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SMC2662W 802.11b 11Mbps Wireless USB Adapter

SMC2662W 802.11b 11Mbps Wireless USB Adapter

List Price: $99.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Performer
Review: I bought this for my wireless network which consists of a linksys wireless AP, a linksys PCMCIA adapter for my laptop, plus a desktop system. The distance between the wireless AP and the desktop system is no more than 100 ft, but they are in a completely different rooms. As a result signal strength was always my concern.

Like many reviewers said installation was simple and straightforward (at for win98se). For WinXP Pro, it's a bit tricky when WEP is enabled. Users are required manually entering the 40-bit (or 104-bit) security key. Once the installation is done, I was amazed by how good the performance is. It's virtually having a DSL connection to the second system.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Performer
Review: I bought this for my wireless network which consists of a linksys wireless AP, a linksys PCMCIA adapter for my laptop, plus a desktop system. The distance between the wireless AP and the desktop system is no more than 100 ft, but they are in a completely different rooms. As a result signal strength was always my concern.

Like many reviewers said installation was simple and straightforward (at for win98se). For WinXP Pro, it's a bit tricky when WEP is enabled. Users are required manually entering the 40-bit (or 104-bit) security key. Once the installation is done, I was amazed by how good the performance is. It's virtually having a DSL connection to the second system.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: works great
Review: I had the V.2 version for 1+ year connecting to a Barricade SMC7004AWBR. Easy install and works with both my Laptop (Win2K Pro) and my desk top (XP Home). Good reception if place on top of table (minimal obstruction), bad reception if placed in PC cabinet. I get 80% reception 20ft away w/ one wall in-between.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: works great
Review: I had the V.2 version for 1+ year connecting to a Barricade SMC7004AWBR. Easy install and works with both my Laptop (Win2K Pro) and my desk top (XP Home). Good reception if place on top of table (minimal obstruction), bad reception if placed in PC cabinet. I get 80% reception 20ft away w/ one wall in-between.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice IF it works for you
Review: I had trouble getting this to work with my system, but after unplugging several devices (including a USB hub), I got it to work -- and from what I could see it works well. I have a SMC router/access point, and I was able to get connected both with and without WEP.

The trouble was I couldn't get my system back together and keep the adapter working. SMC Support told me that connecting it through a USB hub is an unsupported configuration, and from my experience I can see why. It was associating, and my DHCP server gave it an IP address, but it never received data. (BTW, the monitor application isn't great, but it was able to give me this information, and I give SMC points for that.)

I had to return the adapter, because it wouldn't adapt to my system. If you have a simpler configuration than mine, though, you may be quite happy with it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Win98 and this device work great
Review: I have been looking to go wireless for months. I reviewed the reviews on Amazon and other sites. I made the decision to go with SMC products (and their prices just dropped). I hooked up the SMC7004AWBR in place of a Netgear (LAN only) product and I had internal network connection almost automatically. The setup went smooth. I also hooked up a SMC2632W into a laptop (no special card needed, directly into the PCMCIA slot). I had to download the utility from SMC because the disk supplied was bad. Setup went smooth. Then loaded the USB device SMC2662W to another older desktop. It found the access point after following the setup steps provided. I was cruising the net and very happy.
I can watch videos from the net and play MP3s located on my other computer. The access point is connected to DSL and lan to another desktop. The older slower desktop shows performance drain when other networked computers are accessing files from it. The computers connected range from 200mHz to 900mHz. Plus my kids can do playhouse disney with ease and no wires to run to their desktop. The access point is two walls and 250 feet away from the 2662W and I get 70% and up connection. I am very satisfied and recommend SMC and Amazon and Win98 or newer. Everything has been running about a month. Also downloaded the latest firmware then instituted the access control feature on the SMC7004AWBR and tested it, it worked as promoted. Yet to do encryption feature. Ultimately very satisfied.

Update: I have the wireless network running for over 1 month and it is working great. The DSL modem had two problems unrelated to the network during the 1 month while the wireless and wired PCs continue without a hiccup. The USB device gets much better connection speed than the PCMCIA card. There is firmware upgrade but I have not installed it since all is working fine. Still very happy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works great with Windows 98SE and Linksys WAP
Review: I installed this adapter on a system running Windows 98SE. The adapater is plugged into a USB hub connected to the system. I use a Linksys Wireless Access Point. I have had no problems with the adpater. It receives a strong signal (> 80%) three rooms from the access point where the PC Card adapters get only a 33% signal strength.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than the PCI card model, highly recommended
Review: I own a SMC wireless router, a SMC PCI wireless NIC, and just got this USB wireless NIC. The reception strength is stronger when I use the USB than my PCI at the same location. If you can stand carrying a usb nic with you. USB is a much better option. I need to update the router to the latest firmware to make it stable. SMC should do that in their factory.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Effortless Wireless Network
Review: I've got the complete SMC system- wireless router, this USB adapter for my desktop, and wireless card for my laptop. All perform flawlessly and were a snap to install. A friend bought the same system. He had one problem with installation which tech support at SMC cleared up in 3 minutes. This is a quality company.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great price, simple installation, unbeatable performance
Review: My daughter purchased the SMC2662 for Internet connectivity via my Barricade Wireless Access Point. For once, installation went precisely as documented. There are only three steps:

1) Plug the adapter into the computer's USB port using the included cable

2) Wait until the computer detects the adapter and follow the Wizard instructions to install the driver from the floppy disk

3) Run setup.exe in the \utility\ directory of the floppy to install a utility that presents signal strength and link quality and also supports configuration.

We installed the adapter on two computers - my homebuilt 800 MHz Duron running WIN2K Professional and my daughter's Gateway 500 MHz PIII (also WIN2K Pro). In both cases, installation was absolutely trouble free.

Performance is significantly better than any of the PCMCIA wireless network adapters we've previously tried. From my daughter's upstairs bedroom, all the PCMCIA adapters we tried provided marginal link qualities (< 20%) while the USB adapter consistently ran 90 - 95% on the link quality readout. I think that this is due to the fact that the USB adapter has two external antennas that can be adjusted to match the polarity of the wireless access point antennas. We've found the best results with both sets of antennas oriented at 45 degrees.

We're delighted with the product and I'm seriously considering purchasing another one that I can use when I bring my company laptop home (which has a Cisco PCMCIA wireless adapter card that barely maintains a link 30' away from the wireless access point.) It won't be as convenient to have to deal with the separate adapter on the end of a USB cable, but it beats hoisting my laptop in the air and rotating it everytime I want to load a new page off the Internet (the current procedure to get adequate link quality with the Cisco adapter when I'm in a different room than the wireless access point).


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