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Connecting your PCMCIA Cardbus Card to Your Desktop or ExpressCard Laptop
There are few things more frustrating than paying for a subscription service that you can’t use. I mean, imagine paying for cable without being able to use a cable box to translate the signal. This would be unacceptable from a consumer standpoint, and cable companies put great effort into making sure that you have the equipment you need in order to use their service. Unfortunately, in the fast-moving world of tech, things don’t always go this way. There has been a recent surge in the popularity of wireless internet cards from cellular providers like Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon. These cards that the wireless companies provide to allow you to use their service generally come in PCMCIA cardbus format, because the service was originally designed for on-the-go users with laptops. However, there have been a couple of factors that have changed the market dynamics significantly, so that a lot of would-be wireless internet users are left out in the cold. The first market segment that gets left out is desktop users. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of desktop users who, though out of range of standard broadband service, have can receive a wireless cellular signal. Unfortunately, desktop systems do not come with PCMCIA slots, preventing these users from connecting to cellular WAN networks because they can’t use the connectivity hardware that is required to connect to the WAN. The other rapidly growing segment is those users who have newer laptops that only have ExpressCard slots. Computer manufacturers are currently rolling out new models that are completely without cardbus technology. Instead, they are using a newer, faster, more compact technology called ExpressCard. While this new technology is far superior to the older cardbus standard, card manufacturers have yet to provide ExpressCard versions of many older PCMCIA cardbus cards. One of the cardtypes that has yet to be produced is the wireless AirCard. Therefore, newer laptop users are unable to use wireless internet AirCard technology, thus alienating a large part of the technological early-adopter market. Fortunately, there are solutions available for both of these segments. For desktop users, there is the PCI to PCMCIA Card. This card can be inserted into an available PCI slot on the desktop’s motherboard, allowing you to use virtually any PCMCIA card with your desktop PC. The other solution is the USB to Cardbus Adapter. This relatively new adapter allows you to connect a wireless AirCard to your laptop via an available USB port. Ultimately there will be a genuine ExpressCard solution, but for now, these products will allow users to connect to the internet wherever, whenever, and whatever their computer hardware situation is. About the Author: Nate Kartchner is the Marketing Coordinator for Sewell Direct, a premium online retailer specializing in hard-to find adapters and connectivity solutions like the PCI to PCMCIA Card and the USB to Cardbus Adapter.
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