Rating: 
Summary: Linksys Wireless PC Card is the problem not the Access Point
Review: I'm writing this review on my notebook in my bed and is about 200 feet away from the Linksys Access Point and it's working fine. The problem is that you don't have to use the same brands of equipments to work together. I'm using the Linksys access point with a SMC EZ Connect wireless PC Card. All the bad review I have read are with the Linksys AP and Linksys PC Card together. I think the main problems has to be the Linksys PC card itself. Try to use SMC (which I recommend), Orinoco(Lucent)or 3Com PC wireless card with your Linksys AP. Good Luck Folks.....
Rating: 
Summary: It has one tenth of the range that is in the specs
Review: The most range I could get out of the unit, talking with the Linksys PCMCIA card, was 30'. This is a fully degraded connection (1Mb/s) at 30'. It was unusable, at any transmission rate, past 30'. I tried all 11 channels. I repositioned the unit and repositioned the antennas. This is inside and through one wall. If I shot it straight down a hall, it got 50'. So unless you are trying to through a wall to something immediately on the other side or trying to connect in the same room, don't buy this.It worked wonderfully in the same room and was easy to setup. The phone at technical support was always busy. I have had email out to them for three weeks on a different product.
Rating:
Summary: A few things to keep in mind
Review: First, do get this product. Once you've got it up and running, it's an amazing thing, and totally hassle-free. Just turn on your laptop nearly anywhere in the house and you're online. Works fine with laptop suspend and resume, too. You'll never get off the sofa again! But a few reminders. First, make sure that the SSID for both card and access point are the same; mine weren't. (It doesn't matter what they are--"linksys" or "wireless" or something--just that they agree). Second, don't sweat the IP config too much. I left all the AP values at the default and it worked more-or-less fine (I can't access the AP with the network utility [although I can with the USB one], but it seems to nevertheless do its job as promised. Go figure). Also, don't expect much from Linksys tech support. They've got nothing useful on their site, they don't answer email, and I couldn't hang on long enough for phone support. But it may not matter: this is not a product that you're going to tinker with once it's up and running. Finally, on range: it's not great, but should be okay for most purposes. In our 3,000 ft house, I can reach most rooms but not one on the other side of the house, one floor up and five walls over. I would think that 100ft and/or 4-5 walls/floors would be a reasonable rule of thumb for a wooden home.
Rating: 
Summary: Works for me
Review: I bought the Linksys WAP11 after 1st trying (and returning) the D-link access point. I've seen some of the other reviews of the WAP11 that knock the ease of installation. I might just be lucky but it took me 10 minutes to get it up and running using the USB cable connected to my desktop computer and running the install software. After it was up I just unplugged the USB cable and three days later it's still working great. I'm writing this review in fact, on my laptop using the Lynksys wireless pc card. The range might not be what is clamed by Linksys but it works great for me. My house is 2300 sq ft, the WAP11 is in my office upstairs on the far end of my house and I am downstairs on the other end and it's working fine. DSL works just as fast on the laptop, wireless as it does on my desktop and the desktop is directly wired to the router. I can't say that this will work for everyone, but it does what I wanted it to do.
Rating: 
Summary: Buyers Regrets
Review:
I was tremendously excited to receive my Linksys Wireless Network PC Card today. Having had the 3COM Wireless Gateway installed earlier in the week, I've been so looking forward to receiving the card, which would afford high-speed access and liberating mobility with my laptop. Unfortunately, I ran into problems with the installation. Now mind you, as a senior executive for a technology company, and one who has been through several shoe-string technology start-ups (where you have to fend for yourself in all technical matters), I'm pretty savvy when it comes to the ins-and-outs of something as simple as these wireless networking systems are intended to be. This seemed to be nothing more than a bad card, in that the drivers would not install. Certainly, I can understand that a small percentage of defects will pass, even with the most stringent QA processes in place. What I find totally unacceptable is the level of support that I have received.
Don't get me wrong, the 2 technicians that I spoke with were very pleasant (2 technicians on 2 separate calls, both of which required 20+ minutes on hold before actually speaking with a live person). But after running through ALL of the possible solutions, in most cases more than once, there comes a time when enough is enough... just send me a NEW CARD! But no, it was suggested that I first speak with a SENIOR technician. Okay, fair enough, I WAS given the option of having a new card sent versus speaking with a Sr. technician. But, it was suggested that there was a high likelihood of success with this trade-off. All right... remember how EXCITED I was? Waiting 2 more days for a new card versus likely success with a Sr. Tech call back in 30 minutes sounded like a good gamble.
Well, I was PROMISED a call-back by a Sr. Technician WITHIN 30 minutes. It is now been over 90 minutes since that promise was made and my phone has yet to ring. I have spent nearly 3 hours on hold, speaking with technicians, and waiting for this call back... and that doesn't include independent installation time I spent in advance of and subsequent to my technician conversations (downloading new drivers, etc.). I am having SERIOUS "buyers regret" for not having bought the 3COM card to go along with my 3COM Wireless Gateway (which by the way took all of about 45 minutes to install including 2 calls to 3COM support and a call to my ISP!)
Wow, it's past midnight (EST) and I've been at this since just after 8pm... I'm only STILL up in anticipation of perhaps getting that promised call-back (are my expectations too high?) and to document my unpleasant experience for the folks at Linksys (and readers of CNET and Yahoo product reviews) with the hope of sparing others from a similar fate.
With regret,
-Bob
Rating:
Summary: Update to my review
Review: I spoke with another individual that was having the same issue I was with the NAP WAP11 from Linksys. He has changed from the Linksys PC Card to an Orinoco PC Card and is getting much better results. So the issue with distance in this case would be traced to the PC Card from Linksys.
Rating:
Summary: The WAP is OK, it's the cards that aren't
Review: I bought a WAP and two cards. Like other reviewers, I had serious range problems. I couldn't use my notebook more than about 20 feet away from the WAP. I assumed it was the WAP and tried all sorts of different remedies, to no avail. Then a friend loaned me an Orinoco (formerly Lucent) Wavelan Silver card....WOW! Great range, much better performance, my computer now goes on and off of standby correctly. I now get full signal strength everywhere in my house (maximum distance from WAP, 120 feet). It's raining, so I can't wander around the neighborhood to see how far the signal goes. Also, if I ran the Linksys PC card with encryption on, my throughput reduced dramatically, but with the WaveLan card, I get full performance with encryption turned on. I like the styling and utilities with the Linksys WAP, perhaps others are even better, but DO NOT buy the Linksys PC Cards... A now satisfied Linksys WAP owner
Rating:
Summary: Awesome! This is a real good product!
Review: First I have to say I am writing this review using my Notebook computer in my bedroom with the just installed LinkSys Wireless Access Point and PC Card. Second, I normally do not write Reviews for a product, but this time I have to. Because I saw some bad comments in this column about this product, and I was almost pursvaded by some of the reviewers not to buy this product. But there are some good comments also, and since I bought a LinkSys DSL/Cable Modem Router(4 port) before,and it works very well. I would like to take the risk to give it a try. And the result is totally suprise. Almost no configuration needed to run this product. Plug in the card, install the driver, configure it, restart your computer(even if it did not let you restart. do it will help the Card work properly. LinkSys might want to put this in the manual). I also took the computer out to the patio and to a nearby fitness room(about 30~50 feet away). Everything works!!! What else I can say, it is the cheapest in the planet also. I don't need to stuff around the Router anymore. Go LinkSys!
Rating:
Summary: Good product, need to tweak default settings...
Review: Good product, needed to tweak the default settings to get it to work. Had to switch it to Infrastructure mode from Ad Hoc mode to get it to work. Works well even when signal strength is about 50%. I see no decline in my cable modem service and i have never had to reset the access point. I have had it for 3 weeks and am satisfied.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I hoped
Review: I was impressed at how easy it was to setup, but I was very dissappointed with it's range. I had it setup in a window facing the other building, 100 feet away. I had 90% signal strength at 50 feet, 60% signal strength at 100 feet (just outside the other building), and ZERO signal strength on the otherside of the wood stud wall. I repositioned the WAP11 in 3 locations...no luck. I have heard that the Linksys WPC11 PCMCIA (in my laptop) card is horrible when it come to walls...maybe that's the problem, except I also read on someone's website that they had opened the WAP11 and found a WPC11 card inside of it!! I hope they increase the power of this unit...until then, I'm returning this one. Good Luck
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