INTEL WIRELESS SYSTEM......don't even think about buying it.
Written: Jan 12 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Looks Hi-Tech. The color is very attractive and the wireless mouse concept is fantastic.
Cons: Lousy product, not even a proper customer support for it, not worth the money!!
The Bottom Line: Don't buy this product to avoid problems. You could probably end-up with disappointments and headaches by this product.
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| ivanhgomes's Full Review: Intel (IWLESSMOUSBAS01) Mouse |
Don't even think about buying it, try and settle for other alternatives.
The review and my opinion of the product are based on my experience of buying and owning it and I am referring to the complete Intel Wireless System consists of a Keyboard, Mouse and the Base Station.
I've heard from many good comments from on-line sources about the system before I bought it on June 12th, 2001 at CompUSA. During that time, I was searching for a wireless system for my computer in order to have more space for my computer desk believing that I could minimize the cables around the desk working area. I was also looking for something that would match the color of my Casing and Monitor which had a tone of white and blue. When I saw the Intel Wireless system on the product website, it looks stunning. I just loved the color and not mentioning about the concept of having a totally wireless system for my desktop. The time when I bought it from CompUSA on June 12th, 2001; CompUSA was running a 'week specials' for the item which gives a $50 mail-in-rebate for it. The nearest CompUSA store from my home was 56 miles away and I drove all the way to get it, with the hope that this is the real thing that I could add to my computer. I paid a total of $84.79 (including tax) for the complete Intel Wireless System consist of the Keyboard, Mouse and Base Station. When I finally got back home after driving more than 100 miles, then the nightmare came................
The whole nightmare to this product started when I opened the box and found that one of the rubber legs (oval moon-shaped right side) to the keyboard was missing. The rest were there but I found out that they were only using a clear thin double sided tape to hold all the rest in its place. The first thing popped-up on my head was "damn, was this product with this poor quality control was made in China or Thailand again", but when I look at the label, I was surprised to see that it was Made in Mexico. I've got plenty of other computer stuff like my Canon Printers which was made in Mexico but they all came out of their boxes fine. With the disappointment, I pretend that I never knew that the rubber piece was missing and placed the keyboard right where it should be and then I found out another problem after a few days using it without the little rubber piece. The keyboard couldn't seat properly in place and was easily slipping from the desk on the side which doesn't have the little rubber piece and that's when I started calling Intel Customer Support. I've called the customer service phone as provided by the manual. After pressing numbers after numbers to get to the right department I was put on hold for more than 30 minutes and I decided to give it another try right form the beginning by re-dialing the number again. I've got the technical guy but he told me that he wasn't in the right department which handle the wireless product and that he had to transfer my call. So there I was again holding on to the phone while being transferred. Then after nearly 5 minutes of holding my line was totally cut-off and I had to give another try. On the 3rd call, I got the operator and I told her I need to speak to which kind of technical guy and she got me to the right person. The right person whom was handling the wireless system took my complete name, address, phone and e-mail and assured me that he would be sending the missing little rubber piece to my address. I even told him that it was a good idea and I would be glad to fix it myself. He also assured me that I would be getting the "little rubber piece" in 2-3 days time.
After 3 disappointed days of waiting without anything for me in the mail, I decided to give the same guy another call just to check on the progress of shipment for the "little rubber piece". I got a shock when he told me that he was not able to dispatch me the "little rubber piece" and that the manager of his department would be calling me soon. Then I waited another 3-4 days for the manager to call me on the phone. The manager told me that his department couldn't send just the "little rubber piece" but instead I will have to send the whole wireless system including the mouse and the base station to their department and he issued me an RMA. I explained to him clearly the logic of sending a big bulky almost 3ft long box at my own cost to them and the logic of just sending (probably just in an envelope) a "little rubber piece", I was really annoyed by him then when he also told me that there was nothing that he can do about it; I just told him that I'm not buying anymore Intel products ever again and only by then I decided that I don't mind even to drive 100 miles just to return this product back. But nightmare after a nightmare for me, I noticed that when I picked up the CompUSA receipt to return the product back, the time had already passed the 14 days of refund/exchange period. Then it was how I ended up with a lousy system and told myself that this was the worst 'bad purchase' I have ever done in my life.
I ended up using the wireless system for couple of months to give it a try out, before I finally got rid of it in an auction at a lost price of only 20 bucks!! During those times which I have used the wireless system I have also encountered with a few more problems. There were:
THE MOUSE
The 3 AAA batteries on the mouse always run out every 2-3 weeks with normal daily usage of it. The mouse also tend to collect dirt on its edges between the white click button and the blue body and already it is a ball mouse that needs ball cleaning, the click button are also going to give you another part to be cleaned !!!
Intel® Wireless Series Mouse:
Characteristic Specification
Carrier Frequency 902-928MHz
Channel Carrier Frequency Separation 0.5Mhz
Antenna Integrated omni-directional
Minimum Effective Range (through free space) 3 meters
Power 3 AAA batteries
EEPROM 128 bytes
Clock 4Mhz RC circuit
Current Requirements Max interface board current requirement = 130mA @ 4.5 volts
Max RF module current requirement = 130mA @ 3.0 volts
Product Operating Temperature 5 to 40 degrees C
20 - 90% relative humidity, non condensing over temperature range
Dimensions Length: 135mm
Width: 70mm
Height: 40mm
Weight: 450 grams
Regulatory Compliance UL 1950/ CSA 22.2 950
EMI: FCC, part 15, subpart J, class B
THE KEYBOARD
Every time the keyboard turned to sleep mode it affect my other running program. I was running a Windows 2000 Pro Operating System and before I could get the wireless system to work on my computer, I even had to download files from Intel website. The program that was affected the most when the keyboard turned to sleep mode was my WinDVD software. Whenever I was watching DVD on it, and when the keyboard turned to sleep mode, the WinDVD software would just 'hang'. I thought that it might have been probably caused a 'conflict' in the programs and I tried settling it by partitioning my hard drive on which one side was running the wireless system software and one side was running the WinDVD software. Results turned out to be the same and all other keyboards run and tested on my system worked out to be fine for all of my software. Only by running the Intel Wireless System, I have encountered with such problems.
Intel® Wireless Series Keyboard:
Characteristic Specification
Carrier Frequency 902-928MHz
Channel Carrier Frequency separation 0.5Mhz
Antenna Integrated omni-directional
Minimum Effective Range (through free space) 3 meters
Special Keys 4 application short cut keys
3 volume-mute keys
4 media control keys
2 Windows* hot keys
1 Intel® Wireless Series configuration key
LCDs 4 LCD indicators: NUM LOCK, CAPS LOCK, SCROLL LOCK, LOW BATTERY
Power 3 AA batteries
EEPROM 128 bytes
Clock 2.5Mhz RC circuit
Current Requirements Max interface board current requirement = 60mA @ 4.5 volts
Max RF module current requirement = 60 mA @ 3.0 volts
Product Operating Temperature 5 to 40 degrees C
20 - 90% relative humidity, non condensing over temperature range
Dimensions Length: 482mm
Width: 177mm
Height: 36mm
Home Position Height: less than 34mm
Weight: 1,200 grams
Regulatory Compliance UL 1950/ CSA 22.2 950
EMI: FCC, part 15, subpart J, class B
THE BASE STATION
The base station for the wireless system must be plugged-in to the USB port. I have noticed that whenever the base station was plugged-in to the USB port, my other USB plugged devices sometimes doesn't function properly (Motherboard is Elite K7VZA with 2 USB ports). But with all other devices plugged-in together at the same time, it turned out to be okay. When all other keyboards and mouse were used, all turned out to be working fine too. All other devices combination plugged-in to the USB ports were all working fine. Why would a customer suffer all these problems of trying to figure out ‘what's wrong’ with the hardware or configuration right?? A good product is a product that doesn't need the end-users to crack their heads off on it right??
Intel® Wireless Series Base Station:
Characteristic Specification
Carrier Frequency 902-928MHz
Channel Carrier Frequency Separation 0.5Mhz
Antenna Integrated omni-directional
Interface Universal Serial Bus (Rev. 1.1)
Cable Length 2 meters
Cable Connector Series A type of USB receptacle
Power Adapter to interface board: +5V DC +/- -5% @ 500mA max
Interface board to RF module: +5V DC +/- -5% @ 20mA max converted to +3.3V DC +/- 2% @ 250mA max
Memory 64K Flash; 32K SRAM
Clock 12MHz clock
Product Operating Temperature 5 to 40 degrees C
20 - 90% relative humidity, non condensing over temperature range
Dimensions Length: 155mm
Width: 135mm
Height: 90mm
Weight: 400 grams
Regulatory Compliance UL 1950/ CSA 22.2 950
EMI: FCC, part 15, subpart J, class B
Every computer hardware should be a user friendly hardware and shouldn't give it end-users a big headache of trying to figure out what went wrong. Based on my experience for this product, it could just happen to more user than just me.
After having problem with this product I ended-up with a better keyboard and mouse like the Logitech ones and I strongly recommend that Intel stick to doing Processors rather than doing something else. This lousy product is giving Intel a bad name and they could probably be more unhappy users of this product out there. Please don't even think about buying this product because you could ended-up just like another 'me' and ended-up with worst headaches. Just look at the poor performance too !
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 84.79
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Epinions.com ID:
ivanhgomes
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Member: IVAN GOMES
Location: Michigan, U.S.A.
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 2 members
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