Rating: 
Summary: SLOW!!!!
Review: Don't buy this unit. Connection speed is similiar if not less than standard 28.8 connection. Furthermore, it drops connection. I have this unit is 15 ft away from the base.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully easy to install and use
Review: The title says it all. I am somewhat technically challenged, and it worked quickly and well. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: not fully compatible with windows xp
Review: I am using this adapter under ad-hoc mode to connect my laptop.
It seems windows xp's wireless zero configuration service will stop the wireless connection very 50 seconds for about 2 or 3 seconds, which makes watch stream video and voice chat almost impossible.
After disabling this service, it works ok. So if you do not need to change configuration frequently please disable it.
Rating:
Summary: I Got a Lemon
Review: My MA101 has been nothing but trouble running on a new Emachines 1220 Windows XP system. Even though I have downloaded the latest driver from the NetGear site, there have been all sorts of conflicts. In particular, I have had real problems using MS Word when the MA101 was attached. The MA101 incompatibilities also triggered enough problems that I have had to reload XP twice in 6 months.As soon as I switched to a regular PCI network card and a long cable, all my problems went away. Signal strength was also a problem between a computer on the second floor and the wireless receiver on the first floor of our house. I'd stay away from the MA101 unless one gets a 30 day trial with a full money back guarantee.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Product
Review: I am not a hardware/software guy, but was able to install this fairly easily on a Compaq Ipaq running Windows 98SE. After installing a Netgear MR814 wireless router in my downstairs living room, I went back upstairs to my kids bedroom where the Ipaq is, and got a successful connection the first time. You will have to open a browser window and type in 192.168.0.1 in order to do any additional configurations to the router, but it looks straightforward. I'm getting a consistent speed and since the router has a built-in firewall, I can disable the firewall supplied with McAfee virus scan, so the computer doesn't have to work so hard. I watched my kid go out to the Internet, and it looks as fast as the my computer at work that is connected to a T1 line.
Rating:
Summary: Nice gadget, but ...
Review: I got Netgear MA101 with the netgear FM114 cable/dsl router with the printer port. Both the gadgets were very easy to connect and configure. The whole thing was up and running in 10 minutes. I had no connectivity problems at all with the computers connected by wires. The computer connected using MA101 did not provide that stable connectivity. From time to time, the signal was totally lost when the router was in the next room- not very far. When I connected other computers to MA101 the problem did not go away. The quick and dirty solution is unplug the USB cable and plug it back again. It quickly re-connects and you are back in business. Also, I use Microsoft Windows XP (professional) and the drivers that came with the hardware are not Microsoft XP certified. You get a warning which you can ignore. The problem comes if you re-boot the computer without MA101 connected. You will get the infamous blue screen, and will have to unplug the USB cable and re-boot again. These are minor conveniences. I have a sense that these are more software rather than hardware problems. I will be contacting technical support to see if they have a more recent Windows XP certified drivers. The problem may not exist if do not use Windows XP.
Rating: 
Summary: TECH SUPPORT IS USELESS!
Review: If you are technically competent and do not expect to require any support for this product, then by all means take a chance!
However, if you are not technically competent or are technically competent, but require that a question be answered or guidelines provided on finding new drivers, etc..., you are out of luck here. Why bother with a product that will surely NOT provide any assistance? You can find much better support with LinkSys or D-Link. I had a question about how I can reinstall my Netgear adapter and the support people (I called back twice) told me to uninstall any Anti-Virus software and disable my firewall! When I asked him what that will do for me, he told me that the Netgear adapter will not run correctly while any anti-virus or firewall software is loaded on my machine! How irresponsible! When I asked Sabu (that is the 2nd support guy I spoke to) if I could speak to his supervisor, he told me that their policy does not allow them to transfer me to their supervisor. Needless to say, I fixed the problem on my own, but it would've been alot easier had they shown even a little interest in their product!
Rating:
Summary: MA101 RF Flaw
Review: I purchased the MA101 in the UK which may have a slightly lower output power that the US version mandated by the FCC. I must admit that the software installed easily enough on Win 98 and had some nice features like scanning for new SSIDs to find your network however it did not install properly on my XP machine. The problem with the unit is that it is POORLY designed RF wise. I was attempting to connect to my neighbor who lives 250 feet up the street with little success. Even when the two antennas were line of site between the access point and Netgear MA101, the link seemed very poor. Having worked in the wireless industry for the past three years as an engineer, my curiousity go the best of me and I opened the Netgear MA101 to discover to my horror that the antenna lead is just a piece of wire soldered into the motherboard that travels down the length of the unit and then up into the plastic antenna. In other words, the actual wire antenna will always act as if it is in a L shape when the platic anntenna is up and as two parallel antennas when the plastic antenna is down. This is very bad as the antenna is supposed to act as an isotropic radiator. To prove just how poor the design is, I was able to increase the signal strength significatly by adding a piece aluminum foil to the bottom and back side of the antenna to act as a ground plane/ reflecting back. After doing this, my signal strength shot up by more than 50%. I wish Netgear would put a little more effort into their RF design even though the case looks nice and the user interface was good.
Rating:
Summary: Up and running in no time
Review: I spent an hour reading the instruction manuals; then spent the next two hours to get things up and running. Equipment used: Netgear's MR814 wireless router and MA101 USB adapter. The MR814 is attached to Windows98 machine and the MA101 is attached to a Windows XP machine. The adapter has been working flawlessly running at 11Mbps from about 80 ft away [the adapter and the wireless router are on separate floors]. I activated WEP-encryption to maintain a layer of security. Keying in the encryption-code during MA101-activation was a very minor irritation.
Rating:
Summary: Netgear worked where Linksys didn't
Review: After first trying Linksys PC card and USB adaptors to make a peer-to-peer network between a notebook and a desktop, I was never able to get the two devises to connect. I ended up returning the Linksys equipment and buying Netgear. The Netgear hardware worked almost instantly and it has been great since. Even though I am only using dial up for my Internet, having the flexibility and connectivity anywhere in the house has made a big difference. It really is the way to go.
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