Gets you up and going on the cheap, but that's it.
Written: Jul 30 '05 (Updated Aug 01 '05)
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Pros: Small & light; comes with stand & extension cable; simple operation; inexpensive.
Cons: Somewhat short range; Windows software worked better than Belkin's for device management.
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for WiFi on the cheap, it's right for the price, but there's gotta be others that are better for just a little more. Barely recommended.
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| jdmccright's Full Review: Belkin Wireless G USB (F5D7050) Network Adapter |
[Revised 01-Aug-05]
I got the F5D7050 simply because it was so cheap after rebates ($25-$20=$5). Plus, I've had good luck with Belkin products in the past, so I felt it was a good thing to take a chance on.
The unit is light and small, but a little thick & wide so if you have any other ports beside your USB, you'll be wise to plug it into the extension cable. The included cable itself is nice as well since it lets you reposition it for better signal reception, away from the electromagnetic cacophony behind your computer. It even comes with a little base to stand it up in...cute.
I'm using it successfully on a 1 GHz Celeron running Win XP Pro and 512MB, but I am NOT running the included Wireless utility with it. I am letting Windows manage the antenna. I tried loading the supplied Belkin driver and utility as well as downloaded from their site, but could not get good connectivity. I uninstalled them, rebooted, plugged it in, gave it just the basic driver (rt2500usb) and it goes just fine.
I have my router down in the basement and the antenna is located on the second floor...about 35-40 feet straight. At that range, I get poor to fair signal strength, just enough for full 54 Mbps throughput, but sometimes will take a while to load or simply drop out altogether and give me an error loading page. But usually a click on the Reload Page button and it is reconnected again. I notice the dropouts only occur when the link is used in a burst pattern (downloading a web page, reading, then downloading another, etc.) rather than constantly (for games or chat). Therefore, I cannot say for sure it is strictly the WiFi connection or that the router is simply timing out in between access requests, or both. So, perhaps there are others out there with more signal grabbing strength than this one, but for the price I can't complain since it does work.
For a basic, run-of-the-mill WiFi antenna, I can't really knock the F5D7050. It does the job and does it reasonably well as long as you are within its range.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5 (-rebate)
Driver Availability: Windows only
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Epinions.com ID:
jdmccright
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Location: La Plata, MD USA
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
I like tinkering with computers, cars, and any good day to play volleyball or swim.
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