2 Responses to “Linksys WPC11 Wireless-B Notebook Adapter”

1. Urian
   October 19th, 2009 @ 5:35 pm

   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.

2. Fico
   October 19th, 2009 @ 8:29 pm

   Those of you who have read my reviews have probably noticed that I don’t write too many negative opinions. In general, I am a careful shopper. I like to research, read reviews, and just do my homework before making a purchase. Occasionally, however, I do make spontaneous buys. Unfortunately, I generally find myself getting burned on these occasions. Alas, my purchase of the Linksys WPC11 Instant Wireless Network PC Card was no exception.

   A wireless LAN excursion

   I bought my WPC11 along with the Linksys BEFW11S4. The WPC11 is a PCMCIA card for your laptop that enables wireless local area networking. The BEFW11S4 is a wireless access point, DSL router, and 4-port switch combo. Both devices use the increasing popular 802.11b wireless networking standard. Wireless networking in general is a fast moving field with a number of competing standards and a whole new set of technical terms. However, in the interests of brevity, I will save a discussion of the ins and outs of wireless networking for my forthcoming review of the BEFW11S4.

   We’re all the same on the inside…

   The guts of the WPC11 were designed by Intersil Corporation and use their second-generation PRISM chip set. The PRISM II is pretty much the industry standard and is used in products by Linksys, D-Link, SMC, Cisco, and others. There is actually not much fault I can find with the PRISM II. Rather, there is one major implementation flaw in the WPC11 that severely handicaps it in comparison with its competition.

   Let’s talk about the not so bad first

   First, let me cover the good features of the WPC11. Overall, the build quality of the card is sound. The card itself is sturdy and solid and gives off an impression of durability. When inserted into a PC Card slot on a laptop, there is about a one-inch long portion of the card that remains exposed. There are two indication lights on portion. One is amber and indicates signal quality. A solid light means a solid signal. A flashing light means a lost signal. The other light is green and flashes during network activity. Having two separate indicators is a nice convenience. I find a single indicator light to be of marginal use.

   The WPC11 comes with drivers for all flavors of Windows. Installation is simple and painless. You run the setup executable, wait for it to complete, restart your computer, and voila, you are good to go. Actually, you are almost good to go. You also need to install the configuration software. The config software is well done, in my opinion. The software runs in the background and can be accessed via a task tray icon. The icon changes depending on signal strength, so a quick glance into the lower corner of your screen can tell you if you’re connected or not. Clicking on the icon opens a window that allows you to quickly configure the WPC11. You can set up your network properties and encryption. The WPC11 allows for both 40-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption. The menus read 64-bit, but its actually 40-bit encryption; its just a difference in convention. The configuration utility also has measures real-time link quality and signal strength, making it easy to test the range of your wireless network.

   And now comes the ugly…

   This is where the WPC11 really falters. The range of the WPC11 is very very poor. It is by far the worst of any wireless LAN card that I have had experience with. Other reviews have mentioned a poor antenna design and I am inclined to believe this is true. As I stated earlier, a number of manufacturers use Intersil’s PRISM chip set. The only real variation from manufacturer to manufacturer is in the build quality and the antenna. And apparently, Linksys chose to use a very poor antenna design that severely cripples the range of the card. A friend of mine has a laptop with a built-in wireless LAN card based off of a first-generation chip set that has easily twice the range of my WPC11.

   Be a smart shopper

   The glaring lack of range is the only real fault I find with the WPC11, but it is a very severe handicap. A quick scan of the prices of various wireless networking cards shows all the major brands to be within $10 of each other. So buying the WPC11 was basically me purchasing a lesser product for the same price as a better product. If you’re looking to set up a wireless network, look past the Linksys WPC11. Though I haven’t tried it myself, I’ve heard particularly good things about Lucent Technologies’ WaveLAN PC Card. Regardless, there are at least a half dozen alternatives to the WPC11, a sad reminder to myself to do my homework and stay away from impulse purchases.

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