Proxim Orinoco 11a/b/g ComboCard Gold

Pros: supports nearly everything

Cons: have to be next to anything for it to work

Summary: I bought the card to suppliment the builtin Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG that's in my laptop with support for 802.11a (which I frequently have to use and test) when I check signal between the built in card against the same access point, without moving the laptop at all, both cards show the same signal strength, but a difference in on average 10dBm on the SNR, this difference means that the signal has to be ~11 times stronger to get the same quality when using the proxim (every 3dBm is a exponential double in signal strength) (and they claim the card is 100mW in the 2.4Ghz band).

in short, this card seems to work good, but only if you plan on being right next to your AP. it's utterly useless when trying to use many hotspot locations when you are a short distance from the antenna. and the 5.8Ghz performance is even worse then when using 2.4 (with the proxim I 1.5Mbps of thruput on 5.8 as opposed to when conecting to a weaker AP on 2.4, located right next to the stronger 5.8 AP, using my builtin card I get 9Mbps, over a distance of roughly 700 feet outdoors, clear LOS)