Rating: 
Summary: Good products, easy to install
Review: I bought a pair of these WPC-11s to use in my laptops to communicate with my new LinkSys BEFW11S4 at home and to use with the WAP we have at work. I installed the units under Windows 98 and Windows 2000 Pro and had no problems during the process. I bought LinkSys because of my past history with their wired NICs I use in my workstations.
Rating: 
Summary: It works for me
Review: Having attempted and failing terribly to install D-Link wireless in my house, I decided to try Linksys. And after reading some of the reviews here, I was quite worried about yet another failure.However, it all went well. One warning - networking of any kind is not for the uneducated. This is true networking equipment and you need to have a solid, basic understanding of networking basics to make this work well. Or find a friend who does. Beyond that, all installed rather painlessly. I'm going to be doing some performance testing soon, but performance is not really on my priority list. After all, I installed wireless to remove the need for CAT 5 all over the house and to allow internet sharing. Since high-speed access is still a fantasy in our area, I'm running a dial up (45k on a good day) connection. Even if I had DSL, it only downloads at 500kbs compared to ethernet at 10mbs - so even if I get 1mbs out of the wireless, I'm still running faster than my internet connection. Luckily, I did not need tech support - other reviews seem to indicate problems there. Same with DLINK. For the money. I'd say this gear is a good deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Good luck installing if you're not a not a network pro
Review: The manuals for these products (wireless access point, network card, and PCI adapter) assume a LOT about their users' networking background--which is puzzling since the products are being sold at mainstream retailers like Best Buy. I was simply trying to build a wireless home network between two computers and share Internet access, and I am disappointed by the experience. Linksys tech support takes FOREVER to respond, and the prevailing attitude is, frankly, aloof and impatient--two qualities I don't want to deal with when I need help installing a company's products. It should be obvious to the tech support people that if someone is calling for assistance, the odds are they DON'T already know the answer to their question. I could virtually hear these folks rolling their eyes when I pressed for more than terse, canned answers. After this experience, I won't be buying anymore Linksys products.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost There
Review: I recently purchased the Linksys WAP/Router/4 Port Etherfast switch and a WPC11 Wireless PC Card. The WAP is tremendous! Setup time was about 5 minutes utilizing their Web based setup tool. The PC Card on the other hand was much more difficult. I am using Windows 2000 and after three calls to the tech support line I finally had a Sr. Tech admit that the product doesn't "always" work with Win 2000. I didn't remeber seeing the word "sometimes" or "maybe" on the box. The recommendation was to keep loading the driver in the hopes that it would take. I loaded the drivers 8 times and finally got it to work. After that it has been performing pretty well. The range is not as great as I had hoped but what I did find is even if it the config tool shows out of range the signal is still there and working, although only at about 500Kbps. Long and short the WAP/Router/Switch is tremendous. The card is not the best solution. I am going to try an Orinoco card and compare the performance.
Rating: 
Summary: What the heck?
Review: Correct me if I am wrong.... Is this suppose to be a wireless LAN card? How come 1) it has Cat-5 cabling w/ RJ11 connectors. 2) Why there are a bunch of Modem standards (e.g. V.90, Flex56k etc)
Rating:
Summary: UNuseable range (30 feet) in average house!
Review: I (and others) can only get about 30-40 feet max. range inside a house. Totally UNUSEABLE, so I returned this too. Does anyone know of an 802.11b that does get 100+ feet INSIDE a house, thru several walls/rooms?
Rating:
Summary: Good bang for the buck.
Review: I bought these cards coz a colleague of mine recommended them and I heard good things about them at practicallynetworked.com.
I have a Windows Me machine connected to a DSL line and a wpc11 card with a wdt11 pci adapter for local access.
My other machine is an IBM Thinkpad T20 with Win2K server running on it and a wpc11 card for wireless access.
I use both cards in the adhoc mode since I live in a small apartment and don't want to spend another 240 bucks
on an access point.
Installation was never a problem, although you may want to reboot your machine after setting up all the details like
channel, SSID, etc, even if your machine doesn't ask you to. I'd recommend using the device manager to configure the card,
never use the configuration utility that comes with the card
(floppy disk #2). It sucks!
I have been able to get about 5.0 MBps between my machines consistently (pretty consistent with practicallynetworked.com's
reviews). The only other product in the market with better bandwidth is Cisco's Aironet, which supposedly gives you 6+ MBps
but costs almost twice as much. And
since my high-speed internet connection is not going to be 5 MBps in the near future, I can use these cards for a while.
Technical support sucks bigtime, tho...as other reviewers have mentioned. One of my cards stopped working and I had to wait for
40 mins to get a hold of a live person...he sent me an RMA form my email pretty promptly and asked me to return the card. They replaced it.
He even told me the best way to get in touch with tech support quickly was call them up after 10:00 pm
PST. The load is low that time of the day, he said.
Some tips while setting up your wireless home network.
- two cards work pretty well in the ad-hoc mode. Don't buy the access point unless you really need to.
- If you use Windows Se or Me as the main computer connected to the internet, you have no choice but to use ICS, which works like a charm.
With this config, use ZoneAlarm as the firewall if you need one. If you're main machine has Win2k Server, you can use either ICS or NAT.
If you use NAT, ZoneAlarm will block outgoing access from other local machines on the wireless network. So either buy ZoneAlarm Pro
or use Tiny Software's Personal firewall which works with NAT, but not with ICS (this is the most configurable and user-friendly firewall I've seen so far
that you don't have to pay for).
- Use Qcheck (available at www.qcheck.net) to measure throughput between machines so you can check out the range and other parameters.
- One advantage of using ICS and ZoneAlarm is that you can run a VPN client to your office network from any of the local machines while the main machine
can surf the web without knowing about the VPN tunnel. I haven't been able to do that with NAT and Tiny firewall.
- Buy the wdt11 if you need to install the cards in a desktop. Don't get any other generic pcmcia adapters. I got one for a good price and
then realized that it was a ISA-Pcmcia adapter and the max throughput it supported was 5 MBps. Of course, I can't go higher than 5 MBps
anyway but why not get a tested card from the same company for a couple of bucks more?
So, overall the cards are good, it's a good deal but the tech support is almost non-existent.
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: A real disappointment
Review: I bought this product and the linksys wireless access point. I tried using them on a Windows 2000 server machine with no luck. At first, I couldn't even get the system to recognize the card (the driver install did not seem to work properly.) After two calls to tech support, they finally walked me through installing the driver manually. Once that was done, I couldn't get the card to talk to the WAP. The first tech agent I talked to seemed to thing it was something to do with the IP addresses even though I told him repeatedly that the software on my computer was showing no link. We went through the configuration and he said everything seemed to be correct. I asked to escalate and at first he seemed reluctant but quickly changed his mind and escalated. The second agent focused right in on the problem but was unable to solve the problem right away. He asked if he could call me back because he wanted to check on something and I said ok. It has been three days now with no call back so I am returning the products and going to try another wireless product. Too bad!
Rating:
Summary: My first review ever, this product deserves it
Review: I am the CIO for a manufacturing company. I ventured into DSL at home (large loft) and wanted to use my home desktop and my work laptop on the same connection. I got the Linksys 5-port hub, and with the built-in DHCP, it worked with no configuration changes to my laptop at all. I was amazed for the price. A few months later I got the Linksys Instant Wireless Access Point and this card. It took a few re-boots, but I am amazed once again. True wireless, high speed, great price. I am a fan.
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