Wireless Test

[#1]

Out of curiosity I decided to test 2 different wireless adapters against the internal card in my Toshiba Laptop. One was a Sitecom PC card and the other a Belkin USB dongle. I connected them both to my laptop and to  my wireless network provided by my Linksys WAP54G access point. The results shocked me. The range of both adapters proved to be absolute rubbish compared with the laptops internal card. The signal on both was fluctuating badly while the signal on the internal card stayed rock solid as it always does.
Pictures are here: http://www.seanbranagh.com/wireless
I cannot speak for other wireless hardware but the adapters I tested would be completely useless in a larger house.
Why does the inbuilt card in my laptop work so much better than the adapters?
Is this the case with all internal cards or are Toshiba better than other brands for wi-fi connectivity?
This experiment definitely reinforced my belief that a wireless network (at least with the adapters I tested) is no substitute for an old fashioned length of Cat 5e!

[#2]

Did you use all 3 at once? If you did you have to divide your connection by 3 so if your max speed was 30 meg then each card would only get 10meg.
You will also get interference from the other cards so it wouldnt be a good test. Most devices work best with the same make router etc because a lot of things are not universal and company specific

[#3]

I didn't test throughput speed. Was just looking at signal strength and connection speed. Although I had them all connected at once in the picture, I did try them individually and got exactly the same results.

[#4]

well i use the belkin dongle on my network,
the router sending the signal is on the ground floor,
the pc with the dongle is on the 3rd floor
(3 story house)
the signal strength is excellent and it also
downloads at very good speeds, good enough for me and
my boy to play cod2 online and dl large files at the same time

[#5]

Yes it may be shocking though if you compare the power usage then this might also link them..
Have you tried to see what the range difference is via an application such as www.netstumbler.com?