Customer Reviews

SMC2662W 802.11b 11Mbps Wireless USB Adapter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a very good product, if it works. I would give it five stars for its range/signal strength, ease of use, helpful tech support, and good documentation if it always worked. BTW, I used it with an SMC2655W.

But, I also have Panasonic 2.4 GHz Gigarange phones. When the phone is in use, the network stops working. The signal strength gauge drops to zero. Turn the phone off, the network recovers. Turn the phone on, the network fails. It is really easy to convince yourself of what is going on. Both are using 2.4 GHz, which I knew, but that they would be completely interfering was a surprise.

The adapter was about 25 feet from the base station of the phone. It seems the base station is the problem, not the handset. The adapter was in the same room, but even hiding the adapter down the hall 5 feet did not solve the problem. I even put a bunch of metal next to the adapter in line with the phone base unit, but that did not seem to help.

I tried different channels. I set it to use only 1 Mb/s. I called SMC tech support and was treated nicely -- but the answer was that the unit would not work near this phone.

The cordless phone selects the channel it uses. Apparently the network is not strong enough for it to try to avoid. Changing the channel on the phone (hit the "ch" button) can get the network to work.

I had to return the unit.

However, I was very satified with SMC. I would definately buy from them again.

I've got the complete SMC system- wireless router, this USB adapter for my desktop, and wireless card for my laptop. All perform flawlessly and were a snap to install. A friend bought the same system. He had one problem with installation which tech support at SMC cleared up in 3 minutes. This is a quality company.

I have been looking to go wireless for months. I reviewed the reviews on Amazon and other sites. I made the decision to go with SMC products (and their prices just dropped). I hooked up the SMC7004AWBR in place of a Netgear (LAN only) product and I had internal network connection almost automatically. The setup went smooth. I also hooked up a SMC2632W into a laptop (no special card needed, directly into the PCMCIA slot). I had to download the utility from SMC because the disk supplied was bad. Setup went smooth. Then loaded the USB device SMC2662W to another older desktop. It found the access point after following the setup steps provided. I was cruising the net and very happy.
I can watch videos from the net and play MP3s located on my other computer. The access point is connected to DSL and lan to another desktop. The older slower desktop shows performance drain when other networked computers are accessing files from it. The computers connected range from 200mHz to 900mHz. Plus my kids can do playhouse disney with ease and no wires to run to their desktop. The access point is two walls and 250 feet away from the 2662W and I get 70% and up connection. I am very satisfied and recommend SMC and Amazon and Win98 or newer. Everything has been running about a month. Also downloaded the latest firmware then instituted the access control feature on the SMC7004AWBR and tested it, it worked as promoted. Yet to do encryption feature. Ultimately very satisfied.

Update: I have the wireless network running for over 1 month and it is working great. The DSL modem had two problems unrelated to the network during the 1 month while the wireless and wired PCs continue without a hiccup. The USB device gets much better connection speed than the PCMCIA card. There is firmware upgrade but I have not installed it since all is working fine. Still very happy.

This product does not work currently under Windows XP, even though the SMC website clearly claims that ALL shipping SMC products have been tested with XP. Tech support does not respond to inquires about this issue. STAY AWAY!

My daughter purchased the SMC2662 for Internet connectivity via my Barricade Wireless Access Point. For once, installation went precisely as documented. There are only three steps:

1) Plug the adapter into the computer's USB port using the included cable

2) Wait until the computer detects the adapter and follow the Wizard instructions to install the driver from the floppy disk

3) Run setup.exe in the \utility\ directory of the floppy to install a utility that presents signal strength and link quality and also supports configuration.

We installed the adapter on two computers - my homebuilt 800 MHz Duron running WIN2K Professional and my daughter's Gateway 500 MHz PIII (also WIN2K Pro). In both cases, installation was absolutely trouble free.

Performance is significantly better than any of the PCMCIA wireless network adapters we've previously tried. From my daughter's upstairs bedroom, all the PCMCIA adapters we tried provided marginal link qualities (< 20%) while the USB adapter consistently ran 90 - 95% on the link quality readout. I think that this is due to the fact that the USB adapter has two external antennas that can be adjusted to match the polarity of the wireless access point antennas. We've found the best results with both sets of antennas oriented at 45 degrees.

We're delighted with the product and I'm seriously considering purchasing another one that I can use when I bring my company laptop home (which has a Cisco PCMCIA wireless adapter card that barely maintains a link 30' away from the wireless access point.) It won't be as convenient to have to deal with the separate adapter on the end of a USB cable, but it beats hoisting my laptop in the air and rotating it everytime I want to load a new page off the Internet (the current procedure to get adequate link quality with the Cisco adapter when I'm in a different room than the wireless access point).

I had the V.2 version for 1+ year connecting to a Barricade SMC7004AWBR. Easy install and works with both my Laptop (Win2K Pro) and my desk top (XP Home). Good reception if place on top of table (minimal obstruction), bad reception if placed in PC cabinet. I get 80% reception 20ft away w/ one wall in-between.

I bought this for my wireless network which consists of a linksys wireless AP, a linksys PCMCIA adapter for my laptop, plus a desktop system. The distance between the wireless AP and the desktop system is no more than 100 ft, but they are in a completely different rooms. As a result signal strength was always my concern.

Like many reviewers said installation was simple and straightforward (at for win98se). For WinXP Pro, it's a bit tricky when WEP is enabled. Users are required manually entering the 40-bit (or 104-bit) security key. Once the installation is done, I was amazed by how good the performance is. It's virtually having a DSL connection to the second system.

Be very careful if you have Windows XP.

Since I installed my SMC USB wireless network adapter, I have been unable to dial into my ISP because the computer crashes eachtime Dial-Up Networking tries to connect. SMC have been no help. Uninstalling has not solved the problem. At least the network functions from time to time, so I can connect to the Internet over the network, as long as my notebook dials in (I have a wireless PC card on that machine)

As far as I can tell, the drivers are simply not XP compatible.

The network took a little time to set up. When it functions, it is great having the wireless connection. Using encryption drops transmission rates significantly below 11mbps, and for reasons that I cannot understand, it is erratic about whether it connects or not from time to time, especially with encryption selected.

This client will get a lot better reception than a PCI card or even a PCMCIA card, so if you are just setting up a wireless network on a desktop computer or on a laptop that won't need a PCMCIA card that it can use elsewhere, I would get this adapter because it gives you more freedom to position the antenna for best reception.

My neighbor has a lucent wireless access point hooked up to his cable modem. So, I bought this to get access and dump my own cable modem( I asked him first if this was cool with him). This thing works perfectly. I bought the usb so I could switch between my desktop and laptop(dell 4000/win200). They both work fine. Now I save $40 a month! :) No complaints at all.