Customer Reviews

Microsoft Home Networking Wireless Notebook Kit

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this to allow my wife wireless access to our DSL internet line; she has my old laptop running Win98 and I just bought a new desktop with XP Pro. I nosed around and considered some Linksys components, but after reading the reviews here on the Microsoft system I went ahead and got it. Installation was very easy and it worked first time.

Following the recommendations of some other users here, I went ahead and downloaded the updates for the base system during installation, but it installed without a hitch, and putting the notebook adapter on the laptop (a Dell Inspiron 7000 running Win98) was a snap. The Microsoft installation CD has you put the network information on a floppy, so you don't even need to write down or remember any network addresses; when you install the adapter on the notebook, it just takes that information off the floppy.

I have a low frustration threshold and I'm not real comfortable with installing and configuring stuff like this, so I was a little worried, but it all went very smoothly, so a few days later I bought a USB adapter for my other, even older, desktop so my kids could access the DSL line while on it. It was just as easy and works just as well. I have to give this product the 5 star thumbs up.

After doing much research, I've decided to go with Microsoft Wireless notebook kit mainly because I am running XP both on my laptop and my PC and I didn't want to experience too much compatibility issues. I had experienced problem when setting up my base station with the PC (couldn't detect internet connection), a quick phone call to Miscrosoft's 24 HOURS support at 12 midnight fixed the problem. Turns out that all I had to do was to unplug power cord of my modem and the base station for 5 mins and VIOLA!! everything runs perfectly!!

Setting up the adapter on my laptop only took me 5 mins. No configuration needed, hardware detects base station right away!!

I would recommend this product to everyone who's thinking about setting up wireless and wired lan!! Great product with reasonable price and best of all you get 2 years worth of 24 HOURS customer support from good old Gates! Can't complain with all this.

P.S. Yes!! You do need to download the patch from the support website.

Like many out there, I was biased by the fact that this is a Microsoft system. Throughout the years, I too have grown to greatly dislike anything from Microsoft. Man, was I shocked with this product! Everything works flawlessly.

I first purchased the Linksys wireless kit, but it gave me the same problems everyone else was saying, "no signal range, and the support is terrible." When I called Linksys customer support, someone from another country basically was typing every question I said into a search engine, and was then reading the screen. They appeared to have absolutely no technical knowledge. After several hours of tech support (long hold times), I immediately brought the router and card back. My time is simply worth way more than any savings they could give me on the cheaper system.

Then, after much research this time, I purchased the Microsoft kit. It installed very quickly on XP (desktop) and believe it or not, even quicker on Windows 2000 (laptop)--go figure. The 128 (or 64) encryption was also a breeze to setup. Also, with the router located in the identical location the Linksys router was previously in, I was able to reach every corner of my house. Believe me, I tried everything with the Linksys. The Microsoft system software is intelligent enough to give up transfer speed to maintain signal strength. This is great! After all, who cares that they can transfer at full speed half of the time if you need to reboot the router and computer the other half of the time. Even at the reduced transfer speeds (~2 Mbits/s), it's still faster than my broadband connection at 1.5 Mbits/s. I tried everything with the Linksys, but the Microsoft system lived up to the hype. I still think they are too much of a monopoly, but to end the frustrations with this issue, they can stay a monopoly for now. I'm using it now, and it's great.

I had an SMC 2404WBR barricade turbo wireless router/notebook card, and it was a pain in the ass from day one. took a whole day to finally get it working, and many other days in this past year trying to keep it working. The SMC router also woulnd't work with my dad's new Dell axim X3i PDA, so that's why I bought this one. Had this router set up and installed and the notebook card installed in less than 30 minutes, and my dad's Axim works PERFECTLY. i love this router already, and it looks damn good and is small and compact. A+++ good job microsoft.

Last summer the local parks went wi-fi, and when I finally decided to buy a new computer I decided on a 802.11b notebook. When my new roommate started having difficulties dialing up, it seemed a natural progression to go 'wireless'. Her notebook is older(running 98se, no modem, low memory pentium mmx et al) so I decided to go with the commonality between our two systems microsoft OS.

While I didn't need the 802.11b adapter, my roommate did so I went with the kit. I was prepared to be disappointed with microsoft and to have to spend much time trying to set up my roommates older notebook.

But I was shocked to say the least when everything loaded quickly and as laid out in the set up guide. In fact it loaded quicker than setting up my dsl connection. I think part of it was due to me making sure that my viruscan firewall was down.

My roommate has had no problems with her notebook adapter and has used it outside of the house through other hotspots. My third roommate who has an ibook (which also has an intergrated 802.11b) also hasn't had much problem logging onto the network.

Our apartment consists of two floors in a townhouse and the signal is consistently strong throughout the apartment. It was worth the 90 dollars spent and worth the less than 15 minutes of set up time. After two weeks of use I have not seen any of the problems described and feel confident that I won't.

works great but I highly recommend visiting microsoft.com and downloading the fixware patch for the wireless router before instalation. I have a sony pentium 4 desktop and when i installed the wireless system (with help from the tech support at microsoft) the computer began restarting its self every two minutes and would not stop. After I downloaded the fixware patch it works perfectly.

This product has allowed me to use a new notebook with Windows 2000 professional on a network with a desktop running Windows 98, sharing a cable internet connection with great speed and range. I can also use the printer through the wireless connection, which is a great convenience. The range is greater than I expected, with little signal loss in other parts of my modest home and even outside on the deck.

The setup was not simple. After consulting two tech reps with Microsoft, the second suggested unplugging the power cord to the cable company modem for 5 minutes, plugging it back in, allowing it to reset for a little while, then unplugging the power to the base station for a few seconds and plugging it back in. This got the internet connection working. (I see another Amazon reviewer had to do this.) Then, the printer would not work, even though I had enabled sharing of the printer. Finally, another call to Microsoft (good thing there is good support for this product) and I logged in as a guest on the base station computer. Now the printer can be used on the network.

The setup was much more complicated than I expected, but the wireless network was worth the trouble for me. It works beautifully. (I did download the patches right away.)

I was so proud that I did this one myself! I hooked it up to a wired Linksys router as a WAP for my XP laptop. Total installation time to get everything working was about 25 minutes. I have a two-story home and the base unit is in the laundry room in the basement. I can sit on my bed in the furthest corner of the top floor and get an excellent quality signal. I can't believe it was so easy and affordable with this kit.

Fast delivery from Amazon, even the free way! Out of the package, run set up on base, hooked up base, run set up on remote, plug in adapter...on the net. Could not have been easier! Of course using Windows XP operating system didn't hurt.

OK, I had high hopes for this product. I thought, "Well, it IS Micro$oft, so it should work." Setup of the router was fairly easy and the istructions were very easy to follow. The problems started almost right away, when I tried going out to some common web sites and noticed LONG delays (163 ms or more, with 25-50% dropped packets). I dropped my old router back in and the delays were much smaller (60 ms with no dropped packets). I confirmed this to several other web sites and could duplicate it, so I called the Micro$oft help desk. This was a very bad experence with a helpdesk person reading from a script. She told me just to reset the router anytime the connection got slow (no kidding!). I packed up the whole kit and replaced it with the D-Link. Had no problems at all.