Receive Sensitivity is how much signal a card needs to receive in order to work at that speed level. A 3 dB difference is double the power. You can now see some cards are getting much better distances. The difference between a Cisco 350 and a Addtron at 1 Mbps is 32x times the sensitivity. This means that the Cisco needs 1/32 as much signal strength as the Addtron does to work at the same rate. Also, a lower receive sensitivity number is better (IE: -95 is better than -80).
Receive sensitivity is measured in dBm @BER 10E-5 or (or 8% FER).
Note: IEEE 802.11 15.4.8.1 says that "F" in 8% FER for DSSS devices stands for an MPDU having 1024 octets. 8/100 (errors/frames) / (1024 (octets) * 8 (bits) = approx. 1/100,000 errors/bits = 10-5 BER. i.e. 8% FER should be comparable to 10-5 BER.
Please add your card to the list if you have the information:
Card |
1 Mbps |
2 Mbps |
5.5 Mbps |
11 Mbps |
Note |
-96 |
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
OEM Zcom XI-325HP? |
|
-96 |
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
OEM Zcom XI-325HP? |
|
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
||
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
||
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
same as Senao NL-2511CD PLUS |
|
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
same as Senao NL-2511CD PLUS EXT2 |
|
-95 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
OEM Senao NL-2511CD PLUS; see this FAQ |
|
-95 |
-93 |
-90 |
-87 |
OEM Senao NL-2511CD PLUS, MAC OS support! |
|
-95 |
-90 |
-89 |
-84 |
|
|
-94 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
|
|
-94 |
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
OEM Zcom XI-325HP |
|
-94 |
-91 |
-89 |
-85 |
|
|
-94 |
-91 |
-87 |
-85 |
|
|
Lucent/Agere/Proxim Orinoco Gold/Silver Card (32mW) |
-94 |
-91 |
-87 |
-82 |
|
Dell TrueMobile 1150 (32mW) |
-94 |
-91 |
-87 |
-82 |
OEM Orinoco Gold |
Compaq WL-110 (32mW) |
-94 |
-91 |
-87 |
-82 |
OEM Orinoco Gold |
Proxim USB 842x |
. |
-88 |
. |
-84 |
has u.FL connector inside case PCB |
-94 |
-88 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
|
-94 |
-88 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
|
Nokia C110/C111(35mW) |
-94 |
. |
. |
-83 |
|
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
-87 |
||
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
-87 |
||
-93 |
-91 |
-89 |
-87 |
||
Alvarion DS.11 bridge (250mW) |
-93 |
-90 |
-88 |
-85 |
|
-93 |
-88 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
|
-92 |
-90 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
|
-92 |
-89 |
-88 |
-85 |
|
|
-92 |
-89 |
-86 |
-85 |
|
|
-92 |
-89 |
-88 |
-85 |
OEM Zcom XI-325B |
|
-92 |
-89 |
-86 |
-85 |
|
|
-92 |
. |
. |
-85 |
|
|
-92 |
-88 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
|
-91 |
-89 |
-87 |
-85 |
|
|
Netgear MA101 (20mW, USB) |
-91 |
-89 |
-87 |
-84 |
|
-91 |
-89 |
-86 |
-83 |
|
|
-91 |
-89 |
-86 |
-83 |
|
|
ZyXEL ZyAir 100 (20mW) |
-91 |
-89 |
-86 |
-83 |
OEM Zcom XI-300/300B |
Proxim RangeLAN-DS (20mW) |
-91 |
-89 |
-86 |
-83 |
OEM Zcom XI-300/300B |
Linksys WPC11v4(?mW, Cardbus) |
-91 |
-89 |
-85 |
-82 |
|
Cisco 340 Series |
-90 |
-88 |
-87 |
-83 |
|
-90 |
-89 |
-86 |
-83 |
|
|
Yakumo WLAN PCMCIA (35mW) |
-90 |
. |
. |
-80 |
|
Acer WarpLink PC Card 250 (Nominal temperature, PCMCIA) |
-90 |
. |
-87 |
-84 |
|
D-Link DWL-650 |
-90 |
. |
-87 |
-84 |
|
D-Link DWL-520 (32-bit PCI, 40mW, Reverse SMA) |
-90 |
. |
. |
-84 |
|
D-Link DWL-650 Revision M (40mW, Cardbus) |
-90 |
. |
. |
-83 |
|
D-Link DWL-120 (USB) |
. |
-90 |
. |
-84 |
|
AOpen AOI-701R (PCMCIA16, ?mW) |
. |
-90 |
. |
-84 |
|
Alvarion PC-DS.11b (63mW) |
-89 |
-86 |
-84 |
-80 |
|
Tellus AP |
-88 |
-88 |
-88 |
-83 |
|
. |
-87 |
. |
-80 |
|
|
D-Link DCF-650W/K (Compact Flash) |
-88 |
-86 |
-83 |
-80 |
|
Intel 2011 |
-87 |
-85 |
-84 |
-81 |
|
Microsoft MN-520(PCMCIA16) |
-83 |
-83 |
-83 |
-80 |
|
Belkin F5D6020 (PCMCIA, 50mW) |
-80 |
-80 |
-80 |
-76 |
|
All cards are 30mW output unless otherwise specified.
Note A dBm <-> mW calculator can be found here, for those that are wondering about exact mW/dBm correlations. Power in dBm is simply 10*log(power in mw) so, for example, 100mw expressed in dBm is 10*log(100)= 10*2= 20dBm