| SMC2632W 802.11b 11Mbps Wireless PC Card with integrated antennae |
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Model: SMC2632W
Brand: SMC
Manufacturer: SMC
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 64
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, Windows
Form factor: Plug-in module
Hardware platform: PC
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| Features: |
11 Mbps Wireless lan
2.4 GHZ frequency band
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
64-bit or 128-bit WEP encryption
LEDs monitor network activity |
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| Description: |
| The wireless LAN solution is the easiest alternative to a traditional wired network. The solution connects your desktop PC instantly with an existing Ethernet installation to support mobile users, temporary work sites, and other applications ranging from the classroom to the boardroom. Wireless technology provides the maximum user mobility, simple and flexible installation options, a reduced cost of ownership (no cabling costs or maintenance) and excellent scalability in supporting additional PCs. True 11 Mbps wireless is ideal for use with cable modems, DSL or SOHO applications. |
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| User Reviews (64 total): |
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Good Range; Poor Support, April 7, 2002
By neptune221 (Los Angeles, CA USA)
I have to start with saying that I am pleased with the range of this SMC PC Card. I can work downstairs, while my access point is upstairs, and have no problems--even when the signal is only FAIR or POOR. Doesn't work at all when I am on my cordless phone, but I guess that should be expected.BUT--the card does freeze occasionally on my Compaq, and often on my wife's Dell. It will be working, and then become unlinked (and the computer will freeze 5 seconds, work 5 seconds, and repeat until I reboot--all while the card has stopped working). I e-mailed SMC support, heard NOTHING back. I tried to call, and the wait was over 30 minutes. So I am fairly disappointed with this.
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Great Product!!!, March 18, 2002
By Marzouq (Santa Clara, CA United States)
This is one amazing product. This is compatible with any wireless network, and it is the most powerful. I used to have the linksys wireless pc card, but the smc card is much better then any pc card I have ever used. There is no card that works better then this. The software is very easy to setup. I recommend this product for use. I am using Windows XP, and my smc card communicates with a linksys access point and I get speeds up to 11Mbs when I transfer files between my desktop and laptop. I hope this review is helpful
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Did not work for me, March 17, 2002
By Nathaniel Grafton Martin (Rochester, NY United States)
The card installed faultlessly, an improvement over other hardware I have tried to install. Unfortunately, it never connected with the Lynksys access point either at home or at work. I called technical support and they suggested I upgrade my BIOS. I did so, but it still did not work. I tried calling the 800 technical support number again and was directed to call a 900 number with a message that you need to be 18 to call. I was a little nervous about calling such a number from work, so I sent email. After about a week I got a reply to make sure that the linksys was set to long preable. It was, but the card still did not work. I am returning the card.
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Not Compatable with XP, March 3, 2002
By unknown
During installation with an XP operating system a text box opened with a warning that the hardware is not compatible. I call SMCs free help line to discuss this warning but never got less than a 1 hour wait so I used their e-mail support. Their response was to ignore the warning, that their product is not "digitally signed", and to just press continue. I'm returning the SMC card.....Why mess with incompatible hardware. I later found out that products like the Orinoco Gold 11mb Wireless PC card are "digitally signed", are designed for XP, and are approved by Microsoft.
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Easy to install on Windows ME, excellent tech support, February 27, 2002
By charyde (Albany, CA USA)
I spent three evenings trying to install a Linksys wireless PC card (WPC11) on my Sony Vaio laptop, running Windows ME. I found it nearly impossible to install on ME (the install kept asking for .sys files that could not be found on the driver or on Windows ME). Tech support was estimating a 30 minute wait, and I could not find any useful info, drivers or email options on their website. Frustrated, I returned the Linksys card and swapped it for the SMC 2632W (same price at CompUSA). Using the Version 1.29 driver (from the SMC website) I was able to install the card in about 10 mintes on ME. Since my router is a Linksys (which I'm very happy with), I had some communication problems at first between the SMC card and the Linksys router. I emailed the address on the SMC website and within an hour got a response from a very knowledgeable tech support person named Jason. We did some tests for diagnostics, emailing each other back and forth throughout the day. (When I praised him for his responsiveness he admitted that not everyone gets that lucky - so I may actually be overrating SMC's tech support). Basically, the problem was that you cannot default to accessing ip addresses automatically in the Network TCP/IP settings when using this mixed system (at least for my setup). The ip address / subnet mask and gateway of the Linksys router must be specified. Also, it's important to have DNS enabled with the correct address for your region. Once the problem was diagnosed, I was wireless! I get about 300-500 kbits/s going through 3 thick walls. It's about the same no matter where I am relative to the router throughout my 1500 sq ft house. For comparison, I get about 800 kbits/s wired. The difference is not very noticeable to me. Bottom line, Linksys makes a great router but I was very unhappy with their wireless PC card. SMC's card was easy to install, and I had an excellent experience with their tech support.
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Works perfectly -- no problems, February 19, 2002
By Lawrence Kesteloot (San Francisco, CA United States)
I got the SMC card and base station and was up and running with encryption in about 10 minutes. I made sure to download the new firmware, just in case, from the SMC website. I've got the base station downstairs and I've used the cards all over the house for two weeks without problems. The first few days it would occasionally disconnect (the light on the card would start flashing), but just pressing the "Rescan" button on the utility reconnected instantly. I haven't had that problem recently, though. The card handles getting out of Stand-By mode really well on my XP setup. It's also good at handling getting unplugged and plugged back in. I haven't tried it with other base stations. One drawback might be that the utility only allows you to put one SSID in the system, which may be a problem if I later need to take my laptop to friends' houses. The built-in wireless in the HP laptop allows you to give a list of SSIDs to try in a particular order, which seems like a useful feature.
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Poor or No antenna ??, February 17, 2002
By unknown
I have a SMC access point set up in one room, which is only 3 yards from the kitchen (9 feet). I got no signal with the SMC PC card in the kitchen. Once I switched to a Cisco PC Card, the internet is up again in the kitchen with great signal strength. I always wonder whether there is any antenna in the SMC card!!
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Poor Signal Strength and Rarely Synced with Linksys, February 6, 2002
By Mark A. Fitzpatrick (Geneva, Switzerland)
I have a Linksys Wireless Network Access Point. I rarely got the SMC to lock. When it does lock, it does not stay in sync for more than 20 minutes before losing the connection. It has a range of about 15 feet in the same room and about 10 if you go behind a wall.My D-Link card worked flawlessly under the same conditions. I would not recommend it and will likely return it.
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Great Product, February 2, 2002
By neptune221 (Los Angeles, CA USA)
Installation was as snap, and the cards seem to work great so far. I am using a Linksys router (which I would give a lower rating, mostly because of customer support issues), but the compatibility seems perfect.One problem I did encounter was with Windows 2000 Professional. The driver setup did not work with that OS. But I downloaded the driver's from the SMC Website, and those worked fine.
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Poor Range, January 30, 2002
By O. Austegard (MD, USA)
My SMC7004AWBR/SMC2632W combo does not provide adequate coverage of my 1100 sq ft apartment, which is somewhat disapointing. Testing at the office shows the Lucent cards to have much better range than the SMC card
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Great on Win2000 + OEM laptop, January 21, 2002
By alex95014 (Cupertino, CA USA)
I'm using this card about 1 year now and don't have any problem to use it on Windows 2000 on different laptops - Dell Latitude and OEM Lapnote. There is no problem at all with installation and configuration. But you can have trouble with power safe mode - it is not the card, but BIOS problems - get the latest BIOS upgrade and you will be ok, or do not use cards power safe mode. I have cable modem and SMC access point connected through the switch. Excelent product and I highly recommend it.
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Solid Performer, January 19, 2002
By Sergio C.J. (Raleigh, NC USA)
Works great, I recommend it. Good speed, easy configuration. Could use some better diagnostics & stats display, but that is just for geek entertainment.
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Simplified My Computing., January 5, 2002
By Robert C Behler (Canton, GA USA)
That must be but SMC stands for. Wow I am totally impressed with the performance of these products. I live in a 5 bedroom house on 2 stories and each of 5 computers now connect with no wires. I am running at 11 mps through floors and walls. A+++ performance.
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SMC2632W Wireless Network PC Card, December 24, 2001
By Rock Blanco (Medfield, MA USA)
I originally purchased the Linksys PCMCIA card and it does not even come close to comparing to the SMC in terms of speed, ease of configuration and range. It took less than 5 minutes from opening the box to surfing on the web and the speed performance is beyond expectations. I have the basic cable modem attached to a Linksys DSL/Cable router and plugged the SMC Wireless hub into one of my available Linksys ports and that was it.I made the choice to go the SMC route after vowing never again to deal with the inept "Hope Desk" offered by Linksys. If you had any thoughts about buying Linksys, think again. SMC is THE way to go.
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Works easily, December 15, 2001
By F. Gagnon (boston, ma usa)
I bought this card because I had already bougth the SMC wireless router. Just to be on the safe side, I figured that SMC's product must work together. Anyway, this card was very easy to install. I pluggged it in, put the driver disket in and Win2000 did the rest. I am very satisfied so far!
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Good solid product, December 11, 2001
By joediver (Alexandria, VA USA)
Documentation is sparce but it was up and running in no time and immediately connected with SMC 7004AWR router. Range is so-so but it is adequate for my needs.
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Works great, December 9, 2001
By unknown
Worked perfectly in my setup with the SMC wireless router. A fine product.
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Not XP Compatible, November 30, 2001
By b starr (pittsburgh, pa United States)
I have the smc2632w installed in a brand new Dell notebook running windows xp with all the latest drivers. I had done a clean install. Card very frequently starts blinking and locks up the computer. If I close the case to force it into sleep mode, wait until the light on the card goes off, then open the case up and bring it out of sleep mode, I can bring it back grom the dead, but it takes several moments, and any downloads, etc., at lost. Called SMC, and they said it was a known problem with the card and drivers especially with XP. When I asked why this compatibility issue wasn't mentioned on their website, the tech support guy basically said "well, what do you expect for under [dollar amount]???"
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Gets warm and keeps on working, November 28, 2001
By samstutz@hotmail.com (St. louis, MO United States)
Purchased this card, SMC's USB network adapter and access point at the same time. The card works with either laptop. Had to download newer version of firmware and monitoring software prior to installing. Card works very good. The SMC USB network adapter gets better connection but would be difficult to manage while on the patio snacking and cruising the net. The card gets warm during use. Do not know if this is completely normal of wireless PCMCIA cards. There have been no problems with this card. I would recommend the USB one if you do not move your laptop around alot.
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works fine on a Win98 Vaio at home and at work, November 27, 2001
By herbabuena (United States)
I attached an SMC EZ-connect access point to a Road Runner cable modem, and with the accompanying SMC card in my Vaio Z505-HS (running Win98), it seems to work just fine. (For my comments about the access point, go to that product)I had to actually run the utility that came with the SMC card before the Vaio could talk to Road Runner. Setting up the network settings from native Win98 was not sufficient. (See next paragraph.) My 3Com AirConnect wireless PC card from work does not seem to be able to talk to the SMC access point. The SMC card works fine on the wireless network at work, so it's not a reciprocal problem. I suspect this may be due to the fact the 3Com driver does not support all the functions that the SMC access point uses, such as channel number. My officemate has a wireless SMC router at home with a Lucent Gold Card and reports it works. (My SMC card works with her router as well.) Overall, the product works fine once you install the utility that comes with it.
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