Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit: Router is good, PCMCIA card is bad.
Written: Dec 15 '03
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Pros: Router is fantastic, documentation well done.
Cons: PCMCIA Card worked for about 15 minutes then never worked again.
The Bottom Line: Avoid the Linksys combo, go with the BEFW11S4 router by Linksys instead.
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| rice75's Full Review: Linksys W11S4PC11 Wireless Kit |
Wireless networking is geared toward making your PC more mobile which is ideally suited for a laptop PC. When setting up a home network for my parents, I decided to go with a different set up from the one I have at home (a NetGear wireless router coupled with my HP laptop’s built in receiver) and I choose the Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit (W11S4PC11) combo. I choose this for two reasons: One, the laptop I would be connecting to the network (my sister’s Compaq Presario 2100) didn’t have the built-in wireless receiver. Two, I had no previous experience with Linksys before but I knew they made quality products. Unfortunately my experience with this system didn’t work out they way I had hoped.
The combo is made up of the BEFW11S4 router/wireless and the Linksys WPC11 PCMCIA card. Being sold as a combo is a great way to get a home network up and running, but it’s crucial that everything works together. Sadly, that’s not the case with the Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit
Installation of the router was easier than I had expected. The ISP being used at my parents house is the SBC/Yahoo DSL service. DSL service differs from cable service, so setting up the Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit involved a little more than my NetGear system. The router needed to logon to the SBC/Yahoo service, which is handled by PPPoE. As with most routers, all the setup is handled by an Internet browser. I was using IE 5. After a couple menus of setup and entering information such as the username and password of the DSL account, I was up and running. The router has both the wireless access and 4 LAN ports, so I first connected the main PC to one of these ports and I was up and running in a matter of a few minutes. I definitely give Linksys kudos for the excellent setup guide, it led me in the right direction with just a quick glance of the included instructions.
The card, on the otherhand, is a different story all together. Included with this combo is the Linksys WPC11 laptop PCMCIA card. Installing the card is simple and is done in a matter of minutes. On boot up the laptop instantly recognized the card and installed the needed drivers. Setting up the parameters for jumping on the wireless network is easy. Setting the TCP/IP settings to automatic detection allows you to jump on the wireless network. The signal is picked up immediately and the laptop is assigned an IP address by the router. Sometimes. It seems that it would take forever for the laptop to recognize the signal from the router and even longer for an address to be assigned. Once an IP address is obtained it seemed to take forever to load a web page. According to the network properties, it was sending packets at almost a 10:1 ratio to receiving packets. I tested out the connection to the wireless router with my laptop and I didn’t have a problem. It took entirely too long to load even a minimal web page. Since I could easily access the router through both the main PC and my laptop, so the only variable here would be the card. There weren’t any updates on Linksys’ web page, so fixing the problem proved to be impossible. It’s unfortunate, too, because this would be a perfect system.
Because of the problems with the PCMCIA card I can’t give my full recommendation for the Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit. I give it three stars, all on the strength of the router. The router is an excellent piece of equipment but the card just doesn’t measure up. Doing a little research on line uncovered that there are some serious problems with the card that have yet to be fixed, so I would avoid the Linksys Wireless-B Network Kit until this problems are solved.
Related reviews:
Netgear Wireless Router WGR614
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 124.99
Driver Availability: Windows only
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Epinions.com ID:
rice75
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Member: Tony Rice
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 72
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Resident Evil 4 will own your soul. Do not resist.
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