Airlink Wireless-G Ultra Slim 802.11g USB 2.0 Adapter

List Price: $49.99 Discount Price: $16.99

Features:

• Compatible with all 802.11g and 802.11b devices
• USB 2.0
• Wireless data rate up to 54Mbps
• WEP encryption for security
• Fully mobile

Customer Reviews:

Not recommended [Posted on 2006-11-12]
I bought this product today and spent half a day on it but I am still unable to make it works without a problem. First the adapter won't be able to connect to my router without SSID broadcasted. The SSID must be broadcasted so that it is appeared in the available network list from its own interface. Otherwise, the "Connect this site" button won't be shown up for me to make a connection. Second, it is conflicted with a lot radio frequency channels of my router. I only get one channel working (1 out of 11) eventually. Third, when I change the frequency channel, yes it will be automatically detected after about a minute but it will usually be crashed when it detects the channel changed; in this case, an error popup window will be shown up on the screen. I have to reboot the system in order to clear the error within the system. Or I could not make a connection from that onwards. Fourth, even though I am finally able to make it to connect to my route with a particular channel and then access the Internet, the connection is unstable. It drops the connection after some time. Fifth, the connection is only made through the Airlink interface. It won't work with Windows' "wireless zero configuration" interface at all. Therefore, I will not recommend it although its price is kind of attractive. Of course, if it works for you, it definitely bangs for the buck! One more note, I've heard someone said that it works well if your router/access point is made from the same brand as Airlink.

Installs Easily Works Well [Posted on 2007-02-08]
I bought this unit to replace a more expensive USB adapter that I bought for my daughter's computer. Her computer is about 20 feet from her router. I was thinking it might work better than an older Airlink USB adapter that had always worked for me in the past which was about 10 feet from a router. After many hours of playing around I realised that was a mistake. The more expensive adapter at best worked intermittendly. Should have bought the AirLink in the first place. It installed without a problem and worked the first time and every time thereafter.

They are so cheap and convenient that I've bought lots of them! [Posted on 2007-11-03]
The device is really convenient. For about $15, I can connect any computer built in the last 6 or 7 years to a wireless router in no time. As I write, I am repairing a laptop computer for a friend's daughter. She had over 200 trojan horses and three viruses, and her computer virtually stopped. I had to wipe out the hard drive and load a new operating system.

Since she lost the install disks and the one built on the computer was damaged, I have no drivers for the built in wireless adapter or the ethernet adapter, so I couldn't even get into the internet to upgrade Windows and load drivers.

This product provided the solution. I just loaded the driver/software from the install disk, plugged the Airlink into a USB port, and away I was surfing the net and finding drivers and updating my XP installation. Software installation is easy. And there is no need to unscrew a computer case to unscrew, and no searching for spare PCI slot in a slotless world, etc. I've had similar problems with other computers I've rebuilt which had no wireless card, and this device comes in handy.

I've easily been able to connect from about 40' away from my wireless router without any problem. And it costs about half as much as any other USB wireless adapter I've found. I can just give 'em away.

8/7/08 -- I just bought three more of 'em for $8 each.

most functions, also very (hardware) hackable [Posted on 2008-03-03]
what it/you can do... add an antenna (extremely difficult, though doable), host a (real) Wifi hot spot, use it with Linux. I love it, range is not so much an issue as I use it to connect my friends with the coffee shop networks when they don't have an account, I simply host one. I should mention that the add an antenna post on you tube will not work for this device, this one is very complicated.

this can host a real (like Wireless AP, not like ad-hoc or computer to computer connection, though does not act like a router to assign IP's, if thats what you want you'll need software) wireless network, that was reason enough for me to buy it, it works great, reliable, and has much more functionality than I expected, love it.

Good instruction, easy to install [Posted on 2008-07-23]
I'm a little bit hesitate to purchase this kind of wireless adapter in the beginning since it used to be troublesome for installation. However, I'm a little surprise for the good instruction and easy to install in my Win XP pro. Definitely, I will buy it again.

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