Attention Notebook PC Users: Put the mobileback into mobile computing!
Whether you’re atyour desk or in the boardroom, the LinksysInstant Wireless Network PC Card allows you to shareprinters, files, and more anywhere within your wirelessLAN infrastructure; increasing your productivity andkeeping you in touch.
The Instant Wireless Network PC Card gives you thefreedom to work your way, from where you want--lettingyou take full advantage of your notebook PC’s portability,while providing you with access to all your networkresources.
A high-powered built-in Diversity antennameans that you’re covered--at a distance of up to 800feet. And since it occupies only one Type II PCMCIAslot, you’re free to use your other slots for additionalaccessories.
Ready to run in any PCMCIA-equipped notebook PC,and compatible with virtually all major operating systems,the Instant Wireless Network PC Card fromLinksys is truly a must-have for all notebook PCusers.
- 11 Mbps High-Speed Transfer Rate
- Interoperable with IEEE 802.11b (DSSS) 2.4GHz-compliant Equipment
- Plug-and-Play Operation Provides Easy Set Up
- Long Operating Range (up to 120m indoor)
- Advanced Power Management Features Conserve Valuable Notebook PC Battery Life
- Rugged Metal Design with Integrated Antenna
- Compatible with Virtually All Major Operating Systems
- Works with All Standard Internet Applications
- Automatic Load Balancing and Scale Back
- Technical Support - 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week
- Full 1-Year Warranty
Whether you're at your desk or in the boardroom, the Linksys Instant Wireless Network PC card allows you to share printers, files, and more anywhere within your wireless LAN infrastructure, increasing your productivity and keeping you in touch.
The Instant Wireless card gives you the freedom to work your way, from where you want--letting you take full advantage of your notebook PC's portability while providing you with access to all your network resources. A high-powered built-in diversity antenna means that you're covered--at a distance of up to 150 meters (492 feet) inside and 500 meters (1,640 feet) outside. And because it occupies only one Type II PCMCIA slot, you're free to use your other slots for additional accessories.
| 
See a comparison diagram of the different wireless technologies. | Wireless networks are rapidly becoming more popular and coming down in price. Because they don't require cables, you can use the devices anywhere in an office or home, even out on the patio. There's no need to roll out an Ethernet network cable to each room of a house; you can network anywhere--without wires. Outside the home, wireless networking is available in hotspots at coffee shops, businesses, and airports--great when you're on the road and need to get some work done. For convenience, wireless networking is the answer.
Which Wireless Standard Is Right for Me?
Now that you've decided to create a wireless network, the next step is to figure out which wireless standard to use. Basically, a standard is a set of specifications for a device. All devices that follow a specific standard share operating characteristics, such as the radio frequency used and maximum data transfer speed.
For wireless networking, there are three standards to choose from at this time: To learn about the differences between the standards and select the right one for your network, click here for an easy-to-understand chart. |
1 Worked for me - Windows 2000, 4 year old IBM thinkpad
Lotsa folks seem to be having a problem with this card.
Worked for me even with an older laptop and an ancient install of Win2k. Took me 5 minutes to select the right settings. After that I was up and running. I walked around the house with the laptop; signal strength was solid.
I guess this card works well with some laptop configs and not with others. I got lucky.
2 Pain with Win XP (home)
For some reason, the version 4 of this card never worked with my Win XP home edition. The driver Linksys provided would cause my laptop to, at best, to stall and crash at other times. I just could not get it to work. My room-mate also had one (Win XP Pro). The driver didn't cause any problem on his system but he had other problems. For one the card would not find or connect to the access point if it's right next to it!! I would strongly suggest products of other brands as opposed to Linksys (I had a linksys access point which I got rid off!!)
3 Horrendous
Apparently, the dowloaded driver created an MSVCRT.DLL:rtlgetntversion error message which froze my Win 98 machine upon restart. Three hour-long conversations with hardworking Compaq support staff in India and my poor machine remains stuck in some form of safe mode. I await a call from "second-tier" support.
Linksys staff were quick to blame Windows and offered no support.
Buy something else.
4 Frustrations galore
Signal strength starts to drop off after just 10 feet, and the access point seems to randomly lose contact with the internet even when wired connections using the same lines have no problems. Extremely frustrating - you need to reset the connection frequently and on an hp PC with XP, using "repair connection" seems to hang the system more often than fix the problem. I'm in the market for something - anything - else.
5 Fine product, but range of Access Point has disappointed
I have used this product for several years with no problems. I have found customer support to be helpful, available and (usually) knowledgable.
(Linksys wireless access point has also been fine, although I have been a little disappointed about range. We get a low signal (but still usable) at 50 feet. Not impressive, but servicable.)
6 Disconnects
Drops connection at times. ipconfig /renew sometimes works to correct things. Most often, I have to reboot the computer or reboot my linksys access point. I do not recommend this adapter (or for that matter the base access point).
7 WILL NOT WORK WITH WINDOWS NT !!!!!
Although this product is clearly advertised on Amazon.com to work with Windows NT, under which assurance I purchased it, when I opened the box, a flyer card was included in the box clearly stating, "... it will not work with Windows NT. Therefor, if you want headaches and plan to use the adadpter on a laptop running Windows NT, go ahead and buy it.
8 Works with my Win98 - even does WEP - signal strong
I started out trying to use a WPC54GS with my Sony Vaio, but it never successfully connected to the internet using WEP encryption.
The signal range on this card is at least as good as on the WPC54GS, maybe better.
The only reason this product gets 4 instead of 5 stars is that I tried installing the latest drivers from the Linksys website. Everything seemed OK until it was time to reboot the computer, at which point startup failed. I had to reinstall Win98 (unfortunately not an unusual occurrence, recently).
If you buy this product, I strongly recommend using the bundled CD-ROM to install it. A later attempt to update the driver revealed that the online version was the same as the one on the CD-ROM.
9 Worst software support EVER.
This is the possibly the worst-supported piece of hardware that I have ever used, and I have been using computers regularly since the Commodore-64 days in the early 1980s. The hardware itself works just barely decently, but the software support is HORRIBLE. Don't buy this card expecting it to play nicely with Windows XP. XP does not even recognize that this is a wireless card, and therefore you cannot use Window's automatic configuration utility. Instead, you have to use Linksys's own utility, which is a total joke. It can't figure out what networks are in the area (so it's almost totally useless if you want to use it on a university campus, at an airport, etc.). And the software appears to have been written by grade schoolers: it is full of typos and misspellings, and if you try to, say, get help, a error dialog box pops up with a blank message -- all you can do is click "OK" to get it to go away. The sloppiness of the software is downright insulting to a paying customer.
Stay far, far away from this card.
10 Avoid this card & find something else
This card initialy worked fine for me. However as the months went by, the Linksys WPC11 would drop the signal. The connection on this card was so unstable that I could never get a consistent connection to my router for more than 5 minutes. Save yourself the trouble and look for another wireless card.
11 Reasonable hardware, poor software
I use the WPC11 at home with the BEFW11S4 wireless router. The range is acceptable in our small apartment -- good reception up to 15 feet away from the router, reasonable but prone to cutting out up to 30 feet, pretty unreliable beyond 30 feet -- and the router handles two connections simultaneously pretty well.
However, the software, both that supplied with the card and the updated versions from the Linksys website, is very poor:
- As noted by other reviewers, it is very bad at finding hotspots. I have never had the configuration utility find a network's SSID automatically; I've always had to enter it manually. My partner's Mac is always able to associate to a network automatically, so it can clearly be done.
- There is an ENORMOUS memory leak in wpc11cfg.exe, the configuration utility. I've seen it use over half of my machine's available 256 MB of memory, slowing down the performance of all my other, more important applications.
- The configuration utility has a non-standard user interface. For example, there's no "Help->About" menu item that lets you find out what version you're running. This is a baffling omission, because surely the version is one of the most helpful bits of information you can give the helpdesk. It may seem a small complaint, but it's very frustrating to find out you don't know how to make your software do standard things.
- One of the programs that it installs, vanguard.exe, crashes at least half the time when I start up my Windows 2000 laptop. I renamed vanguard.exe to vanguard.exe.bak, so it no longer gets run on startup, and everything still worked. Vendors shouldn't make you run software that doesn't do anything!
Despite these complaints, the card is an acceptable buy if the price is right; it gets the job done, and the software hasn't annoyed me enough to make me buy a different card. If there's a different card at the same price, though, consider the different card very carefully.
12 Easy Set-up with XP, however Signal Range is Awful....
I have come accustomed to Amazon's and or LinkSys' claims that its adapters have this unbelieveable signal range from Router. With my experience with this LinkSys WPC11 Wireless-B Notbook Adapter as well as the Linksys WUSB11 Wireless-B USB Network Adapter is that they do not have the 300 to 400 ft range as they claim. I get dismal signal strength when I have these adapters over 50 ft from the Router. If I dare to go 50ft or farther from the Router, the strength drops to "poor" or just completely drops off.
One aggravating and costly solution to this problem is to buy the LinkSys WSB24 Wireless-B Signal Booster. Though this product is not available on Amazon, I bought mine for a whopping $50 at Circuit City. The furthest successful signal range (or get the "very good" signal readings on my adapters) WITH THE $50 SIGNAL BOOSTER is about 100 ft. The furthest successful signal range WITHOUT A BOOSTER is about 50ft. So this product gets 3 stars for its poor signal range and costly solution to the problem.
13 DO NOT BUY THIS
ABSOLUTELY, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, DO NOT BUY THIS PILE OF GARBAGE. Sorry to shout, but I've never had so much frustration over any company's products like I do with Linksys (with the exception of Microsoft's useless networking hardware). This card often fails to see any active networks, and, if by chance it does happen to see a network, and, by luck you actually connect to one, then don't expect to stay connected. Buy the Netgear or D-Link adapters instead. Those companies aren't dedicated to mediocrity like Linksys and Microsoft.
14 great wireless after setup
Don't even try to setup on Windows 98; you have to have 2000 or better; after that, I have been amazed how well this wireless stuff works; it is as fast as my desktop which is wired to the router (via cable internet) and I am usually out on my front porch or back deck with no problems even when signal strength is low; I also set it up where I can print wirelessly and share files with my desktop; just amazing; I've had this for about a year with no problems others have mentioned about signal fading over time and that person who said they had to be in the same room as their desktop or router- something else is wrong because I have never had a problem after setup and again its still fast with a weak signal; came to this website to buy a second card to get my wife's work laptop on the wireless network since she's always using mine on the front porch; can't say enough; 24/7 support helps; you might get someone who doesn't help a lot initially but find a company these days that has perfect customer support; I got a friend who set it up with no problems in minutes;
15 Seems to stop working:
Based on my own experience with this product, and after having read some other reviews, it seems that this product was not designed to work permanently. I bought the Wireless Network card and router in order to be able to connect to the internet from anywhere in my house from my laptop computer.
I got the product last summer, and it has never had a strong enough signal for me to use it from anywhere on the second floor of the house (router is on the first floor). It claims to allow wireless access throughout an entire house, up to 1500 feet. Obviously, this is not true.
Like others have said, the signal seems to become weaker with time. Currently, I cannot get wireless access outside of the same room that the router is in. The router is connected to my desk top computer; so really what's the point of having wireless access anymore since the only room I can use it in already has a computer with its own internet connection?
I'm currently sitting five feet away from the router. The antennaes are pointing directly at me, and the wireless signal and quality are both listed as "Good: 47%". IMO, this product is pointless, and Linksys should refund all of us.
Do not buy this product, unless you only need wireless access for a couple of months.
16 it works okay, but if you get it working don't touch it
I made a few changes to the card settings in the configuration utility that came with the card. It has not worked since. I changed the settings back the way they were in the beginning. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the software/hardware a half dozen times and I've still got problems. It shouldn't be this hard. There have to be better wireless cards out there.
17 linksys card
Do Not Buy. This card has caused me and my roomate so much frustration, I feel like Linksys should be paying me. Internet service is never constant, and tech support is harder to get a hold of than the president. Don't give this company any more money until they make a product that works.
18 Pretty Good Card - Range isnt that great.
At school there is a wireless network and i always use this card to get on to the network. There are 7 routers, and many places that i have access to wireless. But in some of those places, the card cannot keep a steady connection and the only page it will be able to load is google. THis happens even when the signal strength is good. i dont know if it is the new apple airports that the school has, but im not too satisfied with it.
19 No good
Very weak. I bought this with the linksys router, antenna, and antenna booster. It could not pick up a signal one floor away (< 100 feet). Granted, I am in an old house with plaster and wire lathing. The Netgear card is infinitely superior and saved me from my plan to hard wire the antenna down to the second floor.
20 Linksys Wireless Card
At first, this item worked relatively well and it was relatively easy to install. However, suddenly, from one day to the next, my drivers stopped functioning, therefore, the Wireless card stopped functioning. It has been a burden on my shoulders never working when I need it to work. I would recommend something else, stronger and more durable.
21 Works well
I used this card for over a year now at my home wireless network and at an office wireless network. It was used with the Linksys WAP11. Office has metal framing, but didn't seem to cause interference. It's proven to be a reliable solution for me. I would recommend.
22 Linksys Wireless-B Stinks
I have been using the Linksys Wireless-B Notebook Adaptor for about six months. I never had the reception that Linksys advertised, but it sort of worked some of the time. I thought that I had to use a Linksys card with my Linksys router--it was my first wireless experience. Suddenly it stopped working. It indicated that it was transmitting, there was no internet connection (I still had a hardline connection). Then a few days later, it stopped indicating that it was connecting to the router/network either. Dead in the water. No help from any websites at all, and now from what I have read from other poor souls, the Wireless-B card just poops out suddenly. I wish I had a recommendation from a reliable source on what to buy, but I can tell you that Linksys will never have my business again.
23 Works great, but why did they change the chipset?
It works great in Windows, the signal strength was about 75% even 200ft away (indoors) and I still got a consistent 4Mbps out of it. The setup in Windows XP was as simple as it is for every other Wireless card.
The whole reason I bought the card was because the Prism chipset is supported in Linux. Unfortunately, Linksys did the underhanded thing and changed it in the V4 revision without notifying anybody or changing the model number. Linksys tech support say they have no plans to release Linux drivers either. This is really bad business practise and I hope they change their policies.
24 WPC11 v4 Not Compatible With Windows CE 2.11, v3 Was
While the version 3 of this card was compatible with Windows CE 2.11 for my HP Jornada 680 Handheld PC, version 4 of the WCP11 card is not compatible with Windows CE 2.11. I bought the card (version 4) from Amazon after carefully checking web sites and user groups to confirm that the Linksys WCP11 would be compatible with my 680. I found multiple sites assuring me that the WPC11 card worked with Windows CE 2.11. That information used to be correct. The Linksys web site does not make it clear that the version 4 WPC11 is an entirely new card with a different chip set, a different bus (Cardbus), and completely different software compatibilities than the version 3 card. If one tries to download Windows CE drivers for the version 4 WPC11 card the Linksys download site confusingly offers up the contents of the CD-ROM that came with the v4 card, which do not include Windows CE 2.11 drivers. Nowhere on the Linksys site can one determine that v3 supports Windows CE 2.11 and v4 does not (that I could find in several hours of searching, at least). A phone call to Linksys technical support finally confirmed that the version 4 card is not compatible with Windows CE 2.11 and the version 3 card (available from Linksys but not, I gather, from Amazon) is indeed compatible with Windows CE 2.11. Technical support also confirmed that v4 is not compatible with Windows CE 2.11 and will not be.
25 Perfomance degrades over time
This card worked initially, but over 6 months it had more and more connection problems untill it just stopped working.
26 Enter the world of WiFi
Plug this device into your laptop and you will have Internet access for thousands of WiFi hotspots all over the world. Some you have to pay for, but increasingly hotels and cities are making them available for free.
In addition, you can make your home completely wireless by installing a wireless router and wireless print servers.
All of the parts worked perfectly for me with no installation hassles whatsoever. This is absolutely the way to go.
27 Easy installation, reliable performance, good price
The Linksys wireless adapter for notebooks works great with my home network. It was easy to install and I can move it back and forth between two different notebooks, depending on whether or not my kid is home from college and needs to hook into our cable modem. When he's not around, the adapter can go into another family member's laptop. Overall, a good buy and excellent performance.
28 Don't buy this card
I trust Linksys for all their products except this. I run Windows XP and was getting a Low signal less than 10 feet away. I got this so I can work upstairs but I would get intermittent signals and speeds less than 45kbps(if I was lucky). I returned it and got an Orinoco Gold instead, and it's GREAT, 1.5Mbps anywhere in the house.
29 DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT
I OWN TWO OF THESE UNITS. ONE WENT OUT ABOUT A MONTH AGO AND THE OTHER TOOK TWO MONTHS TO QUIT. CALLED THEIR TECH SUPPORT . WAITED ONE HOUR TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO WAS NO HELP AT ALL. BOTH UNITS SEND BUT DO NOT RECEIVE . WENT TO THER WEB PAGE SOMETIME IT IS UP, BUT MOST OF THE TIME IT IS DOWN. DO NOT BUY THIS CARD IT HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE...
30 OK at first, then took a major dump
2 years ago, bought the WPC11 card and the BEFW11S4 router for my home laptop running WinXP. Worked good at first, but then things went downhill fast.
I think the driver has issues with WinXP. When you install the driver, WinXP notifies you that the driver has not been certified with WinXP. The Linksys manual tells you to click the "continue anyway" button. (this *should* scare you) As my WinXP changed (via automatic and manually pulled in updates), my card became more and more finicky... to the point it is basically unusable.
Current set of problems:
a) dropped connections.. inconsistent on how to solve. Sometimes I boot up and the card can't find the DHCP server and get's an unusable Autoconfiguration IP address.. which you have to reboot (ipconfig /release; ipconfig /renew does not help). Sometimes, I have to completely reinstall the driver. But, then things go ill later that day. Sometimes, the DHCP server is contacted, but no IP address is obtained (though the router says it served one up to the card). Sometimes, when the machine goes into standby or hibernation, the connection is completely hosed, and the card says it can't see any signal whatsoever. SOmetimes you can pull out the card, and reinsert, and an IP will be grabbed.. sometimes not. Sometimes rebooting helps, sometimes not. VERY FRUSTRATING.
b) configuration utility does not tell you which networks are available. I use my laptop all over Stanford's campus, which has several different networks (ie EE building has a different network with unique SSID than the CS building, etc). It would be nice to choose from the network of your choice... but, you have to know the SSID (even though the SSID's are broadcasted). This is a pain.
c) poor reception. On campus, folks with laptops sitting right next to me will get great reception, while my signal strength teeters from 0-10%.. incurring lots of dropped connections. So, I'd get slow response.. plus when remotely logged into some UNIX boxes.. I'd have to completely reconnect. Now, I have a new Dell Inspirion 5100 with a built in receiver.. and my signal strength in my own home blows away my HP with the Linksys WPC11... and the Dell's antennae is internal, which typically reduces reception.
Anyway, my card WPC11 is hitting the garbage can, and I'm spending the extra dough to get a Cisco card. Saving 2 hours a day in reboots, hangs, dropped connections, and driver reinstallations will more than pay for the extra $40 bucks i'll spend on Cisco. (BTW- unless they fired all the Linksys employees and scrapped the Linsys designs, I think it will be a while before teh Linksys/Cisco merger trickles quality into the Linksys product line.
31 Wireless Nightmare!
My housemate had purchased a Linksys wireless router and this card, so I purchased the same one in the hopes that it would ensure compatibility. In retrospect, this was foolish after having seen the problems she had in setting up the router and her card. I attempted to install the card on my Dell notebook, which runs Windows ME. The Utility Monitor icon never appeared in my system tray, and attempts to open the utility monitor file were futile. My first call to Linksys tech support reached a representative (after 15-20 minutes on hold) who just had me uninstall and reinstall the software twice--to no avail. She then told me that the problem was Windows ME--and that I needed to go to the Windows website to update it. The fact that the reason I needed the adapter was to access the internet seemed to escape her.
A couple of days later, after noticing that when uninstalling I received a message that two program files were "locked" and could only be uninstalled after rebooting, I called tech support again. After another 20-minute wait, I explained what I had noticed and asked how to "unlock" the files--which were the same files that control the WLAN utility monitor (which still wasn't opening at all). The tech had no idea what I was talking about. Following several more uninstall-reinstall roundabouts, the tech concluded that the adapter was bad. I know this isn't the case, as I attempted to freshly install my housemate's identical card on my computer, and I had the same problems. It works just fine on her system, so it must be a software glitch.
In sum, I am returning the adapter, which isn't worth the cardbox box it arrived in. I bought the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Adapter (MN-520), and installed it in 10 minutes without ANY problems. I was skeptical of Microsoft hardware, but it proved itself and surpassed wireless "leader" Linksys by far. Stay away from Linksys if you have Windows ME.
32 Signal strength fair -- when it works
I've had a WPC11 ver. 3 for nearly a year. I'm fed up and switching to a new company. Linksys has been my network hardware manufacturer of choice for over 6 years, and this product has dropped them right off my list.
First of all, the installation is finicky. I tried several combinations of Wireless Zero service configuration, the Linksys supplied wireless connection manager utility, and drivers supplied by MS & Linksys. The best installation permutation I found for WinXP Professional was: Wireless Zero service running, Linksys connection software NOT installed, latest drivers from Linksys website. (However, even this was far from an ideal situation, as you'll see below.)
At first things seemed okay. I had to fiddle with the placement of my access point in order to get a signal on the other end of the apartment, but once my monitor was not interrupting the signal path, I was cruising along.
I started to notice a few dropped connections when I was in the middle of playing online games. I quickly discovered that the fastest way to restore the connection was to remove the card, let it sit for a while to cool down and discharge any residual voltage, then replace it. This method worked well for several months. I also fiddled with several installation methods while trying to debug the dropped connections, finally settling for Wireless Zero OFF, Linksys software installed, latest drivers from Linksys website, as suggested by a post from a forum I found through Google.
I then moved and didn't use the card for a few months beyond ensuring that my access point was in a good place to reach throughout the house. (It's in an outside corner on the bottom floor. I get a Low-Very Low signal in the opposite corner on the top floor.) When I started using my laptop again in earnest, good lord was I in for a surprise. Not only did dropped connections become more frequent, I also experienced the following random additional problems, steadily increasing in frequency and magnitude over time:
* Inability to detect access point
* Inability to contact DHCP server (not experienced by any other machine on my network)
* Code 10 - Device Could Not Start error when inserting card
* Complete computer freeze requiring hard reboot
Sometimes I could resolve these issues by inserting and removing the card a number of times. Sometimes if I restarted the computer they would resolve themselves. Sometimes disabling and re-enabling the network adaptor would fix the problem. Sometimes uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers would be the ticket. Most often, some arcane combination of these would work after each individually had not. On occasion, letting it sit for a couple hours was the only way to fix the problem.
At this point I switched to the installation configuration Wireless Zero ON, Linksys software NOT installed, latest drivers from Linksys website, as suggested by a short statement buried in a text file deep in the directory structure on the Linksys install CD and by Linksys support.
So I started contacting Linksys support. What I remember most about my experiences talking with them are long hold times and ridiculous suggestions. One guy tried to tell me "the card doesn't talk to the computer, the computer talks to the card -- therefore you need to contact your computer manufacturer to determine why your computer freezes only when the Linksys card is inserted in the PC card slot." The last woman I talked to told me not to use Windows' "Safely Remove Devices" icon to remove the card -- instead, I should disable the device in Device Manager. Also, I should never insert the card while the computer is on. In other words, she flat out told me, "Our product does not work within the specifications of the operating system and hardware for which it's designed."
Based on this last juicy tidbit from Linksys support, I've switched to a Proxim Orinoco a/b combo card. I've only received it today, so the quality remains to be seen. However, the installation process went exactly as the manual suggested it would, and the signal strength in the corner of the house opposite the access point now gets Good-Low signal. These two indicators are already a gigantic improvement over the Linksys WPC11.
33 I have loved my wireless card!
A good friend of mine encouraged me to buy a wireless card for my new laptop, so I shopped around and chose this one. I spent $10 more than my friend had, but I get a signal in many places where he can't, so I definitely think it was worth the cost! The drivers weren't as easy to install as I hoped, but overall it has been very beneficial.
34 Works well
I had no problems installing the drivers and bringing this card up under Windows 98SE, and had good connectivity with a Linksys wireless router. Some minor complaints: The status LEDs on the card are very dim, especially outdoors; the Link LED gives no indication that activity is happening on the link; and the drivers don't bring the link up at boot time until you've logged on. This means network drives configured to reconnect at login fail with an error.
I have no VPN problems with the V4 card -- I'm composing this review through the standard Windows PPTP VPN for about an hour.
35 WPC11 ver. 4 TOTALLY different from ver. 3
Be very, very careful when buying this card! It is totally different hardware from the WPC11 ver. 3. I thought I was buying the ver. 3 card, which has both linux and wince drivers posted on Linksys website! The ver 4. card is a cardbus (32bit) card with a RealTek chipset inside of it, while the ver. 3 card has the prism 2 chipset and is only a 16 bit card. I think it is very shady and very strange the linksys would market totally different hardware with the same name (WPC11). I very much dislike this buisness practice, hence the two stars. The product works fine in windows, and seems to perform well, but getting it working in wince and linux (which is why I bought it) is next to impossible.
Thanks to amazon's wonderful customer service, I can return these for a refund since I thought I was getting the version 3. Thanks amazon! No thanks linksys!
BTW, as of right now, amazon still lists this as a '16-bit' card. This is not true, it is the 32-bit, cardbus, version 4 of the WPC11 (at least that's what I got).
36 Beware of WPC11 ver 4 PC cards!!
I purchased a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router and a WPC11 PC card.
In short: No problems setting up the router with the default configuration using the CD based setup program. With no security features (WEP, MAC address filters, etc.), I was able to get two wired PC's sharing the same cable modem with VPN connections. Installing the WPC11 PC card worked without so much as a system reboot!
So far, I'm impressed... Until I tried the VPN connection over the wireless connection. Within less then 15 seconds after establishing a VPN connection, the connection was lost! However, the same VPN connection worked when the same laptop was hard wired in the same router!
I checked the Linksys web site for the latest drivers, and to my surprise, the driver that came with the card was (5.158.1001.2003 Driver date 10/10/2003) was more up the date than the one on their web site (Driver Date: 4/21/2003)!
Trying to debug the problem was made more difficult by the simplistic router log files that did not have as much as a time stamp or a way of clearing the file. Nothing on the Linksys support page helped... I then noticed in the stack of useless paperwork that came with the products, a flier that stated:
"The Wireless-B Notebook Adapter, WPC11 ver.4, is a high-performance CardBus product. Therefore it will not work with Windows NT. It will also not work in the following Linksys wireless-ready products:
- BEFCMUH4, Cable Gateway
- BEFDSR41W, ADSL Gateway
- BEFIR41W, EtherFast Cable/DSL Wireless-Ready Router with 4-port Switch
- BEFSR41W-RN, EtherFast Ricochet Router
- PPS1UW, EitherFast Wirless-Ready USB PrintServer
If you need product support for the WPC11 ver. 4, or you want to exchange it for a WPC11 ver.3 which will work with the devices listed above and Win NT, then call Linksys Technical Suport"
I called, and they quickly informed me that this card has some known issue with VPN connections, and I can either try a beta version driver, or exchange the card for a vers. 3!
How can you trust a company that is willing to ship products with known issues like this one? I promptly returned all Linksys products.
37 Why Amazon Delivery Sucks for Linksys Wireless Adaptors
I ordered a Linksys Wireless Router and the Linksys Wireless Adaptor Card on Nov 9. The router arrived in < 5 days. The Wireless Adaptor Card has not arrived. It is the 18th of Nov 8 p.m. w/ an Amazon promise date for the 19th of Nov. What good is a Wireless Router without the wireless card ????
My first and last purchase from Amazon... they said in stock!
38 Works, but very poor range
Specs
-----
Compaq Armada 1750 w/ Windows XP
Linksys WPC11 v3 card
Linksys WAP w/ Signal Booster
I guess I should be happy that this card actually works with my Windows XP laptop given the other reviews, but overall I'm not happy at all with it.
With my laptop sitting on the floor 1 foot from the Access Point (WITH a Signal Booster may I add), I wasn't even getting close to a 100% signal. When I get around 20 feet or so, the signal barely holds itself at poor and frequently drops to 0.
This seems to be a common problem among notebook wireless cards (my PCI cards get very strong, often 100% signals). I don't understand why they can't add an antennae of some sort to improve performance. Right now, I can't have the laptop in any room other than the one that the WAP is in (even then I usually get poor connections) and still get a signal.
39 upsetting
I thought that this would be a good card but I was wrong I couldn't even install the thing I tried everything possible and when I called tech support, he told me that I needed a different card because they were having problems with this card and the drivers on windows xp.
40 Works great in two laptops on two different networks
I've skimmed the other reviews and won't debate whether those that are having problems should be. I haven't had any problems, and all I did was follow the directions when I installed the Wireless B router in my house. I first installed the card on my laptop (IBM TP) and then on my wife's (Dell something or other) without a problem. The only issues my wife has had at home, as she is the one that uses the card virtually all the time on our network, has been not when the wireless was down or not working properly, but when the cable internet service was down. Obviously, if there is no source, there's no wireless.
I took the card and my notebook to a local church who's opened up a coffee shop and has furniture to spread out on. Nobody's there, so it seemed to be a good place to work when I get tired of my settings. They have a wireless connection going, so after checking with a few folks on security issues and buying a wireless security book from Amazon (a book I've only skimmed) I went down to the church to see what happened. Plugged the card into my laptop, turned the machine on, and in a few seconds, the network showed up. No configuration needed! Well, I think the first time, I had to select that particular network, but that was easy. Now everytime I go it just pops right up. I brought it home and it did the same on my home network -- again, no reconfig. I would assume the church's network is faster than mine, but the speed seems roughly the same -- at least web surfing. If you need faster speed, just check out the "G" card.
So, if you buy this thing exclusively to use at Starbucks (or whereever), you should have zero probs. If you buy to use with one or more networks, I can tell you it has worked fine for me. There might be some tricky settings to get right in your computer, but that relates to the wireless network specifically and not the card.
41 Great card
I have used this card in many different locations with many different kinds of routers and have NO problems. At home, I have the linksys wireless routerm and it works perfectly there. I also use the card all the time at coffee shops, and at school with no problems. My only regrets are not having wireless integrated in my laptop as I only have 1 pc card slot, and I don't really like the thing sticking out of the side.
42 HORRIBLE AVOID
Pros: Does this do anything other cards don't?
Cons: Uh, where to start. First of all this thing AIN'T WORKING. It hasn't been working for over a month and no amount of reinstalling of drivers etc will work. I'm an IT professional and I'm comfortable with networks, but this product is flawed. Secondly, when it was working the PERFORMANCE IS POOR. My machine was the nearest to the router in the office - less than 2 metres -- and I regularly got link quality dropping below 50%!!!. Also there were occasional hangs. The other machines got worse. This is particularly annoying when you consider what figures Linksys claim for this POS. In short, HORRIBLE software, HORRIBLE documentation, HORRIBLE support, POOR performance. Get the Netgear MA401 instead because Linksys don't deserve money for this flawed product.
43 WTF are talking about!?
The Linksys series of products work great and I would only use these consumer products. The people who can't get it to work are just F@#$king stupid!! :oP
44 Avoid unless you buy only Linksys
I already had a Cisco 350 card and was familiar with its setup. I also already had a Toshiba PCX5000 cable modem.
The Linksys router will not work properly in a mixed setting, that is, if you mix brands of routers and cards. WEP becomes almost impossible and the internet gets dropped very easily even though you have a good quality signal. The card's client controller often
cannot adjust to the settings you assign to a profile and this is
simply frustrating when compared with how much easier set up is with other routers.
When you use Linksys products exclusively things work out better,
things are even better when you use only wired connections or only one wireless card.
45 Raving over wireless
As I wasn't sure what I needed to set up a wireless LAN to include a desktop PC with WIN 98, another desktop with WIN Me and a laptop with WIN 2000, I used the 800 number to Linksys for their recommendations.
Their choice was mine, and both this notebook adapter and the Wireless - B router used as the "mothership" were a snap to install and worked perfectly. The instructions on both items were excellent and easy to understand and fulfill. How refreshing. Highly recommend these items and the 800 number to Linksys.
46 robertp
The notebook adapter interfaced with my laptop with no problems. My issue with the wireless adapter is the receiver is not very sensitive and it keep drooping the signal from my wireless hub (from one room to another about 30 feet from the hub). Not sure you can do much better. If your buying check the sensitivity of the receiver. Good luck
47 Not a Practical Network Device
I've used this product with an 802.11b Linksys Access Point for almost a year. My laptop would sometimes FREEZE such that I had to perform a hard reset (remove all power including battery) - very frustrating. It was easy to demonstrate this phenomenon by attempting to transfer a file larger than 200MB. Signal strength might effect frequency but FREEZEing still occurs at the best strength. In my opinion this product is not a practical network device. I've since returned to using ethernet cable 99% of the time. My advice is to spend more for products that work well (we use 802.11b at work - no problem) or wait for the technology to mature.
48 Poor reception and speed.
I recently purchased this notebook adapter with the Linksys BEFW11S4 router. Setup was simple for both the router and he network adapter. However, the signal was poor. It would spike, and then drop to zero. Often times I couldn't connect with the router at all and when I did, download speeds on my broadband connection were worse than a dial up connection. I tried switching through the different channels to no avail. I have cordless phones, but they were not in the room or in operation when I was trying to setup my connection. Needless to say, if they interfered when not in use, I wouldn't want to keep this product anyway. I didn't bother to call tech support. Instead, I packed it up and sent it back. I replaced it with a Netgear Wireless G setup for about $20 more for both the router and adapter hoping to find a better solution. To make a long story short, the Netgear package was just as easy to setup and worlds better with signal strength and download speeds. In fact, I can't even tell I am on a wireless network.
49 Avoid this Linksys product
I have networked with WIRES and through ROUTERS for quite a while without a problem. Then I thought I would go WIRELESS with the relevant Linksys router and the WPC11 PCMIA wireless adaptor.
Now I am sure there are many lucky people for whom installation panned out OK. But my own experience is that this product is too bad to have been released to the market, even in Version 4.
Basically, installation and connectivity ...... If you want to spend a couple of days fiddling without success, this is THE product.
50 Rocks dude....
NO Problems installing on HP Notebook
signal is 100% best
51 This card is terrible!!!
I bought this card for my new dell inspiron 1100 laptop b/c we have a linksys router. This card is terrible. My laptop is 2 rooms away from the router. Signal barely got above "low." Worst though is that the signal was dropped every 30 seconds. Literally. I called linksys support and received little help. I wound up calling 2 times and both times the service tech told me that she was emailing "firmware" for my router and that was the problem. (Neither tech followed through and actually emailed the firmware.) This was after they changed numerous settings on both my router and pc card to no avail. ...
52 BEWARE THE VERSION NUMBER
Linksys uses the same number WPC11 for all of their cards, and then updates the version number. Their support only goes up to version 3, but they are selling version 4. The newer version contains an entirely different chipset, and is not compliant with linux.
53 Great at first, not good for long term
I've had this wireless access card for about 2 years... and I don't know whether its age or design, but now it fails every few hours and has to be disconnected and reinserted.
The installation was clunky and troublesome, but once I got it up and running it worked well until recently.
54 Great wireless card
I needed this product for my laptop which I used inside my "very wired" university campus.
This card is a definite winner, just plug-and-play with my Sony Vaio FXG210. The setup is simple and the driver interface is very user friendly.
Plug this into your PCMCIA slot and wait for the OS to detect it. Then run the installation program from the CD. My only complaint was that the software sits in your system tray and can't recognize when the card is no longer in the slot.
The card worked beautifully - it tries hard, even picking up a signal from a wireless access point across the hall.
4-stars
55 online support [is bad]but PC card ok
Linksys systems are not bad and fairly easy to set up. But if you have an "older" PC with e.g. WIN98 you better upgrade to WIN 2000 or else the card won't work. Online customer support took 2 weeks and ONLY 3 emails!, sending me around the world to different support centers, just for me, myself and I to come to the conclusion that they could not help me in the first place. Tech Support is lousy and they do not get back to you when they say they will. Being a nosy-body and a technician by trade I finally, after numerous trials and errors, ended up installing WIN2000 as a last resort. After that the card was plug and play (the wireless 4-port router just lit up and went to work...). Why didn't the T-Support advise that in the first place. I don't know... But all in all Linksys does have good products but has to work on their support. And for what I'm using this get-up it's more than I need for my home environment.
56 Will Not Work with Window XP Home Edition
Do not buy this card if you have Windows XP Home Edition. I would recommend Microsoft's wireless adapter card if you have Windows XP. It works great, it has never disconnected, and always has 'Excellent' strength.
57 Terrible
I bought this card and within 24 hours of receiving it, I was contacting J&R for a RMA number.
Installation was fine with my Windows XP laptop, but using it was another story. Anywhere in the house, even two feet from my wireless router, there was no signal. This was odd considering I had 4-5 computers at seporate ends of the house successfully receiving full wireless-B internet access. So, I gave up and for the heck of it, slid a Netgear card in. Well, it worked great! I could be anywhere in the house and receive near-100% link-quality/signal.
If you're in the market for a card like this, I would highly recommend going with it's Netgear counterpart.
58 not good
I owned the WPC11 wireless card with BEFW11S4 EtherFast Wireless-B Access Point and I don't know where to begin! After having myself and co-workers waste a total of 16 damn hours trying to figure this thing out, I returned it to the store. We all work in IT so it shouldn't be that hard right? Well, Linksys Reps were no help, claimed they didn't know why it didn't work, and sounded like the just learned what a computer was three months ago. I've given up on wireless until someone can guarantee that it will work with XP and the setup is under 10 minutes. I'm giving it one star because i have to.
59 It doesn't work with HP6000 with W2K
Link never up. After call tech. support, Linksys told me that the Texas PCI-1420 card bus controller is not supported and will not be supported soon.
It should list the limitation as part of spec. []
60 Works great, no problems
I got this to interface with the Linksys 802.11b WAP; the laptop is a Dell Inspiron 5000 series. Setting up the card was a breeze, since Windows XP autorecognizes the card. The only information you need to enter is the WEP key (if you are using one), and it is going. Reception is fine all over the house, and I don't see any difference in speed when compared to plugging directly into the DSL modem (DSL maxes out at about 600 Kbps, and the 802.11b can handle 11 Mbps--order of magnitude over the best DSL can do). There is also little effect on the battery life, which can be an issue for some cards. All in all, it makes wireless easy and efficient.
61 One good - one bad
My first Linksys WPC11 card failed completely on the second day of use. I was able to return the card and get a new one. The new card has been working fine for about a month.
62 Cool Technology
What is there to say about this product except that it works as advertised and it was easy to get working. If you are reading reviews you are thinking about a wireless network. This and the Linksys router have me connected to the Internet on my laptop, and I can finally move around the house or even outside, and my connection follows me flawlessly.
Right now I am 75 feet and 3 rooms away from a closed bench where I house the wireless router. The meter that tracks the signal strength and link quality both register 20% (vs. 100% if I am at the bench), yet the Internet still flows quickly and smoothly. My wait times are not noticeably longer. I'm a happy boy.
Set up took no longer than plugging in the new PC card. I went through the config motions to make sure everything was right but all the default settings were appropriate to get me going.
I like the product.
63 Great card, unless you have version 4 and need to VPN
Bought this card, installation was a snap, and I was using it within 10 mins. Everything is cool with the normal internet, if that's all you need to do, I'd give it a 5.
However, there is a known issue with the newest version of the card and my vpn software (cisco 3.6). it doesn't work, i opened a support case w/ linksys and was informed that it was a known issue. Just to make sure I didn't have a lazy tech, I called back, opened a new case, and got the same answer.
64 Works perfectly.
Highly recommend this product!
Pros:
*Installs in minutes.
*Excellent documentation.
*Very good range.
*Absolutely NO problems with this product.
Cons:
NONE
65 Works well until it drops the signal
In short, this card installs easily and has pretty decent range. One critical problem that took many tech support calls to resolve: Signals are randomly dropped every few hours and you typically need to restart to reconnect. I have read now that this problem is somewhat common.
The issue is incompatibility with a number of laptops/ethernet controllers/PCMCIA controllers etc.
I have IBM T20/Win2K running a Texas Instruments CardBus controller. This card DOES NOT work with that controller. Period. Therefore, it will always be "flaky", ruining an otherwise fine performance. RMA (return) may be a problem since you typically get a replacement, which will not work by definition.
Other cons - the card overheats...
66 Horrible Support
I'm sick of always getting book reading foreigners as tech support. Give me a break.
The woman I talked to had me reinstall the card, doing exactly what I did the first time. When that didn't work her solution was to reinstall windows.
Genius.
Using windows 98 by the way on an older compaq laptop by the way.
67 Not having much luck
I purchased this card (V. 4) as part of a kit that also contains the BEFW11S4 V 3.2. It was a little tempermental at first but worked "fair". After a few weeks however, it went downhill from there. It started getting time outs when trying to load web pages, then refused to connect to the internet at all. I've tried everything from formatting the laptop, reinstalling the firmware on the router to reinstalling the software on the laptop (several times). Once in a while it works; MOST of the time it doesn't work at all. All the while my wired pc works great. I've also been into computers for several years and have quite a bit of experience with networking. Very disappointed as I've had linksys products before and they worked very well.
68 Random Disconnects
Among the 4 wireless cards in my mixed home network, the Linksys WPC11 has proven to be the least reliable. It's had a tendency to lose connection with the base station (Microsoft MN-500) at random intervals (typically 1-2 drops every 6 hours).
Bear in mind, this is a sample size of one. It may simply be a faulty unit.
Overall, I've had good results with Linksys products.
69 works great close by
This product is easy to install; just make sure you follow the directions (you can't just pop in the disk without reading the brochure -- there are different instructions for XP than for 98/Me/2000). It works. But there is no way it works 492 feet away. One story up and three rooms over is about it. The USB adaptor model that one uses for PC's (you can use that for notebooks too, but that kind of defeats the purpose) has a much greater range.
70 Linksys are great products
I have used Linksys for about 3 years now. When I installed my BEFW11S4 and WPC11 cards, no lie, I was up and running in about 15 minutes and this included configuring WEP, SSID and MAC address filtering. In fact, If you used the defaults, it almost installs and runs by itself. Of course, if you want a secure wireless network, configure the above. I really recomend these products to everyone. I have not had the need to call tech support so I'm not sure how good they are. I have been using Linksys's wireless equipment for about a year now.
71 Good for as long as it worked
Easy to install and use, but didn't last very long. Stopped working after a year or so. Same problem with the Linksys wireless access point. They aren't built to last.
72 Don't buy this product
I've spent 3 days and have talked to over 6 different Linksys support people and still don't have a resolution to my problem. I'm no neophyte either... I've been working with computers since the early 80s. This is some of the worst support I've encountered in my career.
I've also purchased Linksys BEFW11S4 so you can add this product to the "don't buy" list.
I just hope I can get a refund.
73 (4+) WORKS LIKE A CHAMP
I bought and installed this and a Linksys BEFW11S4 EtherFast Wireless-B Access Point + Cable/DSL Router with 4-Port 10/100 Switch and it took me all of 45 minutes to install. The software worked fine on my Win2000 desktop and the card and software worked equally well on my old Gateway Solo WinME laptop. The only disappointment is that in my 1930s two story house, there are several places, including one where I have a desk, that the connection is weak to non-existent. However, on the whole I have no real complaints. Now, my wife and I can email and web browse from our own computers in separate rooms (or outside) at the same time using the same cable connection and that's what I wanted.
74 Works great with my Laptop, No problems yet!
I bought this card 8 months ago and have had the best success with it. I use it on my laptop to tap into my main computer's printing and cable modem. So far so good. I bang it around a bunch and take it from location to location. Highly recommend!
75 Getting carded never felt so good
Nice versatile medium priced card. I now travel between the homeworld and school (where I teach) attaching to two different access points.
76 Easy to setup and use.
Worked right off the bat with the Linksys wireless access point. Easy to set up.
77 Simple to use and excellent
Easy set up, works all over the house. No problems
78 Two Good, One Bad
I really wish that I could yell accolades for this product. 2 out of 3 though does not make this possible for me. I bought two of these and a Wireless Router(Linksys) and had a client up and running in 15 minutes, awesome. I bought one for my house and didn't work and had to send it back. The support people were decent and were quick to give up and say it's the hardware. All in all the Linksys Wireless system is an awesome thing ONCE it is set up.
79 There are better values
I returned this card the same day I received it. It worked right from the start but the signal strength was horrible. I had a weak signal no more than 30' from linksys WAP. Bought 3com XJACK instead. Much better.
80 Nice card.. if you have a small house
Hi,
I bought this card because all my other equipment was Linksys and I figured this card will work perfect with it!
It did, and still does, there are just some areas in the house where I don't have reception with the card....
Overall a nice card, but the reception is not very good. The USB one is much better with great reception all over the place.
But of course that one has a wire on there and all so it's a trade off.
81 Welcome to the Linksys/XP Nightmare
I only have one thing to say about this card. Don't do it! I purchased it last night and spent the better part of 4 hours trying to get a decent signal from even 3 feet away from my BEFW11S4 access point. Needless to say, after much frustration and de/reinstallation of the different drivers and "tweaks" from Linksys regarding XP, I finally gave up. As an IT professional, there is only one word to describe this product - JUNK! One more thing, the manuals are absolutely abysmal. I am returning it today and purchasing a Netgear card instead.
82 Don't buy it: Low Range & Propensity to Lock up
I rarely write reviews, but I feel the urge to warn other shoppers after my bad experience with Linksys wireless PC cards.
I am an XP/Linux/networking/hardware expert with 5 years of experience. The Linksys card is durable, looks great, and is a breeze to install under WinXP and Red Hat Linux. However, the card has two critical faults: (1) the range is poor and (2) sometimes the card refuses to connect to the WAP.
The second problem makes this card unusable in my opinion. The card either fails to find the WAP after booting or drops the connection mid-session and does not recover. I haven't found a solution to the problem, but I've seen several postings on the web about the same issue.
I've had a great experience with other Linksys products (hubs, routers), but the WPC11 version 3.0 is junk. SAVE YOURSELF THE TROUBLE AND BUY A DIFFERENT WIRELESS CARD!
83 Toshiba users read
I too was skeptical when I read the reviews that were written. However I decided to try anyway, and I did have problems. My Toshiba Satellite Pro 4340 would not recognize the card at all. I downloaded the latest drivers for the WPC11 from Linksys website and everything. I almost gave up and returned it.
Instead I tried one last thing, I went to Toshiba website and downloaded the newest drivers for my PCMCIA slot for my computer.
Then installed the card and it worked great. So the point is, Toshiba users, get the latest drivers for your PCMCIA slot before you return it. Works as advertised, little less signal rate than I hoped, but it works just fine.
84 Easy setup, signal strength a bit disappointing
Setup was flawless using the Linksys quick start guide on my HP notebook running Windows XP. I am somewhat disappointed with the limited signal as the distance from the wireless access point (Linksys BEFW11S4) increases within the house. Also, I have a number of 2.4 ghz telephones in my home and every time they ring, it causes this wireless card to lose its link with the access point. Usually requires manually reconnecting. This happens more often when the signal strength is showing 'low'. When the phones aren't ringing, this card does perform well. (Follow-up: Changing the wireless channel solved the ringing phone problem.)
85 Worked Great, Easy to Use and Install
Despite other reviews, my experience with this product was very easy. The reason for the difference is I have Windows XP, so the plug and play immediatly recognized the product and literally 1 second later I was surfing the net. The only thing I dislike about my wireless internet is that the distance advertised is greatly exaggerated. They say 300 feet but I can go into the next room 20 feet away and start to lose connection. Other than that I think this is a great product. As the years go on this kind of hardware will improve.
86 Woo Woo
This thing was a piece of cake to install and get running. It took me about 5 minutes to unpack the wireless router, plug it in, pop this card into the laptop, and be on the net. I bought the cable modem/dsl router (used it as a WAP instead of a router with no problem), signal booster, usb wireless point, and pcmcia card. I haven't installed the USB, and have yet to set up security. So if you drive by my house, stay off my network!!! I get range out to the corner of my neighbors' yard through 4 internal walls, one brick wall, and a bunch or air. It was snowing when I was wandering around the neighborhood with my laptop in my shorts and boxers, but I never regretted a second of it!
87 easy to use, great signaling
I bought this PC card along with the Linksys WAP11 wireless access point. It took me less than 10 minutes to set up both unites. I had, however, to call the customer service just once, where they were very helpful and got the thing work in just few minutes. I use the PC card at both home and work and it picks the signal with no trouble. I highly recommend this product from Linksys.
88 BAD CUSTOMER SUPPORT
After 2 calls to India and three emails requesting a good driver. I give up. Their support is so bad that I was unable to convince them that the last two emails that they sent me did not have an attachment. I guess arguing with the customer is there new strategy.
89 Great wireless card
I use this access card along with Linksys access point. Both are amazing, the PC card picks the signal with no trouble. It is just great. I believe that Linksys is a very reliable brand. Highly recommended. Go for it.
90 Works...for a while!
I purchased this network card about a year ago. i had it running on Windows XP systems with no problem, before any XP drivers came out. it is simple to use and simple to set-up but after you have it for a while, the internal circuitry starts to go. Windows will begin to have problems with it and you will need to unistall and reinstall it many times. Eventually, as with myself, it just stops working. You recieve a Code 10 error and nothing works in attemps to resolve the issue. Linksys stops supporting the card as soon as a new version comes out and then it goes out of warranty and are stuck. The tech support I spoke with said to me that they don't create any drivers after a new version of the card comes out and that I was out of luck and have to buy a new card.
91 Easy to setup, use
My setup:
* BEFW11S4 (router) connected to Road Runner cable modem
* WPC11 (PCMIA card) connected to a Dell Inspiron Laptop 1Ghz 512 meg ram
* WUSB11 (USB wireless network adapter) connected to a generic desktop with a 1Ghz AMD Athlon/256 meg ram.
I had no problems setting this up and getting it up and running quickly. I used the quick start guide and never had to consult the CD for the full user's guide. The process (I used Windows 2000) was very simple (and is documented in the quick install guides for the appropriate products):
* First, ensure that you can communicate with the router with wires (see my review on the BEFW11S4) and connect to the internet, etc. (Note: you have to enable wireless communication on the router before it will accept wireless access)
* Next, install the software from the CD (the first time you do this, you should probably not use WEP encryption and use the default SSID of 'linksys'...but you must use the same WEP encryption and SSID as the router uses)
* Reboot, and before the desktop comes up insert the PCMIA card
This worked for me and I had no trouble at all getting communication between the laptop and the router. After this was working, I changed the SSID and enabled WEP encryption. I read a comment somewhere that said they had to uninstall their other network drivers, but I did not. I can take my laptop to work, for example, hook up with an ethernet cable with no problem.
92 Great!!!
Works great. Easy to set up. No problems here.
93 Works when I need it to
I don't see anything wrong with this product. I plug it in to my computer with Window's XP and I'm good. Sure signal strength varies but that's the transmitter's fault. When I manage to get great signal strength I've got no problems. If you're looking for a wireless card this one is the way to go.
94 Too Hot to Handle
I am using the Linksys WPC11 Wireless PC Card in a Toshiba PentII 400 laptop. My laptop will lockup when using this card. I believe it is due to overheating w/ the card. When I remove the card, I can access Windows again, but my connection is lost and I need to reboot. The laptop has never hung using any other applications or devices.
The card gets extremely hot. I do not know if this is due to the card overheating itself, or my laptop heating up the card. I intend to try this in a newer laptop soon.
As for the performance of the wireless card, it works pretty well. I get a signal in every room of my apartment (its not that big though), and even with a 20% signal, I get good speed to the internet still. The drivers were easy to install and configure on my Windows2000.
I have heard that some other cards have a much better antenna than this one, but this one seems to do the trick for me.
95 BEWARE if you use NT!
I purchased this just a couple of weeks ago. Thought the price was good and the reviews made me decide to buy.
That all changed once I tried to install the PC card in my NT laptop. It would not install no matter how many times I tried. The documentation for this product is weak at best. If you simply follow the documentation you see when you open the box it will be wrong for NT. However, they don't tell you that until you call them for support. That brings up phone support.
I literally spent over 7 HOURS with their support reps. And still do not have the card working. After a certain business hour they shift calls from Irvine, CA to a call center in the Philippines that is useless. If you have to call tech support make sure you are talking to someone in Irvine. Though, after a couple of hours on the phone with two guys from Irvine the card still didn't work. They ultimately told me they thought that the card was bad. Amazon.com was wonderful and shipped a new one the same day. However, the new card was no different from the original and still wont work. It has all been returned to Amazon.com for a refund.
The wireless 4-port router was easier to install but still required a 45-minute call to tech support to get up and running.
In short Amazon.com was great but Linksys on NT is worthless. Independent of the OS this is a poorly documented product with tech support people that are trained from a script and not able to solve your problem if it varies from that script. This review is based on multiple calls speaking with several different techs (using the term loosely, as I don't want insult professionaly trained technical support reps) in Irvine and the Philippines.
The hardware itself looked first rate and seemed very durable but I can't speak to any functionality. I am out over 7 hours of my time and very disappointed with the whole Linksys experience.
Stay away if you run NT.
96 Easy Setup in XP (V3)
After reading many of the reviews here, I made certain I had a V3 before begining. You can't specify V3 when ordering, but Amazon did send V3, it is printed on the outside of the box too. I had it set up and going in less than 10 minutes on an XP laptop, not a hitch. I did have the network set up already, with a Linksys Acces Point and an Orinocco silver card in the laptop. The problem with the Orinocco card was that I could not get it to work with the Encryption (wrong number of bits?). But I got the encryption working right away with the Linksys card.
I give it only 4 stars though because the Throughput (measured with Qcheck) is only 2.5 MB, compare with 4.9 on the Orinocco, even when right next to the acces point. Strangely though, walking to the other end of the house gives weaker signal , but same throughput!
97 No problem...works great
I bought the card and the BEFW11S4 Router at the same, had them installed and running in less than 20 minutes. Did not have to make any configuration changes. To put it to the real test I started up the VPN software that I use to connect to my work office and the connection was established with no problems.
98 did not work, returned it
Although it installed flawlessly and worked fine with the Linksys base, it made my laptop (Toshiba Tecra 8100, WinXP) freeze at random intervals (at one point, every 15 min or so).
99 Stay far away if using with a Toshiba
Purchased to use with a Toshiba Satellite S173. Computer locked up anywhere from immediately to around an hour when using the Linksys WPC11. After doing a little research (which I should have done in the first place) it turns out that there is a history of trouble with this card and Toshiba laptops. I like my Linksys wireless router, but the network card continued to cause problems and has since been returned. My advice is to stay away from this card if you have a Toshiba laptop.
100 Great once setup, but linksys service [is not good]
The reason why I gave this card 4 stars, not 5, is because of Linksys' service. I called them few times during weekday and weekends for some setup help, got through the busy tones after redialing their number 20 times, and then I was on hold for about 45 minutes to an hour before anybody came on the phone. That was their shortest hold time.....other times I just hung up. I almost had returned their card and router at one point in time....once this card is properly setup with your wireless network, it works great....i have a 4400 sq ft house with a basement and back yard, and my laptop works great anywhere, including the basement and the back yard....just wish they make their technical support qaulity better and hire more people.
