You may have noticed drivers surfing the web on their laptops while enjoying a cup of coffee or a meal in a truck stop restaurant. You may have further noticed that their laptops weren't connected to a phone line. You may have wondered how they were doing that and, further, how you could do that. Well; you'll be happy to know that almost any laptop, through the use of a wireless adapter card, can make a wire-free connection to the Internet.
There are two basic types of wireless Internet connections: Wi-Fi and cellular. I happen to be partial to Wi-Fi but if I've learned only one thing from my 25+ years in the trucking industry it's this: every single driver has different needs and wants. What works great for me might be completely wrong for you so, in this section, you find information regarding both Wi-Fi adapters (on this page) and Cellular modems (on the next page. (For more information regarding wireless Internet connections; read the Truck Stop Wi-Fi section on this site. I focus on Wi-Fi but I cover the alternatives, as well.)
Wi-Fi Adapter - Types
If your laptop doesn't include an internal Wi-Fi card then you have three ways to add wireless capability:
- PC Card Wi-Fi Adapter: Most laptops are equipped with at least a couple Type II PCMCIA slots and there's a veritible plethora of both Wi-Fi adapter cards designed to be used in said slots.
- USB Wi-Fi Adapter: Several Wi-Fi adapters, configured in various ways, are designed to use a laptop's USB port.
- PC Express Wi-Fi Adapter: The smaller PC Express slot is beginning to be found more frequently on new laptops and, although there aren't many yet, PC Express card Wi-Fi adapters are beginning to appear in the marketplace.
Each one of these Wi-Fi adapter types have points in their favor but for those of us trying to make a wireless Internet connection from the comfort of our cab there are a couple of attributes that rank highest:
- Power: Most laptop Wi-Fi adapters lack high output power. Not to worry, there are a few high-power Wi-Fi adapters on the market.
- Antenna:
