Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have been using the TL-WN861n for about a year in my Dell Latitude D400. The installation was a snap, taking me less than 15 minutes from start to operation. No problems. I have a DLINK DIR-655 N Xtreme Gigabit router at home and this device works well, extended my reach, increased signal strength and provides blazing speed.All great so far.
I am a road warrior and also use this laptop on the road. I have found that when traveling to hotels which mostly use 802.11b/g, I encounter frequent network drops. This comes with no warning - my system simply stops responding to network traffic. The signal strength shows consistently high signals, the IP address still shows and by all observation, the card seems to be properly associated with the network. However, it just stops working. The only ways to get it working again is to power down the card or change to a different hot spot and then return to the original hotspot. The problem is random and is experienced at most hotels that I visit. As such, I would imagine that there is a problem with the 802.11b/g section of this device.
I have found that TP-Link support is thin. Calling them in the past resulted in speaking to a guy who sounded as if he had just woken up -heavy Chinese accent and of little help.
UPDATE: I continued to have problems with this device dropping out of the network. Not just my network, but hotel networks all over the world where I travel. Calls and emails to the TP-Link support are essentially useless. These peopel read out of a songbook and have no escalation path. Here's a quote from the last email after I told him that his answers were useless that I had already been back and forth on the issue:
Sorry for nothing.
Many write positive, some negative. I can't ask all mycustomer to praise TP-link or me.
It is ok to write the truth.
Thank you for you notice.
If you have any further help about our productsplease let me know, or let tp-link support know.
Sorry for bringing you inconvenience.
Best Regards--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warren Li
Technical Support Engineer
TP-LINK Technologies Co.,LTD.Try this device and it may work. But hopefully you won't need support because support is the weak link and product reliability is questionable. But what can you expect our of China where business ethics are a foreign concept.MUC220210
MCI070410
Click Here to see more reviews about: New TP-Link Network TL-WN861N 300Mbps Wireless N Mini PCI Adapter Retail Complies With IEEE 802.11n
Product Description:
The TL-WN861N Wireless N Mini PCI Adapter complies with IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11g, and IEEE 802.11b standards. Wireless transmission rates can reach up to 300Mbps. The Mini PCI card adopts 2*2 MIMO technology providing even better wireless performance, transmission rates, stability and coverage. At the same time, CCA technology automatically avoids channel conflicts using its channel selection feature. This product supports 64/128/152-bit WEP encryptions, as well as WPA/WPA2 and WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK encryptions and mechanisms in addition to the adapter
