Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys Wireless-N PCI Adapter WMP300N

I have a Belkin Pre-N network at my house and liked the specs on the new Linksys product (WMP300N PCI adapter and the WRVS4400n router and access point) for my office. Out of the box nothing worked. An upgrade to .13 firmware in the router at least got it working. Speeds are impressive, but as many others have noted, the system hangs up at random times driving users to distraction. I returned the product and reinstalled my Cat 6 cables.

Once Linksys gets the bugs out I'll try them again, but they released this product without enough testing, in my opinion. This is a classic example of buyer beware.

Hey, we all know what Linksys is, right? It's the consumer division of Cisco Systems, the guys who practically invented microcomputer networking. So if there is a name to trust in wireless networking, you would think it would be Linksys.

Unfortunately, in the case of the WMP300N, you would be very wrong.

I have had this adapter and matching Linksys router installed for about ayear. It looses connection with the router routinely. Some of the software I use requires a reliable network connection to avoid data corruption -- I can't use that software on the computer with this adapter. It will abort file transfers, making us revert to "sneaker net" where we have to burn CD's to move files.

Range is not the only problem. It will loose connect within 25 feet. It looses it more frequently at further distance, of course, so I would have to give it a "1" for both range and connection reliability.

And with range being such a problem, the speed at any distance at all drops to around 10 - 20 Mbps, which is less than I get from stock 802.11g cards at the same distance.

Could the problem be the router? No, as it functions fine with other wireless devices.

Another problem is that the adapter's software will loose the ability to scan for networks after a while. The only solution is to reboot the computer. As a result, you can't leave your computer on when you are not using it -- you'll just have to reboot anyway.

There hasn't been a firmware upgrade since the unit was released a year ago, despite entries by others similar to mine. Linksys is surely aware that they have a problem child but it doesn't seem that they have an interest in fixing it.

I've tried all the tweaks that the geek boards suggest. Bottom line: I'll be writing off the cost of this adapter as a waste and replacing it so that I can get back to work. And I won't be trusting Linksys/Cisco the next time around.

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro.

Product installed painlessly. I did not install any drivers whatsoever in Vista. I just plugged in the PCI port, turn on the PC, and it all worked perfectly including WPA protection.
I have it matched up with a Linksys 300 router.

I highly recommend this product in this configuration.

I usually get speeds 270 Mbps. Sometimes 240 never below 200. I'm running Windows XP and this network is running in a multi-floor configuration. My computer is on the lower level and signal strength is usually 72%. Family and friends using laptops and wireless G have no problem coming over and using the network. Out of box, following directions and updating the driver the install was clean. I am about to try the USB model on another computer because of the success with this one.

I highly recommend this adapter. We have a big rambling farm house and the basement computer could not be linked into the wireless network until
I upgraded to the "N", so we are totally impressed.