A Great LAN/Modem Combo, But....

I am a big fan of 3Com when it comes to modems and LAN technology so the combination of the two into a single PCMCIA card for a laptop seems logical. Although the cards (I have three of them in different machines at work) all function properly, there are other factors that come into play that make this a less than desirable card.

Tell Me More About The Card!

Essentially, the 3Com 56k/LAN combo card is a single PCMCIA card that fits in your laptop and allows you to connect to a network via either modem dialup or through a TCP/IP connection. The card has a spring-loaded modem jack that pops in and out of the card for those times when you need to use dialup. For LAN connection, the card includes a "pigtail" cable that hooks into the card and has a RJ-45 female jack. Simply plug your LAN patch cable into the pigtail and away you go.

The card occupies a single PCMCIA slot which offers the advantage of freeing up your second slot for other cards. Unlike other combo cards, it does NOT have a huge front end that (although occupying only one slot) blocks the second slot rendering it unusable.

As for the technology, the dialup is excellent (I connect at 42.2 relatively frequently) and the LAN connectivity is flawless.

All in all, the 3Com card is a simply designed, yet effective card.

So What's The Problem???

Simply put...glue. These 3Com cards, like other brands, are held together by glue. Granted, I'm sure it's a strong adhesive tested and tried...but I am not happy with the quality of glue 3Com has chosen.

You see, of the three cards that I have, two of them have literally come apart at the seams because the glue has come undone. When the sides of the card seperate, the spring that controls the spring-loaded RJ11 jack for dialup unattaches itself and the jack no longer stays inside the housing. This places the jack at risk of being broken off relatively easily.

Although both of my cards have been replaced by Gateway under warranty, I am skeptical of the longevity of the cards once the warranty is expired. In other words, I know that the day my warranty runs out, each one of these cards is going to come unglued and I'm going to have to replace them.

Overall

Overall, I give the card a 3 out of 5. Because of the excellent modem and LAN connectivity, the ease of installation, and the fact that it only uses one PCMCIA slot, I give a 5. However, the fact that the card is poorly manufactured and two of my three have exhibited the same flaw, I drop two points off and award a 3.

If you are looking for a LAN/Modem combo card, I would pass on the Megahertz model and look for other cards that don't exhibit the same shoddy workmanship.