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Netgear WG511 Wireless 802.11g PC Card

Netgear WG511 Wireless 802.11g PC Card

List Price: $66.44
Your Price: $42.74
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: In short terms - Simple, reliable and fast!!
Review: I prepared myself for trouble after reading some of the horror stories in regards to setting up wireless networks, but was pleasant surprised. I first hooked up the NetGear WGR614 router to our DSL modem (no configuration needed. The WGR614 wireless router is a DHCP server to your network and client to the ISP so it manages hooking your network together and then al of it to the web automatically). After the router was up and running with my PC, I installed this card with the simple and brief descriptions included on my wifes laptop and it automatically linked to the wireless access point of the router. The whole affair took about 15 minutes without any configuration need. This set up is TRULY plug-and-play.....a day later I had our computers hooked into a nice little home-LAN with print and file sharing on Windows XP. Connection speed varies and is only at 100% in the same room and close to the router. However we still have fully sufficient connection speed on the deck and in the basement office of my wife. Even at 50% connection, the g-standard network transfers at 15 to 20 Mbps....fast enough and way faster than the b-standard at only 10Mbps. Besides, the Netgear equipment is small and has an excellent design and not as flashy as the competition. RECOMMENDED !!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This setup rocks...
Review: Well, I started out buying a Linksys wireless B router and notebook card. I bought Linksys because of brand recognition and I figured having both the router and card from the same manufacturer would yield the best results. After setting them up, the reception was horrible. My download speeds over my cable modem from my laptop were worse than dialup speeds. I promptly packed them up and sent it back. I read similar reviews for both the Netgear products and Linksys that had good and bad results. Many of the reviewers with bad results recommended the competing products. Anyways, with the rebates offered for the Netgear setup, it was gonna cost me a few more dollars, but it was a wireless G setup instead. So, I took the chance and ordered this card with the WGR614 router. Setup was a breeze and the signal and speed are phenomenal. I was starting to think that I might have to move the router around the house for a better signal, but it works superbly in the same location the Linksys router couldn't. Yeeha!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Greatness
Review: I just bought the Netgear WG602 access point and the Netgear WG511 54G Wireless PC Card. I am very impressed and both items work great. All I did was connect the ethernet cord (that comes with the access point) from my existing D-Link wired router and into the Netgear access point. Then I installed the PC Card software on my laptop and rebooted and then put the card in. It was up and running in 10 minutes. At about 1 foot I was connected at 100% out in the living room about 30 feet away through one wall it was between 78-86%. Then about 60 feet away through 4-5 walls it was 60%. Even at 60% the connection flew. It was just like I was connected through a wire. I then walked outside my house about 200 feet and was still connected. I hear that the PC Card is the main factor in signal strength, if so this one takes the cake at 200+ feet. My dad has a Linksys 802.11b access point and can only go about 40 feet with his 11B PC Card. It seems the 802.11g makes a big difference on signal strength. In the PC card configuration I turned on WEP and entered the passcode from my access point. I turned on MAC security in my access point and added the Netgear WG511 MAC address (which I found in the About tab) to the allowed addresses. Then I rebooted the access point. And then told the Netgear Wireless PC card to re-scan. It found the access point and the entire setup including tight security was done.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: works fantastic, just be careful of a few things
Review: I've used this product for about 3 months; I live in an apartment above the garage of my landlord, who lives in the house below and has a wireless router, etc. Another tenant in the basement also shares access. This card works great -- I am pretty far from the router but am basically always in "very good" connection range, no matter where I am in my apartment. I can even go to the backyard. It really is impressive performance, particularly since the landlord's configuration is all Linksys hardware, not Netgear -- my landlord says I have the fastest connection of anyone. (Besides having this card I also have a super fast laptop, which probably helps too.)

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when using this card. 1) If you're running XP, Windows will try to "take over" and run your network for you -- it will install its own driver, run the card, etc. I HIGHLY recommend that you install the card using the configuration CD (or by getting the latest firmware from the website) rather than letting Windows install the drivers itself. Your XP software likely won't have the latest drivers. Also, I even more highly recommend NOT allowing Windows to manage the connection -- if you click on "my connections" and then "wireless connection status" you should have a box saying something like, "Allow Windows to manage connection" -- UNCHECK THIS BOX. Let the card manage its own connection -- it performs much better.

2) If you or anyone living within a few hundred feet of you uses a 2.4 Ghz cordless phone, particularly an older one, you could get interference. It turned out my phone was interfering with everyone's connection and causing frequent drops. If you get frequent drops when you first use the card, don't blame the card until you've asked everyone living close to you to try to a different channel for their 2.4 Ghz phone. Once I did this, everything cleared up and I've had outstanding service since then.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Easy to use with other Netgear products
Review: This card was a breeze to install and configure for use with the Netgear 802.11g router. That being said, Netgear's Configuration Utility Software makes it impossible to use the card with some wireless networks that use Authentication Clients (such as my college campus). As the author of the university's wireless configuration instructions, I feel fairly confident in saying that one should be leery of using this card outside of the Netgear product family. If you know you'll be sticking to a basic personal network, though, it's perfectly fine.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Easy to Install and Use
Review: Out of the Box and on the web in 15 minutes. This is compatible with an 802.11b wireless router, better speed when using this card compared to older Netgear card. Software was installed without a hitch in my Dell Inspiron. I found I had to reboot both my wireless router and the laptop before I could get a good signal. Install software; install card; reboot computer and router-that's it.

Netgear products have been very reliable for me. The price of this card on Amazon was about $15-20 cheaper than anywhere else.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great wireless card!!
Review: I finally got frustrated with the poor reception of my Dell TrueMobile 1300 internal wireless card, so I decided to get the WG511. I have a WG602 Access Point, so I figured this card would work well with it. I made a good choice. This card is a HUGE improvement over the TrueMobile. I now have no dead spots inside my house (1900 sq ft), unlike the TrueMobile which would loose signal if I was more than 15 or 20 feet away from the access point. I can even take it outside on the deck with no signal loss. it was a no-brainer to install and setup, within in 5 minutes I was up and running.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Encryption is tricky
Review: I already wrote a similar review for the router. I bought both at the same time. Installation was fine, but once I got to the wireless encryption, the directions got a bit confusing. I wish that the software for both the router and wireless PC card just automatically prompted you for encryption information, but no dice. I don't know if the other manufacturers out there are any better with the directions, but if they are and you have no computer know how, then you may want to choose them. Otherwise, even the moderately computer savy should be able to get this set up after a minimal time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: better reception than most I own
Review: I got it from a store, due to it has better rebate that makes the price pretty good
after purchasing, I have to take time to install (will talk about it later)
I download the latest application (including driver) from netgear, but I was surprised there's no driver (?!)
then I have to install the application, after that, I plug the card in...
I am very impressed the reception, under xp, it shows good-low when good old orinoco shown low, and old linky WPC11 shows "no signal"
here you should do with this card:
1. download the latest application (driver included), then install it
2. reboot your pc, insert the card
3. for xp user, you can use the incuded application to handle the card or let xp handle, however, you need an update to get WPA support, and you have to disable the app in msconfig if you decide to let xp to handle the card

conclusion, I had confused for initial installation, but once it's done, I found the card has very good reception, here is my result I use it in kitchen:

MS USB MN710: low to very low
netgear WG511: low to very low
orinoco silver: very low
Linksys WPC11: no signal
Linksys WUSB11 2.6: good to low

then, you know what you should choose

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: not as good as you might hope
Review: I bought this wireless card from Amazon a few weeks ago, and when it connects to my DSL gateway it works wonderfully. The problem is that it takes between 7 and 40 minutes to connect to the DSL gateway each time I turn on my laptop. Just a warning, it took me 7 tries over a period of 2 weeks to get my DSL and this wireless card working. It's not as easy as everyone says it is to get DSL and wireless.


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