Belkin's 54G wi-fi card reviewed

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Manufacturer: Belkin
Price: $100
Requirements: 32-bit Cardbus compliant slot, Windows flavours
Web Site:: WWW.BELKIN.COM

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WE GUTTERSNIPE a lot here at the INQwell about the lack of wireless LAN support but we are aware coverage is growing all the time. The irony of a massive Centrino poster being next to BA's Business Lounge at Kennedy but with no wi-fi coverage might have bypassed Intel's sniffing technology but not ours.

So as wireless LAN coverage increases, and if you haven't an expensive Centrino yet, it's useful to have a wireless card about your person.

Belkin sent us its 54G notebook network card to review.

The 54G title means that the card supports the 802.11g draft standard, which gets itself ratified in June. But the card supports the 802.11b wireless LAN standard, which is what we have running on our own home network.

When 802.11g is ratified, it will give a claimed three times the wireless range of 802.11a, which Intel intends to implement in its Centrino combo in Q3. It won't get round to 802.11g until next year.

Belkin also claims that it's designed this card with low power consumption in mind. PC cards tend to make your battery indicator shrink quickly.

The box comes with CD, a leaflet, and the card itself.

We extracted our Linksys 802.11b card, inserted the Belkin card installed the software on our Sony Vaio Pentium III-M notebook and it started working straight away.

The card, which is robustly constructed, comes with a utility which, as you can see from this screenshot, lets you detect available wireless networks, see the strength of your link, gives diagnostics and also shows channel information, encryption and the like.

We liked the fact that the card worked straight away, connected to our home network and did, in fact, appear to run pretty efficiently. The Pentium III-M chip is a power saver anyway, but Belkin's claims of low power consumption appear to be correct. The drain on the battery was lower than our Linksys WPC-11, despite the different Cardbus interface.

Bear in mind, by the way, that the firmware on your notebook must support the Cardbus standard if you're contemplating buying the card.

What about the price? Bear in mind that Belkin says this card will support the 802.11g standard, which gives much higher speeds than 802.11b. If you're contemplating installing an 802.11g network but still would like to smurf the Interweb as you move away from your office or home, this could be a suitable compromise. Most networks out there at the coffee bars and, where you can find them, in the airports, support 802.11b right now. Belkin also does an 802.11b only card which costs $75 - the extra $25 may well be worth the investment.

We're happy with the card - it worked straight away, installation is straightforward and it has 802.11g built in, so when the time comes we'll be able to smurf not just in our back garden but right across the park.

Although one or two vendors have said they won't introduce 802.11g cards until the standard is ratified in June, the firm offers a lifetime warranty with this card so effectively guarantees compatibility with the ratified standard. µ

* You may be able to get better deals on this card by comparing prices here.