Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Linksys WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter

The Linksys WPC300N has some nice features in a PCMCIA card. Unfortunately, many high expectations based upon the wireless N standard will leave a lot of people disappointed. I'm going to discuss Windows XP and Vista separately, since I bought the card a long time ago and have used it on both.

First and foremost, this card was created when the Wireless-N standard was still in draft form. In fact, I have had this card for more than 2 years, which tells you just how long ago that was. There's nothing wrong with that, just be aware that there are several limits in this card.

First, this card can be configured to achieve greater throughput by setting up multiple data channels. That's the `MIMO' technology that uses multiple radios, which they vastly over-hype on the packaging.

However, the improved range of the wireless N standard as compared to wireless G just never materialized. That's because this is still a 2.4 GHz card. Newer wireless N products with 5 GHz capabilities are on the market which give much better range than this.

Second, the firmware AND software for this product initially were each very buggy. I first installed this product on Windows Vista and have tested it on some 2003 boxes. All of those required multiple reinstalls and driver downloads. In the end, the GUI configuration tool is very limited in explicitly give you the information you need to know whether you are getting a faster connection with this device. So if you're not techy, this can be a drag.

The wireless security support of WPA2 is nice, and most legacy cards don't have that. It gives you stronger encryption (256 bit). But this only really works if your access point is configured that way too. Linksys WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router And in that case, there are newer cards and access points that give you this and more.

Still, I can say without a doubt, that when I needed to add another wireless connection to my Vista Ultimate box, this guy worked much better.

Bottom line, there seems to be a lot of people clinging to XP. If you're one of those, plan on downloading and updating your driver software and firmware before even testing this card.

If you are a Windows Vista user, only get this if you need a spare card for backup machines or multi-card setups. If you need something for your primary wireless access, you may want to avoid this and the WPC600N Linksys WPC600N Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N PC Card altogether and go with the 5 GHz Netgear line. NETGEAR HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit (WNHDEB111)

Pros
+ Works well on Windows Vista
+ Does give you MIMO support for greater capacity
+ Once you set it up, seems to work well with Wireless G
+ PCMCIA slot saves you from using a USB port
+ Nice WPA2 support

Cons
- Doesn't give you full Wireless N capabilities (only 2.4GHz, no 5GHz)
- Legacy OS users need to download and install many updates
- Price is still surprisingly high
- Somewhat buggy software requires frequent shutdowns
- Better options available for the price

This card might be worth looking into if you can get it on sale and need an extra one for an older laptop.

Enjoy!

I had recently purchased the linksys wireless-N router and I was using the wireless G adapter built into my laptop , and I was getting mixed results, the connection speed was adequate, but I kept getting dropped from the wireless network several times per hour. I decided to upgrade to the WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter to see if it would fix the problem, and sure enough, I havent had any connection issues since. I recommend this product !

After upgrading my laptop to Vista Business, my old Linksys 802.11G adapter decided to become flaky and only connect to my wireless LAN when the moon was in the 7th house and Jupiter aligned with Mars (Everyone sing along!). I like Cisco products, and have been using Linksys equipment for years. I ordered one of these adapters and followed the directions. First mistake. Don't follow the directions, just plug the thing in and let Vista find the right drivers. Vista doesn't like the install and tells you that there are compatability issues (see some of my other reviews) and stops the install. So I downloaded the latest Vista drivers from Linksys and tried using those. Vista took one look at them, turned up its nose and stated that the installed drivers were newer and won't even consider using the ones you downloaded. By the way, while I was downloading the drivers, Vista used my old settings and connected to my network, without my looking. Sneaky. I unplugged the hard line and have not experienced any issues. I also use my laptop with my Boy Scout troop, and it attached to my church's wireless LAN easily. I now have to install the 802.11n wireless router to gain the other advantages.

Just installed this with no problems whatsoever. It took about 3 minutes and I was on line. I write this review to answer the question that I had before buying this network adaptor. My Wireless G router is in the basement and I started working on the second floor but kept losing the signal. I added this hoping that it would help (without changing the router) and it DOES increase reception and the speed is now significantly faster than my old Wireless G card was anywhere in the house.

I installed this card on my Toshiba notebook running win xp. I just did wat the quick install manual said and it was installed. I updated the driver as soon as i got connected to my N network and everything was all good. Easy install, simple directions and its more than double the speed and signal of my G network. I know there have been bad reviews of this card but it must have been a bad card. I had no problems at all installing, setting up or running this card. Add in the increased range and speed, a must buy!

The CD install blew up - installing through Windows worked. There are no Linux drivers and this is a Broadcom chipset card AFAIK ... Dual boot users note that I am still searching but ndiswrapper has been suggested as a Linux solution.



This is a fine replacement for the internal card on my laptop, but it is not directly compatible with Linux. That's the bottom line.



WinXP is still on my system and saving my butt.

I'm a fan of Linksys since before the days of Cisco acquiring them. This past year, I overhauled my home network and put newer technology from Linksys into use. WET610N to get the gaming console on the network and WRT410N to provide better wireless. So far, so good. Opted for the best wireless security choice right now; WPA2 AES. It's all good. 5 laptops, a iTouch, and a wireless bridge all humming along nicely. I have one laptop that has historically been twitchy (yes, technical term) with the internal wireless G card. So, I decided to go for a replacement wireless card and figured if I was going to spend some money, let's give the laptop access to Wireless N (albeit draft-N and only 2.4Ghz range). I read the reviews here. A mix of happy and sad comments. I decided to roll the dice and take a chance.

Should have been painless. Right? I mean, Linksys PC card connecting to Linksys router. No potential conflict because of different manufacturers, and I like Linksys anyway. Instead, I spend the better part of 5 hours trying to get this piece of (fill in your favorite expletive) to work. I wanted support for WPA2 AES, and this unit is supposed to support it, but, it won't negotiate an IP address with my router. In 5 hours of attempting to use this hardware, I obtained an IP address for about 20 minutes, and it eventually slowed the laptop down to a crawl. I spent an hour with Linksys tech support to no avail.

I give this no thumbs at all. It's bad enough to not even garner a thumbs down. It's a stinker. I had hoped that the negative reviews here wouldn't be the case for me. Not so. AVOID this if you want to use any form of new and secure wireless encryption, and yes, I did download the latest and greatest drivers from Linksys - they're 2 years old and this unit is obsoleted. There is no firmware update posted, or any glimmer of one having been released anywhere on the internet.

Fortunately, I will be able to return for refund - its going out in the mail as soon as I can get it reboxed.

I have an older Dell laptop running XP using a linksys WPC 11 V4 adapter trying to connect to a Netgear N router. I uploaded the latest driver for the WPC 11 that supports WEP security and it still didn't work. So I purchased this WPC300N and it worked fine with WPA security. The only problem is that I don't get the extended range I'm suppose to get with a wireless N router.

Since I do alot of streaming audio and video it works better then the wireless G that is built in my laptop. The ability of being connected at 240 MBps is better then the 54 MBps that G allows. The fact that it is even backwards capable to G and B is a plus. If you push large files or HD streaming video and want to keep your laptop wireless, then this is the way to go. Be sure that you do have a wireless N Router to have the bandwidth.

I had a seriously tough time installing this PCMCI wireless adapter card into my HP computer with XP & service pack 3. The CD software was out of date and did not allow a successful driver install, so I downloaded the latest, but stumbled when the laptop did not auto detect the new hardware when the card was inserted. Called linkSys technical support three times in Philippine, not much help, and their tier-2 technicians never called back as promised. Looks like this company can't keep up with all problems people like me are encountering with their product... What a waste of time! the only good thing is that the Amazon seller promised to reimburse me after mailing this card back.