Hardware Reviews
Belkin Wireless Notebook Network Card, Desktop PCI Adapter, USB Network Adapter and Wireless Access Point Belkin has put on quite a push into the home networking market and their wireless gear is a worthy competitor to Linksys, Netgear and others. For this review, we looked at Belkin's notebook card (PC Card), a PCI adapter for desktop computers, a USB adapter and a wireless access protocol (WAP). We found the PC Card, PCI adapter, USB adapter and WAP for $73, $31, $77 and $140 respectively at buy.com. Those are good prices and certainly competitive with other manufacturers. (We would point out, however, that the recently reviewed Belkin Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router provides quite a bit more function over the WAP and is just $150.) Overall, this Belkin set was impressive. All four devices appeared well built, installed easily and performed well. As we have mentioned in recent reviews of other Belkin networking products, the company does a great job with an extensive user manual and an install CD that includes some nifty network setup utilities (see our review of the Belkin 5-port switch for more). Although a few minor nits keep us from claiming this set as the absolute Editor's Choice, we strongly believe that Belkin provides the very best value among the wireless equipment we've tested. Accordingly, we recognize that achievement with our Editor's Best Buy award. We urge anyone looking for wireless equipment to give the Belkin gear a long, long look. Read on for more details. Overview Wireless Notebook Network Card This is model F5D6020 and is similar to the other
wireless cards we've reviewed.
This Wireless PCI Adapter
This device (model F5D6000) connects to a desktop computer via a standard PCI slot (inside the computer case) and has a small slot that accommodates a wireless network PC Card. Together, the adapter and the PC Card allow your desktop to have wireless networking capability. The Belkin package includes everything that the PC Card does, including the same manual and CD. Wireless USB Adapter This
device (model F5D6050) provides the same wireless
connectivity of the PC Card, but connects to a notebook or desktop
computer via a
USB port.
It's perfect for anyone Wireless Access Point The
wireless access point (or WAP for short; model F5D6130) allows you to connect the wireless portions of
your network (for example, a notebook equipped with the wireless notebook
card) to
the wired portions of your network (for example, a desktop PC or two
connected via wired Ethernet or
Fast
Ethernet). That type o The WAP has the same distinctive look as the USB adapter, but is about an inch and half longer. It has the same set of antennas on either side. Three LEDs on the front indicate power on, wireless data receive/transmit and Ethernet data link and activity. The Belkin package includes the WAP, a power adapter, a warranty registration card, 32-page user manual and installation/utility CD.
Go To Page 2 - Installation, Performance, Support and Summary
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is a PC Card that fits the card slot available on most notebook computers. An
inch-long
gray part of the card (the antenna) sticks out of the computer when the
card is inserted and a small LED light indicates a
positive link with another wireless device. The
Belkin package
contains the PC Card, a 44-page user manual, a warranty card and a
single CD. The user manual, which covers both the PC card and the PCI
adapter (see below), provides detailed installation instructions for
the card/PCI adapter in Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and NT. There's also
instructions on setting up a wireless network and several pages
devoted to the wireless configuration and network setup utilities included on the CD. These provide
easy-to-follow wizards for configuring a network and sharing folders,
printers, etc. As we've noted before on Belkin equipment reviews, these
added utilities are ideal for network beginners. Kudos to Belkin.
who wants
to
connect a notebook without a PC Card slot or anyone
who wants to connect a desktop
computer to a wireless network but who doesn't want to open the computer
case to install a PCI adapter. The actual device is about the size of a
deck of cards with four-inch antennas on either side. The package includes
the adapter, a USB cable that connects the device to your computer, a
warranty registration card, a thorough 32-page manual and the
install/utility CD. Once again, the manual covers installation on a
variety of Windows versions, as well as how to use the wireless
configuration utility and the network setup wizard utilities.
f
setup would be typical, for example, if you had a cable or DSL modem
already shared with several desktop
computers using a router and wanted to network a "roaming laptop" to that same shared cable or DSL modem. As we mentioned, if
you don't already have a router and want to share Internet access with
your wireless network, you'll probably want to opt for the