Customer Reviews

TL-WN861N IEEE 802.11n (draft) - Wi-Fi Adapter

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This product worked well in my Dell Inspiron laptop... note however, that the TL-WN861N only has two antenna connections, and the picture attached to this description incorrectly shows the TL-WN961N which requires three antenna connections. It appears that a number of the Amazon retailers have this incorrect picture (TL-WN961N) shown when they are describing/selling the TL-WN861N. If you need two antenna connections this (TL-WN861N) is the unit for you. If your PC has the option of connecting a third antenna for extended range you may wish to verify with the seller that you are getting the correct card.

I bought this Wireless Mini-Wifi Card for my Nieces Dell Latitude D600 and it works Flawlessly great reception and also supports all the security protocols I need, and it cost less than the Cardbus I was going to buy from Linksys. Thanks

Installed this in a WEBDT 366. Replacing the intel btg 2000 card that was in it. The difference has been night and day! No more continues connection drops and its SO much faster on the internet too. Drivers were not supplied by the vendor, but they supply the link so they are easily found. Installed on XP PRO along with the utility which I really didn't need too. I am 100% happy with this WiFi network card!!!

Upgraded my home to Wireless N and wanted to include my notebook. Fit in my Gateway MT3705, but it was a close fit had to remove the optical drive to install correctly.

Works great on multiple networks (BG&N) as long as you use the Vista drivers as there are currently NO Windows 7 drivers.

Purchased this mini-PC wireless card from Amazon a few weeks ago as part of an update to my eMachines M5305 laptop that had been using a PCMCIA card for Internet access for years. No documentation arrived with the mini-PCI card, but a quick look at the TP-Link Website found the downloadable installation software and an explanation of the software sequence through their FAQ page. One omission was crucial; no antennas were specified or included with the device. My machine did not have antennas preinstalled, so found an online source that provided the two antennas needed for $1.00 plus $.90 shipping from Hong Kong. Awaiting the antennas, and positioning my laptop next to the access point, I installed the device and software and configured the connection. With arrival of antennas, outstanding connectivity. The TP-Link is an excellent buy, but requires some doing, yet, for even the non-techy I am, it was no hill for a climber. Highly recommended.

I purchased this card for my Gateway 400VTX laptop. I couldn't find anything online about the compatibility for this card and my laptop. I'm happy to report that it works fine and my connection speeds are much better than they were before with my older 'G' card. I also purchased the D-LINK DIR-655 wireless-N router which I'm also happy with. Very nice card, would definitely recommend it.

Pretty much the only 11n PCI mini-card you'll find on the common market... Normally I would consider this a bad thing. Probably still is. But the WN861 is quite impressive. Its wireless throughput seems solid though the old laptop I put it in is incapable of maxing it really. It's wireless range is INCREDIBLE. Easily twice that of a usb 11n stick... About 1.5x the 11n PCIe ASUS n11 card in my desktop! Yeah. that's range.

I didn't even replace the origial 11b wireless antanas in my computer for it. I can only imagine if I had with some higher gain ones.

Drivers on included CD are worthless. Don't use them. Ones of TPlinks VERY nice website however work perfectly. Knew this in advance, though I tested it out of curiosity.

There were 2 issues that while minor, need to be noted:

Firstly, this WIFI card draws a good bit of energy. Some laptops may not handle it. The little tiny Libretto L5 I put it in gets temperamental when the battery is low and the WiFi is in use. Then again its a VERY low power laptop(Pre-netbook ultralight circa 2003, Transmeta based). Not to mention old. Long as your systems internal voltage regulation isn't stressed... It should be fine.

Aka, avoid putting this in cheaply made low power systems. Or well, know the risk you are taking.

The second note is that the card's IRQ got assigned to the same as the GPU in my computer... Sadly in the case of Transmeta hardware this is nearly impossible to fix. This should be troubleshootable in most cases however on more normal AMD/Intel hardware via the bios one way or another.

But if you have bad performance, check this. Remember this thing IS PCI not PCIE, it still uses oldtype IRQs on many systems. Meaning IRQ conflicts... Well. Yeah. They happen.

My wireless range improved a lot over the stock wireless adapter, I can go over 3 times farther using the same router. The only problem I had was that I had to get someone else to download the drivers for me. otherwise it's a great product!

I bought this for an old Toshiba laptop that needed a wirelss card. The range is incredible, & way more than I would have expected for twice the price. I paid less than $19 + s&h. I will definitely be looking for this card next time I need one.