Customer Reviews

SMC2632W 802.11b 11Mbps Wireless PC Card with integrated antennae

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I bought two of these SMC2632W cards along with the SMC700AWBR Wireless Barricade Router. My intent was to share my dial-up modem connection between my Fujitsu Lifebook C-6577 laptop and my 10-year-old daughter's Sony VAIO PCG-FX210 laptop. (I have ordered DSL, but don't have it yet.)

I didn't get the system working wirelessly with my Fujitsu laptop at first (I'm a software developer, not a hardware person), so I hard-wired my laptop to the router to get the router and modem set up and working. (I'll write a review of the router -- if I remember -- once I get DSL.)

UPDATE: I got DSL, and everything still works fine.

I then put this PC card in my daughter's Sony laptop, and it worked after installing the drivers and configuring the network settings. The router is in the back of our 2000+ square foot house, and she can use her computer in the front of the house with no problem (through two walls on a diagonal).
While installing the drivers, I noticed a Windows CE directoy on the driver diskette, and wondered if my other PC would work in my Compaq iPAQ with the dual PC card sleeve. I copied the CAB file to my iPAQ, double-clicked on it, and the software installed. I can now use my iPAQ around the house to wirelessly surf the Web and chat on AOL Instant Messenger.

As a caveat, I mentioned I'm not a hardware person, so I haven't done any speed testing. Things seem OK to me, but I don't know what kind of throughput I'm getting.

Because installing and configuring the card was so easy with the Sony laptop, and because it all seems to work well, I give this five stars. Because I got the extra capability of Windows CE, I'd give it another 1/2 star, if possible. :-)

The one downside with using this card on Windows CE is the settings application. First, I can't seem to find it again (probably my fault). Second, it seems to have been developed for Handheld PCs, not Pocket PCs, so the settings screen gets truncated on the right with no possibility to scroll. That's why it only gets an extra 1/2 star instead of an extra full star.

UPDATE: I found the settings application again, and created a shortcut for it so I can find it more easily. I also found that I can see the rest of the dialog by moving the dialog's main window around. I hadn't tried that before because most Pocket PC applications seem to be full-screen and not movable.

(NOTE: The driver diskette also seems to include Linux drivers, but I don't have a Linux system, so haven't tested this.)

This networking card is simply fantastic!

USE:
This card operates at very high speeds and is surprisingly unaffected by interference. No matter how far I roam from the SMC 7004 wireless barricade (which this card communicates with) the connectivity is exceptional.

I live in a moderately large condominium that is part of a huge building with dozens of units. This building is a VERY unfriendly place for anything wireless. In fact, my cordless phones have always had some static problems. It should be noted that these are all high grade phones and I have phones for every bandwidth (analog, 900 mhz, 2.4 ghz). Despite this unfriendly environment, the card remains unaffected and works great. Also important, it does not interfear with my 2.4 gig phones.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT.
Their technical support people are friendly and knowledgable. The tollfree number is great, and their email support is good too. Sometimes the wait can be pretty long to get ahold of one of them, but it is a toll free number, and so at least it is on their dime and not yours.

INSTALLATION:
This card is very easy to install. In fact, the first time I installed it I thought something went wrong because it was so easy I didn't think anything had happened. In fact, the card was fully installed and working great.

There is one caveat though. If you install this card on your system and then upgrade to Windows XP, you could have trouble. As of now (11/9/01), if you want this card to work you will need to do a full install of XP and not just an upgrade install. Then when you install the drivers you should be fine. Frankly, I recommend this anyways, as when I did the ugrade install I had problems with several programs that disapeared when I went back and did the full installation.

Bottom line: Great card, solid customer service, and easy installation.

I returned all the Netgear stuff I had purchased because of problems and because of bad customer tech help and replaced it with the Wireless Broadband Router with 3-port switch and print server and the wireless PC card for notebooks. Had it up and running in 20 minutes! Instructions are very detailed and precise and not too "techie". Now I can sit on my couch in front of my TV and surf the web while my other PC and printer, etc is 2 rooms away. I just love it!!!!

I bought this card mainly because of the low price. I must say I am pleased with the performance so far and never had any problems. The install was a breeze and the bandwidth is very good.

I am using it to connect my Dell Inspiron laptop, running Windows 2000, to a SMC Barricade 7004VWBR Access Point/Router.

The Network utility program is neat. It displays signal strength grapically and allows for channel and SSID selection, WEP encryption (with pass phrase-based encryption key generator), and a search feature for the best channel/bandwidth. I am using 128 bit WEP encryption which has been perfect so far.

One important note about installing the driver from the CD that came in the box - the driver is located in the CD under D:\SMC2632W_SMC2602 folder. The Windows "New Hardware Found" wizard will *not* automatically find the driver, because the driver is in a ZIP file. You have to UNZIP this file onto a folder in your hard drive and then specify the path to the driver. Once you do this the install completes perfectly and the card should begin working immediately after reboot.

The Linux drivers are found in SMC's website.

I own the Linksys Wireless Access Point w/4 port switch and had originally bought the Linksys Wireless card. The SMC access card had better signal quality than the Linksys and a DLink card that was tried with the identical access point placement. I will only buy SMC for all other Wireless adapter cards on our network.

Slid this puppy in my Dell Inspiron 4000 running Me. System recognized it asked for the driver disk, installed the drivers and that was it. Worked with my Barricade wireless router first time. I generated the WEP codes, plugged them into the router, and have been happy ever since. Range is good. There is no where in my home that I cannot connect with this. I have an older home, with real plaster walls, concrete main floor, and metal doorframes, the card works everywhere.

I bought this card along with SMC7004AWBR thinking that they shouldn't be having problem with each other. The router got installed within 5 minutes but this card installation on W2K took more than 3 days and 2 phone calls. As everyone is complaining it does not get installed in W2K right out of the box. It keeps complaining "Driver could not be loaded (Code 31)". So I called tech support and got a reply that he will send me new drivers but never received them. Wrote an email from their site. No response. So yesterday after waiting for 40 minutes to get connected to their tech support, I got the answer that the Code 31 is a common problem and he is going to send me drivers. Fortunately I received the drivers and was able to install the card with no problems. Once installed everything is easy. I get 70% connection around the house. The drivers which came on CD do not match with the manual. Also the drivers which are on the web site will not work for W2K. If anyone needs them, I have it. Let me know. .

A simple question I would like to ask SMC is that if you know the Code 31 problem and have drivers for them, then why not load them on your web site. It will save headache for users....

Just received and installed my 2632W PC Card. I installed it on a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop running WINXP Home. I am using it with a SMC7004AWBR Barricade wireless router. The setup was very simple, using the installation CD that came with the card. The driver worked flawlessly first time and I was able to communicate immediately. I have tested the range of the card, going "upstairs" and the other end of the house and the signal strength is better than my SMC PC wireless adapter in my desktop. I would definitely recommend this product.

I have a Thinkpad T21 Laptop (for Work) and an Apple G4 Cube (for home- can't stand looking at PC all day). I wanted to share my DSL between these 2 platforms, one wireless of couse, and cheaply. I found it in SMC! I got the SMC2632W Wireless Network PC Card and the SMC7004AWBR Wireless 4-Port Broadband Router with Print Server. They have support for the Mac OS! Hooking it up was a breeze....although I needed some help with the setup from tech support. They are there 24/7 and very courteous and helpful! Imagine that? Granted it's not a pretty design...I stashed it under the table...everything works very well.

This my first attempt of going wireless at home. I chose this product because price is cheap and it had good review from other customers.
Good product. I have a IBM Thinkpad T21 running Windows XP Home Edition and a verizon DSL connection. I bought the SMC router and this card. I was able to set up my wireless connection in about half an hour. I live in a 2 bedroom appartment. The router is in my bedroom. When I am in the living room, the signal is 4/5. Driver installation was nicely handled by Windows XP.