Hardware ReviewsBelkin Wireless PC Card, PCI Adapter, USB Adapter and Wireless Access Point Page 2 - Installation, Performance, Support, Summary Installation Overall, installation of these Belkin wireless network pieces was easy and followed very closely, if not exactly, as was specified in the user manual. Although that seems like it should be a no-brainer, regular visitors to homePCnetwork.com know that it is actually rare for installation routines to go exactly as shown in manuals. Wireless PC Card Per the Belkin instruction manual, we inserted the PC Card into an available slot in our test notebook and turned on the computer. Exactly as indicated in the instructions, the "Add New Hardware Wizard" dialog box appeared and we pointed the installation wizard to the CD. The program installed the proper files from this CD and our Windows 98 setup CD and required a restart. Upon restart, again per the manual, we installed a wireless network utility from the CD. The utility provides a taskbar button that turns colors to indicate the strength of the link to the wireless network: green for strong; yellow for weak and red for no link. This was very handy as we moved around the house with our notebook, indicating that it was distance from the Access Point (and not a million other variables) that might be causing slow Internet access or other network trouble. The PC Card linked automatically with the Access Point and no changes in the setup were required. However, our wireless network still did not work until we disabled our notebook's built-in Ethernet adapter. After that, even without restarting, our wireless network was up and running. Wireless PCI Adapter Again based on the user manual, we inserted the PCI adapter into an open slot in our desktop computer and inserted a PC Card into the adapter. We restarted our test computer (running Windows XP Home) and the "Found New Hardware" wizard started. Because the current manual does not include XP instructions, we followed the Windows 2000 instructions and, for the most part, the installation closely followed along. With the CD inserted in the computer, we selected the wizard option to "Install the software automatically" and the PCI driver files were installed. XP does note that these are not "digitally signed" but that's not an issue. Select "continue anyway" and the install finishes. With XP, the network wizard begins and we answered basic questions (name of computer, etc). Then, just as we did with the PC Card, we installed the wireless setup utility, configured the card to match our WAP settings and our network was up and running. Perfect. USB Adapter Per the USB adapter manual, we first inserted the installation CD into our test laptop (running Windows 98 SE) and plugged in the USB adapter using the included cable. (Note that USB cables can be plugged and unplugged while the computer is running without harming anything). Windows 98 immediately detected the device and we clicked on the button to have it search automatically for the proper driver on the CD. It detected the driver, copied the necessary files and automatically popped up the properties window for the adapter. We selected the channel and network ID, and clicked on OK. The install routine requested the Windows CD from which to copy additional files and then finished the installation. We restarted the computer and followed the instructions to install the wireless network utility and to configure the settings. As we've had to do with our wireless adapters, we did need to disable our notebook's built-in Ethernet adapter before the network would function. That's not a major issue but we wish it had been mentioned in the otherwise near perfect installation manual. Also, although it likely was just some fluke in our particular setup, we had to reboot the wireless router (turn it off and back on) in order for the USB adapter to get an assigned IP address and begin working on the network. Belkin tech support suggested to us that this is not a common problem and that typically the network would work right away without having to reboot the router. We have every reason to believe them, but if you install a USB adapter and it doesn't immediately work, try the reboot before pulling too much hair out. Wireless Access Point To install the WAP, we followed the Belkin manual: plugged in the included AC power adapter and then connected a network cable (one is not included with the WAP) from our existing network hub to the network port on the Access Point. Because our test laptop (with a Belkin wireless PC Card) was already configured to automatically obtain an IP address and the wireless configuration was already set to the Belkin default, the card immediately communicated with the Belkin WAP and we were up and running. In order to make changes to the WAP configuration, we ran the program on the included CD to install the utility. With the utility, it was easy to configure a number of parameters on the WAP, including network address, ID name, and security settings. Performance In our minds, there are two key performance issues with wireless equipment. First, how far away can you get with each device and still have a workable network. And, second, how fast does the network transfer data. We have not come up with a definitive method of testing the distance issue, but we can subjectively say that the Belkin equipment provided a range equal to the Netgear equipment we recently looked at and farther than some similar Linksys gear. To test the performance of the wireless network system, we completed several tests with different setups. If you're interested, we have more information on our test machines and testing procedures. To test the PCI adapter/PC card combination, we installed both in our primary test machine. It connected wirelessly (if that's a word?) to the previously tested Belkin wireless cable/DSL router. We then connected our test laptop's built-in Fast Ethernet adapter directly to the router with a category 5 (Fast Ethernet) cable. To test performance, we copied a 30 meg file from the desktop to the laptop. We copied it back and forth twice and averaged the time to complete the copy in seconds. The results are shown below.
Although it appears that the Belkin combination is significantly faster than the Netgear equipment, we believe the disparity might be more attributable to driver issues with the Netgear card and Windows XP. That said, we did try installing new drivers for the Netgear card and ran into additional issues. Since this is a review of Belkin equipment and not Netgear, we decided not to spend additional time working through the issues. Suffice it to say that the Belkin card worked out of the box with XP using the included 2000 drivers on the CD. Also, if you compare the Belkin results to our previous tests of the Belkin PC Card installed on our test laptop (see the red bars in the chart below), you can see that the Belkin PCI adapter / PC Card combination performs comparably. For the next test, we installed the USB adapter on our test laptop and configured it to communicate with the Belkin wireless cable/DSL router. We set up our desktop test machine with our standard D-Link 530TX+ PCI network card and connected it to the router. We then copied the 30 meg file back and forth between the machines twice and averaged the time to complete the copy operations in seconds. In the chart below, we compare those results with previous tests of the Belkin PC Card and Netgear PC Card on the same laptop and connected to the same Belkin wireless cable/DSL router. We did all tests within two feet of the router (near) and several rooms away (far).
As you can see, the USB adapter is slower than the PC Cards. The difference should not be accountable to the USB interface since it is faster than the wireless speed, at least by specification (12Mbps versus 11Mpbs). Also, in the "far" test with the USB adapter, we lost the wireless connection to the network three times. In each instance, we were able to move the USB adapter to get the connection back. Finally, to test the wireless access point (WAP), we installed the Belkin PC Card on our test laptop and configured it to communicate with the WAP. We connected the WAP via Ethernet cable to our 10/100 switch. We set up our desktop test machine with our standard D-Link 530TX+ PCI network card and connected it via Ethernet cable to the switch. We then copied the 30 meg file back and forth between the machines twice and averaged the time to complete the copy operations in seconds. We did the tests with the laptop a few feet from the WAP (near) and several rooms away (far). In the chart below, we compare the Belkin PC Card toWAP combination with the Belkin PC Card to Belkin wireless cable/DSL router combination (previously reviewed here) and the Netgear PC Card to Netgear WAP combination (reviewed here).
As you can see, the Belkin WAP performed well against both other combinations. In both the near and far tests, the results came in right in the middle of the others. Overall, the Belkin wireless equipment performed well although none of it really excelled beyond competitors' equipment. Support As we mentioned in previous Belkin reviews, the manual lists a toll number (not toll-free) on the back. A check of the Belkin web site showed a range of tech support options including FAQs, e-mail and a toll-free number, although there was no indication of the hours for tech support (the box indicates 24-hour support). Summary Overall, we think this Belkin wireless equipment provides a great value. We know that can be an overused word. However, when you consider the combination of quality construction, performance, features, outstanding installation guides, nifty networking utilities, and competitive price, that's exactly the word that comes to mind. That combination earns the Belkin equipment our Editor's Best Buy award. If you're in the market for wireless equipment and want something "more" than just the equipment for your money, check out the Belkin gear. Grade = A Details
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