like that puts out a good amount of power? I'd like to replace the 2200BG and the 2195's I have in my MW and ML's, and I'd really like something that puts out power (if there is such at think) on the MW800 I have (which uses an external antenna on the roof). The 2200 in it really doesn't do the job that I need it to do at times.

Any suggestions?

[Wowbagger]

WiFi cards are limited by the FCC in how much power they put out. I don't think you are likely to find any that put out more power than any other for that reason. Moreover, since they operate Part 15, mating them to an external antenna without dialing the power back appropriately is of questionable regulatory compliance (unless you operate Part 97, which means no encryption, limited usages, call sign in the SSID, etc.).

Ignoring regulatory compliance for the moment, 802.11 is a complex modulation scheme, and requires the transmitter to be very linear. You go tweaking the gain up past the design limits and you WILL distort the signal, you WILL reduce throughput, and you WILL make things worse - unless you have a vector signal analyzer with the 802.11 waveform installed and can watch the constellation as you tweak it.

[Pj]

...well maybe not power, (though would be nice) but perhaps performance? On a few access points of different brands, I get flaky connections whereas with other cards or USB devices they do much better.

[Wowbagger]

OK, now for the firmware implementation, that's a horse of a different color. Personally, I feel the firmware in most access points is junque - high price but crap none the less. I'd look for a DLink that is supported by the DD-WRT firmware (http://dd-wrt.com/site/index) and load that.