PCI AP card recommendations

[Robert]

On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:06:35 -0400
John Nielsen <lists at jnielsen.net> wrote:

> On Jul 25, 2010, at 5:10 PM, Beach Geek wrote:
> 
> > Looking for feedback from people using FreeBSD v8.x as access
> > points. We will be using Pentium 3 boxes with 8-STABLE as APs.
> > Each box will have a unique SSID and use WPA2-PSK.
> > Each AP will be linked back to 2 gateways.
> > 
> > I'm looking for AP card suggestions and any helpful hints as far as
> > the APs.   Looking for card models, not chipsets.
> > 
> > Looking forward to hearing your experiences.
> 
> I've been using a D-Link DWL-G520 PCI card in my FreeBSD access point
> since at least 6.x. It sports an Atheros 5212 chip and uses the ath
> driver. The card supports 802.11b/g as well as the "Turbo" 108Mbps
> mode.
> 
> My current setup is FreeBSD 8.1-PRERELEASE with two vap's. The first
> is bridged with my LAN ethernet device and uses WPA-PSK. The second
> is for guests and has no security. The latter is firewalled off from
> the LAN and everything on the host except DNS. It's also
> bandwidth-controlled using dummynet.
> 
> This is a small network and rarely has more than 8 or so wireless
> clients.
> 
> A couple years ago I added a better external antenna (D-Link
> ANT24-0700, still available) and saw a noticeable range increase.
> 
> I've been wanting to upgrade to 802.11n but to my knowledge there is
> still no rate algorithm so even supported cards will only operate at
> "g" speeds.
> 
> Aside from that I've had no complaints whatsoever with my FreeBSD AP.
> 
> I very much doubt my specific card is still available new. I don't
> have any experience with the newer card models but it's not unlikely
> they still make a similar card.
> 
They are available and not too expensive on ebay.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=D-Link+DWL-G520&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Cheers

Robert