Complete Mobile Warrior's Product Guide

A laptop with built-in Wi-Fi may be all you need to hit the hotspot road. But true Wi-Fi warriors want more. More Wi-Fi range, and more places to use it. Happily, there are plenty of products designed to fulfill the cravings of wireless roadies, notably Wi-Fi travel routers and high-performance Wi-Fi cards. Travel routers are basically pocket-size versions of regular network routers that let you unwire almost any wired Ethernet jack, such as those in hotels and conference rooms. You can use them to share your connection with colleagues or to simply surf from the comfort of your hotel bed.

High-performance Wi-Fi cards serve another function: they let you squeeze out every drop of signal strength at hotspots, so you don't have to move around to find a good connection. They typically have higher-gain or directional antennas that outperform the internal versions in most laptops. You may also use a MIMO or draft-802.11n card if you have a matching router at home. You won't get the benefit of their full speeds when connected to the regular 802.11b/g routers used at hotspots, but things should still be a little faster than with a normal Wi-Fi card, due to their generally better antennas.

WI-FI TRAVEL ROUTERS

Linksys Travel Router WTR54GS

While the Linksys Travel Router puts most of the features of its full-size brethren in the palm of your hand, in our view its top feature is that it is the first (and only) travel router to allow sharing of paid hotspot connections, allowing people who travel together to cut down on separate use fees. You can bring your whole team (or family!) to a cafe for a working meal. Even better, the router doubles as a Wi-Fi adapter, and can be used at home to extend the range of a regular router into those pesky dead spots.

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Apple AirPort Express

This palm-sized wonder is several devices in one. On the road, use it to unwire your hotel room or client's conference room by plugging it into any Ethernet jack. At home, use it as a full-fledged Wi-Fi router, with USB printer sharing and iTunes music streaming to a stereo system. (Get it with the optional Stereo Connection Kit for top quality sound.) Despite the Apple name, the AirPort Express comes with full Windows configuration tools and support as well as Mac, making it great for Windows iPod users as well.

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EXTENDED-RANGE WI-FI CARDS

Belkin N1 Wireless Notebook Card

If you want to get a draft-802.11n card in advance of the standard, you can't do better than the Belkin N1. It's one of the least expensive options, a snap to install, and it comes with a lifetime warranty -- the only such warranty among the major vendors. It is based on the most widely-used draft-n chip thus far, the Broadcom Intensi-fi, so also has more interoperability than most.

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Netgear RangeMax Wireless PC Card WPN511

Getting connected at hotspots is made simple by the RangeMax's long-range antenna, as well as full compatibility with every flavor of access point. It's also a snap to install, and will work at speeds up to 108Mbps when connected to Super-G routers.

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Linksys Wireless-G Portable USB Adapter

If you want Wi-Fi but don't have a spare PC Card slot, or simply want a portable adapter you can use with any machine, the Linksys WUSB54GP is a great choice. It even comes with a stand for desktop use, so it can be positioned away from the machine for best reception. On the road, plug it directly into your notebook's USB port like a keychain memory device. Sorry, no Mac support for this one...

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