WiFiReview.com

WiFiReview.com

3COM Corp OFFICECONNECT WIRELESS 802.11G ( 3CRWE154G72 )

enlarge

Model: 3CRWE154G72
Brand: 3Com
Manufacturer: 3Com
Average Rating:

(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 2
Platforms: Windows
Form factor: Plug-in module
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g

Features:

It's wireless--no need to drill holes or run Ethernet cabling to set up your network
Quick and easy install: usually with no manual configuration required
Dynamic rate shifting automatically matches the best connection speed in response to changing physical and interference conditions
Wi-Fi certification helps ensure interoperability with Wi-Fi certified products from other vendors
802.11g is compatible with existing 802.11b products, providing network configuration flexibility and investment protection

Description:

With the 3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 11g PC Card, notebook users can access network resources, the Internet, and e-mail at speeds up to 54 Mbps and at distances up to 100 meters (328 feet). That's almost five times the speed of existing 802.11b wireless products, which makes this product ideal for small offices that work with demanding audio, video, and multimedia applications. The 11g PC card works with the 3Com Wireless 11g Access Point to create a powerful, high-speed all-wireless network in minutes. The 11g products are compatible with 11b products, so both 11b and 11g clients can reside on the same network. This flexibility preserves your network investment and allows you to upgrade or scale your network according to your budget and time frame.Setup and operation are extraordinarily easy, making these products great choices for first-time wireless users. Like all award-winning OfficeConnect products, the 11g PC card delivers reliability features such as dynamic rate shifting, which automatically matches the best connection speed to room conditions so connections stay clear and open. The PC card also employs advanced 256-bit WPA (Wireless Protected Access) encryption as well as 40/64- and 128-bit shared-key WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) encryption to help protect data on the wireless LAN. And because it is Wi-Fi certified, the PC card should work seamlessly with Wi-Fi certified products from other vendors.

User Reviews (2 total):

Page 1 of Total 1 Pages

Bad product, buy another card from 3com!, April 6, 2004
By spetz_naz (Uppsala Sweden)
I have bought this card together with the 11g wireless router (3crwe554g72). The combo is great as long as you use WEP or non encrypted.

When ever I use WPA, the connection establishes, works for an hour or so and then drops for 5-10 minutes. I need to reassociate with the router again. Sometimes I need to pull out the card and even (rarely) restart the router.

This WPA problem may be related to the router (supports WPA), the card (supports WPA ONLY trough the OS), or the OS-drivers them selfs (Win XP PRO). However it seems, that some products do not have this issue under Win XP, so this indicates that the problem is either the router or the card.

When the WPA issue will be resolved by for instance a firmware upgrade, I will give this product 5 stars.

Please note: alla the newest (/6 april 2004) relevant updates for Win XP, the newst drivers for the card and the newest firwares updates for the router was installed!

***Review Update Notes 2004 28 July***
Ok, the card and router were droping connection when WPA was used. Also, I could never boot my notebook with the card in it. I needed to eject the card, boot the notebook and insert the card back in.

Now: both the boot problem and the WPA connection drops was originating from the fact that 3CRWE154G72 has a hardware failure! I got my card exchange by 3com to another card. It seems that ALL 3CRWE154G72 cards have HARDWARE ISSUES, since 3com offered me another card, namely 3CRWE154A72 (Works great! Buy it instead!). The hardware issue may be restricted to some notebooks only - not sure.

Given this, I give this card rating of only one star! 3coms support earns 5 star for fast and customer friendly support.
*************************

Delighted with my wireless setup, November 24, 2003
By galtenberg (Louisville, KY United States)
As you can tell with my review of the 11g base, I'm completely sold on this 3com configuration. I've used this card in my laptop, and it's been smooth as butter, plugging in, pulling the card, going on standby, roving to other rooms, firing it back up, it's solid.

CD installation of the software was the only minor trouble spot... and it's simple... the Windows plug-and-play hardware wizard will ask you for folder locations of drivers (the folder it tries to look in by default doesn't have the drivers... they're in sub-folders)... you may have to open up a Windows Explorer window, and look thru a few folders on the CD to find the right file, then copy the folder location to the wizard. Took only an extra minute. And it might have been because I'm using Win98.

After installation (which was still incredibly easy, compared to any other hardware install), the thing has been perfect. If it ever glitches or causes me a headache, I'll come back and amend this review pronto, promise. Also, don't forget to check the 3com website to get rebate money back.

Page 1 of Total 1 Pages

Submit your review

Submit review form is only available to logged in users.

Summary (150 chars max)

Review

What is your location (for example: US, New Jersey)

Item Rating
1 star 2 stars 3 stars 4 stars 5 stars