Rating: 
Summary: Good Range; Poor Support
Review: I have to start with saying that I am pleased with the range of this SMC PC Card. I can work downstairs, while my access point is upstairs, and have no problems--even when the signal is only FAIR or POOR. Doesn't work at all when I am on my cordless phone, but I guess that should be expected.BUT--the card does freeze occasionally on my Compaq, and often on my wife's Dell. It will be working, and then become unlinked (and the computer will freeze 5 seconds, work 5 seconds, and repeat until I reboot--all while the card has stopped working). I e-mailed SMC support, heard NOTHING back. I tried to call, and the wait was over 30 minutes. So I am fairly disappointed with this.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Product!!!
Review: This is one amazing product. This is compatible with any wireless network, and it is the most powerful. I used to have the linksys wireless pc card, but the smc card is much better then any pc card I have ever used. There is no card that works better then this. The software is very easy to setup. I recommend this product for use. I am using Windows XP, and my smc card communicates with a linksys access point and I get speeds up to 11Mbs when I transfer files between my desktop and laptop. I hope this review is helpful
Rating: 
Summary: Did not work for me
Review: The card installed faultlessly, an improvement over other hardware I have tried to install. Unfortunately, it never connected with the Lynksys access point either at home or at work. I called technical support and they suggested I upgrade my BIOS. I did so, but it still did not work. I tried calling the 800 technical support number again and was directed to call a 900 number with a message that you need to be 18 to call. I was a little nervous about calling such a number from work, so I sent email. After about a week I got a reply to make sure that the linksys was set to long preable. It was, but the card still did not work. I am returning the card.
Rating:
Summary: Not Compatable with XP
Review: During installation with an XP operating system a text box opened with a warning that the hardware is not compatible. I call SMCs free help line to discuss this warning but never got less than a 1 hour wait so I used their e-mail support. Their response was to ignore the warning, that their product is not "digitally signed", and to just press continue. I'm returning the SMC card.....Why mess with incompatible hardware. I later found out that products like the Orinoco Gold 11mb Wireless PC card are "digitally signed", are designed for XP, and are approved by Microsoft.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to install on Windows ME, excellent tech support
Review: I spent three evenings trying to install a Linksys wireless PC card (WPC11) on my Sony Vaio laptop, running Windows ME. I found it nearly impossible to install on ME (the install kept asking for .sys files that could not be found on the driver or on Windows ME). Tech support was estimating a 30 minute wait, and I could not find any useful info, drivers or email options on their website. Frustrated, I returned the Linksys card and swapped it for the SMC 2632W (same price at CompUSA). Using the Version 1.29 driver (from the SMC website) I was able to install the card in about 10 mintes on ME. Since my router is a Linksys (which I'm very happy with), I had some communication problems at first between the SMC card and the Linksys router. I emailed the address on the SMC website and within an hour got a response from a very knowledgeable tech support person named Jason. We did some tests for diagnostics, emailing each other back and forth throughout the day. (When I praised him for his responsiveness he admitted that not everyone gets that lucky - so I may actually be overrating SMC's tech support). Basically, the problem was that you cannot default to accessing ip addresses automatically in the Network TCP/IP settings when using this mixed system (at least for my setup). The ip address / subnet mask and gateway of the Linksys router must be specified. Also, it's important to have DNS enabled with the correct address for your region. Once the problem was diagnosed, I was wireless! I get about 300-500 kbits/s going through 3 thick walls. It's about the same no matter where I am relative to the router throughout my 1500 sq ft house. For comparison, I get about 800 kbits/s wired. The difference is not very noticeable to me. Bottom line, Linksys makes a great router but I was very unhappy with their wireless PC card. SMC's card was easy to install, and I had an excellent experience with their tech support.
Rating:
Summary: Works perfectly -- no problems
Review: I got the SMC card and base station and was up and running with encryption in about 10 minutes. I made sure to download the new firmware, just in case, from the SMC website. I've got the base station downstairs and I've used the cards all over the house for two weeks without problems. The first few days it would occasionally disconnect (the light on the card would start flashing), but just pressing the "Rescan" button on the utility reconnected instantly. I haven't had that problem recently, though. The card handles getting out of Stand-By mode really well on my XP setup. It's also good at handling getting unplugged and plugged back in. I haven't tried it with other base stations. One drawback might be that the utility only allows you to put one SSID in the system, which may be a problem if I later need to take my laptop to friends' houses. The built-in wireless in the HP laptop allows you to give a list of SSIDs to try in a particular order, which seems like a useful feature.
Rating:
Summary: Poor or No antenna ??
Review: I have a SMC access point set up in one room, which is only 3 yards from the kitchen (9 feet). I got no signal with the SMC PC card in the kitchen. Once I switched to a Cisco PC Card, the internet is up again in the kitchen with great signal strength. I always wonder whether there is any antenna in the SMC card!!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Signal Strength and Rarely Synced with Linksys
Review: I have a Linksys Wireless Network Access Point. I rarely got the SMC to lock. When it does lock, it does not stay in sync for more than 20 minutes before losing the connection. It has a range of about 15 feet in the same room and about 10 if you go behind a wall. My D-Link card worked flawlessly under the same conditions. I would not recommend it and will likely return it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product
Review: Installation was as snap, and the cards seem to work great so far. I am using a Linksys router (which I would give a lower rating, mostly because of customer support issues), but the compatibility seems perfect. One problem I did encounter was with Windows 2000 Professional. The driver setup did not work with that OS. But I downloaded the driver's from the SMC Website, and those worked fine.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Range
Review: My SMC7004AWBR/SMC2632W combo does not provide adequate coverage of my 1100 sq ft apartment, which is somewhat disapointing. Testing at the office shows the Lucent cards to have much better range than the SMC card
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