TRENDnet 54Mbps Wireless G PCI Adapter TEW-423PI
by TRENDnet
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List Price: Our Price: $18.86 You Save: $18.13 (49%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $5.85 (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 TRENDnet 54Mbps Wireless G PCI Adapter TEW-423PI
Customer Review: Fedora 13 Users: Be aware!
Summary: 2 Stars
This one is not suitable for Linux Fedora user. I read some reviewers' comments in which they mentioned this card worked with Linux. Therefore, I bought this PCI card (really hard to resist the price). Then, my nightmare started. I was so excited to get it. My computer skill level is above average. Usually, I can fix most of the software issues. I spent 10 hours to get the card working. TEW423 PI C1.R version + ndiswrapper 1.56 + Fedora 13. The speed is super slow which I can not stand it. Moreover, it did drop several times. I decided to return it to get some better one which is more suitable for Linux.
That's my experience with this card. Hope this is helpful to you. Thanks.
I ended up buying the expensive one. D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N PCI Express Desktop Adapter
It is a better one for Fedora 13. I am happy that I spent a little more for a better one. The difference of performance is obvious. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N4WRFY/ref=oss_product
Do not save money for a cheaper product. Get one which really works for you. --- That's my experience. I like shopping on Amazon. Pleasant experience. (mostly)
Customer Review: Excellent Signal
Summary: 5 Stars
My troubles began after the team changed from Comcast to Verizon. My laptop went online immediately, but the work horse, my desk top, kept loosing the signal (both OS is Vista). The Verizon tech finally said that he couldn't determine why the weak signal. My wifi card was a Belkin (good products), but for some reason it couldn't hold the signal. I was dropping off line constantly. For three frustrating weeks I tried everything. I switched to other cards that were loaned to me, setup and re-setup, but nothing seemed to work.
In my searches for another card, I kept passing up this TrendNet because I wasn't familiar with the name - I didn't want more problems. Finally, I returned to this product on Amazon and glanced over the comments. The one from M.S. Broadbent caught my eye. I'm in a similar surrounding - finished basement office with the router upstairs and many feet away. So I ordered the card from Amazon.
I received it a few days ago, installed it, and immediately saw four green signal bars suddenly appear (four out of four!). It hasn't faltered once. Pleased? What do you think? Five stars? About ten.
Customer Review: 10 Months Later, Beginning to Break Down
Summary: 1 Stars
I believe to truly review a product, the purchaser needs to use it for at least 6 months. I am writing this review at the 10 month mark.
This product was never really great to begin with. This card can not handle continuous wifi signals. It breaks it down into chunks. If you want to see this for yourself, test it by doing a broadband speed test using speedtest.net. You will see for yourself just how uneven the downloads and uploads are.
That was when I just bought the card. Now 10 months later, when I ping a website like yahoo.com. It will either take over 200ms to reach or it does not reach at all. My little netbook with I bought a year before this card is still doing great with it's tiny wifi antenna. Admittedly I do download a large amount of data daily, but netbook wifi antenna is perfectly fine where as the Trendnet Antenna is the point of needing to be replaced.
Bottom line, I would not recommend buying this product no matter what the price is. You are better off buying some use product from craigslist.
Customer Review: Unreliable - it should JUST WORK!
Summary: 1 Stars
purchased this card to save a few $$$ over the Netgear/Belkin/DLink card. the card itself installed easily, but it just didn't work. on fresh startups/reboots the card would find the network and connect somewhat sluggishly. if the computer sat idle long enough to get to the screen saver (15 min) the card would just stop working. it would say that it was connected to the internet, but nothing would come through. also had this problem when bringing the computer back from sleep/hibernation modes. did the routine trouble shooting of the router, the firewall, the antivirus, the system settings, etc etc...it had to be the card. took it back, and paid the $10 more for the NETGEAR WG311 54Mbps Wireless-G PCI Adapter. the NETGEAR adapter !*WORKS FLAWLESSLY*! (although i don't particularly care for their connection management software). i also read online about firmware issues with this particular TRENDNET model.
buyer beware.
card was installed on a system w/ a fresh WINXP SP2 install
AMD X4 9950 Black / 4GB RAM
Customer Review: Sadly, the card just doesn't seem to work well with Vista Home Premium
Summary: 1 Stars
I have a self-built dual-core machine running Vista and 8 gigs of RAM. I have Verizon FIOS for internet service. While my PS3, my iMac G5, and my roommate's Powerbook G4 all work well, the Trendnet wireless PCI adapter is lucky to work for more than a few minutes at a time, and even then very slow.
In addition, the utilities required to run it create another layer of software to have to work through to get your connection, and it's bare-bones. Windows Vista doesn't really understand how to get it to ask for an IP address, so there's little you can do to prod it into life. Sometimes, Vista doesn't even recognize the card is there, suggesting plugging in an ethernet cable.
It sounds like I'm not alone in having problems with this card, and while it clearly works well for some people, I'd have to say you're definitely rolling the dice. The price is hard to beat for something that works, but easy to beat if it doesn't. My advice: save the packaging and be ready to have to return it.