LinkSys WMP54G Wireless PCI Card Review

Good Points
Premium product.
Detects and connects easily.
Good performer - detects all the neighbours' routers!
Everything needed is in the box.

Bad Points
Requires the PC case to be opened for installation.
Setup, while straightforward, requires the instructions to be followed accurately.

General Comments
After many years of using a wired connection to my router, I have installed a LinkSys WMP54G Wireless PCI Card into my desktop PC. I already had a LinkSys WAP for laptops, so it seemed to the obvious thing to do when I wanted to move the desktop PC into another room. The thought of fitting all the additional cabling did not appeal.



The price of this card varies from around £15 to over £25, so shop around.



It is essential to read the instructions first, as the drivers and other software need to be installed before the card is fitted to the motherboard. This is just a matter of putting the CD-ROM in the drive and clicking "install drivers".



This is an internal card, so the PC case needs to be opened and card fitted into a vacant slot. While this is not difficult, it does require a degree of confidence and care, and can be daunting for someone who has never seen inside a PC.



The card fitted easily into a spare PCI, and went fully home with a firm push. The small aerial is then screwed onto the back plate. The usual warnings about electrical safety apply when opening up the PC and touching live and electro-statically sensitive components.



On boot up the card was detected immediately, and the setup routine ran, looking for and finding the WAP in the next room, giving a signal strength of 94%. After entering the hexadecimal password for my WAP, downloading from the Internet could begin. http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/speed-test.asp gave a download speed of 1.84Mb on my 2Mb connection, which was the same as before.



I can both access my router and print to my network printer via the wireless link, so there's no change there.



My £17 was well spent, and it was a cleaner, easier, quicker and cheaper than all that cabling.