I live in a two story house. The access point is in my basement which is finished. I use the laptop mostly in my 1st floor family room the opposite side of the house. I've had no problems with connect speed. I am using Windows XP on the laptop.

I would agree with some of the other reviewers about lack of experience. I am no computer guru, but with careful examination of some of the other better written comments, I believe you should be able to get your PC card configured and operating in under two hours. I never had the pleasure of calling Linksys tech support and hopefully won't have to. So far I can only give high praise to the interoperability of the Linksys Router with the access point and PC card.

I purchased the Linksys BEFW11SW, which supports IPSEC/L2TP tunneling and 2 Linksys WPC11 cards. The BEFW11SW was very easy to configure and was the answer to my IP tunneling issue, however the WPC11 cards leave much to be desired. The drivers are difficult to implement and the internal antenna is extremely directional.

Some results:
Through one wall: 10 ft from base: 50-to-70% signal strength, depending on the card angle to the base.

Through two walls: 20ft from base: 10-to-40% signal strength, depending on the card angle to the base.

I replaced the Linksys WPC11 card with my TrueMobility 1150. You just got to love open standards, I now have 60-90% signal strength through three walls with 0% packet loss. The transfer rate automatically adjust with from 1-11 mbps depending on signal quality issues (like caring my laptop to my next comfy sitting position), and the Truemobility drivers, with their associated client management software, is far superior to Linksys.

I will be returning the WPC11 cards.

I installed it on WinME -- file not found... I browsed the directories of the installation cd and was able to point it in the right direction (x:\...\win9x) and complete the install. After that, you need to run the setup on the cd (I think it auto-runs) and install the utility...make sure your SSID matches the SSID on the access point (also case-sensitive) otherwise you'll have problems. Also make sure you're set to "infrastructure" in the config utility...I think it actually defaults to "adhoc", even if you choose "infrastructure" during the installation. Anyway, the WinME installation was a no go...I mean, I had a steady link light...device manager reported no conflicts...and everything appeared to be fine --- yet no internet. I didnt really want WinME anyway, so I didn't take the time to troubleshoot it....So I installed WinXP...

There's no driver written specifically for WinXP! I went to the Linksys website and found a WinXP driver...I'm pretty sure it's beta. Anyway -- AVOID THEIR XP DRIVER! It doesn't work, at least that's been my experience. I mean, it installs perfectly, but the config utility from the installation cd locks up...actually, it won't even launch -- you get an hour glass, then it just disappears and does nothing. The Linksys website may provide an XP driver, but the XP config utility is no where to be found. Anyway, use the Win 2000 driver...I spent some time installing this thing so I'm getting forgetful in the exact steps of doing it but....When WinXP detects the card and the wizard appears, do not let it auto-search for a driver, you have to manually point it to the Win 2000 directory...I'll show you...

1. Choose "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)"
2. Choose "Don't seach. I will choose the driver to install"
3. Pay no attention to the list that appears, just click on the button that says "Have Disk..."
4. On the box that appears, type in the path of the Win 2000 driver: x:\wpc11\win2000 and click ok.
5. Now look at the list. There should only be one driver. Highlight it and click next....from then on the install should go smoothly. If it misses a file, point it back to the same directory: x:\wpc11\win2000.
6. Reboot and run x:\linksys.exe and install the config utility.
7. Reboot, run the config utility and make sure all the settings are correct (SSID, Mode, etc.)

Oh but wait, I did all those steps and it still wouldn't work! It might for you, but if it doesn't, then there's one more step...or so...

1. Open a "dos" command prompt.
2. type: "ipconfig /renew" (without the quotes) and hit enter.
3. If it doesn't work at this point, then cry. Cry with all your might, and then maybe, just maybe, the computer will empathize with you and will fix itself.

Gee, I have way too much time on my hands...After all of this, it really is a great card...really. I'm upstairs behind several walls, and the access point is at the other end of the house...signal strength is better than expected...better than my SMC card.

One last thing, if you have a 2.4Ghz phone, it might interfere with the signal...

I set this card up with a BEFW11S4 wireless access point / 4-port cable/DSL router at a friend's house. His DSL connection is at one side of the house with his wife's Mac, and his office is on the other side of the house. I estimate about 50 feet between the AP and the PC card, with two walls in between. The WPC11 would not associate at that distance with the AP at any speed, but my Cisco PCM342 would associate with no problem in the exact same location at 11Mbps. My friend now has a Cisco PCM352 PC card, and it works great with the BEFW11S4.

Calls to Linksys tech support proved to be unhelpful in solving any of these problems, other than explaining what the LEDs indicated on the WPC11, which was not explained anywhere in the documentation.

To sum up, unless you have clear air between the Linksys AP and WPC11 PC card, look for another card.

I was warned that Linksys wasn't officially approved for Windows XP, but I followed the directions for Windows 2000 and everything worked just fine. Windows XP is a great operating system to have if you're new to installing a home network -- it really took care of everything for me and I have to congratulate Microsoft for once.

With everything running, my wireless network is one of the best investments I've made. I just love being able to take my computer anywhere in the house and still be connected to my printer and internet connection. I highly recommend this product!!

I have Windows XP and did receive a warning about it not being an XP valid product. But I only have seen it once. Linksys also says that this is not valid with XP (drivers are not up to date with XP)which is not the case otherwise I would not be typing to you now.

Also if you are running off a wireless network at home make sure the Network type is set to "infrastructure" not "adhoc" otherwise the dang thing won't work.

I had a few questions for Linksys and called their tech line. It was answered after about ten minutes (not too bad) and they were very helpful and nice.

This is a great card for a very good price (89 at Best Buy).

Within the same room (25ft by 25ft) the unit works flawlessly, but walk down the hall and by the time you turn the corner it is dead. And I am only talking about a 20 foot hallway. The manufacturers / editors claim of 150 meters indoors is crazy. With only a few wood walls in the way, I am unable to get this thing to go more than 30 feet.

If you will be using this card within the same room as your router, then you will be fine. Perhaps it is okay for going one floor up or down in a wood structure. But don't expect much more than that.

According to Linksys, there is a new wpc11v25 (version 2.5) coming out soon. It claims to have a more powerfull antenna. I would wait for that, or go ahead and just run some cat5 ethernet cable.

Once you have installed the card it works like a charm.
Inside the house communications are good, sometimes it gives you problem when you reach the outer limits of signal. The data transfer is good even with the low signal strength.

Overall: Read the documentation first, then start installing. The tech. support is good as long as you don't mind listening to their music for about 30 Minutes (Avg.)

While the Linksys WAP11 Wireless Access Point is stellar, I would stear clear of their Client Cards. I saw an immediate improvement with the Orinoco Silver cards from Lucent.

The Linksys and Lucent equipment works great together and that is where I have put my money.

Unfortunately, I believe the ORiNOCO Gold PC card is the better, since it has better range, and the option for an external antennae connector. The software for the card is also better (it lets you manage multiple profiles by selecting from a menu so you don't have to reconfigure your card every time you switch networks).