Linksys WKPC54G Wireless-G Network Kit for Notebooks

Rating:
Summary: DROPS WAY TOO OFTEN - STAY AWAY
Review:
Based on Linksys experience, I decided to buy this network kit for notebooks. They have good products and this was an easy grab off the shelf. Unfortunatley, this is NOT one of them.

The connection appears to drop every 20 minutes or less. The connection was great before the router was in place. After I correclty got this thing configured, I noticed connection reliability was below my acceptable levels. Dropped connections non stop through out the day.

For the past day I have circumvented the router by going direct to the modem. Not a glitch, perfect connection. The router is the root of the problem, as my desk is only 20ft away from the router and my connection rocks when bypassing the router. This piece is going back asap.

If you listen to streaming music, have instant messenger up or use gmail desktop alert for e-mail etc, don't make this mistake.

chris (chicago, IL)

Rating:
Summary: This Sucks!
Review: Don't buy this if you are using a Toshiba Satellite Notebook. While configuration is easy, and the connection is there, Internet Explorer, Outlook, and other web-necessary applications WILL NOT WORK. Stay away from this piece of crap.

Rating:
Summary: Great value for a notebook wireless networking kit
Review: I am not sure why some people have complained about Linksys' WKPC54G network kit. I had all three of my notebooks running on 128-bit WEP encryption and set-up my router's security features within an hour. Signal strength throughout my 2,000 sq. ft. home is "Excellent" and I'm always connected at 54 MBPS. This is my first wireless router and PC card network adapter I have ever used. I didn't even use the accompanying CD to setup everything; I just used the enclosed setup poster instead. It was that easy. I've also used Linksys 10/100 Ethernet network products in my home office before and had no problems with them either. That's why I stayed with the brand.

Rating:
Summary: Junk
Review: I get disconnected at least 3 or 4 times a day using these linksys wireless routers. They are junk. Do your research and buy something like netgear or dlink. At first, i thought it was just one bad apple. However, I currently own 3 linksys routers and dozens of wireless pc and laptop cards, and all of them are giving me problems.

Stay away from these linksys routers. At best, each time i get disconnected i have to restart my pc and the router and wait 10 minutes to get back online again. if you're doing something important, forget it!

Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: I have used a single point Linksys cable/DSL router for years with very good luck, so I'm not knocking the mfr. This combo, even after exchanging the router for a "tested" unit, it not worth half the price. The WIFI signal is very weak, causing signal dropouts from the slightest interference. The Broadcom card in my Dell 600m refuses it on average of every ten minutes, and the signal strength 6 ft away is only ~ -64 dB (I'm looking at -60 right now here at work, and I'm about 50 ft and three thick walls from the nearest AP). The router itself locks up and must be rebooted every couple days to keep even the wired ports functioning. The card is OK, I guess (I put it in a laptop that I gave my daughter, and it has been used very little), but the software would not communicate with it in a very stock (clean reinstall) Win 98 Dell Inspiron 3700. I had to buy an aftermarket (PCTel) utility just to be able to change settings and enable simple WEP security on it. The Linksys CD supplied and updated downloaded software locked up the computer whenever trying to use it. That adds $15 to the price right there, and you end up with inferior performance to boot. Buy the seperate units. I though setup and maintenance would be easier with a kit, but I've wasted way too many hours trying to get this to work reliably.

Rating:
Summary: Super Fast !!!!
Review: I received the Linksys Wireless-G kit last week, had it working in just a few minutes (just follow the instructions). Works great !! Much faster than the 802.11-b which I have used in the past. Also, this is a great price, and delivery was free and quick !!! Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: This Sucks!
Review: I wanted to set up a wireless network and was very concerned with which hardware i was going to use. I read the mixed reviews of the (much cheaper) microsoft wireless notebook kit as well as the mixed reviews of the D-link router. It seamed that you were either gonna get something that worked great or crap. I have had nothing but great luck with this kit. I am running a Motorola surfboard modem, this kit, a linksys pc card serving three computers: a dell laptop (with the wireless card in this kit), a G4 powerbook (running mac os 10.3) and a homebuilt pc running windows xp home (with the linksys wireless desktop card). All 3 computers were online in less than one hour after the cable internet was activated. No matter what you hear about security, don't leave your network unprotected! Where i live there are 6 unprotected wireless networks, the best of them was from a linksys router. I just did a little casual surfing before the cable was installed, but i had access to all six of their ip addresses, their router hardware ids and could of easily set up a password for their networks, that they would never have (i could never do this, but someone else may). The first thing i did was enabled a WEP key and password protected my router configuration setup page. Everything was a breeze. I couldn't ask for a more stable router and overall network.

Rating:
Summary: Excelent Kit
Review: I wanted to set up a wireless network and was very concerned with which hardware i was going to use. I read the mixed reviews of the (much cheaper) microsoft wireless notebook kit as well as the mixed reviews of the D-link router. It seamed that you were either gonna get something that worked great or crap. I have had nothing but great luck with this kit. I am running a Motorola surfboard modem, this kit, a linksys pc card serving three computers: a dell laptop (with the wireless card in this kit), a G4 powerbook (running mac os 10.3) and a homebuilt pc running windows xp home (with the linksys wireless desktop card). All 3 computers were online in less than one hour after the cable internet was activated. No matter what you hear about security, don't leave your network unprotected! Where i live there are 6 unprotected wireless networks, the best of them was from a linksys router. I just did a little casual surfing before the cable was installed, but i had access to all six of their ip addresses, their router hardware ids and could of easily set up a password for their networks, that they would never have (i could never do this, but someone else may). The first thing i did was enabled a WEP key and password protected my router configuration setup page. Everything was a breeze. I couldn't ask for a more stable router and overall network.

Rating:
Summary: Buy a real Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Route and card instead
Review: The router in this package is based ona completely different chipset than the Linksys WRT54G router. The router in this package only has one antenna which severly limits the usable range. Each change to the router configuration will require a 10 second 'reboot' of the router. This gets to be very annoying after a few changes.
It will only cost about $10 more to get the real WRT54G and PCMCIA card and it will be well worth the extra $10. I'm not sure what Linksys is trying to achieve by selling this combo with a such a crappy router. They should package the regular WRT54G with the PCMCIA card and offer a discount, instead they put this piece of crap router in with the regualr PCMCIA card and try to pass it off as a good deal. Shame on you Linksys. You will ruin your good reputation with this router.

Rating:
Summary: Buy a real Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Route and card instead
Review: The router in this package is based ona completely different chipset than the Linksys WRT54G router. The router in this package only has one antenna which severly limits the usable range. Each change to the router configuration will require a 10 second 'reboot' of the router. This gets to be very annoying after a few changes.
It will only cost about $10 more to get the real WRT54G and PCMCIA card and it will be well worth the extra $10. I'm not sure what Linksys is trying to achieve by selling this combo with a such a crappy router. They should package the regular WRT54G with the PCMCIA card and offer a discount, instead they put this piece of crap router in with the regualr PCMCIA card and try to pass it off as a good deal. Shame on you Linksys. You will ruin your good reputation with this router.