TP-LINK TL-WN851ND Wireless N300 PCI Adapter, 300Mbps, w/WPS Button, IEEE 802.1b/g/n, 64/128 bit WEP, WPA/WPA2 TP-LINK TL-WN851ND Wireless N300 PCI Adapter, 300Mbps, w/WPS Button, IEEE 802.1b/g/n, 64/128 bit WEP, WPA/WPA2

Pros: the antennas are nice and shiny

Cons: well "doesn't work" would have to be the main one. When I receive this parcel in the mail, I was delighted to receive it. now I only wish to return it. the wifi card will not connect to the internet through my network, it will connect to the network but not the Internet. I spent about 45 minutes online with an Asian lady at the tech support and I received a little to no help at all. I tried reinstalling the driver I tried using the utility that comes with the wifi card and I tried using the windows 7 utility, but alas my trials have so far been in vain. I am using this card with Windows 7, and even though it says on the box that it supports Windows 7, it is not working with Windows 7.

Pros: Very easy to install both hardware and driver.

Cons: If i restart my computer does not pick up a wireless signal. However if i shutdown my computer then power it up, it will work just find (most of the time).

Other Thoughts: when it works it works great, but when it doesn't it doesn't do a thing and they only way to fix it is by shutting down the system.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear customer,
We're happy to hear you installed the adapter easily and apologize for the inconvenience caused.
May I give you a suggestion?

1. Uninstall the driver and utility;
2. Install the driver only;
3. Use the Windows embeded wireless utility to connect to your wireless network.

If it still doesn't work, may I know the model# of your motherboard?
So that we can analysis this issue.
My email address is: howard.he@tp-link.com

Thank you and Best Regards!

TP-LINK Support Team
support@tp-link.com
(866) 225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: Inexpensive

Cons: I have Cisco WAP4410N access points. When the TP-Link card and these access points are used together, every 24 hours the access points drop connectivity for all wireless clients and only a reboot of the access points fixes it. If the TP-Link card is removed, the access points have no problems.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued csutomer,

We thank you for your honest feedback and evaluation of our product.
It's very strange and we will look into this issue for a quick solution ASAP.
If you don't mind, could you please contact us for further troubleshooting?

steve.crow@tp-link.com


Thank you for supporting TP-LINK.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
(866)225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: It's a wireless card that works.

Cons: It did NOT come with the low profile bracket that was advertised.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

I am sorry you didn't receive the low profile bracket. Would you please email me at the address provided below so I may assist you with this.

steve.crow@tp-link.com

Thank you for supporting TP-LINK.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
(866)225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: Is in fact a wireless adaptor

Cons: Does not in fact fit in the case as low profile adaptor is NOT included.

Other Thoughts: I believe we call saying something is true that is not a LIE. This advertisement is a LIE.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear valued customer,

We apologize for the inconvenience. This product do have low bracket included and your problem was unexpected.could you please send your address to Andre.wang@tp-link.com? we will ship the low bracket to you ASAP.

If you need any further help,please contact me,I'll be more than happy to help you.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Team
(866)225-8139
http://www.tp-link.com/us/support
http://www.facebook.com/TPLINK

Pros: 180Mbps up / 120Mbps down throughput paired with my TP-Link TL-WR1043ND router.

Great speeds for 1080p HD LAN streaming and anything else needing good throughput for inexpensive card.

Cons: N/A

Pros: When it works, it works well.
From a Verizon MI424WR router about 55 feet away, pulls in 100 Mbps.

Cons: TP-LINK Wireless Configuration Utility Software has some quirks.

Other Thoughts: Owned this wireless PCI adapter for about 4 months. At first there were no problems with it. About 2 to 3 months later, for whatever reason the provided Configuration Utility software would lose the network key setting. This would cause me to open the configuration utility frequently to re-enter the network key to get the device to work again. I checked the TP-LINK website and I have the latest software for this device. Annoyed at this, I finally replaced this PCI adapter with a Rosewill RNX-N150HG USB adapter. Although with the USB adapter I am only pulling in 65 Mbps vice the 100 Mbps with the TP-LINK PCI adapter, at least I am not having to re-enter the network key on a frequent basis.

Pros: works well keeping a good 3-4 bars through multiple walls at first which was well worth the price.

Cons: after about 3 months the card's connection began to degrade from 3-4 bars to 3 bars when lucky and after 6 months 2 was good while 3 bars was pretty great and finally after a year this card seems to degrade even further and include connection drops for about 30 seconds on average.

Other Thoughts: this was my first card so im not too knowledgable, but i'd put in an extra 20 and get a better card.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Korbin,

We are sorry for the issues you have encountered with regards to the degrading of the signal strength and signal drop. If you have not done so already we would firstly recommend setting the wireless channel for your router to a static channel such as 1,3,6,or 9 for example to see if this helps you in resolving your issue. If you are still encountering the issues please contact our technical support department at the number we have listed below. We, at the tech support, will be more then happy to further trouble shoot this with you and if determined assist you with any potential RMA.

Best Regards!
TP-LINK Support Force
Toll Free Tech Support: 866-225-8139
Support.usa@tp-link.com

Pros: Steady connection.
3/5 bars. Router is in basement, i'm on 2nd floor of house.

Cons: None yet.

Other Thoughts: Had a D-Link 2320 (discontinued on new egg, but going for $70 on a-ma-zon ) for 2 years, and it is nowhere near as good as this.

For the first time ever, played a game of League of Legends with no lag spikes or dropped packages.

very satisfied. let's just hope it stays this way.

Pros: Works without customization on both Windows and Linux, incl. XP and OpenSUSE.

Cons: Signal strength only "Good" even though there is a brand new 300 Mb/s wireless N Cisco/Linksys wireless router 10 meters away. Those external antennas do a pretty poor job. The signal meter varies from 2 to 4 bars instead of 5.

Other Thoughts: For Windows install, I recommend ignoring the product instructions and having Windows install the driver like it wants to. Just insert the provided CD and tell Windows to search that CD for the driver when prompted upon login. Why would you want to learn and get support for third party network management programs and utilities when you can use the Windows built-ins?

Linux uses the module ath9k.

When doing an installation of OpenSUSE, I strongly recommend customizing package install and adding packages "iw" and "wpa_applicant". If you don't (at least if you use traditional ifup/down config-- the default) then if you do a network install you will be in a catch 22 situation where the card can't be configured without these packages but you can't install the packages without using the card. This is an idiotic problem that SUSE installers have had for 10 years. The installer can obviously use the card, but is not smart enough to install the required packages.