SMC2532W-B EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b High-Power Wireless PC Card

by SMC

Product Details

Data Sheet [927kb PDF]

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Product Manual [2.46mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.7 x 1.2 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000099671
• Item model number: SMC2532W-B
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,241 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 17, 2003

Product Description

SMC's new EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b High Power Wireless PC Card (SMC2532W-B) connects with an existing Ethernet installation so wireless enterprise laptop users can gain instant network access and resources from the conference room to the board room. This new member of the EliteConnect family of product line from SMC combines superior performance, range and reliability. The new SMC2532W-B offers an incredible transmit power of 200mW, one of the highest in the industry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent performance, fragile design, February 15, 2005

By 

Fulvio (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SMC2532W-B EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b High-Power Wireless PC Card (Personal Computers)

I bought this card for use on the boat at Shilshole Marina in Seattle, to connect to the access points of Broadband Xpress (www.bbxpress.net). After some research, I found that this card (among others) is built on the same chipset as the one bbx sells for $109, and I suspect it actually is exactly the same.

It works great on my IBM Thinkpad T20, with Win XP Pro SP2. I installed the drivers from the SMC website. No problem. The custom utility that comes with the drivers is pretty nice, with signal strength, quality, all the available APs, etc. I always use that instead of the Windows one.

The only drawback is the weakness of the detachable tab antenna. If you plug it in and out a lot, and travel around with your laptop, it WILL break. Mine did. SMC sent me a new one right away for $20. For that money I could have bought an external one, which I'll get anyway at some point.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Look from Wireless Guy, November 12, 2003

By 

Reed White (Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SMC2532W-B EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b High-Power Wireless PC Card (Personal Computers)

I spent the summer setting up a 1500-foot radius wireless project. Up until this point we mostly used the Orinoco Classic Gold cards, which have the advantage of internal antenna and external port. However, the Orinoco power is relativelly low (30mw) and the internal antenna can't be disabled. The 200mw Senao cards with external antenna (only) worked even better. The 200mw SMC2532W-B has a removeable antenna AND external connectors -- a very nice design. Software installed easily on Windows 2000 Pro. It uses the same Prism 2.5 chip set as the Senao and similar specs, so I expect performance to be comparable. Initial tests look good.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just works., September 9, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SMC2532W-B EliteConnect 2.4GHz 802.11b High-Power Wireless PC Card (Personal Computers)

Plugged this into my 400 Mhz 1st generation Apple Tibook. Installed the $20 802.11b wireless driver form ioxperts.com. Set DHCP. Done and working.

This has easily double and almost triple the effective range of the internal airport card.

Highly recommended.