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NETGEAR 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

NETGEAR 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

List Price: $121.00
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Overall, I am very pleased with the performance of this card
Review: -
I installed the NETGEAR WG3111T 108 mbps Wireless PCI Adapter while still utilizing my Microsoft MN-500, 11 mbps router. I find it easier to resolve any issues by taking things one step at a time. After the adapter card is operating correctly, I will then install the new NETGEAR WGT624 108 mbps router. I have Windows XP Home edition.

First word of advice, for this or any other piece of hardware: Go to the NETGEAR website (www.netgear.com) and check out the support area, and see if there is a newer version of the device driver and the utility software. If at all possible, download and install those BEFORE you install the WG3111T. It would have saved me a lot of time if I had done this myself.

Installation started smoothly. The Smart Configuration Utility setup the new network connection easily even while my old MSN-510 adapter was connected and operating. The utility listed my available network. I selected it and entered my encryption key. All I had to do was disconnect the old adapter and the NETGEAR WG3111T was up and going.

Then I restarted my computer... and I began losing connectivity. When McAfee VirusScan was installing, it would get "synchronization errors" and "VSMain errors". When AOL started up the network would lose connectivity and the IP address was getting changed to 169.254.120.96 or other variations of 169.254. The IP address was also getting changed when I uninstalled CyberSitter. If I ran the Smart Configuration Utility and hit APPLY, then everything would be fine until I restarted AOL. After going to the NETGEAR website and checking out the support area, I found a newer version of the device driver and the utility software. After downloading and installing these, everything is going just fine.

Since the antenna sticks out of the card, I was a little concerned about reception but the signal strength turned out to be a little better than with my Microsoft MN-510, 11mbs Wireless USB Adapter. I do have to remember to fold the antenna in before I move the computer around since I get the best reception by sticking the antenna straight out. (The computer is on third floor and router is in my basement ceiling.) The instructions tell you to point the antenna up.

After I installed the NETGEAR WGT624 108 mbps router, the WG3111T found the new network and was operating without any effort on my part. When the router broadcast channel was changed, the WG3111T picked-up the change automatically. The reception is consistently in the "excellent" range (and runs at 108 mbps), but it does drop to "very good" (and 54 mbps) briefly. Your reception will be based on the location of your router and receivers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Far superior to my past 3 Linksys products
Review: I bought this card because my wireless PCI Linksys WMP54G would always lose connection, making me have to reset the hub. This happened 3-6 times a day. With this new Netgear WG311T, I always stay connected to my Linksys router WRT54g. I have not lost a connection/signal yet, and have not gone below 54mbps. My router is 54mbps so I am not even using the full potential of my Netgear. This product was extremely easy to setup, extremely reliable, worth every penny and more. I just got mine for $39.99 at Compusa.com. This is a must. I am so happy I did not buy the Microsoft wireless pci card, I LOVE YOU NETGEAR, you have restored my faith in your products!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Do like system freezes in XP? Then buy this product!
Review: I have a Netgear WG624 router which I am very pleased with. I bought this card because I was too lazy to run cat5 from my router downstairs to my second PC upstairs. I put it in at the same time I installed XP (was previously 2k). I experienced 1-2 second freezes about twice a minute where everything would stop and audio would stutter. Additionally the system would frequently lock up hard during mpeg play whether local or streaming and required holding the power buttont in to restart. Disabling the wg311t solved my problems. Search Google for wg311 and freeze. This is a common problem at least with XP. It's too late for me to return this adapter. Don't make the same mistake.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worked flawlessly right out of the box
Review: I have been extremely pleased by the ease of installation with Netgear's WG311T. I'm running a Linksys 54Mbps router and use a similar Linksys card for my notebook. The Linksys router has been fine, though I would probably not buy another Linksys notebook adapter. My Linksys PC card has been nothing but trouble. So when it came time to add a PCI card to my household network, I read the reviews here and elsewhere, finally deciding to roll the dice on this Netgear device. The simple installation directions had me connected in no time. I have never had such a smooth and trouble-free install of any piece of equipment. This card gets 5 stars from me for ease of use and value price ($40 after rebate).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Experiences with Netgear WG311T (Router is WGT634U)
Review: I have gotten quite a bit of experience with this card, so might share some information with others about the quality of this product. The Netgear WG311T is the 108 Mbps version of the PCI based wireless adapter for PC's. Note that there is also a 108Mbps USB 2.0 adapter (WG111T) version as well as a 108 Mbps PC Card (WG511T) version for notebooks. The USB 2.0 one seems quite nice, but this WG311T comes with an attenna that you can turn and point in the direction of the wireless router. Note that there has been multiple revisions of this product since introduction. This review is for the V12H019 REV:1 version (printed on the card). I have heard that previous versions (V12H009.0 REV 4 and before) had major problems with freezes and hiccups with VIA chipsets and XP SP2, but the current version I have seems fine (my computer has the VIA chipsets and SP2 of XP). All new cards should have this new version now unless you are buying a used one from someone. Be sure to visit Netgear's website and download the latest drivers for this card (3.0.1.6 as of this writing).

The card supports better WPA security with the new drivers and comes with its own utility to connect with the wi-fi routers/access points. I have heard that it works with Microsoft's wireless utility as well as atheros drivers (the card uses their chip). Note that a lot of experts that have tested 108Mbps thoroughput have found that no 108Mps cards by any manufacturer achieve that rate and is usually half that speed. The 108Mbps advertisement comes from using two channels of 54Mpbs in the 2.4 Ghz spectrum instead of one.

The card does its job and am able to connect fine with the Netgear WGT634U. In the beginning the signal strength was at full, but after a week or 2 of using it, the signal is one notch lower (96Mbps), but I suspect that is related to the WGT634U router (see my review of that one as well).

This is one of those products that requires getting new and updated software so it will work well, so be prepared check for new drivers and install them instead of the ones that come with the card. As long as you have the newer revision of the card and the latest drivers, you should be fine. The Netgear software leaves an icon in the tray that you can open up and check and modify settings of card (like WPA-PSK password).


If you are going fully wireless, consider getting bluetooth keyboard/mouse from Microsoft or Logitech, WiJet.Video (wifi video to your monitor), Netgear PS121 (wifi printing), and bluetooth mic, headphones and audio transmitters to your speakers.

The major competing brand for this product is the D-Link DWL-G520.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent and easy
Review: I have the wireless Super G Router and i thought I would give this card a try to take advantage of the 108 mbps. So far so good. I have not had any problems with Windows XP Pro SP2 freezing or "stuttering" .

Overall, install took 20 minutes, and that should have been 5 if i had read the directions first and installed the driver first as opposed to starting with the card.

My advice - get the card. It works great so far. Should my feelings change i will post it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The technology isn't there yet
Review: I put this PCI card into my 900mhz AMD Atholon 256mb, and it crashed windows on its very first try. After spending 4 hours reinstalling windows xp it would crash and restart my computer every time.
The product worked ok on my Dell Pentium IV 2.4ghz. Still I'd rather use a wired rather than wireless because the connection isn't very stable. I did keep the Netgearrouter WGT624, for my laptop which works pretty good, maybe because it's a pentium wireless card in there. But for the near futures I'll keep 3 of my desktops wired.
Don't get this unless you absollutely have to.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This product may FREEZE up your system
Review: I've owned this product for a week now and have tried various things to get this card working correctly on my system. It appears that with LARGE traffic, this card will freeze up and lock your system, forcing you to press the RESET/POWER button. There is apparently a compatibility issue between the Atheros chipset (what this product uses) and the VIA chipset (what most AMD compatible motherboards use).

I would only recommend this product to people who ARE NOT using a motherboard with the VIA chipset. [...]

I hope that this helps you in your decision.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Netgear software doesn't work with SP2!
Review: Important for SP2 users!
The Netgear network connection software for the WG311T (even the lastest Aug '04 version posted on their website which was supposed to fix the SP2 problem) rarely, if ever, works. And if you choose to use the default Win XP SP2 wireless network connection software, it still won't work because even when the Netgear connection software is disabled, it interfers with the Windows XP software. You MUST stop the Netgear software from running at start-up and the only way to do this is according to instructions posted by J. Richmond here (thank you, Mr. Richmond!) After spending 2 hours on phone with Netgear support, I read his post and fixed it in 2 minutes. I actually told the support technician how to fix it. Now, why can't Netgear read the reviews of its own products!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works great after a few adjustments made in WinXP
Review: Just installed the WG311T PCI cards on two pc's connecting through my WGT624 and so far everything is great . Good signal and speed on both computers and no dis-connects . Iam pretty happy with my results todate .
But .......

IMPORTANT NOTE ON INSTALL WITH XP AND SP2 !!!

1.)If you use the Netgear application to monitor/manage your Wifi stuff then you MUST disable the "wireless-zero" in the "Adminstative tools" in the control panel for things to work correctly ( start/settings/contrpl panel/administative tools/services/wireless zero ; and put to "DISABLE"

2.)If you use WindowsXP to monitor/manage your Wifi , then you MUST disable the Netgear application (start /run / then TYPE IN: msconfig / then look in "startup"/ then DISABLE or UN-CHECK the line saying "GEAR 311T".

You must do one of the two items Ive listed to make sure your netgear Wifi works /connects properly (to the internet) . Seems you cant NOT use both applications together in anyway . Ive done ALOT of testing on this and this is the ONLY method(s) Ive found to work correctly (and this is not mentioned by Netgear or Microsoft) .

I hope this helps future users of this equipment . =)



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