Linksys WUSBF54G Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with Wi-Fi Finder

Summary: This little unit is great but I have a couple gripes. When you het the scan button, it takes a little while to find the signals. Also unlike some of the cheapo wifi finders, it wont let you scan an area in real time and see the signal bounce around while looking for a good one. Once you hit the button, it scans and gives you the results.. Then you can move about, scan again and repeat until you find a good spot to camp out. Those are the only gripes I have about it. I like the fast that it has a built in battery that charges from the USB port. I've used it to figure out the best place to put a range expander for my network without having to use my laptop. The 802.11B/G network adapter part of it works fine although I didn't really check the range capabilities yet. I didn't use the driver that came with it though. I just plugged it in to my desktop while it was on the "wired" router port and windows got the driver from the internet and installed it like any other wireless card. I don't care for the Linksys wireless driver uuility that installs off the CD because some wifi snooper programs wont work with it. The unit comes with a cool stand with a long cord so you dont hafta worry about it sticking out of a usb port or getting a bad signal because of location. So I guess it makes for a nice antenna as well. I paid a little over $90 for it with tax. It's a bit pricy but considering that the USB wireless adapters go for around 70 bucks and you would pay an additional 20 for a cheapo wifi finder, this is in a good price range. So ya.. I'm happy with it. Nice job Linksys.

Summary: After purchasing a new Dell PC, I needed a wireless adapter to connect with my 4-year old wireless system. Installation was a snap. The easy set-up was accompanied with an intuitively managed read-out of its system check and signal strenth meter. Everything ran fine during this session. I shut down the computer and returned several hours later. The read-out on the signal strength meter was zero and there was no link. I changed USB ports, USB cables, uninstalled the software, renamed the folder, reinstalled the software and still no signal and no link. The nifty readout on the unit itself was able to detect my router, but the adapter failed to connect the signal with my PC.
I returned the WUSBF54G to Comp USA for a full refund and purchased a Belkin F5D7050 at Best Buy at about half the price of the Linksys. Installing the Belkin software was not as easy or intuitive, and I ended up reinstalling the software after it failed to fire-up a day or two later. Since then, it's been up and running with signal strength and link quality (according to Belkin's meter) better than my old PCI wireless card in my old computer. So far so good with the Belkin after a week of operation and a brief period of frustration.