You should be getting a better connection without an antenna. My guess is that the internal card in the Sony Viao is a PRISM based card. Those tend to range from bad to awful in terms of range, esp when they are internal to the laptop. Even so 8 feet is horrible ragne. I would guess that the laptop either doesn't have an antenna or the plug has fallen out of the card during shipping (more likely). You should pop it open and reconnect the plug if it's there, if the thing is under warranty you may not want to open it yourself, but get a Sony approved tech to do it so they don't void the warranty. There is also the option of getting a good WiFi card like the ORiNOCO Silver or Cisco 350. The ORiNOCO can be had under $70.
Oh, also make the two antennas on the back of the BEF.. point up. Putting them at 45 deg like I've seen a few people do for asthetic reasons cuts down the range considerably (actually it just rotates the in range "donut" to include sky and ground instead of a horizontal plane.) Someone else can answer the pringles question, I just ate mine and kept the cans around for a couple months... -- Daniel On Tue, 17 Dec 2002, Jacqueline wrote: ] ]Hey everyone out there. I was wondering how I can make a better connection ]to my WAP at home. I am only about 8 feet away and I still get dropped ]connections and/or weak connections. Changing the channel doesn't always do ]much. So I bought a can of pringles and ate the chips. Now what do I do? (I ]know I need to work off the calories). ] ]Are there any websites out there that can spell out how to make a pringles ]antenna? Or does anyone sell them? My third question is, if the wireless ]card is internal to a laptop, where should I connect the antenna? ] ] ]Lastly, i noticed that the bottleneck to my internal wireless network is the ]"internet gateway." It is always by default connected at 3.2 mbps. Why is ]this and can i increase it to 11.0 or full throttle to allow the laptop to ]connect as fast as possible? My WAP is a linksys Wireless Access Point ]Router with 4-Port Switch - Version 2, BEFW11S4. The laptop is a sony vaio ]with an internal orinoco wireless card. ] ] ]Sorry for so many questions. I have been lurking for a while. I cant seem ]to find answers anywhere on other forums. Thanks inadvance. ] ]-- ]NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ ]Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ ]Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/ ] -- <<You cant eat before a operashun. Not even cheese.>> -- Charlie Gordon -- NYCwireless - http://www.nycwireless.net/ Un/Subscribe: http://lists.nycwireless.net/mailman/listinfo/nycwireless/ Archives: http://lists.nycwireless.net/pipermail/nycwireless/
