Hardware ReviewsLinksys Wireless Network PC Card and Wireless Network Access Point Admittedly it has been some time since homePCnetwork.com reviewed wireless networking gear. Frankly, it was worth the wait. The new wireless networking gear that's prevalent these days -- technically named for the 802.11b standard -- works well and is a valid alternative for many home networking users. This review covers some of this new gear from Linksys. Specifically, we looked at the Wireless Network PC Card, the Wireless PCI Adapter and the Wireless Network Access Point. Together, this equipment is everything you need to develop a home network between two computers (you'll need two PC Cards actually) and, if you prefer, to connect your wireless network with your wired Ethernet network through the Access Point. More on that later. Our overall impressions: once again, Linksys has delivered solid networking equipment. The gear seems well built, each piece is bundled with good instructions, installation is fairly easy and the prices are good. We found the PC Card, PCI Adapter and Access Point for $108, $38 and $219, respectively, at buy.com. Overview Although not sold as a kit, the three Linksys wireless network devices that we reviewed work together to provide a true, wireless home network. We'll look at each device in turn: The Wireless Network PC Card -- as the
name suggests, this is a PC Card
that fits the card slot available
on most notebook computers
The Wireless PCI Adapter -- this
simple device connects to your desktop computer via a standard
PCI slot
(inside the computer case),
The Wireless Network Access Point --
so by now you are probably wondering, if I can network my home computer(s)
and/or laptop(s) together using the wireless network PC Cards, what else
do I need? The answer is nothing...unless you want to take advantage of a
nifty feature of this latest wireless technology. Namely, that you can
connect the wireless portions of your home network to the wired
portions...that is if you have portions of your home network wired using
traditional Ethernet technology. This is probably sounding a bit
complicated, so let us explain. Let's say that you have two computers in
your home office that are just a few feet away. As we've said many times,
as long as you do Installation Overall, installation of these Linksys wireless network pieces was fairly easy...both the physical installation of the hardware and the installation of the necessary drivers and other software. Let's look at each piece in turn. The Wireless Network PC Card Using the included "Quick Installation for Windows 98" guide, we inserted the PC Card into an available slot in our test notebook (technically the slot has to be Type II or Type III; yours probably is). Immediately, and as indicated in the instructions, the "Add New Hardware Wizard" dialog box appeared. Again as the instructions point out, we inserted the drive disk and pointed the installation program to the A:\win9x folder (actually the instructions say it will be a Windows 98 folder, but that's easy enough to figure out). The program then copied the necessary files from the disk and our Windows 98 CD. When the program indicated it was finished, we restarted the computer as instructed. Unfortunately, the program does NOT automatically enter into the configuration program for the wireless card as the instruction indicate it should. It wasn't that difficult to right click on Network Neighborhood, find the card in the list of adapters and select properties, but new users would be hard pressed to figure that out on their own. That said, once you find the properties section, the full instruction guide (not the Quick Installation guide) does a good job of going through the configuration step by step. The full instruction guide then takes you through the steps to add TCP/IP, if it isn't already installed, and accurately suggests that you use a similar process to add other protocols. Unfortunately, the installation guide does NOT provide any details on setting up TCP/IP or the other protocols. That's OK if you just connect two computers via their wireless PC Cards because you can share files with the default protocol (TCP/IP) and default settings. Thus, once we completed the configuration steps for both machines, our wireless network was up and running. The Wireless PCI Adapter Again using the included Quick Installation guide, we turned off our PC, inserted a PC Card into this adapter and then inserted the adapter into an empty PCI slot in our test machine. We turned on the machine and it promptly froze. We had to turn off the machine and turn it back on again before it would load Windows and, as the instructions indicated it would, automatically detect the PCI adapter and launch the "New Hardware Found" wizard. We pointed the installation program to the folder on the driver diskette and it copied the necessary files. Again, as with the PC Card installation, the program did not automatically launch into the configuration program. It was easy enough to find the properties for the adapter and set it up using the full instructions. One note: make sure to write down all of the settings you use in the configuration. You need to have the same settings on the other PC Card for the system to work. The Wireless Network Access Point As we described above, the access point is the "bridge" between your wireless network devices and your existing wired/Ethernet network. Since many users will have a cable or DSL modem already shared across two or more desktop computers, this is a great option to add a notebook -- that can freely roam around the house or even outside -- onto that same network with shared Internet access. Installation of the Access Point is a two-step process: install the hardware and then configure the settings. To install the hardware, we plugged in the included power brick and then connected a short category-5 patch cable from our existing network hub to the network port on the Access Point. At this point, the instructions explain that the Access Point can be configured using a utility and a special USB cable between your computer and the Access Point OR via your normal Ethernet connection. Unfortunately, we had minor trouble using both methods. Using the Ethernet connection can be tricky because the Access Point is setup with a default TCP/IP address. If that's not compatible with your existing network, you won't be able to "see" the Access Point using the utility. The answer for us was to reset the TCP/IP address on the computer to one compatible with the default Access Point, start the utility and follow the included instructions (which worked well) and then reset the Access Point address and then the computer to addresses compatible with our existing network. To avoid all of that, you can use the USB utility and the included USB cable to connect directly from a computer to the Access Point. Unfortunately, we had trouble with that...and only unplugging and plugging in the cable several times and a shutdown/restart on the computer, got it to work. Once it did though, and we installed the software, this utility was quite user friendly. We followed the included instructions and had our Access Point up and running in no time. Performance To test the performance of the wireless network system, we installed a Wireless Network PC Card on our test laptop (a Pentium III 500Mhz machine) and a PCI Adapter/PC Card combination on our regular test machine (see "How we Test" for more information on that machine.) Then, using our standard procedures, we copied a 30 megabyte file from one machine to the other. We measured the number of seconds it took to complete the copy process. We did that back and forth twice and averaged the results. The Linksys results are shown in the red bars below. For comparison, we did the same test, between the same two machines, but instead used Ethernet at 10Mbps and half duplex. The laptop and our other test machine were connected to a Allied Telesyn ATFS708, 8-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet switch. We considered this a fair comparison since the Wireless system is rated at 11Megabits per second. As you can see, the wireless system fell well below the Ethernet system. In real life, you might notice the difference if you spend a lot of time copying large files across your network. In many other tasks, you probably would not notice a difference.
We also conducted two subjective performance tests on the system using one PC Card and connecting that computer to our test LAN using the Wireless Access Point. For the first, we shared a 56K modem Internet connection between our test computer and our LAN. We noticed no difference from our normal experience sharing an Internet connection between two computers connected via Ethernet. For the second test, we played a fast, network-demanding game (Quake III) over the network. Once again, we saw no "real world" difference between a computer using the wireless PC Card and a normal Ethernet connection. Clearly, this wireless system provides solid network performance. One other note here. We couldn't come up with any finite way to test the range of the wireless system, but we did do some subjective tests. The specifications say the units can connect up to 500 meters apart. In our tests, through inside and outside walls, the distance was probably more like 100 meters. For example, the wireless system worked well when we were only one or two rooms away from the Wireless Access Point. This includes rooms one floor below and one room away from the Access Point. Once we got to three or four rooms away in our 2,600-square-foot house or even outside, the connection would still work, but a ping test would reveal that one or two data packets out of every four would be dropped. That significantly slows network performance. So, for example, if we wanted to work outside on the deck, we moved the Access Point to a room near the deck (this is possible if you have a regular Ethernet connection in that room to which you connect the Access Point) and everything worked fine. Support Linksys has a wide range of technical support options including a toll-free phone number 24 hours a day, seven days a week in North America. They also have technical support via e-mail and a web site (www.linksys.com) with updated drivers, FAQs and other options. Summary Make no doubt about it: wireless home networking is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to roam around the house with their laptop always connected to their LAN or the Internet. Even a rigorous network activity like gaming is no problem for these new wireless systems. And the Linksys gear is a fine example of this new technology. It worked well and the performance, although a bit behind Ethernet, still seemed plenty fast for most needs. All of the equipment also had the solid look and feel we expect from Linksys. Our only marks off come from an installation routine that didn't exactly match the instructions (for true beginners, this could make life very difficult) and the lack of more complete networking "how to" instructions in the manuals. Keep in mind, though, those are minor inconveniences (and, if you've read our review, no inconvenience at all!!). At this point, we need to look at a few more manufacturers' wireless kits before we can bestow an Editor's Choice award. We can say now, though, that if you're looking for a wireless networking kit, we recommend you give the Linksys a good look. Grade = A Details
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(PC
Card has replaced the once
common, but technical name PCMCIA). In case
you don't know what these are,
think of a double thickness
credit card. The card slips into a small slot on the side of many notebook
computers. Unlike most PC Cards, this one sticks out considerably
from the side of your notebook because of the built-in, dark plastic
antenna on one end. In addition to the PC Card, the Linksys package
contains two driver diskettes that install the proper driver software for
just about every version of Windows a home network user might have,
including Windows 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000. For each operating system
version, the package also contains a one-page, quick installation sheet.
And, finally, Linksys includes a comprehensive, 94-page manual that
provides step-by-step instructions. Oddly, the manual does not include
basic networking instructions, such as how to set up TCP/IP or file and
printer sharing. Of course, visitors to homePCnetwork.com can get those
instructions 
exactly
like a normal network interface card (or NIC). However, the adapter also has a small slot into which you slide
a Wireless Network PC Card (see above). Together,
the adapter and the PC Card allow your desktop to have wireless networking
capability. Thus, a typical home network using this wireless technology
would include a PCI adapter and PC Card combination for each desktop and a
PC Card for each notebook (again the notebook must have a PC Card slot).
n't
have a problem opening your computer cases, then a wired Ethernet or
