(question) 3 antenna wireless card -- work with only 1 antenna?

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 03:38:24PM -0700, William Park wrote:
> I want to upgrade my wireless adapter to Wireless-N, because
> my router is already 300Mbps.  The only problem is physical
> orientation of my tower, ie. the back is facing away from the
> router.  Currently, I'm using external 8dBi antenna.
> 
> Question is...
> 
> 1. Most Wireless-N adapter cards have 2 or 3 antennas. Will
> they work with only 1 antenna, with the others removed?

Some will.  Some won't.  At best you will get 150Mbps (and that's the
theoretical max).

Two antennas max out at 300, and three antennas max out at 450Mbps.

> 2. Or, should I just go with USB adapter?

That would probably not be very efficient.

I have seen PCI and PCIe cards with external antenna pods on a wire,
probably for the reason you have of being able to place the antenna
somewhere good.

I have been quite happy with a linksys WMP600N for a couple of years.
Ralink 2860 chipset, linux drivers work great, two antenna design, both
2.4 and 5ghz and does abgn as a result (as long as you install the wifi
regulatory database and tell it which country you are in).

-- 
Len Sorensen
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