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Linksys WPC11 Wireless-B Notebook Adapter

Linksys WPC11 Wireless-B Notebook Adapter

List Price: $59.99
Your Price: $41.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good wireless card, once you are past its setup
Review: I telecommute full-time from home and decided to get wireless network gear to allow me to work from anywhere in my house. Based on my previous good experiences with their other products, I decided on a Linksys setup. Setting up the Linksys wireless router was a snap, but unfortunately this "matching" PCMCIA card was not nearly as easy to get working.

Windows ME:

My first few installation attempts were on WinME. The driver installer, on the provided Linksys CD, had problems locating the necessary files it needed to install. The CD was either missing files or the installer was looking in the incorrect folders. Either way, pretty sloppy. Downloading the latest drivers from linksys.com fixed the installation problems. However, I was unable to get the card to make the wireless link with the access point.

Windows 2000:

Frustrated, I switched to the OS I should have installed it on in the first place, Win2k, where the drivers installed with no problems. However, again the card was unable to link with the router.

User Manual:

The manual supplied with the card, at first glance, looks promising. Flipping through, you see quite a few screenshots of their configuration utility (supplied on the CD) and a lot of text. However, I was disappointed and confused once I dug in. The text did little more than label the different configuration utility views and properties in each screenshot, providing little or no explanation for what the setting does and why. I could not even locate an explanation for what the LED's on the PCMCIA card indicated.

The most frustrating aspect of the user manual was the section I needed the most: troubleshooting. The troubleshooting section was a whopping two pages (not front and back) and consisted of three questions.

Linksys Technical Support:

Linksys has 7-day tech support, so I was able to contact them on a Sunday, which was nice. The quality of their technicians is what you would expect - good and bad. I first spoke with a guy for 30 minutes who was little help and, as I later found out, actually gave me some incorrect information. I called back later and managed to get a hold of one helpful technician that took literally 2 minutes to determine the problem and step me through fixing it. I also asked a few basic questions that the manual couldn't answer and the technician acknowledged that the user manual was "embarrassing" and "missing critical setup information".

Summary:

The card works great! While the router sits in my basement, I tote my laptop around the house and am able to work in the living room, back patio, on the 2nd story, etc, and the download/upload speeds are as fast as my desktop, which is cabled directly to the router. Despite the problems I had, I would still recommend the card. If you have trouble configuring it, I would seriously advise skipping the manual and just calling Linksys tech support.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: For those installing on Windows XP
Review: I bought this wireless PC card for my laptop because I wanted to share my broadband cable internet connection. I bought this card along with the BEFW11s4 wireless AP router and after setting it up, it is worthwhile! I would really recommend this card if u want a cheap yet reliable internet connection.

However, I do have to note that installation for this requires prior knowledge of networking. Being a computer engineer, I had a relatively easy time setting it up; however there are few things some entry level computer shoppers have to beware of. This includes updating firmware on the AP; downloading Windows XP drivers before installing this PC Card, and also mapping network drives within your LAN. You must also have knowledge of configuring TCP/IP properties (i.e. DHCP and Infrastructure Mode).

Just a note to those having problems installing this WPC11 Linksys card into Windows XP notebooks. THIS IS NOT IN THE SETUP MANUAL THAT LINKSYS PROVIDES. AFTER SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLING THE PROPER DRIVERS AND THE ACCOMPYNING SETUP UTILITY CONFIGURATION TOOL, MAKE SURE YOU RESET THE ROUTER. I found this the hard way after assuming I had done something wrong during the installation process. The reason for resetting is so your notebook does not pick the same IP address as your other PC within your LAN.

Well, good luck. Hope I could be of help to some of you future buyers. Overall, I am extrememly satisfied with the range, unlike some of those who claim you do not have any range. It may be because my house is fairly spacious, nonetheless, I would receommend keeping such things in mind when u do make your wireless product purchase.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Linksys Wireless Card
Review: At first, this item worked relatively well and it was relatively easy to install. However, suddenly, from one day to the next, my drivers stopped functioning, therefore, the Wireless card stopped functioning. It has been a burden on my shoulders never working when I need it to work. I would recommend something else, stronger and more durable.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Linksys Wireless-B Stinks
Review: I have been using the Linksys Wireless-B Notebook Adaptor for about six months. I never had the reception that Linksys advertised, but it sort of worked some of the time. I thought that I had to use a Linksys card with my Linksys router--it was my first wireless experience. Suddenly it stopped working. It indicated that it was transmitting, there was no internet connection (I still had a hardline connection). Then a few days later, it stopped indicating that it was connecting to the router/network either. Dead in the water. No help from any websites at all, and now from what I have read from other poor souls, the Wireless-B card just poops out suddenly. I wish I had a recommendation from a reliable source on what to buy, but I can tell you that Linksys will never have my business again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cool Technology
Review: What is there to say about this product except that it works as advertised and it was easy to get working. If you are reading reviews you are thinking about a wireless network. This and the Linksys router have me connected to the Internet on my laptop, and I can finally move around the house or even outside, and my connection follows me flawlessly.

Right now I am 75 feet and 3 rooms away from a closed bench where I house the wireless router. The meter that tracks the signal strength and link quality both register 20% (vs. 100% if I am at the bench), yet the Internet still flows quickly and smoothly. My wait times are not noticeably longer. I'm a happy boy.

Set up took no longer than plugging in the new PC card. I went through the config motions to make sure everything was right but all the default settings were appropriate to get me going.

I like the product.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I don't know what the fuss is about - Great Device for the $
Review: There are a lot of reveiws complaining about getting this device working. I've successfully installed it on WinCE, Win98, WinME, Windows 2000 (All service packs) and on every beta/RC build of Windows XP right up to the final release. I put down most of the problems described as user error, configuration error or a lack of technical know how on networking/os/wireless technology. Wireless cards from all manufacturers are a little more complex than other devices. The range is not as great as my CISCO Aironet, but at a fraction of the price what do you expect.

Linksys support is not the greatest but when i bought my BEFW11S4 Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router i needed 128bit encryption which was not available at that time and within an hour they emailed me a beta version of the firmware that enabled this functionility. With an infinite amount of differing system configurations i think users often expect far too much from technical support. It is impossible for any firm to validate every possible system configuration. I've seen Cisco Aironet and Lucent Orinoco have just as many issues.

Its also worth noting that 2.4Ghz cordless phones can have a negative effects on 802.11 networks.

Enjoy,
N.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Easy Setup, Intermitent performance
Review: I bought this card to connect to my Linksys wireless access point.

On the good side, the setup in Windows XP was the easiest of just about any computer peripheral I've ever bought. Setup was basically three steps: 1) turn on computer 2) insert included CD-ROM 3) plug card in. All the drivers installed automatically and I was up and running in about 2 minutes.

On the negative side, the card seems to de-link from my wireless LAN occasionaly and usually for no apparent reason - sometimes I think its interference from my 2.4 ghz cordless phone but other times the phone is nowhere nearby and the problem still occurs. Considering that this is usually happening when the only thing between the card and the access point is 15 feet and one wall, I find this a bit dissapointing. Its especially frusterating that it usually takes several attemps (using the XP control panel to disable and then re-enable the card) to re-establish the link.

On the good side, when the card is working, at least within my relatively small-ish apartment, I never have a problem with the signal strength, though I can never stray much more than around 50 feet from the access point.

The other negative is I bought a Linksys wireless USB adapter for my desktop machine. For some reason, the USB adapter seemed to seriously degrade the signal strength reaching the laptop. Again, since these 802.11b products are supposed to interoperate, even when several are in use on the same LAN and especially (one would think) when they're all made by Linksys anyway, I find this to be a bit dissapointing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS
Review: ABSOLUTELY, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, DO NOT BUY THIS PILE OF GARBAGE. Sorry to shout, but I've never had so much frustration over any company's products like I do with Linksys (with the exception of Microsoft's useless networking hardware). This card often fails to see any active networks, and, if by chance it does happen to see a network, and, by luck you actually connect to one, then don't expect to stay connected. Buy the Netgear or D-Link adapters instead. Those companies aren't dedicated to mediocrity like Linksys and Microsoft.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: great wireless after setup
Review: Don't even try to setup on Windows 98; you have to have 2000 or better; after that, I have been amazed how well this wireless stuff works; it is as fast as my desktop which is wired to the router (via cable internet) and I am usually out on my front porch or back deck with no problems even when signal strength is low; I also set it up where I can print wirelessly and share files with my desktop; just amazing; I've had this for about a year with no problems others have mentioned about signal fading over time and that person who said they had to be in the same room as their desktop or router- something else is wrong because I have never had a problem after setup and again its still fast with a weak signal; came to this website to buy a second card to get my wife's work laptop on the wireless network since she's always using mine on the front porch; can't say enough; 24/7 support helps; you might get someone who doesn't help a lot initially but find a company these days that has perfect customer support; I got a friend who set it up with no problems in minutes;

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Seems to stop working:
Review: Based on my own experience with this product, and after having read some other reviews, it seems that this product was not designed to work permanently. I bought the Wireless Network card and router in order to be able to connect to the internet from anywhere in my house from my laptop computer.

I got the product last summer, and it has never had a strong enough signal for me to use it from anywhere on the second floor of the house (router is on the first floor). It claims to allow wireless access throughout an entire house, up to 1500 feet. Obviously, this is not true.

Like others have said, the signal seems to become weaker with time. Currently, I cannot get wireless access outside of the same room that the router is in. The router is connected to my desk top computer; so really what's the point of having wireless access anymore since the only room I can use it in already has a computer with its own internet connection?

I'm currently sitting five feet away from the router. The antennaes are pointing directly at me, and the wireless signal and quality are both listed as "Good: 47%". IMO, this product is pointless, and Linksys should refund all of us.

Do not buy this product, unless you only need wireless access for a couple of months.


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