Reviewed by: StringBlade on 13-Sep-04 Rating:

Strengths:Strong signal reception on different floors & through walls.Supports WEP (and WPA claimed) in linux. Very responsive (though no attempt to measure speed from the SpeedBooster technology).

Weaknesses:Antenna can get in the way of other expansion slot connections. Tricky to set up in linux. No native linux drivers available.

Summary:Having a Linksys WRT54G wireless broadband router I purchased the WMP54GS for compatibility and *hopefully* a speed improvement over the standard 54mpbs rate. First off, the SpeedBooster really only gives you up to a 35% improvement if all the devices on your wireless network have SpeedBooster. If you have non-SB devices, your speed improvement is reduced. When I attempted to install this card into linux I found out: 1.) linux doesn\'t detect the card as new hardware (at least Fedora Core 2 didn\'t) and 2.) Linksys doesn\'t provide any linux drivers at all - only a Windows .exe file. With a bit of research and a lot of headache I found ndiswrapper - a linux utility to wrap Windows wireless drivers - that allowed me to create a wireless device and then I had to figure out how to tell the card my WEP key and SSID. In the end, after all the pain of getting it to be recognized in linux, it does work flawlessly and I have full speed in linux -- even down one floor and through two walls from the router. With knowledge of how to get wireless working in linux I\'d buy this card again but I\'d hope Linksys supply native drivers at some point in the near future.

Reviewed by: toobsluver on 08-Jul-04 Rating:

Strengths:Got great distances on connection even connected to neighbors wireless network!

Weaknesses:No weaknesses

Summary:This product is easy to install! I think Linksys did a great job with the installation instructions. You don\'t need to be A+ or N+ certified to install this one!

Reviewed by: drblue on 30-Mar-05 Rating:

Strengths:(1) Easy Installation(2) Fast Speed(3) Built Quality

Weaknesses:(1) Interference with other device (cordless phone)

Summary:The installation was a breeze. I pushed the card into the available PCI slot of my computer, and turned on the computer. The card was recognized by the operating system without any problem (Windows XP Professional). After that, I simply followed the quick installation guide, and I could immediately connect to my home network (as well as to the Internet). I have a non-Linksys router (SMC), and my router is not even 802g (my router is an old 802b model). But there was no problem in communication between my router and this card. It did not take more than 15 minutes to install the card. I was pleasantly surprised by this because I always had to spend a few agonizing hours to install anything \"wireless.\" Also, I heard a lot of bad experiences about installing this card on the Internet, so I do not want to overgeneralize my experience -- I could have been just lucky.

I placed the computer (in which this card is installed) in my living room (at the first floor). My router is located at the third floor (I live in Los Angeles where real estate is gold. My small townhome is built on a small piece of land, so it ended up a 3-story building.). Because my router is only 802b, I could not get the full 50+Mbps nor could test the speedbooster techology. Yet I was able to get the full-speed without any problem (10Mbps). I will buy a 802g router sometime in the near-future. Until then, I won\'t be able to test the full-capability of this card. Thus, please take my review as a \"partial\" review, and refer to others\' review before making a purchase decision.

The card has been reliable since it was installed. The only problem I experienced was the occasional inferences with my cordless phone. I have a Panasonic 2.4GHz cordless phone, and experience two separate occasions of inference (i.e., network lost). But this was a minor problem as the connection came back immediately.

All in all, I had a good experience with this card.

Reviewed by: paul11187 on 14-Nov-04 Rating:

Strengths:Works great and is a very good product. Good signal plus range.

Weaknesses:A little bit costly compared to other brands.

Summary:I recommend this wireless card to anyone who has a Linksys 54G router. The reception is great and its very easy to use and plus its easy to install.

Reviewed by: ericimo on 19-Oct-05 Rating:

Strengths:Works perfectly over good distance and through many walls

Weaknesses:No go if you have 64 bit OS

Summary:I purchased two of them along with the corresponding router. It works great on the PC with Windows XP on the farside of the house. My new PC has Windows XP x64 and the drivers do not work on it. Linksys has no 64 bit drivers or 32 bit drivers compatible with 64 bit OS for the WMP54GS v 1.1. If you have a 64 bit OS like me, you need to buy the WMP54G, the same one with no speed booster(or find WMP54GS v 1, it will work I\'m told, but I cannot find them for sale anywhere). You can get that one to work. Or you can wait 6 months or so for some compatible drivers from Linksys.

Reviewed by: pauyu on 18-Aug-04 Rating:

Strengths:Good range and easy to use.

Weaknesses:Price and customer service.

Summary:I bought this a month ago and I was quite surprised. This thing has good range and it\'s quite easy to use.
The bad thing about this product is its price. You can get something similar to this for about 10 bucks cheaper. Another thing bad is the customer service. Be ready to wait for at least half an hour and not receive any help in the end. That\'s what happened to me.

Reviewed by: moodooo on 09-Feb-05 Rating:

Strengths:Works great. Easy to install.

Weaknesses:The antenna might be in the way of all the cables etc.

Summary:The Linksys WIRELESS G PCI CARD WITH SPEEDBOOSTER is great. I would highly recommend to buy it. It was easy to install and works great. The antenna might be in the way of all the cables etc. but is nothing that will bother you really.

Reviewed by: splaski on 17-Jan-05 Rating:

Strengths:Easy installation, quality and stability.

Weaknesses:Low range, week signal, cost.

Summary:I purchased this card along with WCG200 cable modem/gatway from buy.com. The installation/setup instructions were very clear and it took me 20 minutes to connect both devices and install the driver for the NIC. I was pleasantly surprised by Comcast - I\'ve got quite a knowledgeable guy on the phone who walked me through their setup in about 10 minutes and, bam, I was online.

Now, the bad part. My modem is set up in the living room and my PC is in the next room un der the desk. That\'s 15 feet away, with a regular sheetrock wall in between. I only get Low to Very Low signal strenth that normally yields 24 to 36Mbps. While that\'s enough for me, I know some people will be pissed off. You\'ll have better results after turning your PC\'s rear towards the gateway (I\'ve checked) but this doesn\'t work for everyone.

All in all, this is a good quality card, it works. I certainly recommend it.

Reviewed by: Breemania on 19-Aug-04 Rating:

Strengths:Easy to setup, detailed instructions.

Weaknesses:Range, Weak signal, Antenna very low gain.

Summary:Over all a very good card but it has a very weak signal; my D-link card in my laptop blows this one away. I will purchase the new D-link in the future. I had originally purchased this because of working with Cisco products in the past that have been of excellent quality. Linksys should offer a better antenna with this product. Recommend the D-Link Xtreme G!
Thanks,
Tom