Hawking HWU8DD Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter
by Hawking Technology
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Our Price: $174.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $54.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Hawking HWU8DD Hi-Gain USB Wireless-G Dish Adapter
Customer Review: Exceptional performance - bulky for laptop use
Summary: 4 Stars
Pros:
The install was simple and clean. When I plugged in the device the difference was amazing. It immediately detected 8 additional routers from my neighborhood where I only detected 3 previously. My home connection went from 30% to 88%. The ability to place the dish in a fixed location and point it toward the receiver was also a tremendous help. At the lower signal strength of my old wireless adapter, simple movement of my laptop could cause loss of signal. This was very frustrating. With the USB connection you can position the antenna for optimum reception.
Cons:
The form factor is bulkier and more fragile than I anticipated. Even when fully folded the device still stands ~4 inches high. This was a terrible design decision that makes it nearly impossible to transport in a laptop case. The marginal plastic construction with obvious stress points makes me question whether it is safe for travel/laptop use. I know that Hawking could have designed a better antenna that folded neatly into the base without raising the cost or lowering performance. A flat design would withstand 60 - 70lbs of force. As is, I don't believe it will take more than a few pounds of force to break off the dish. I've seen Happy Meal toys with a more cleaver design.
In summary, the added reception power it provides is tremendous; particularly, if you don't need to travel with it. However, I specifically bought it for use on the road with spotty hotel connections. For this purpose, it will be difficult to pack and transport safely (perhaps a suitcase would be best).
Customer Review: Well, that was a complete waste of time.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have my main computer stuff, including my internet cable in the basement, and a workstation in the family room on the upper level. The family room workstation is wireless, and communicates with an SMB Barricade router with a little SMC USB wireless adapter.
I've often wondered if I could ever get a signal above the 70% range on a good night, or above 60% on a good day, so I bought one of these.
I had configured my little network to use WPA along with a shared passphrase. I also use encryption. So, quite the secure little connection.
To make a long evening short, this thing does WPA, but only with three particular connection protocols that require user ids, passwords, and certificates (I believe they're TLS, TTLS, and PEAP). This is far more complicated than just the shared passphrase approach that my SMC adaptor uses. I just can't come up with all that on my little peer-to-peer home network.
Furthermore, this dish device never registered above 70% for any length of time, so it really didn't even do much better than the adapter it was meant to replace.
Yes, I called their 24/7 tech support and got someone offshore who tried to help, but after a lot of steps and me telling him to say things over and over so I could understand him, never quite figured out this simple thing that I have.
So, I guess I'll package it up and put it on the shelf where it will sit until I sell it or give it to someone. What a waste of time.
Customer Review: Be aware
Summary: 1 Stars
Installing the Hawking software disabled my internal wifi antenna on my Dell D-600. Without using the Hawking antenna, the Dell could receive ZERO wifi signals (so if I wanted to go elsewhere to a wifi hotspot w/o the Hawking antenna, my wifi was totally disabled). Tech support (incomprehensible accents) said I needed to uninstall their software each time I went to a different hotspot w/o the antenna (ridiculous!!). When I ultimately threw the blasted device away and uninstalled ALL their software, my Dell's wifi capability is STILL completely broken...ZERO reception....my Dell's wifi worked fine for 5 years before installing this device...this device has ruined my laptop's ability to connect via Wifi.
9-20-08 Update: Astoundingly, Hawking tech support & website are CLUELESS on this issue: after significant digging around, I found what actually happens is the Hawking installation completely disables the internal wifi card "radio". To fix it, you need to go into Control Pannel/wifi card and RE-ENABLE the radio. It is an easy fix. No one at Hawking knows about it. I called and told them. I doubt it will sink in. Too bad their stupidity is damaging their reputation & sales - but they don't seem to care. Recommendation: use a wifi PC Card that takes an external stick antenna.
Customer Review: A Work in Progress
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently purchased the HWU8DD, but I would not do so again any time soon. While it is apparently a brilliant inovation, the excecution at this stage needs a lot of improvement. For example, when you try to load the program there is no way seeming to get around signing up for a utility "hot spot locater" program and going through all the hassel of registering, getting a password through your regular Email address etc before you can get back to the program itself.
Once you are back to loading the program you might end up wishing you hadn't. All of us have disregarded the warning from Windows about "do not install this program, it has not passed the Windows approval and may cause harm to your computer".
Well you get the warning again whith this installation, but this time you better heed it. I did not and my computer crashed BIG TIME. It took about four hours of work to get it back to the point where I could "restore" to an earlier time.
Tech Support for Hawking has been responsive but doesn't seem to think either of my complaints have any merit.
As I said earlier, it is a brilliant inovation, but I'd definately await Ver 2 before considering it.
Don Jenkins
Customer Review: Free Internet Can't Be Beat!
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently moved downtown and discovered that there was free WiFi internet at a few of the local government buildings. My computer--a relatively new laptop--could pick up the signal, but the signal strength never got higher than 14%--and sometimes the signal couldn't be picked up at all--and my computer HAD to be in the perfect position.
I purchased the Hawking little satellite and viola! The signal never drops below 37% and is as high as 64%, both of which allow for fast surfing. I'm not sure why it fluctuates, but I don't notice a difference. The signal average is about 50% strength, which is almost 4 times higher than what I was getting without it (and that was on the best days!).
The only thing I found that I need to do is unplug the dish from the USB slot about once a day. The internet slowed down to dial-up speeds (even though the Wifi signal was strong) and so I simply unplugged the dish for about 5 seconds and when I plugged it back in, it was back to broadband speeds. This isn't that big of a deal because I had to unplug my Linksys router once a day.
For the price of two months of Comcast internet, you can buy this dish and then never pay for internet again!