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Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

List Price: $59.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works well
Review: The installation was very easy on my laptop running W98SE adn took less than 5 minutes. I'm using this card with the MR814 router from NetGear. I'm getting good reception from one end of the house to the other. The signal strength drops down to the 50% range, but the connection is still at 11 Mbps.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I won't buy it again
Review: I usually don't write reviews, but after reading other reviews, I became kind of upset and couldn't resist writing. I just can't believe those reviews who gave it high points. I bought "two" MA401 and a Netgear router 1.5 years ago. First of all, their effective range is less than 50 feet. I put my router on second floor, and I couldn't use it downstairs. The signal goes below 30%. I moved around, turn the direction, even installed RF mirror with aluminium foil, but couldn't get above 50%. At low signal strength, the speed goes down to 5.5 Mbps or 1 Mbps, but then, no data goes in/out. Is this how 802.11 supposed to work, stopping transmission at all below 11 Mbps? I had to live with barely 30% signal strength and a lot of frustration. Secondly, the netgear router is very unstable. It works flawlessly usually, then at a critical moment, it stops working. Not only wireless, but all the wired ports too. I turn it on/off, reset, cut off the cable modem, and do a lot of things in vain. Then after a few hours, it starts working again. Also it does not work very well with non-netgear cards either. My visitors can't use it wirelessly. Thirdly, the PC card is unstable. Sometimes it becomes hot and stops working. After cooling down, it becomes ok. Sometimes it fails to work when I boot up my notebook or plug in after power up. It finally stopped working entirely last week, and I am happy to be able to throw it away. I am shopping around for a new card, and that's why I came across with these reviews.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works great and easy to configure!
Review: I purchased this for use in a doctor's office. I installed in a laptop with Windows XP in about 2 minutes and entering WEP settings was a snap! The range is fantastic! You do not have to worry about netgear products going out of range!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works flawless with Netgear MR814 802.11b wireless Router
Review: This is a great product. I recomend this product to everybody who wants to go wireless. The installation was very easy. Security setup was also easy too. This card is working great with MR814 router and my dell laptop with windows 2000. I will buy Netgear products again for my wirless needs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Easy as pie
Review: Wow, nice and easy. I purchased this adaptor to go along with a Dlink 614+ Broadband Router because I couldn't get the Dlink NIC to work...hmmm. I am running Win XP Pro on a company IBM Laptop. Loading the software from the CD was a easy. HOWEVER, NOTE WITH WINXP MACHINES: After you install the software, Windows automatically selects itself to "configure the wireless connections". This needs to be unchecked within the Network Connections. As soon as that is done, configure the card with the software installed and you are on.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not bad
Review: I purchased this for my brother in law. Setup was good and the quality of the card seem to be on par with the rest of them. I've never been a netgear fan, but the price of this after rebates was a good deal at the time. Overall I was impressed. I'd buy Netgear again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GNU/Linux Plug and Play
Review: Netgear MA401 802.11b card gets recognized, the moment you plug in
the card under Debian GNU/Linux and should be the same case for
most other GNU/Linux distributions. The chipset is compatible with
the standard "orinoco_cs" GPL driver. Let me know if you need my
configuration scripts.
- ab@fig.org

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perfect Match
Review: This Pc card perfectly match with netgear MR814 router. it works great and easy to install. i spend less than 1 min to install the whole thing. simple easy and quick.

i have no comment if this card is install with other router.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wireless in a flash
Review: I just received the BEFW11S4 and the Netgear PCMIA card. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. One thing I learned was that ensure that the BEFW is transmitting before you install the Netgear receiver. Once I crossed that hurdle, it was wifi city all the way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very simple to install and use
Review: Installation of this product couldn't be easier. WinXP has all the drivers. It's almost a plug and play. I haven't looked into the security options--I suspect those would take a little more time to setup. Literally-10 minutes out of the box I had this product up and running along with Netgear's wireless router (MR814).


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