D-Link DWA-552 Extreme-N Wireless PCI Adapter

I just had to write this review after reading all the terrible commentary on this great network adapter, so here's one that gives this product 5-Stars across the board.I have been using the DWA-552 for more than 2 months in my i7 920-'Nehalem' Quad Core CPU powered home-built PC, and I've got nothing but Kudos to say about connectivity, reliability, speedy transmission, and plug and play goodness that this card offers. When I built my PC I was worried about this adapter, since it was the ONLY PCI adapter available at the time that wasn't some off-brand gadget, and the reviews were so awful about it!Well, no more because I've been pleased as an October pumpkin with the fantastic performance and connectivity of this adapter in Vista Ultimate 64-bit with the new PC. In fact I've never had a bad or insurmountable problem or issue with this network adapter in 2 months of 24/7 use with the new PC.Installation is nothing at all, easy as pie: just simply install the network adapter with your PC powered down, and off, button it up, reboot, insert the CD ROM that came in the kit with drivers and control panel for the device, install the drivers/control panel, reboot, and BAM! Instant connectivity!I have been using the device with a "Gemtech" N-series Router, better known as the NewerTechnology N-Series Router, The MAXPower Router, and the two co-exist perfectly. I never had a dropped connection, never had any connection issues at all with the D-Link DWA-552 device in the two months that I've had it online with the new PC.I don't know what all the trouble and terrible problems are about with the other reviews of this network adapter, but I've got to give it 5-stars across the board in my use of it the past two months. I mean I have ZERO to complain about, because the adapter performs as advertised, with or without the D-Link Control Panel installed.To be honest, I never even bothered to remove or uninstall the D-Link Control Panel, as it never got in the way of my Vista network controls, just sat there kind of passive while I worked with Windows network protocols to acquire a network, and once connected, no problems at all with the D-Link DWA-552 PCI adapter, none at all!After I installed the adapter and had it working 100%, I went to the D-Link web site and found, and downloaded the most current control panel and driver for Vista 64-bit and installed that package, but that isn't to say that the OEM/stock CD ROM drivers and control panel doesn't work. All that I mean is that if you want this adapter to work seamlessly with your system, download the latest and greatest driver/control panel package from[...], and you'll be that much better off for doing it.I can't think of a single negative thing to write about this network adapter, as I had no bad experiences at all with it. It is just that simple, and good, an xlnt product by D-Link! I am going to buy its brother, the DWA-556 adapter, which is PCI-Express not PCI like this one, because I have a need for the PCI-E type of adapter now that I've added twin EVGA GTX-285 video cards to my rig...as that eliminated the PCI slot (it's covered by the 2nd twin-lane video board) for all intents and purposes, and I have faith that the DWA-556 is just as good as this adapter here has been...After having the DWA-552 for a couple months I tend to think that D-Link has its act together for network cards/adapters, and I have confidence that the DWA-556 is just as high quality of an item as this one has been for me.Don't be afraid of this adapter because of a bunch of crappy reviews from folks who have other problems, which are compounded by this adapter it seems, and then they write a bad review of a good product...that just isn't even fair or equitable for such a great product as this one.Wavey Davey gives the D-Link DWA-552 PCI XTreme N Network Adapter 5 stars across the board, and you can take it from me, this thing works PERFECT in Vista 64-bit Ultimate OS!You can take that to the bank!Wavey Davey June 25, 2009

I used this for my desktop that i moved to my room, instead of getting a 100ft ethernet cable, i decided to try this adapter despite many critical reviews. Luckily, i did because this adapter works GREAT on my vista 64 bit desktop. I picks up my router (A netgear WNDR3700 Dual band N) within 1 second of logging in to my account. Speeds are very fast, 17 mb/s download and 3.4 mb/s upload, results by speedtest.net. I usually get that much with the desktop hard wired to my router, so no loss in speed. Signal is pretty good through 3 walls, 1 heater, and my desk.Pros:Cheap- under $50 is a very good price to pay for xtreme performanceeasy to install- just plug in the adapter to an empty PCI slot and screw in the antennaesFAST!- very good speed and signalNow for the Cons, the fit was a bit awkward with the PCI slot, but with a little motivation, you can screw the fastner in with little problem. Also, VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT use the DLINK software included in the disc, it is sloppy and slow, and probably why alot of people have had problems with connections.DO THIS INSTEAD: after you log in the first time after installing the adapter, windows will ask you to find the drivers, click yes, then when it tells you to insert the disc, do it. This way, windows will download only the drivers from the disc instead of the network software crap. After installation of the drivers, you are golden. Just click the "connect to" tab under the start menu like you would on your windows laptop and choose your network. All this is assuming you arnt already connected to the internet when installing because if you are, the driver installation program will just get the drivers online instead of from the disc.Cons:awkward fit- the adapter dosnt fit perfectly in the pci slot cover, but that might just be an isolated issueDRAFT N 2.0- this is one of the later versions of wireless N, its not the official wireless N protocol that was issued a couple months ago, i still get very good speeds and connections, but just saying because amazon advertises this as the official wireless N.Final thoughts:overall, this is a very nice and easy adapter that is much better then the one in my wireless G laptop. just a small modification needed in driver installation, but i highly recommend it and wouldn't hesitate in buying it again if i had another desktop.

I've changed where its located twice in my motherboard thinking I didn't have a good connection in the PCI slot. The card will randomly decide when it wants to work. I start my computer up and its good and runs fine, the next time i start it up, it acts like i have no wireless card in the slot. I updated the drivers and troubleshoot it and it said it fixed all errors but still selectively works. Not a bad connection, could be better because my laptop gets better signals than my desktop and supposedly this card is better. Will get something new soon if this problem isn't solved.