Level One WNC-0301 trouble

[cfp999]

I have been trying to get this thing to work, but so far no luck. As far as I can tell the WNC-0301 is based on the RaLink chipset. After reading this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=132980
I issued lspci to identify the chipset, but it does not show up as an unknown device. Rather it identifies itself as:

01:08.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI.

iwconfig gives this:

lo no wireless extensions. eth0 no wireless extensions. wmaster0 IEEE 802.11g Frequency:2.412 GHz RTS thrff Fragment thr=2346 B wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated RTS thrff Fragment thr=2346 B sit0 no wireless extensions.

Does that mean it is partially working, and how should I proceed?

I have already tried running my wireless network in both WEP and unencrypted mode just to make sure. All info (SSID, WEP-key etc.) was entered in Administration -> Network, but all that shows up in the network applet is the loopback lo.