USB Simplifies Desktop Wireless Networking

Yardena Arar

If you're considering setting up a home or small-business wireless network using the popular 802.11b standard (also known as Wi-Fi), your task has just gotten easier. The first 802.11b USB adapters, from the Agere Systems (formerly Lucent) Orinoco family of adapters and from D-Link, make adding desktop PCs to your network as simple as adding a notebook.

Because they take PC Card adapters, notebooks have been a snap to configure: Install a driver, slide in the card, and you're ready. But desktop PCs are trickier. Until now, users have generally had to open the PC and install a PCI or ISA add-in card--a hassle most people would just as soon avoid. Either of these new USB adapters makes the drill simple again: Install the drivers, connect the cable, and you're in business.

In most of my tests with a shipping version of the utilitarian-looking D-Link DWL-120 and a preproduction model of the futuristic Silver Orinoco USB Client, setup was just that easy. USB's 12-mbps maximum bandwidth also proved a good match for 802.11b's 11-mbps maximum. But I did run into problems when I tried to install the adapters on a Windows Millennium Edition desktop on which I'd previously used Orinoco's PC Card adapter in a PCI card reader. Technicians from both companies said such USB installations on a PC with a previously installed 802.11b adapter are prone to Me Registry issues--even if you uninstall the old adapter and its drivers.

The Silver Orinoco USB Client costs $180 (a $200 Gold model comes with high encryption support). Buying either one is only slightly less expensive than shelling out $65 for the Orinoco PC Card Reader and another $130 or $148 for the Silver or Gold Orinoco PC Card. However, the $130 D-Link DWL-120--$5 cheaper than D-Link's PCI card adapter--stands out as the best value.