Symbol gets the nod

POCKET PCS MUST have network access to be of value to the enterprise. Whether this access should come via standard wired connections, wireless broadband, or an 802.11 WLAN (Wireless LAN) depends on how the organization uses Pocket PCs.

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An 802.11 WLAN is the simplest, most cost-effective solution for most companies, especially those with existing wireless networks. The only additional cost is the access card for the Pocket PC. The smaller form factor of CF (Compact Flash) cards makes them ideal for expanding the Pocket PC; using PCMCIA cards makes the devices too bulky. But smaller and lighter isn't always better, as we discovered by testing two 802.11b CF cards: the Linksys Instant Wireless Network CF card and the Symbol Wireless Networker.

Overall, both cards offer the same functionality: connectivity to 802.11b networks and support for 40-and 128-bit encryption, SSID (Service Set Identifier), and DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). The Linksys card is a Type II CF card that provides user profiles for quick configuration changes necessary to access multiple wireless networks, such as one at work and another at home. We used the device to define as many networks as we liked; the problem was, we couldn't connect to any of them.

Linkless Linksys

We tested the Linksys card on a Compaq iPaq with the Compact Flash Expansion Pack running Pocket PC 2002 and tried connecting to Intel Pro/Wireless and Agere Orinoco AP1000 access points -- all to no avail. (We could not test the card on our HP Jornada because it only supports Type I CF cards.) Reinstalling the supplied drivers, downloading and installing the latest driver, contacting Linksys support, trying a second card, and using a new driver sent from Taiwan all proved fruitless. At one point, we were able to associate to the Agere access point using 128-bit encryption, but we could not receive an IP address from the DHCP server. Configuring a static IP address did not solve the problem, either.

The Symbol Wireless Networker, which we tested on both the iPaq and Jornada, is a Type I CF card, and thus slightly smaller than the Linksys card. The Symbol card worked fairly well, seamlessly connecting to both of our access points using various encryption settings. The card did have difficulties receiving a DHCP address; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, and we could not discern a reason for the problems. Removing the card and restarting the handheld usually did the trick, however. And we had no trouble using a static IP address.

Symbol strengths and weaknesses

The Symbol card's configuration utility is excellent, providing one screen to set all IP settings, such as SSID, encryption, power management, and access point strength. The Linksys card, on the other hand, requires separate screens to change such settings. Symbol also provides a PING utility to test network connectivity, a feature absent in the Linksys product.

One feature the Symbol card lacks is connection profiles. When moving from one network to another, you must manually change the SSID (Service Set Identifier) and encryption keys. The configuration program does remember the SSIDs, so you merely select the correct one from the drop-down list, and you can pre-define up to four encryption keys for each encryption level, which prevents you from having to completely rebuild the configuration. Symbol is considering adding profiles.

Symbol's power management is fairly strong. It turns itself off by default to conserve power. This functionality is completely configurable by the end-user. To test battery use, we ran a continuous PING on the Jornada, which gave us three hours of continuous wireless use. Without the wireless card, we usually get at least five hours on a full charge.

As for distance, we did not notice any difference in the range of the Symbol card versus any other wireless card we have used.

Although a small form factor is nice, Compact Flash cards still appear to be unreliable, based on the cards we tested. We found the Linksys card unusable. The Symbol card worked fairly well, but the DHCP problems bothered us, and the lack of profiles made moving from one network to another difficult. Unless your organizations has a pressing need to move to Compact Flash, we would recommend sticking with the tried and true PCMCIA cards, despite the extra bulk they add.