I recently reviewed several Wi-Fi cards for the Palm Treo 700w and 700wx, which do not come with built-in Wi-Fi capability. Not all of the cards that I tested worked, and some of them did not work well enough to recommend. However, one worked impeccably on both versions of the Treo (and several other Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PCs). I am delighted to recommend the recently released Just Mobile SDIO 802.11b/g Wireless LAN card. (Price: $79; available at http://just-mobileonline.com)
The JustMobile Wireless LAN card (left) is slightly longer than a standard SD storage card (right).
The evolution of Wi-Fi
The evolution of Wi-Fi has progressed from the introduction of the 802.11b standard in 1997 to the present 802.11g standard. Cards using the brand new 802.11n standard are also available, but I do not recommend buying them yet. They are not only expensive and difficult to find, the n standard has not been finalized, and the card you buy may not be compatible with the final version. The best-case estimates of data speeds achieved by devices using these standards are as follows:
- 802.11b cards: up to 11 mbps
- 802.11g cards: up to 54 mbps
- 802.11n cards: up to 108 mbps
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