I think the driver has issues with WinXP. When you install the driver, WinXP notifies you that the driver has not been certified with WinXP. The Linksys manual tells you to click the "continue anyway" button. (this *should* scare you) As my WinXP changed (via automatic and manually pulled in updates), my card became more and more finicky... to the point it is basically unusable.

Current set of problems:
a) dropped connections.. inconsistent on how to solve. Sometimes I boot up and the card can't find the DHCP server and get's an unusable Autoconfiguration IP address.. which you have to reboot (ipconfig /release; ipconfig /renew does not help). Sometimes, I have to completely reinstall the driver. But, then things go ill later that day. Sometimes, the DHCP server is contacted, but no IP address is obtained (though the router says it served one up to the card). Sometimes, when the machine goes into standby or hibernation, the connection is completely hosed, and the card says it can't see any signal whatsoever. SOmetimes you can pull out the card, and reinsert, and an IP will be grabbed.. sometimes not. Sometimes rebooting helps, sometimes not. VERY FRUSTRATING.

b) configuration utility does not tell you which networks are available. I use my laptop all over Stanford's campus, which has several different networks (ie EE building has a different network with unique SSID than the CS building, etc). It would be nice to choose from the network of your choice... but, you have to know the SSID (even though the SSID's are broadcasted). This is a pain.

c) poor reception. On campus, folks with laptops sitting right next to me will get great reception, while my signal strength teeters from 0-10%.. incurring lots of dropped connections. So, I'd get slow response.. plus when remotely logged into some UNIX boxes.. I'd have to completely reconnect. Now, I have a new Dell Inspirion 5100 with a built in receiver.. and my signal strength in my own home blows away my HP with the Linksys WPC11... and the Dell's antennae is internal, which typically reduces reception.

Anyway, my card WPC11 is hitting the garbage can, and I'm spending the extra dough to get a Cisco card. Saving 2 hours a day in reboots, hangs, dropped connections, and driver reinstallations will more than pay for the extra $40 bucks i'll spend on Cisco. (BTW- unless they fired all the Linksys employees and scrapped the Linsys designs, I think it will be a while before teh Linksys/Cisco merger trickles quality into the Linksys product line.

A couple of days later, after noticing that when uninstalling I received a message that two program files were "locked" and could only be uninstalled after rebooting, I called tech support again. After another 20-minute wait, I explained what I had noticed and asked how to "unlock" the files--which were the same files that control the WLAN utility monitor (which still wasn't opening at all). The tech had no idea what I was talking about. Following several more uninstall-reinstall roundabouts, the tech concluded that the adapter was bad. I know this isn't the case, as I attempted to freshly install my housemate's identical card on my computer, and I had the same problems. It works just fine on her system, so it must be a software glitch.

In sum, I am returning the adapter, which isn't worth the cardbox box it arrived in. I bought the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Adapter (MN-520), and installed it in 10 minutes without ANY problems. I was skeptical of Microsoft hardware, but it proved itself and surpassed wireless "leader" Linksys by far. Stay away from Linksys if you have Windows ME.

First of all, the installation is finicky. I tried several combinations of Wireless Zero service configuration, the Linksys supplied wireless connection manager utility, and drivers supplied by MS & Linksys. The best installation permutation I found for WinXP Professional was: Wireless Zero service running, Linksys connection software NOT installed, latest drivers from Linksys website. (However, even this was far from an ideal situation, as you'll see below.)

At first things seemed okay. I had to fiddle with the placement of my access point in order to get a signal on the other end of the apartment, but once my monitor was not interrupting the signal path, I was cruising along.

I started to notice a few dropped connections when I was in the middle of playing online games. I quickly discovered that the fastest way to restore the connection was to remove the card, let it sit for a while to cool down and discharge any residual voltage, then replace it. This method worked well for several months. I also fiddled with several installation methods while trying to debug the dropped connections, finally settling for Wireless Zero OFF, Linksys software installed, latest drivers from Linksys website, as suggested by a post from a forum I found through Google.

I then moved and didn't use the card for a few months beyond ensuring that my access point was in a good place to reach throughout the house. (It's in an outside corner on the bottom floor. I get a Low-Very Low signal in the opposite corner on the top floor.) When I started using my laptop again in earnest, good lord was I in for a surprise. Not only did dropped connections become more frequent, I also experienced the following random additional problems, steadily increasing in frequency and magnitude over time:
* Inability to detect access point
* Inability to contact DHCP server (not experienced by any other machine on my network)
* Code 10 - Device Could Not Start error when inserting card
* Complete computer freeze requiring hard reboot

Sometimes I could resolve these issues by inserting and removing the card a number of times. Sometimes if I restarted the computer they would resolve themselves. Sometimes disabling and re-enabling the network adaptor would fix the problem. Sometimes uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers would be the ticket. Most often, some arcane combination of these would work after each individually had not. On occasion, letting it sit for a couple hours was the only way to fix the problem.

At this point I switched to the installation configuration Wireless Zero ON, Linksys software NOT installed, latest drivers from Linksys website, as suggested by a short statement buried in a text file deep in the directory structure on the Linksys install CD and by Linksys support.

So I started contacting Linksys support. What I remember most about my experiences talking with them are long hold times and ridiculous suggestions. One guy tried to tell me "the card doesn't talk to the computer, the computer talks to the card -- therefore you need to contact your computer manufacturer to determine why your computer freezes only when the Linksys card is inserted in the PC card slot." The last woman I talked to told me not to use Windows' "Safely Remove Devices" icon to remove the card -- instead, I should disable the device in Device Manager. Also, I should never insert the card while the computer is on. In other words, she flat out told me, "Our product does not work within the specifications of the operating system and hardware for which it's designed."

Based on this last juicy tidbit from Linksys support, I've switched to a Proxim Orinoco a/b combo card. I've only received it today, so the quality remains to be seen. However, the installation process went exactly as the manual suggested it would, and the signal strength in the corner of the house opposite the access point now gets Good-Low signal. These two indicators are already a gigantic improvement over the Linksys WPC11.

I have no VPN problems with the V4 card -- I'm composing this review through the standard Windows PPTP VPN for about an hour.

In short: No problems setting up the router with the default configuration using the CD based setup program. With no security features (WEP, MAC address filters, etc.), I was able to get two wired PC's sharing the same cable modem with VPN connections. Installing the WPC11 PC card worked without so much as a system reboot!

So far, I'm impressed... Until I tried the VPN connection over the wireless connection. Within less then 15 seconds after establishing a VPN connection, the connection was lost! However, the same VPN connection worked when the same laptop was hard wired in the same router!

I checked the Linksys web site for the latest drivers, and to my surprise, the driver that came with the card was (5.158.1001.2003 Driver date 10/10/2003) was more up the date than the one on their web site (Driver Date: 4/21/2003)!

Trying to debug the problem was made more difficult by the simplistic router log files that did not have as much as a time stamp or a way of clearing the file. Nothing on the Linksys support page helped... I then noticed in the stack of useless paperwork that came with the products, a flier that stated:

"The Wireless-B Notebook Adapter, WPC11 ver.4, is a high-performance CardBus product. Therefore it will not work with Windows NT. It will also not work in the following Linksys wireless-ready products:

- BEFCMUH4, Cable Gateway
- BEFDSR41W, ADSL Gateway
- BEFIR41W, EtherFast Cable/DSL Wireless-Ready Router with 4-port Switch
- BEFSR41W-RN, EtherFast Ricochet Router
- PPS1UW, EitherFast Wirless-Ready USB PrintServer

If you need product support for the WPC11 ver. 4, or you want to exchange it for a WPC11 ver.3 which will work with the devices listed above and Win NT, then call Linksys Technical Suport"

I called, and they quickly informed me that this card has some known issue with VPN connections, and I can either try a beta version driver, or exchange the card for a vers. 3!

How can you trust a company that is willing to ship products with known issues like this one? I promptly returned all Linksys products.

I guess I should be happy that this card actually works with my Windows XP laptop given the other reviews, but overall I'm not happy at all with it.

With my laptop sitting on the floor 1 foot from the Access Point (WITH a Signal Booster may I add), I wasn't even getting close to a 100% signal. When I get around 20 feet or so, the signal barely holds itself at poor and frequently drops to 0.

This seems to be a common problem among notebook wireless cards (my PCI cards get very strong, often 100% signals). I don't understand why they can't add an antennae of some sort to improve performance. Right now, I can't have the laptop in any room other than the one that the WAP is in (even then I usually get poor connections) and still get a signal.

Cons: Uh, where to start. First of all this thing AIN'T WORKING. It hasn't been working for over a month and no amount of reinstalling of drivers etc will work. I'm an IT professional and I'm comfortable with networks, but this product is flawed. Secondly, when it was working the PERFORMANCE IS POOR. My machine was the nearest to the router in the office - less than 2 metres -- and I regularly got link quality dropping below 50%!!!. Also there were occasional hangs. The other machines got worse. This is particularly annoying when you consider what figures Linksys claim for this POS. In short, HORRIBLE software, HORRIBLE documentation, HORRIBLE support, POOR performance. Get the Netgear MA401 instead because Linksys don't deserve money for this flawed product.

The Linksys router will not work properly in a mixed setting, that is, if you mix brands of routers and cards. WEP becomes almost impossible and the internet gets dropped very easily even though you have a good quality signal. The card's client controller often
cannot adjust to the settings you assign to a profile and this is
simply frustrating when compared with how much easier set up is with other routers.

When you use Linksys products exclusively things work out better,
things are even better when you use only wired connections or only one wireless card.

Now I am sure there are many lucky people for whom installation panned out OK. But my own experience is that this product is too bad to have been released to the market, even in Version 4.

Basically, installation and connectivity ...... If you want to spend a couple of days fiddling without success, this is THE product.

The installation was clunky and troublesome, but once I got it up and running it worked well until recently.