... The only other distinguishing feature is on the standard grey plastic that shows when the card is plugged in is the word "Linksys".
How well does it work?
I have had my card now for 7 months and it has been great, whenever a signal has been available it has picked it up easily and quickly, ... Read review
Wireless Networking at incredible speeds! The Linksys WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter ... more
is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer! The WPC300N uses the very latest wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
"Box Contents:Wireless-N Notebook Adapter, Setup Wizard, user guideThe Linksys WPC300N ... more
Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer. Just slide it into your notebook's PC Card slot and ...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
"Box Contents:Wireless-N Notebook Adapter, Setup Wizard, user guideThe Linksys WPC300N ... more
Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer. Just slide it into your notebook's PC Card slot and ...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Wireless Networking at incredible speeds! The Linksys WPC300N Wireless-N Notebook Adapter ... more
is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer! The WPC300N uses the very latest wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
-Features: * High-speed Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) networking for your notebook computer ... more
* MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels Upto 4 times farther and reduces dead spots * Upto 12 times faster than Wireless-...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
-Features: * High-speed Wireless-N (draft 802.11n) networking for your notebook computer ... more
* MIMO technology uses multiple radios to create a robust signal that travels Upto 4 times farther and reduces dead spots * Upto 12 times faster than Wireless-...
Postage & Packaging: £3.91 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Does the job well Disadvantages: Poor support
...
Temperature Operation
Linksys tells you this card only works down to 0 degrees C, not so - I have used this in conditions down to -18 C (not recommended) and it worked fine for the 10 minutes or so I tried!
Download Speed
Speed of download is dependant upon so many variables (website, wireless router, time of day, weather!) that it is difficult to judge download speeds of a card with any authority, other than ... ...no slower nor faster than them.
Support
The website support is quite poor, i went to see if there was an updated driver or anything of use and it was an incredibly difficult website to navigate, not the cards fault (that was after all connecting me to the internet to look in the first place), but say I upgraded to Vista then it may become an issue.
Price
I bought mine from Overclockers and paid 79.79 (inc ... more
Firstly - the basics. The card fits into your PC Card Slot (sometimes referred to as PCMCIA). Most laptops will have at least one of these, and some of the bulkier machines will have 2. This is preferrable to me using this slot as I only have one USB slot on my laptop and that is USB1.0 (not the newer quicker USB2.0).
Shape and size The card will "stick out" from the laptop PC slot by about 6cm, meaning it is not too obvious, however I have seen smaller alternatives. The measurements of the card completely are (obviously) the standard PC Card, and shown as 12.4cm by the manufacturer.
Casing The card has a thin blue outer shell which displays two lights - one light indicates "power" and the other "Link/Act" - which tells you whether you have a connection or not. This second light will flash when downloading, which sounds annoying - however it is unobtrusive and useful to tell whether you are still connected or not. The only other distinguishing feature is on the standard grey plastic that shows when the card is plugged in is the word "Linksys".
How well does it work? I have had my card now for 7 months and it has been great, whenever a signal has been available it has picked it up easily and quickly, and the support software provided is good (much better than standard Windows software and diagnostics). I have been in numerous locations (airports, houses, schools, businesses, and countries (Europe, Asia, North America) and never had any issues - well certainly none that the card has caused!
Temperature Operation Linksys tells you this card only works down to 0 degrees C, not so - I have used this in conditions down to -18 C (not recommended) and it worked fine for the 10 minutes or so I tried!
Download Speed Speed of download is dependant upon so many variables (website, wireless router, time of day, weather!) that it is difficult to judge download speeds of a card with any authority, other than to say along side other laptops it seems to be no slower nor faster than them.
Support The website support is quite poor, i went to see if there was an updated driver or anything of use and it was an incredibly difficult website to navigate, not the cards fault (that was after all connecting me to the internet to look in the first place), but say I upgraded to Vista then it may become an issue.
Price I bought mine from Overclockers and paid 79.79 (inc delivery).
Summary The card is a great adapter with the latest technology (Wireless-N/G/B and MIMO), all of which are a lot of letters but basically indicate it can connect to the latest industry standard wireless networks. However with most laptops now having an internal wireless card it may be un-neccessary for most users.
If you have a slightly more mature laptop like me, this is a great card, which in my 7 months, has not let me down once.
Product Information for "Linksys Wireless-N Notebook Adapter WPC300N" »
General
MPN
WPC300N-UK, WPC300N, WPC300N-EU
Device Type
Network adapter
Form Factor
Plug-in module
Interface (Bus) Type
CardBus
Width
12.4 cm
Depth
5.4 cm
Height
1 cm
Weight
50 g
Localisation
United Kingdom, Europe
Networking
Connectivity Technology
Wireless
Data Link Protocol
IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft)
Spread Spectrum Method
OFDM
Line Coding Format
CCK, 64 QAM, BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, OFDM
Frequency Band
2.4 GHz
Status Indicators
Power, link OK
Features
MIMO technology
Compliant Standards
IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft)
Aerial
Antenna
Internal integrated
Directivity
Omni-directional
Expansion / connectivity
Compatible Slots
1 x CardBus
Miscellaneous
Encryption Algorithm
128-bit WEP, WPA, WPA2
Certified for Windows Vista
Certified for Windows Vista software and devices have undergone compatibility tests for ease-of-use, better performance and enhanced security.
Compliant Standards
FCC
Software / system requirements
Software Included
Drivers & Utilities
OS Required
Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP SP1 or later
Peripheral / Interface Devices
CD-ROM
System Requirements Details
Windows 2000/XP - 600 MHz - RAM 256 MB
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support
3 years warranty
Service & Support Details
Limited warranty - 3 years
Environmental parameters
Min Operating Temperature
0 °C
Max Operating Temperature
50 °C
Humidity Range Operating
10 - 80%
Manufacturer's product description
The Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is the simple way to add or upgrade wireless connectivity in your notebook computer. Just slide it into your notebook's PC Card slot and enjoy incredible high-speed wireless network access while retaining true mobility. The Wireless-N Notebook Adapter uses the very latest wireless networking technology, Wireless-N (draft 802.11n). By overlaying the signals of multiple radios, Wireless-N's "Multiple In, Multiple Out" (MIMO) technology multiplies the effective data rate. Unlike ordinary wireless networking technologies that are confused by signal reflections, MIMO actually uses these reflections to increase the range and reduce "dead spots" in the wireless coverage area. The robust signal travels farther, maintaining wireless connections up to 4 times farther than standard Wireless-G. With Wireless-N, the farther away you are, the more speed advantage you get. It works great with standard Wireless-G and -B equipment, but when both ends of the wireless link are Wireless-N, the throughput can be increased even more by using twice as much radio band, yielding speeds up to 12 times as fast as standard Wireless-G. Once you're connected, you can keep in touch with your e-mail, access the Internet, and share files and other resources such as printers and network storage with other computers on the network, wherever you wander. At home, you can surf the web or use instant messaging to chat with friends while sitting out on the patio. You'll also be able to connect with any of the growing number of public hotspots springing up in coffee shops, airport lounges, hotels and convention centers. Your wireless connection is protected by industrial-strength 256-bit encryption. The included Setup Wizard will walk you through configuring the adapter to your network's settings, step by step. The incredible speed of Wireless-N makes it ideal for media-centric applications like streaming video, gaming, and Voice over IP telephony, and gives you plenty of headroom to run multiple media-intense data streams through the network at the same time, with no degradation in performance. Get your notebook connected to Wireless-N, Wireless-G, and Wireless-B networks with the Wireless-N Notebook Adapter from Linksys.
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