mexican72's Full Review: Linksys (WUSB11) USB 1.1 Network Adapter
I got a brand new laptop computer and faced a need to share the Internet connection and files with my desktop. I still use dial-up, and that means that I do not need to use a stand-alone network router unit. I planned to use my desktop running WXP Pro as a server providing an access to the Internet and dynamically assigning the network parameters for the client computer (Ad Hoc or peer2peer mode). Also, the WiFi network adapter should have USB hookup, because all PCI slots in my desktop are already occupied.
Initially I bought D-Link USB Wi-Fi adapter and spend a couple of days trying to make it to work. However, it always tried to communicate in the D-link proprietary 22 Mbps mode that my Toshiba laptop does not understand. I returned it to Best Buy and bought an open box Linksys unit with 20% discount.
This time everything was set up in 30 minutes (everything includes setting up the private network with WEP, editing security policies for WXP users, sharing the Internet connection and local resources and the connection speed test drive).
The network adapter was recognized immediately by WXP. I installed drivers from the CD provided in the box. The adapter was set to Ad Hoc (peer2peer) mode automatically. After restart, I set a plain unencrypted network to check whether the laptop and the desktop see each other. They did. I did not use any Linksys utilities since the WXP has a complete Wi-Fi networks support. Then I renamed my network and set up the 128-bit WEP (in WXP make sure that the box "the key is provided for me automatically" is unchecked and both "Data encryption (WEP enabled)" and "Network authentification" boxes are checked). WXP allows one to use characters for WEP key, so you can use a word as key. If you have problems with memory (not the RAM, but your own memory) write it down and keep in a safe place for the future reference. Do not neglect these steps if you want to protect your privacy from a curious guy living next door.
This is pretty much it. The dial-up internet connection sharing is very simple in WXP. If you are a newbie, you can use a wizard provided by Microsoft. If you are a pro, then you need to configure TCP/IP and DHCP settings on both server and client computers. If you want to use file/printers sharing, everything is done automatically by WXP, you just need to create the shared components and agree with the Microsoft warning about hazards of the file sharing.
The drive test results:
1. Connection stability and strength. Excellent within my 2 level 2 bedroom apartment (~ 30 feet max separation of the client and the server). I was not curious enough to go outside.
2. Connection speed. 11 Mbps? Yes and no! WXP reports 11 Mbps link speed. But this is an advertisement gimmick! 11 Mbps is a total connection speed in BOTH directions. 802.11 is not a continuous full duplex protocol. It means that 50% of the time the adapter receives data and 50% it sends them out, even if it has nothing to send or receive. In a burst (1 packet) the speed is indeed 11 Mbps, but most of the files are much larger than one packet. I sent 1 Gb file back and forth and figured out that the one-way transfer rate is ~4.2 Mbps. That's even less than than 5.5 Mbps limit, probably due to additional workload caused by WEP coding/decoding. So, forget about viewing DVDs over the WiFi net or pay more for 55 Mbps 802.11g card.
To summarize:
Good and easy to set up USB adapter. Some knowledge of WiFi networking is required.
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