SMC2435W EZ Connect Turbo 11/22 Mbps Auto-Sensing Wireless Cardbus Adapter

Rating:
Summary: lovin' it.
Review: I got this item in combo somewhere else, actually. I've used cards from D-link and Linksys and this one is by far the best card. Although it's not very attractive, SMC has always provided great, reliable networking products. I had no trouble at all setting up the whole WiFi network and the fidelity is great. I would recommend people never to use the XP manager for Wifi for anything. The propriety software is oftentimes better and you get less dropped packets.

Go get one. I got it in combo with the SMC Barricade™ Turbo 11/22Mbps Router with a $$$ rebate and I'm loving it.

Rating:
Summary: SMC is going downhill
Review: I have a wired/wireless combo home network made exclusively of SMC devices. I could not have been happier untill...
I recently tried to connect my Xbox to the network using an SMC2670 wireless adapter. The first one would drop the connection after a few hours and I would have to reboot it. I replaced it and the new one does the exact same thing only it takes him a little longer. I blamed the device and/or topology even though my little SMC2632 would connect my laptop from virtually the same exact location. Lo and behold, I broke the old 2632 and went with the 2435 - what a mistake! I have never seen a more stubborn piece of ... hardware. Actually the card itself SEEMED OK. It was their stupid software that failed in every respect. I initially installed the manager and the driver shipped with the card (V1). It worked, but it would not show me the MAC address. I use MAC filtering on my AP, so that was no good. As soon as I updated the driver/manager combo to version 3.0.0 it all went to hell in a handbasket. The driver would load but the manager would not detect the card! The GUI would just beep and not load. It took me a while to understand that in SMC language that means the card was not found. I tried going back to Version 1 for the manager, then for the driver, then both and everything in between. Cleaned registry, clean uninstall, reboot, nothing. I was ready to eat the card. NO MORE SMC for me...Shipped the FUBAR back - let them keep it.

Rating:
Summary: SMC is the Best Buy in Networking
Review: I have two of these cards running in me and my wifes laptops, and they never run hot, always give a five bar signal strength thru out the house.I can go downstairs to my friends apartment at the other end of the building with no problen. I live in New York City were there are literally thousands of hotspot all over the city, but the highest of amount of electronic interference in the United States and have picked up signals wherever I am in the city. Even when I see others struggling to connect or not getting a good signal. Every part of my wired and wireless network is from SMC networks. I also have two PC with 10/100 ethernet card and a router. I have had zero downtown on my network due to SMC. Very durable, capable, efficient and inexpensive product. I dont know why they arent a household name yet. I am sure they will in time.

Rating:
Summary: smc2435w
Review: The smc2435w is a great card. Even with 128-bit WEP, I consistently connected at 22mbps via the smc2404bwr router thoughout the house and outside on the deck. I didn't bother to test the range any further and am too lazy to try the 256-bit WEP with its fifty-something characters code.

Important Note: I had to upgrade to XP SP1 to install the card.

Rating:
Summary: EZ Connect Turbo a scam
Review: This network card should be called NEVER CAN CONNECT UN-EZ TURBO. From the first time I loaded the driver to the last time I want to load the driver,after speaking countless hours to the smctechsupport, I wasn't able to get this junk working. The connection is very unstable. The 1133 feet connection is a joke. I moved 5 feet from the router and my signal becomes..LOW, and don't even try to move further than that, because you will loose your signal. My recommendation- DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT, and pass this along to your friends.

Rating:
Summary: v3.0 drivers = constant loss of connection
Review: Where's the ZERO stars selection?? -- I was at first satisfied with this card along with the matching SMC2404WBR 11/22 router.

However after upgrading the drivers from 1 to 2 to 3.0 in order to fix previous problems as other posters have stated, I too had numerous problems as enumerated below:

1-In 3 different laptops (2 IBM, 1 HP) after a period of time, the connection is lost and then you are presented with a pop-up stating "One or more wireless connections are available". If you click to connect, it tries to connect, then you are dropped instantly and represented with "One or more wireless connections". (Mind you I only have ONE wireless router ever showing) The ONLY fix is to both reset the router AND to power down (not just warm boot) the notebook. Configuring the router with DHCP and without, with WEP and without, etc.. doesn't fix this. This problem started appearing after 2.0 and 3.0 driver revisions for the card.

2-The card gets VERY warm. In fact, in both IBM's, after an hour or so of surfing, the card literally shuts off. The green light goes off and the notebook doesn't think the card is inserted. You must cool down the notebook and card by powering off for a good 15 minutes or more before it will be redetected upon reboot/reinsertion.

Save your money, go with better quality stuff than this. :(