Linksys WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook Adapter Reviews

• Great Piece of Equipment

  
  By A14JBDSWKPKTZA on 2003-01-28
  This is a review I wrote for the router hub and the PC Card. I had already submitted it for the hub and am submitting it here also for the card. The entire review is relevant to both parts of this system. One thing I forgot to mention was that I had called Dell to see what they had available,and they were using a mix of Linksys parts as well. So I decided to go direct with Linksys equipment. Here is the review as submitted.
  For an item that was not even available in Best Buy and the other major stores when I first bought it from Amazon, and that I received it in only a couple of days is knowledge enough to make this a winning situation.
  What about hookup and use? Another 5 star performance. If you have never hooked up a wireless network before, take the advice of the quick start guide that comes with the unit, and use their included CD. They strongly recommended that you use the CD rather than manually configure it. Having seen the problems that some others were having with setup, only to be resolved (some of them) by exactly following the directions, you can see, that is the best way to go. The setup using the CD is about as easy as learning how to open a refrigerator door for the first time. Shutting off what they tell you to shut off, and turning on what and when they tell you to turn things on, results in a delightful install. Not even one glitch. The CD determines your internet connection, then it determines your system configuration, asks a few questions, and bingo you are up and running.
  I install the PC Card for laptops as well, and that is just as easy to install. Within 10 minutes your surfing the web from all over the house. No Wires !
  Pertaining to the speed issue: Remember when I discuss this that their is a difference between the speed inside of your network, and the the speed you are connecting to the web. I got 54MBps while I was in the same room. When I went into the living room, it went to very good, instead of excellent, and gave me 37MBps. Let's get a perspective here. A standard modem works at 56kbps tops. This router works at 54MBps that's megabyte not kilobyte. Their are 1024 kilobytes in every megabyte. So 54 Megabytes per second is about a thousand times faster than a standard modem. When hooked up to a Verizon DSL basic connection, you are running at a maximum of 700 plus kilobits on the download end, and 100 to 150 upload speed. I know I am getting specific, but the point I am making is that it does not matter what the connection speed you are running at any given moment, based on how close the base unit is to the PC card. What is important is that your internet connection will never even approach the speed capabilities of this router, so don't hassle yourself with any concerns over varying connect speeds of the wireless network.
  Broadband hooked up to this wireless setup flies. As soon as you click on a site, it appears on the screen.
  Faster connect speeds are important when communicating across the network, between machines, like when backing up drives across the network. For that reason, the faster N designated wireless is a little bit more expensive, but a lot faster than G. To go a step farther the ultimate in inter network communications, a hard wired gigabit or 2 gigabit connection rules. So the ultimate is to use an N connection for your router, which is your connection to the slower web, and use the faster N to a portable device, then hook up a gigabit switch, to run your hard wired connections between your devices in the network. I guess I am getting off on a tangent here, so back to the device at hand, which is still the most popular selling adapter.
  Anyhow, just for reference, hooking up a DSL, or a broadband cable modem that was supplied by Comcast, with the Windows XP operating system, installation was as near automatic as can be. They do supply instructions when using Windows ME, 98 etc, that includes one more step than XP.
  All in all this is a 5 star piece of equipment. Follow the directions exactly. It is easy. Hope this helps. This is the reason why I have a website, to help people with their installations. Did you know that as much as 30 percent of the wireless network products are sent back, because people give up trying to install them? Let's all save Amazon from the return product blues. I am here to help.
  
  

• Intermittent disconnection

  
  By A2SRVDDDOQ8QJL on 2003-10-21
  I will echo some of the positive things people have written about this product. I bought both the Wireless-G adapter and the Wireless-G router (v 1.1) from Linksys. I have used Linksys in the past and been quite happy with their stuff. In this situation I was pleased as i could be with the setup. I read the instructions mostly so that I would know what order to proceed in and i would say I was surfing wirelessly with no noticable loss of speed in about 10 minutes.

  I can walk around my small NYC apartment with an "excellent" signal. Of course I'd expect that because there is no more than one wall between the AP and the laptop in any given poin in the apt.

  That is where the good news ends. The bad news has two flavors,

  1) the card gets extremely hot. I'm talking about too hot to touch and I'd guess it is up around 130-140 degrees F sometimes. It will heat up the entire left side of my laptop.

  2) it disconnects sometimes. I wish i could find SOME pattern but it just seems to disconnect completely at random. it will disconnect when I am right on top of the router. Sometimes it will just come back on its own and sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't I'll reboot, sometimes that works, sometimes not. I have checked some of the more obvious things one can find online regarding this issue and have found no real help. The driver and firmware are both up to date.

  Aside from those two things i was a little bit troubled that the default configuration, even if you're all Linksys, is VERY vulnerable to attack. In fact, the default configuration has security that reminds me of what Microsoft thought security was when they were turning out Win 3.11. Suffice to say you'll be spending some time configuring your network if you don't want to be sharing it with everyone in the building.
  
  --
  
  Update
  
  I did eventually figure out that 2.4Ghz phones will interfere with the signal that this wireless router uses. If you have a 2.4Ghz phone or anyone in an apt near you does then that could be your problem.
  
  

• Requires XP Wireless Zero Configuration Service be enabled

  
  By A2UH6RP3E3P98E on 2003-02-16
  I installed the WPC54G with the WRT54G Router on a Sony GR-390 with Windows XP. The Router configuration went well using the included disk. After going to the Linksys site and downloading the most current driver for the PC card, the PC card installation seemed ok. The problem was that the PC card showed inactive and would not communicate with the router. I ran msconfig and checked the services tab and did not have Wireless Zero Configuration on the list. This is required to configure the wireless connection. Sony (and probably other OEMs) elected not to start this process in the Windows Registry. This is most likely the problem many XP users are having. It can be corrected by editing the Windows Registry to automatically start WZCSVC, but this should not be attempted unless you know how (if you must ask how, you should not be trying it). After making this change and using the Linksys knowledge base article ID KB10934338 mentioned in another review, everything works well.
  
  

• Not plug and play.

  
  By A2JJ1TEBGCLUS6 on 2003-03-03
  I bought this card with the hopes of an easy installation on my W2K notebook. Getting it to work with a non-Linksys wireless hub took several frustrating evenings. The documention that came with the device and on the Linksys web site was absolutely useless. The installation software had conflicts with the firewall software so I had to remove both the firewall and linksys software and reinstall the software. Getting the 128 bit WEP configuration to work required asking a consultant for help. Apparently, you must enter the long security code versus the network access password. This obscure nuance was not obviously noted in the manual or on line documentation. I'm sure it is a little more straight forward if your network is all one brand but getting this device to work in a mixed brand environment was difficult and I should have listened to the consultant and bought the NetGear card.
  
  

• "G" WiFi

  
  By on 2003-01-19
  Great Card. I combined this with the (finally delivered) WRT5G wireless "G" router.
  Pretty easy setup. Made an icon on my laptop desktop for easy network admin of the card - works pretty slick.
  Speeds are just as fast as if I plug in the old hard wired Linksys card (cable ISP)and about 3X as fast as the old 802.11B WAP I just removed. Seems to get much better signal as well (was getting 37% at 100 feet now 97% at same distance).
  WEP security was pretty tricky - direct typed in the hexidecimal instead of using the passphrase generator (shudda worked?)
  The bonus is I can take this on the road and still connect to "B" airport/hotel/starbucks WAP's.
  I'm excited that I upgraded, my wireledd laptop is just as fast as my desktop and fileserver.

  Rich in California
  
  

• Did not work with Compaq/HP and WINXP (until BETA DRIVERs!)
  By A2LNC0BV9YPE13 on 2003-03-20
  As already mentioned by other reviewers, this card does not work on my Compaq Presario 900 running WinXP. The laptop freezes with 100% CPU utilization as soon as the card is installed. I've tried all the suggestions ranging from the latest drivers, disabling various items in the device manager and configuring WinXP zero config. wireless service. All to no avail! Customer support was sub-par, with the representative basically reading off a script. If you own a Compaq or HP laptop, please save yourself the trouble and DO NOT buy this until someone releases a fix!

  !!UPDATE 4/1/03!!: This is no April Fools, Linksys has released a beta driver that did work for my Presario laptop. It can be found on their driver download page. In small print it says: "If you are having problems using this Adapter and you have a Texas Instrument CardBus Controller, please download this driver here."
  I needed to install the driver in safe mode, but now it's smooth surfing!
  
  

• dififcult setup with Airport base
  By ATR3G8HJ3ICLD on 2003-03-24
  Installation was easy on HP laptop running XP (Home), got immediate detection of signal from my Apple Airport Base Station (I have been successfully running Airport network with several machines in my house for more than a year). Although the Linksys Wireless-G was clearly talking to the Airport, it wasn't getting a correct IP or DNS via DHCP. I was saved by another poster here who wrote: "Getting the 128 bit WEP configuration to work required asking a consultant for help. Apparently, you must enter the long security code versus the network access password. This obscure nuance was not obviously noted in the manual or on line documentation." Reset the WEP password on the Airport, specified that in a control panel on the laptop and everything worked. Compared to installing a wireless card on a Mac, this was ridiculously difficult. But it now works. ***** for performance, great range and * for setup, which averages to *** rating overall.
  
  
• Works nicely!
  By A2O2H07UY598UP on 2003-02-12
  I installed this card into an old Sony Vaio PCG-F160 laptop - i.e, a 300mhz laptop running at it's max memory of 192mb! I just upgraded to Windows XP SP 1 on it. (And believe it or not, XP runs at a decent speed even!)
  I also use a WRT546 wireless-G broadband router/WAP, and 2 WMP54G cards for my two desktops.
  I have had very little trouble with the card's functionality - it communicates very well with the WRT54G router. It is nice to be able to take the laptop anywhere in my home and have my broadband internet connection ready at a moment's notice.
  Pros of the card and software:
  *The setup was REALLY easy!
  *Network connection appears to be stable and quite reliable
  most of the time
  *Speeds are MUCH FASTER than my wired LAN when I use Ad-Hoc
  mode on my router to transfer files between my other pcs.
  *Linksys actually knows how to buld their products
  with a sense of aesthetic STYLE. Have you seen the other
  brands out there? Some are downright "FUGLY"! Not
  everyone cares about appearance for their wireless
  components. But *I* do.

  Cons:
  *The edge of the WPC54G that sticks out of my laptop is raised and prevents me from using my RJ45 wired lan card without removing the wireless card first. Not that I need the wired connection any longer. Still, HIGHLY annoying!
  *If you currently have a 2.4 ghz cordless phone, you may need to buy a 900mhz, or the new 5.8ghz cordless phones. When I or my significant other use the 2.4ghz phone , the wireless network is SOMETIMES, not always, disrupted momentarily, although reconnection is quickly reestablished - about 5 seconds or so - it seems to be a problem only when initially taking the phone "off the hook". Once a conversation is in progress, the network seems to be stable once again. Also, there are 11 channels you can select from when setting up your network on the WRT54G router(and on the notebok card too of course), ranging from 2.412Gghz to 2.462Ghz. I curently use channel 6, which is 2.437Ghz. Maybe using a different channel would alleviate, or at least minimize, this annoyance..?
  ---
  The software takes a little getting used to at first. The "WLAN Monitor" software is very simplistic to use, but the WEP encryption/passphrase aspects had me confused for a little bit. I still have a lot of experimenting to do with my new wirelsss-G network, but so far: AWESOME!
  
  

• Depends on Operating System
  By AQXFP4OG8YYA9 on 2004-06-08
  Linksys is a very good company, however they are having a lot of problems with the software for this card, from what I hear the WPC54G works fine with XP, however with older operating systems such as Win 98 or Win Me you have a large chance of receiving installation errors. Like other users I have found support to be very unhelpful, they either don't know about the problems or refuse to acknowledge them. They will blame your operating system even thought they are having reports of problems from many users. Check out www.dslreports.com/forum for updates on problems. I'll be returning this one for another brand, its a shame what could be a great product is unuseable.
  
  
• Well, it hangs my XP Professional Notebook
  By on 2003-01-30
  I have a Dell Inspiron 4000 running XP Professional SP1 and while I did eventually get my new Wireless-G network up and running (with the LinkSys wireless-g router), I could not reboot my notebook with this card in it.

  XP would start the boot process, but hang. Only when I removed the card did XP continue with its boot process. So I figured I'd put the card back in after XP booted (seemed reasonable), but it 're-hung' XP all over again.

  Very disappointed in the quality of the drivers for XP Professional even tho' I get the XP warning about the driver not being WHQ 'certified'. Oh, and the LinkSys website had no updated drivers (and dead links to same) to help me either.
  
  

• Great range. Easy Set up. Small problem with signal loss
  By A1NIU57ITV4Q6N on 2003-07-25
  I'm using this card with the associated Linksys WRT54G wireless router and a Sony Vaio PCG-GR250 laptop running WinXP SP1. The range is good/low at 35Mbps at 120ft with 2 walls. The installation took 3 minutes using Windows Zero Wireless configuration. The instructions seem to be updated by Linksys judging from previous posts on this card though it still needs work. Pass phrase is not supported by XP and if you manually input the 26 hexidecimal WEP 128 key what is not stated is that the key can have letters from A-F, numbers 0-9 and some symbols. A new driver is available from Linksys than the one that was shipped with mine and install is painless.

  I did have a small problem with the signal cutting out every 3 minutes. This problem is because of IEE 802.1x authentication being enabled by XP and not the fault of the card. Every time I changed the SSID XP defaulted to enabling the 802.1x authentication. To change the authentication: Control Panel>Network Connections>rt click Wireless Network Connection select Properties. In the new window, tab to Wireless Network. Under the Preferred networks pane select your wireless network and hit the Properties radio button. In this new window, tab to Authentication. The "Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network" box should be unchecked.

  IEE 802.1x authentication is for port controlled server authentication and is not needed in most home networks.

  For security, under your network Properties window you should have WEP 128 enabled and the Network Authentication should be "Open". Also, change your SSID to something obscure and do not broadcast it.
  
  

• Excellent wireless notebook adapter
  By A4YKB7L4OMJVE on 2004-03-23
  The Linksys WPC54G notebook adapter is a treat. Mated to the Linksys WRT54G wireless router, G-speeds of 54MB/sec are possible. I found signal strength to be excellent throughout my house which spans 2 floors and 2,000 square feet.

  The adapter itself is quite small and unobtrusive. It requires a PCMCIA port on your laptop, and very little else. Using the zero network configuration feature of Windows XP, I was able to connect and surf in a matter of 10 minutes. If you have a different Windows Operating System, I suspect that you will have to spend a bit more time installing drivers and adjusting configuration settings, but there is no reason for the whole setup to be complex. As always with Linksys products, I recommend throwing away the installation CD that comes with the product. The automated installation does nothing that can't be accomplished even by the novice. Furthermore, you don't get all the networking software installed by default which will, in many cases, cause your perfectly working network to cease functioning.

  My Gateway notebook gets quite hot near the processor area, but this heat is NOT transmitted to the Wireless adapter. The card itself cannot heat up becuase there is nothing inside it that causes heat dissipation. Rather the heat referred to in other reviews here may be because the card is conducting heat from the processor core.

  The adapter is physically pleasing with a neutral grey antenna patch and the blue Linksys logo clearly visible. Two LEDs show power and link status, but are largely unnecessary.

  In Wireless-G mode, this card has greatly enhanced my wireless surfing experience. Pages load with a snap, and games exhibit no lag whatsoever. Furthermore, my wireless-b hardware seems to be positively affected as well. Connections are more stable and signal strength has improved.

  I fully recommend this product, especially if your infrastructure already uses Linksys components. Smooth installation, powerful feature set, and perfect pricing, makes this a piece of hardware not to miss!
  
  

• Seamless Set-up and Operation
  By A23SB6VGGB9E8U on 2003-06-10
  Being something of an electronic gadget klutz, I admit to having trepidations when I ordered this piece of equipment and the Router. I had never set up a network -- to say nothing of a wireless one.

  I could not have been more surprised. Following the advice of the quick start instructions and set-up CD included in the Router package, I had the network up and running in less than five minutes. Not even a glitch.

  The notebook adapter was installed and recognized the signal. In what seemed to be no time, I was wirelessly surfing the web with no apparent loss of speed compared to my wired connection.

  To sum it up, this is a great product.
  
  

• Excellent range. New security features. Easy set up
  By on 2003-07-28
  I bought this along with the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I have a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows XP. The setup was easy using the included instructions and Windows Zero Wireless Configuration. New drivers (ver3.20.21.0) are available from Linksys. The range is excellent in my house, at about 100feet through 1 wall the signal strength is good at 48Kbps. Using it outside I can connect at 11Kbps at about 200 ft from the house. The provided instructions are horrible for configuring security other than WEP 128 for WIndows XP.

  Linksys supports the newer more secure WPA protocol and I highly recommend using it since WEP 128 is almost useless to prevent specific attacks against your network. You should use WPA-PSK (Pre-Shared Key) with TKIP encryption on the router and on the properties of the wireless card. Though Linksys has supported WPA since May you won't find anything about how to configure it on the card and router in their knowledge base. The Key can be any letter, number and a few symbols from 8-63 characters long. You can also set the Group Key renewal 0-99,999 sec. I set it to 0. Under the IEEE 802.1x authentication set the EAP type to PEAP and uncheck boxes for "Authenticate as computer when information is available" and "Authenticate as guest..." unless you use these features. Also, change the SSID and don't broadcast it and use MAC filtering to lockdown your network.
  
  

• Major disappointment from a once-sterling vendor
  By on 2004-05-01
  LinkSys has been my NIC vendor-of-choice for years now. I could always depend on being able to drop a LinkSys card into my Linux machines and have them "just work". No brains required.

  This one doesn't. There's absolutely no Linux support at all, and compared to Motorola's corresponding product, the software is very poorly packaged. Both units are Broadcomm-based, which appears to be much of the problem. To get them to work (I'm ASSUMING I'll be able to get the LinkSys card to work, since I did gt the Motorola one running) you have to use ndiswrapper - a shom that allows the Windows drivers to run under Linux. Both my Motorola card and the LinkSys card come with Broadcom software for use under Windows. It's pretty pathetic stuff. However LinkSys wraps the Broadcomm software with stuff that's even more confusing to work with.

  Plus, I'm not happy that the last LinkSys NIC I bought died after about 3 weeks. I'm wondering if the Cisco takeover hasn't ruined them.

  At any rate, next network interface I buy has a penguin on the box or I don't buy it at all.
  
  

• Does not work in PowerBook G4
  By A2YA0IGALEMF1U on 2004-09-28
  I bought this card because I'd read it worked with Apple's Airport 3.1 (and later) software in machines like my 15" PowerBook G4. Unfortunately it appears that something changed for the ver 2 variant of the WPC54G card, and it isn't recognized by Apple's software. I should note that Linksys does not claim that the card is Mac-compatible, so I don't fault them; I just want to alert other Mac owners who might be considering this card.
  
  
• If it works, then you're fortunate, and if not, you're sunk
  By ABB3NALRRBZXD on 2004-09-20
  I had some good experience with Linksys routers, and I thought I would give them a try in upgrading my home office to a broadband router that also had Wireless G technology. I have an IBM Thinkpad running Windows 2000 Professional (NT based) that I wanted to use in other parts of the house.
  
  Routers are usually easy to install since I stick with the basics and there is really no software to install.
  
  The notebook card software installer 'glitched' during the initial installation, and then refused to recognize its drivers, preferring instead to be referred to as "other device network controller."
  
  The goal was to completely uninstall the notebook adapter card, and then reinstall it so that Windows would recognize it and link it to its drivers. Sounds easy? No way.
  
  I went into a hell of inadequate documentation and tech support (Phillipines) that is friendly, available, and knows how to read the basic installation manuals like informed users. After an hour or so of having me repeat all the same things I had tried in the previous two hours by myself, they basically said to take it back where I bought it and have them install it. There does not appear to be any second tier support available and the linksys web site is an electronic brochure.
  
  I ALMOST got it to work, after spending a couple additional hours or so (Sunday from noon to 10 PM in all) trying to edit out all appearances of the adapter's software from the registry and Hdwcomp and a DAT file (which I never like to do but at this point I was becoming mildly obsessed) to try and remove the card's software completely so I could do a full reinstall, but even that still would not free my laptop from the bondage of the first installation.
  
  This thing is like herpes; you think you have gotten rid of it, but it leaves traces all over Windows and keeps coming back. There was NO WAY I was going to wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows. So I decided to just return it and thank God I bought it from Amazon.
  
  If it works on the initial installation you're ok and I'm sure it does a credible job (unless some future update from Microsoft clobbers it). If it does not, then you're doomed because it cannot unintall itself completely from the complexity of its many appearances in the NT based versions of Windows.
  
  I ran into this once with Norton SystemWorks which also had a klugey way of 'integrating' its many separate programs under Windows, instead of as a standalone program. Speeding your time to market by patching separate programs together under Windows is a real temptation for a software developer, but it create back end problems that are hellish, and subject to the vagaries of the latest Microsoft 'critical system update.' Plug and Pray is the name of this game.
  
  Is this a Microsoft problem or a Linksys problem? I think its both. Microsoft creates the appearance of an integration platform through operating system, and some companies go for it since they are buying pieces of code and separate programs from multiple sources and real software integration is a chore. But its the same old tune with a different name; you make a clean integration and sweat the details in development and the software is solid. If not, you create the monster that devoured Moore's Law (and every last support resource you can hire).
  
  The card has an odd design which I did not like. It sticks out about an inch or so. Great routers, but this software isn't completely baked.
  
  
• Like a Harley
  By A2JWU7NFTC9GEX on 2006-05-06
  Love it or hate it. I'm transgressing here. It is not possible to install the base WRT54G with the software disk and has to be setup to be a pass through hub, not a router. I can't be too specific on what we did because PCs are still a little magical, I mean mysterious in their workings. The challenge is caused by my ISPs DSL modem configuration that can only be resolved by Linksys tech support. Phone contact didn't work so I went to the chat online feature. Several hours, two PCs later and boom. Love it. The installation of the wireless adapter in two notebooks was, amazing. Both Dells, Win XP. Live in a rural area tin can AKA mobil home. Get working signel to 150 feet.
  
  
• Worst Adapter Ever
  By A1GFJIK8YH9UQT on 2004-10-05
  I had a Linksys Wireless B access point that just quit working. Upgraded to Wireless G. Using Linksys WRT54G router and WPC54G card. I run a Dell Inspiron 8100. To date, I have been unable to get the WPC54G card to work. I tried downloading drivers, reinstall and uninstall nothing works. The support is not very good. Now, I am getting interference from a neighbor on the access point. Linksys says change channel which I have done. Still having problems. A huge disappointment
  
  
• Disappointed
  By AWRJ8M39HMG4R on 2005-04-04
  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!
  
  
• Good enough for the brave early adopter
  By on 2003-01-19
  This product uses the same Broadcom draft-802.11g chipset that Belkin, Buffalo and Apple currently use. As expected for a bleeding edge product, the supplied driver is currently not "signed" for XP and hasn't passed WHQL... but it seems to be stable enough and hasn't caused any crashes in my testing.

  802.11b compatiblity has been fine. It has talked to all the wireless hubs I have been close to with expected 802.11b performance.

  For draft-802.11g (via the Linksys WRT54G), the average download speed from ~30 ft. away is ~18Mbps, while the upload speed is ~22Mbps. Performance does bounce around more than it should. I really don't quite understand why the upload speed is always faster; it should be about the same. WEP security does not decrease the performance, which is nice. Overall, it's a lot faster than 802.11b, which never really exceeds 5Mbps either direction. It would have been great if we could get 27Mbps transfers. Oh, well. Let's hope Broadcom and Linksys do a great job between now and when 802.11g is really a standard. And let's hope interoperability between vendors stays a priority.
  
  

• Linksys Wireless 54g PC Card does not work with HP and XP
  By AKE3J8H8XZT5Z on 2003-02-24
  Bought the linksys WPC54G wireless PC card for my HP pavilion ze4125 (AMD Athlon) running Windows XP with Service Pack 1a. Tried to install the Card as per instructions that came in the box, locks up my laptop everytime. The instructions tell to you turn off your laptop, insert the card, and XP should find new hardware. XP does find the Card and prompts you to insert the CD-ROM that has the drivers on it. It starts to copy over the drivers and then hangs. The only way to unfreeze your laptop is to pop the card out. If you reboot your laptop with the card in, it will sometimes hang at the initial windows screen (again, you will need to pop the card out to continue). I tried removing the drivers and installing from the CD-ROM instead, same problem. Every time you pop the card in, after you've installed the drivers, the laptop will hang (actually, the laptop is running - but the CPU usage is at 100% so everything is at a crawl). I also downloaded the latest drivers from the linksys website and searched the hp website for help. In addition I called the linksys help line and they said they never heard of this - but I've been seeing alot of similiar reviews for this card. If you are in the same situation that I am in, I suggest you try another card. Linksys obviously doesn't work with all laptops.
  
  
• Problematic for Some Laptops
  By AM9IIHVDL42T2 on 2003-04-21
  I have purchased two of these LINKSYS cards for two seperate Toshiba Satellite laptops. I also purchased the Linksys WAP54G Access Point.

  DAY 1:

  Laptop 1: Toshiba Satellite 1905-S805

  Installed like the directions said (Windows XP) and it didn't work. Just for giggles I then installed the program they tell you NOT to install with Windows XP and everything started working beautifully. Great signal strength, Encrypted 128 bit mode. No problems at all. In fact, I drove almost an entire city block and could still get signal.

  Laptop 2: Toshiba Satellite 2415-S205

  Installed like the directions said (Windows XP) and it didn't work. As above I tried the software they said not to install but this time it DIDN'T work either. Unistalled that and the device, started over. Tried every trick and tweak listed on several different support sites and nothing.

  Called tech support at Linksys and started out on the wrong foot as this guy could barely speak English. He had extreme difficulty understanding me. He had me do all the things I had previously done and still couldn't get it to work. His solution. "Call Toshiba".

  DAY 2-3:

  Still working on this and I think I have 4 hairs left on my head. In all I've put in about 30 hours working on this. No help from Linksys. I'm about to go back and try another brand of wireless card, or maybe just get a 802.11b card since this is for my girlfriends computer not mine. It works fine on mine, but not hers.

  If I do have the software installed that came with it, on her computer, on the first window where it would usually show the two green bars of strength, I get the following message;

  "No association with AP"

  When I do the Site Survey it finds the SSID name and shows it to be at 100% signal strength.
  Network Type Infrastructure
  Channel 6
  WEP on
  MAC......
  Surveyed at (some irrelevant time)

  Each time I hit connect, it resets the WEP to 64 bit and I have to change it to 128 bit and redo my passphrase. It again pops me back into the Link Information tab and says "No association with AP".

  I then click on the Pofiles tab and it shows the default profile is my previously names SSID with:
  Network Type - Infrastructure
  Transfer Rate - Auto
  Channel - (OK, why doesn't this one say 6 like the other)
  WEP 128 Bits

  I curious why it doesn't detect channel 6 on this tab.

  In all an extremely frustrating purchase and I am currently on day 6 awaiting further email support from either Toshiba or Linksys.

  Research before you buy. It may not work with yours.
  
  

• NO Support from Linksys
  By A2QDAWVG9H3G3H on 2004-04-29
  I purchase this product (WPC54G) today and have had the worst support in my 10 year computer career. I received an error while running the install program. I spoke with 3 support personnel and all were totally inept. One support person told me to return the card because it was broken even though, in accordance with the quick installation guide, it had not even been inserted into the machine.

  Strangely, the last support person told me the card was fine so I should install it on another machine or call MSFT for further assistance. What good would installing it on another machine do, prove a brand new card is not defective? If I needed a wireless card in another machine I would have installed it there in the first place. Call MSFT??#$!!? Why not just shoot myself in the head?

  To be fair I've used Linksys equipment in the past and it's worked great, but this has been my first support "experience". I'm sure it will provide entertainment on an ongoing basis as I share it with other IT professionals and websites. In the meantime, this product is going back and I'll be switching manufacturers.

  At some point you always need support and Linksys falls WAY short.
  
  

• As good as it gets!
  By ABFN8SJDGYMK8 on 2006-05-14
  I had one of these cards; I was really happy with it until I misplaced it and got stolen.
  Then I had the "brilliant" idea of getting a D-Link USB adapter just to try something different (my card used to run very hot so the external adapter seemed appealing). In the end it was a frustrating waste of time and money.
  Disappointed, I ran to the nearest computer store and bought the first PCMCIA wireless card I saw. Also from D-Link, the card took forever to find the wireless networks and I found the signal extremely weak.
  Fortunately, I could return the card and exchange it for a Linksys WPC54G card (just like the one I had). I haven't tried the NetGear card which is supposedly good, but as far as I'm concerned this Linksys card is as good as it gets.
  I could say I get better performance than a coworker that has a laptop with an internal wireless card built in.
  You bet I won't misplace one of these again!
  
  
  
• Nice PC Card for non-BEFW11S4
  By A2CMM8FS30RSD8 on 2003-01-25
  I've seen nothing but praise about this card so far, bought one myself to use with my B Cable/Router BEFW11S4 only to talk to Linksys support for half an hour and come to the conclusion that its not going to work with my router and I should buy the B version. Its supposed to be backwards compatible with the B standard, but its been four days now and its going back tomarrow.
  
  
• Here is how to make it work for your windows XP!
  By A391J53FWIT9Z4 on 2003-02-09
  Good product when you can get it to work. For windows XP this could be a little tricky. The software that comes with it is already outdated and would make your windows crash. You will need to download the newer driver file from Linksys website and install it before you get the PC card attached. This should install both the driver file and wireless configuration utility program. Then, visit Linksys support/knoweldge base website and search for article ID KB10934338. This has more detailed instructions than the manual sent with the product. Attach the PC card to your notebook and follow the prompts. Then it should work just fine!
  
  
• Doesn't install on all laptops.
  By A34YWMT2MWSGWR on 2003-03-21
  The card installed nicely on my Dell Inspiron, but
  the installation hung on my HP Pavilion (several
  people have described similar experiences).

  Updated drivers on the website didn't work either.
  Interesting neither Linksys nor HP have mentioned
  this in their support databases. Given the number
  of responses this can't be a fluke.
  
  

• Great card
  By on 2003-03-28
  Nice card. You truly won't need it if all you are doing is going out to the Internet via DSL/Cable since the bottleneck there is the DSL/Cable at 1/10th the speed of the 802.11b (yes "B") cards. If you are going from one machine at home to another machine at home (home networking), the difference between 802.11g and 802.11b is an asset when transferring large files such as video.

  BTW, in the review below, substitute the word megaBITS for the word megaBYTES. No, 802.11g is NOT 54 megaBYTES per second. It is 54 megaBITS (which works out to about 5.5-6.5 megabytes) per second.
  
  

• No drivers for Linux!!! And no plan to provide...
  By A2KD0C2KII1NAJ on 2003-07-12
  Broadcom (the chipset producer) has no intention of releasing the info for their adapter. They don't want to provide drivers for Linux. A good reason to buy a different product.

  But if it's too late for me, probably you are still in time...

  PS: even for different products, check the chipset on board
  
  

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