Rosewill RNX-N150PCx Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI 2.2 Up to 150Mbps Wireless Data Rates WPA2

Pros: Drivers are found by windows, no need to install from the CD.

Cons: I've had two of these and both of them broke on me within 2 months.

When it does "work" there are massive amounts of packet loss and a very weak signal.

Other Thoughts: Not going to bother returning the second one, I'll just eat the cost and get something from TP-Link or Netgear.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Please contact the Rosewill support team at 800-575-9885 so that we can assist you with your issue.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: When it did work, it worked great.

Cons: Died after about a week. Tried multiple ways and times to try and solve it, but no luck. It eventualy died completely and the OS would not even see it or recognize it.

Other Thoughts: Newegg was a great help on the RMA process. The RMA process was great.

Pros: Has external antenna which is generally performs much better than an antenna attached directly to the card in a desktop system.

Cons: The card is identified as PCIx only in the model number and Details page on Newegg.

Every other mention of the card type on the packaging says PCI which techs know covers a number of different connectors, but which end users very likely are not aware of.

The client brought it in for me to install it in his computer after the Newegg return period had passed.

Second, the unopened, sealed box rattled a great deal. Turns out that the preformed anti-static insert was for the shorter PCI card, not the longer PCIx. It wouldn't fit in the indent and was loose. Not a great confidence builder.

Other Thoughts: I have bought and recommended a lot of Rosewill components over the years and generally have found them to provide decent performance, few DOAs and fair pricing.

Gave this a 2 star rating instead of 1 star since the client was at fault letting the return period expire.

This left me very disappointed. My recommending Rosewill to clients is called into question.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Please contact the Rosewill support team at 800-575-9885 so that we can assist you with your issue.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Uses the PCI slot that never gets touched. Windows 8 Pro picked it up instantly.

Cons: Needs a longer antenna cable.

Other Thoughts: Nice cheap way to have wireless on the desktop without using up any USB slots.

Pros: Easy set up... but...

Cons: Only used for 1 week and the adapter died. I was browsing newegg actually and the page timed out. It will not connect to my dual band netgear router... all the rest of my PCs, laptops, tablets and phone will all connect.

Other Thoughts: This was bought as a replacement for a different rosewill wireless card. Both time they have crapped out in less than a month. No more Rosewill anything for me. Everything I get from them has to be replaced in less that 30 days.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Please contact the Rosewill support team either via phone at 800-575-9885 or via email at techsupport@rosewill.com so that we can assist you with your issue.
Thanks,
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: It does work kinda. See Cons.

Cons: The biggest problem that this setup has is that you have to have a better antenna to make it work properly. I just happen to have one laying around that I could use. The computer that I wanted to put this card into is about 35 feet away from my router and I could only get 1 to 2 bars on the computer with many drop offs. After replacing the antenna with the one that came with my computer I am now getting 4 bars.

Other Thoughts: Unless you are really close to your router or have another antenna around I would stay away from this card.

Pros: Easy to install in Windows. Corded antenna so it's not stuck to the back of your machine, allowing you to find a better signal.

Cons: As with a lot of hardware, installing in Linux can be a pain(depending on your distro), but that's half the fun of running a Linux platform! Just google search for help getting it working. If you are purchasing this for a Linux machine you most likely already know how helpful the Linux community can be!

Other Thoughts: I dual boot Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 7(on separate HDDs) and I actually get a better quality signal in Linux. Consistent 3-4 bars(out of 4) and the router is on the other side of the house!

Windows 7 on the other hand...2-3 bars(out of 5).

This isn't too much of a surprise though, just about everything runs faster and smoother when I'm on my Linux drive than my Windows drive.

Pros: None

Cons: Well, I built two new PCs a few months back, and based on the decent rating spread of this router (at the time) and the low cost I figured I didn't have much to lose as I have not had much problem with PCI card unreliability in the past (even cheap cards).

Problems start with this networking card right off the bat, with the driver disc included with the hardware being outdated, and written only for 32 bit windows. I am not sure if the 32-bit instruction set on Windows 7 is buggy, but it took ages for me to install the drivers on both my brand new i5/W7x64 systems.

After getting the drivers to take, it is nearly impossible to get the card to connect to a router. I am using a Linksys router at home, and a Cisco device at work. In both settings the card failed to connect to the network without rebooting the modem and router independently, then resetting the network card.

Once I thought I was home free, connected after long last issues persist. The connection strength was pitiful to say the least; 2 bar strength compared to the 5 bars I am getting at my desk on my laptop running an Intel WifiLink 5100. My laptop doesn't even have an external antennae and it gets over two times the signal strength!

As if the horrendous bandwidth rates wasn't painstaking enough, this network adapter frequently drops connection, and reconnecting to the network is a nightmare! Resetting the adapter does not work... EVER! Often the only way to reconnect to the network is to power cycle the modem and router independently, then reset the network adapter. Makes absolutely no sense.

Oh, and it gets worse. When you shut off your computer, about 50% of the time the adapter simply will not connect to the network. Once again, you must manually reset modem and router.

I highly advise against purchasing this adapter. Spend a few more dollars, and don't let the 15% off entice you into months of frustration and rage.

Other Thoughts: tldr;

Purhcased 2 of these adapters, both did:

Drivers wouldn't install on Win7x64
Upon install, wouldn't connect to network
Bad signal strength
Unreliable connectivity
Frustrating interrupts prevent adapter connection
Manual reset of modem/routers needed often
PAIN IN THE A**!

DO NOT PURCHASE

Pros: Cheap

Cons: Cheap
Doesn't work 1/2 of the time
Frequent connection drops
Takes a while to detect wifi (on bootup and after waking up from sleep)

Other Thoughts: I was looking at PCI wifi adapters after hearing that the USB ones drop connection a lot. Unfortunately, this particular PCI card also drops its connection often.

When you first start your computer, the card takes about 15-25 mins to detect my home wifi (the closest one, with the strongest connection) and after connecting, the signal drops constantly.

I am disappointed with my purchase and will refrain from buying cheap wireless networking products in the future.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
Try to use windows wireless zero utility and consider changing the wireless channel this may help to increase in performance. If problem persists do contact the Rosewill support team either at 800-575-9885 or Email us at techsupport@rosewill.com so that we may further assist you.

Thank you
Rosewill Customer Care

Pros: Good connection strength. Works well when it's actually running...

Cons: Periodically just stops all data transfer from the internet. Latest drivers do not help. Seems to happen after Windows has been in sleep mode.

Other Thoughts: As some others have noted, this card occasionally stops doing its thing. The connection to the router remains active but if you look at your network properties you will see "disabled" for Internet. Running Network Troubleshooting fixes this, but doesn't tell you what the actual problem is. This seems to happen to me most often a few minutes after waking the computer from sleep mode. That's the weird part- it will work fine IMMEDIATELY after waking the PC, but then 5 or 10 minutes will pass and it suddenly can't reach the internet anymore. As a result I have disabled it and gone to an el-cheapo USB adapter which works 100% of the time. The next time I do any work inside my case, this Rosewill card will be coming out.