Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A good wireless card, once you are past its setup
I telecommute full-time from home and decided to get wireless network gear to allow me to work from anywhere in my house. Based on my previous good experiences with their other products, I decided on a Linksys setup. Setting up the Linksys wireless router was a snap, but unfortunately this "matching" PCMCIA card was not nearly as easy to get working. Windows ME: My first few installation attempts were on WinME. The driver installer, on the provided Linksys CD, had problems locating the necessary files it needed to install. The CD was either missing files or the installer was looking in the incorrect folders. Either way, pretty sloppy. Downloading the latest drivers from linksys.com fixed the installation problems. However, I was unable to get the card to make the wireless link with the access point. Windows 2000: Frustrated, I switched to the OS I should have installed it on in the first place, Win2k, where the drivers installed with no problems. However, again the card was unable to link with the router. User Manual: The manual supplied with the card, at first glance, looks promising. Flipping through, you see quite a few screenshots of their configuration utility (supplied on the CD) and a lot of text. However, I was disappointed and confused once I dug in. The text did little more than label the different configuration utility views and properties in each screenshot, providing little or no explanation for what the setting does and why. I could not even locate an explanation for what the LED's on the PCMCIA card indicated. The most frustrating aspect of the user manual was the section I needed the most: troubleshooting. The troubleshooting section was a whopping two pages (not front and back) and consisted of three questions. Linksys Technical Support: Linksys has 7-day tech support, so I was able to contact them on a Sunday, which was nice. The quality of their technicians is what you would expect - good and bad. I first spoke with a guy for 30 minutes who was little help and, as I later found out, actually gave me some incorrect information. I called back later and managed to get a hold of one helpful technician that took literally 2 minutes to determine the problem and step me through fixing it. I also asked a few basic questions that the manual couldn't answer and the technician acknowledged that the user manual was "embarrassing" and "missing critical setup information". Summary: The card works great! While the router sits in my basement, I tote my laptop around the house and am able to work in the living room, back patio, on the 2nd story, etc, and the download/upload speeds are as fast as my desktop, which is cabled directly to the router. Despite the problems I had, I would still recommend the card. If you have trouble configuring it, I would seriously advise skipping the manual and just calling Linksys tech support.
Rating:  - Late with XP drivers, terrible range, non-existent tech supp
I've had this card for over two months and have had a troublesome time with it. Let me first explain that I am very technically minded and can install and uninstall most things without anyone's help. Not with this card. It took a tech support call to copy over driver files manually into a Windows sub directory--why didn't the install program do this? Next the actual usage of the card: Range was less than desirable. I had to be sometimes within 15 feet of the WAP box to get a decent signal. Also, whenever the computer went into hibernate or standby the drivers didn't seem to "wake up" correctly, and I had to unplug the card and re-insert the card to get the system to activate the drivers. So I eventually got used to these tricks including resetting the Linksys WAP box at times, and re-inserting the card--but it wasn't annoying. The signal strength made me wonder how this can ever work at the advertised 300 foot range. Even still, life with my wireless card was OK, but the really bad part was upgrading to Windows XP. Who would have known that a company that has so many wireless cards, routers, bridges, and related networking products wouldn't have time to work with MS on a major new operating system. Kind of reminding me of the excuse-ridden days of my youth, Linksys web site gives a excuse for the driver delays, stating that since XP is so new they are working at breakneck speed to get their act together. Any major device manufacturer ever hear beta testing programs? Apparently Agere/Orinoco and SMC, which are officially XP certified at the time of XP's release, and others did. But Linksys won't say when their new drivers are out so I am stuck with a wireless PCMCIA card that I can't return and a Linksys techical support number that won't return my phone calls, or connect me live to anyone. Please note--and this is surprising--even trying to get through to Linksys' sales number required a day turnaround. So after all this fuss, I decided to order an SMC card instead. I called SMC (surpise, they answer their phones) and said that XP compatible drivers are downloadable from their site. All in all, I'm not giving a bad grade to Linksys as a company. I'm quite satifisfied with their product range and their innovations. But this wireless WPC11 card must get better range, and get drivers quick (they state by mid-November--let's see when that happens). As a company, they should invest in more people to answer the phones.
Rating: - I don't know what the fuss is about - Great Device for the $
There are a lot of reveiws complaining about getting this device working. I've successfully installed it on WinCE, Win98, WinME, Windows 2000 (All service packs) and on every beta/RC build of Windows XP right up to the final release. I put down most of the problems described as user error, configuration error or a lack of technical know how on networking/os/wireless technology. Wireless cards from all manufacturers are a little more complex than other devices. The range is not as great as my CISCO Aironet, but at a fraction of the price what do you expect. Linksys support is not the greatest but when i bought my BEFW11S4 Wireless 4-Port Cable/DSL Router i needed 128bit encryption which was not available at that time and within an hour they emailed me a beta version of the firmware that enabled this functionility. With an infinite amount of differing system configurations i think users often expect far too much from technical support. It is impossible for any firm to validate every possible system configuration. I've seen Cisco Aironet and Lucent Orinoco have just as many issues. Its also worth noting that 2.4Ghz cordless phones can have a negative effects on 802.11 networks. Enjoy,
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