Following on from my review of the Belkin wireless router, this is the piece of kit at the other end of the link. The PCI Desktop Card is whats required to allow the PC to communicate with the router.
This product cost me £25 when I bought it. I was interested in the Belkin wireless router, ... Read review
Belkin Wireless G, or 802.11g, refers to the networking standard that transfers data at up ... more
to 54 Mbps using the 2.4 Ghz band. It is ideal for homes and offices that require a flexible solution to download music from the Internet or share photos and oth...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months...
Belkin Wireless G, or 802.11g, refers to the networking standard that transfers data at up ... more
to 54 Mbps using the 2.4 Ghz band. It is ideal for homes and offices that require a flexible solution to download music from the Internet or share photos and oth...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months...
Reviews of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000 »
1-5 of 11 reviews of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
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Belkin Wireless PCI Card
Advantages: Simple setup, manages itself Disadvantages: Very occasional low signal
...from my review of the Belkin wireless router, this is the piece of kit at the other end of the link. The PCI Desktop Card is whats required to allow the PC to communicate with the router.
This product cost me £25 when I bought it. I was interested in the Belkin wireless router, so I played safe and used the same manufacturer for both items that would allow the router and my PC talk to each other.
--Whats in the box--
... ...to do. This product complements the Belkin wireless router perfectly, although it can be used, just as easily with other routers.
I would highly recommend this wireless card to anyone, whether they are new to the wireless scene of just looking to upgrade their exisiting setup. ... more
Following on from my review of the Belkin wireless router, this is the piece of kit at the other end of the link. The PCI Desktop Card is whats required to allow the PC to communicate with the router. This product cost me £25 when I bought it. I was interested in the Belkin wireless router, so I played safe and used the same manufacturer for both items that would allow the router and my PC talk to each other.
--Whats in the box--
On opening the box, there were no real surprises. There was the PCI card, the antenna, a quick installation guide and a CD which contained the drivers and a full manual.
--Installation--
On reading the quick installation guide, it was apparent that the software had to be installed before the card was plugged in. The reason for this was because, when the hardware was detected, the software would be available to complete a trouble free install. Installing the software was straightforward. There was a limited number of standard questions, such as install location and the wizard was happy to carry on unattended.
Once the software was installed, it was time to plug in the PCI wireless card. As a computer professional this bit did not phase me, though for the novice, opening up the PC and looking at an array of circuit boards and wires could be quite daunting, so depending on your level of competency and confidence, either proceed with caution or get somebody else more qualified to help. You will need to find a free PCI slot in your computer, remove the protective metal plate from the back of your PC and snap the card into place. Put the lid back on your PC and screw the antenna to the newly positioned card. That is the hardest step out of the way and you are almost ready to surf the net wirelessly.
When you turn your PC now, it will detect your new hardware and install the correct drivers that you just set up prior to inserting the card.
--Security--
If you have no encryption on the router, you are ready to surf, though this is not recommended. If you have encryption on the router, open up the Wireless software on your PC and select the encryption mode you are using and enter the pass key. I must admit, this baffled me for a day or so as it wasnt apparent from the manual what I should have been entering here. As it was over Christmas, I wasnt able to contact technical support but eventually figured it out.
--Useage--
I have had no problems with this card in all the time I have been using it. Occasionally the signal will drop down to a low level but it has never cut out completely. Once the initial setup has been done, there is no need to worry about the card, it will look after itself and connect to the router once it has been switched on.
--Verdict--
This card is so easy to set up and use, you'll probably forget you have it installed. It looks after itself and has proved to be very reliable. Setting up the security key is straightforward providing you take your time (unlike me) and after that, there is really nothing else to do. This product complements the Belkin wireless router perfectly, although it can be used, just as easily with other routers.
I would highly recommend this wireless card to anyone, whether they are new to the wireless scene of just looking to upgrade their exisiting setup.
Advantages: When fully instated is very fast. Disadvantages: Hard to install.
Well, this card is, in theory, has good solid connection speeds, is out of the way, requires no wires so you are free to move your computer anywhere you wish [a must with laptops], is good value for money and is very user friendly.
However, i found this card was very difficult to install - my parent's friend [who is a network specialist] had agreed to install the cards and network for us. Having shut down my computer, opened the side panel and inserted ... ...the box, i powered my computer up again.
Now the computer registered the card's presence, and explained in some words that the card had been installed. 'Excellent', I thought to myself. The 3 step instructions they cleverley place on the box for a selling point seened to have been just as it had said. I gleefully awaited my new computer to recieve 512kb\s broadband connection. However, upon my computer loading into windows, there was no internet ...
Doofeh 21.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
Advantages: fast, comes with utility for signal strength etc., can join computers without access point or router Disadvantages: Set up instructions not detailed enough, wouldn't ad-hoc on my PCs
...shopping around we found the Belkin cards for £35 (or thereabouts) and were told there were good quality and we could easily connect the two PCs together with them without bothering with wires.
This is where my review proper begins as when I got home and installed them (according to the limited instructions) I tried everything I could to get the computers to "talk to each other". I visited the Belkin website where, to my delight, I found a tutorial ... ...with the cards. However, this did not help either as all I managed to do was disable my internet to the point where I had to call my ISP to get reconnected. Eventually, I had to hire a professional and found out I had to buy a wireless access point (the very thing I sought to avoid) and could only afford the 802.11b model. So now my network only runs at 11mbps.
Due to the differences in hardware etc. I cannot say whether this will affect all users ...
fireeatingelf 19.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
Advantages: fantastic once installed Disadvantages: not easy to set up if you don't understand
...Telephone Support from Belkin was fantastic the problem that I was having is that I could see someone's else wireless network and i kept trying to connect to them. Belkin talked me through how to set up my own network (which was very Easy) They even took the time to try and connect it to my PDA device to the network.
Works extremely well with my PDA. It see's my wireless network connection - I set WEP (Wireless Enabled Password) To stop others from ... ...- I am not someone for RTFM but it helps if you do.
But I cannot stress enough how fantastic Belkin Support was - They even phoned me back after 4 hours to make sure it was still working ok. - Now that is telephone Support at it's best. ...
KSpeirs 07.06.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
Advantages: very good value, easy to install Disadvantages: antenna
If you are looking to set up a wireless network in your home i strongly recommend this wireless card.
It uses wireless G technology as well as being backwards compatible with wireless B products. Because of wireless G it will run at network speeds of up to 54mbps.
It will also work with wireless stuff by other manufaturers. Mine is linked to a Linksys access point and i have had no problems.
Thanks to it being plug and play It is easy to install. ... ...Evenif you havent it comes witha set of easy instructions to installing it, which i had to use.
I had never installed a card into my pc before and i installed this with ease.
It comes with instructions, software and a small antenna as shown in the image. The software is basic and easy to use aswell.
The only problem is the antenna that it comes with. Unless the other computer its linked to is quite close you may have problems. So i would recommend ...
midget_man_haz 22.04.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
Advantages: Good Status Information, Omni-directional Antenna Disadvantages: Unwieldy Installation, 'Just-Right' antenna positioning required
The belkin wireless card allows you to connect to the internet and browse other computers on your home or office network without the need for cables.
The card is robust and has a good design, and the omni-directional screw-in antenna is handy and really a must for any wireless card. This is a 54g card, capable of sending and receiving data at speeds up to 54mbps, which is the max speed for modern 802.11g wireless networks.
Whereas there is no doubt ... ...example but at the price of some frustration. The installation procedure requires you to install the software before putting the card into the pci slot. This can be very awkward if your computer is under a desk as you have to switch it off again, pull it out, open up the case and install it. You would expect it to be the other way around, but oh well.
Apart from that, nothbing else to complain about the card. The software that comes with this device ...
patwanet 19.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000
Product Information for "Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card F5D7000" »
Environmental parameters
Humidity Range Operating
0 - 95%
Max Operating Temperature
85 °C
Min Operating Temperature
0 °C
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
Limited lifetime warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - lifetime
Manufacturer's product description
The Belkin Wireless Desktop PCI network card implements wireless networking into desktop PCs with a quick installation. Placing the PCI card into PCI expansion slot is all it takes to enable wireless networking capabilities in your desktop PC. Now you can share files and peripherals while enjoying the freedom of connecting without cables. Used with the router this installation lets the desktop PC access your shared broadband Internet account, as well. Belkin solutions give you the most complete and simple wireless networking advantage.
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