0 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:
DisappointedMonday, April 04, 2005
I have always purchased Linksys in the past, routers, switches & hubs with absolutly no trouble. I read all the reviews here, some good, some bad. I took the advice of some who said not to use the setup CD and to download straight from the web. Another said to setup the router and not let your "know it all" 19 year old set up the laptop adapter first, among many others. Well, I set up the wireless router WRT54GS but could not get a clean install of the software drivers not even from the web. Finally I got it to install and work. It worked fine as a router with a Ethernet (wired) connection to my laptop. Then the fun started when I tried to install the Laptop Adapter WPC54G. I can't begin to explain the hours and pain that was spent. No matter what I did or how I did it, the adapter was active and appeared to be ok BUT it would not communicate withe Router. I tried every configuration I could. And, Yes, I called Linksys. Even at 3AM they are there to help you .... RIGHT! I called them 3 times, was on the phone for almost an hour each time and GOT NO WHERE. It might have been faster if the people spoke english as a first language!. Bottom line, Linksys said there must be something wrong with either the adapter or router, or both and left me hanging. THANKS. I bought both pieces back to the store and returned them. Would have liked to exchanged them for another Linksys set but, the experience was very very BAD. I purchased the D-Link DI-624 108Mbps G Wireless router and the D-Link DWL-G650 108G Laptop adapter. In 20 minutes I was up and Running. Lesson Learned? ... If you buy Linksys or anyone else, and it does work out of the box (if you followed instructions), consider it dead and don't waste anymore of your time trying and trying to make it work!
1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Strong Connection and good range.Friday, April 01, 2005
This wireless network adapter is durable and provides a great connection with relatively little configuration. I have installed this card in IBM T30 and A20 models as well as HP notebooks. I had a dlink card on my last computer that had less than half the range it claimed. The instalation was simple and intuitive enough for the technologicaly challenged could get wifi connection easily. I have yet to find an incompatible network.
This card isnt the cheapest (but its not the most expensive) but the price is worth the durability and knowledge that you are connected with a quality product.
Go wireless with the WPC54G today.
2 out of 2 people found the following review helpful:
WPC54G v2 & AESTuesday, March 15, 2005
After purchasing the WPC54G v2, I was disappointed to notice that it evidently doesn't support AES. I'm using the Linksys Network Monitor v2.1 (also tried Funk Odyssey), and driver v6.0.0.18.
Linksys' website has the product data sheet for this card, which lists security as: WEP, AES, TKIP, 802.1x. The user guide, that came with the card, as well as the user guide posted to the website, speaks about AES as a selection. And the Network Monitor application, prompts you to choose, "from either TKIP or AES," only that AES is not listed in the drop down list.
From my reading posts, it appears that v2 doesn't support AES, while some other WPC54G versions do. The problem is that Linksys makes it very unlikely that you'll realize this before purchasing the card. Between their website, userguide, software, as well as all their retail channel partners listing AES as a supported protocol, you're destined to purchase the card and be disappointed once you attempt to configure AES.
After contacting Linksys, this is the clarification I received, "...AES is supported with the previous version which is WPC54G Version 1. There is no driver yet for the version 2 wireless-g adapter that supports AES as on the moment. Keep posted from the website for any updates with regards to the device. You can go to www.linksys.com..."
This doesn't really manage expectations, though, and leaves it likely that others may potentially experience the same confusion.
Bad Install with Dell Inspiron 8000Friday, March 11, 2005
I echo a former review about problems this card with a Dell Inspiron computer. Had problems with the install~Couldn't open the card's utility feature after several attempts. Incidentally, I am using a Netgear MA521 card with a Linksys WRT54G router on another Dell Inspiron (5000)computer, and that seems to be working fine.
bad experienceTuesday, March 08, 2005
The card works very poorly with my Dell Inspiron 8100. It seems it has a compatibility problem with the Texas Instruments bus that is used on all Dell laptops. It keeps dropping the connection with my Netgear wireless router. Also the driver does not integrate well with Windows XP - I had to install it several times. I would advise against buying it.