Cisco-Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter by Linksys
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Digital camera reviews of Cisco-Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter
Digital camera Review: Ahh the conveinience....
Summary: 5 Stars
This gets five stars for ease of installation, design, speed of data transfer, and most importantly, lets me go where I want to with out my trail of wires following me. Inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, have not yet found a place around our 3 acre property, including in the barns where I can not access the internet.Digital camera Review: An Installation Odyssey
Summary: 4 Stars
I ordered the Linksys router WRT54G through Amazon, along with its sister PCMCIA card WPC54G for my Gateway Solo laptop. My goal was merely to broadcast the Comcast Digital Cable access throughout my 2,000 square feet home at the faster 802.11g speed. I wanted to surf the Web from the comfy couch in the TV room or a cozy chair in the living room...my choice -- no wires involved. I have never installed a network, so a lot of the literature, reviews on Amazon, and other sources of information were lost on me: I simply went with the big name brand at a reasonable price. I installed the router in about 20 minutes using the accompanying CD. Lights were flashing, and the hard connection to my laptop recognized the router. Flipped up the 5 inch rabbit ears and seemed to be in business. All-in-all pretty seamless. I had high hopes that I'd be wirelessly surfing soon. This was pretty exciting to me, as I am still running on Windows 98SE, and worried that I might encounter difficulties.
The installation of the sister WPC54G PCMCIA card didn't go so well. Again, I ran it instruction-by-instruction from the installation CD, and while the Linksys software seemed to install OK, the procedure tripped up when attempting to install a program called 'Odyssey' from a firm called Funk Software, Inc. The program kept looking for drivers, requesting that I insert the Microsoft Windows 98SE disk in my drive. I don't have a Microsoft disk, but a Gateway OEM version that apparently has Microsoft Windows 98SE, but not the specific drivers that Odyssey needs. To sum up, I spent several hours, all told, surfing Microsoft, Linksys, and Funk Software knowledgebase pages, downloading stuff, booting and rebooting my laptop, before giving up and going to bed frustrated. Tried again in the morning, and somehow, I still don't know how, hit the right combination of set up protocols that suddenly energized the PCMCIA card. I went from zero to eighty in no time, and my profanities turned to whoops of joy.
The best online help came from Funk Software, where I found a customer service technician at the help desk who answered my emails. His solution: as I was running a simple home office network (not a corporate enterprise solution) and I didn't employ a RADIUS server (whatever that is?) I shouldn't need Odyssey, so gave me good instructions on how to eradicate it from my PC. Still not entirely sure what Odyssey purports to do, so perhaps I'm missing some benefit?
Nonetheless, the router and card in my laptop are communicating nicely throughout the house...no connections further than 3 walls and 150 feet. Speed is excellent. I stepped through the setup of what I suppose is a rudimentary firewall (clicked a box marked 'Firewall enabled') and turned on WEP 128. I hope to figure out WPA next, and I hope that Odyssey is not part of this set up, but in the final analysis I am pleased with the product, happy I didn't have to pay a consultant, and sending this report to Amazon wirelessly from my comfy chair!
Experience of user: None.
Total install time: 5 hours
Biggest problem: Firmware for WPC54G card missing drivers for Win98SE.
Observation: If TVs had come with this infernal alphabet soup of protocols (WEP, DHCP, DNS, IP, etc.) we'd all still be listening to family radio hours!
Digital camera Review: An easy-to-use Wireless card
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this wireless card because I wanted to hook an old laptop up to the internet and it had no ports to do so. I also wanted the best deal, and I found this. Once you open the box and boot your computer, all you have to do is insert the CD and follow the instructions. With Windows 98, make sure you have a Windows CD in case it cannot find drivers for some reason and need to manually point them out the Hardware Wizard. After the instructions tell you to insert the card and Windows finds the driver, everything is good to go. The ease-of-use of the wireless software is phenomenal, and it auto-detects the settings of the networks you are trying to connect to and makes connecting that much easier. This card picked up as many wireless networks in my area as the integrated card on my main laptop, and it keeps connections very well. Overall, I am very satisfied with this product.Digital camera Review: Another Linksys Quality Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used/serviced several different brands of network equipment over the years, and the Linksys products are by far the best in the home sector. The cards have all the latest security features (WPA2-AES), and top speeds (54Mbps). True, you can get their GS-series 108Mbps SpeedBooster card; but you'll also need a GS router and have all GS equipment on the network. If you have one system with a non-GS wireless card (like most found built-in on laptops), SpeedBooster gets disabled for compatibility. These non-GS cards are really your best (and cheaper) bet.
I picked up two of these for my parents' older laptops once they got a DSL package that included a free wireless router. I wanted a "set it and forget it" product that wouldn't be hard for them to use. No problem for these cards. My Dad takes his out when not needing the network or Internet to save on battery life. When he does need a connection, he just pops it in and in seconds he's on-line. Can't get easier than that!
Digital camera Review: As Simple as It Should Be
Summary: 5 Stars
All I can say is:"True" plug n' play installation in less than 5 minutes
+ No issues since install =
A great solution for getting your wireless network up and running.
I have not had a single issue with the product during installation or since, found the product documentation to be excellent, and am very happy I went wireless.