Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card

Rating:
Summary: forget about the rebate amount
Review: product works great. but i never recieved the rebate amount. Whatever product you will buy from Netgear, you will never get the rebate amount.

Rating:
Summary: Worked better than internal 54g card
Review: This card works great and I haven't had any problems with it in spite of abusing it. However, the price seems a little high. You can buy newer models and even 802.11g cards for less.

I have used this card on 2 laptops. I used it on a work laptop that I used for travel, and then gave it to my daughter for her laptop, which she abuses. There is even a dent in the metal case. I was worried because about a quarter of the card sticks out from the laptop (for the antenna).

It came right up on both my computers, and I don't think I even needed to use the installation disc (maybe I did, I can't remember, but if I did, it was so easy that I forgot about it). Both my laptops have Windows XP.

The signal is very good. It is much better than the factory installed card that came with a Compaq computer. It is about the same as the internal card I have on an IBM laptop.

Note that with a router and this card, I am not able to get a good connection everywhere in my house. I blame that on the router and not the card. There are only so many walls 802.11 technology can penetrate. To get wireless connection to a remote bedroom, I bought a Buffalo router and repeater kit. It works great, when it works (the router had to be sent back to be fixed.)

Note that I have researched wireless networking systems, and they don't seem to be very reliable, especially wireless routers. I had both a Netgear and Buffalo wireless routers where the radio portion went out. These cards are probably more reliable.

If all you need this for is the internet, 802.11b is sufficient, because DSL or cable modems are not any faster. If you want to send video data between computers then you should go with 802.11g.

Rating:
Summary: Great for OTHER operating systems and older laptops
Review: The Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card is great for Windows 95, NT, Linux and Macintosh operating systems. The reason is that there are no other wireless cards that I know of that have DRIVERS for the wireless card to operate with the other operating systems. Newer Netgear products will not work.

The MA401 has a 16 bit PCMCIA interface is great for some older laptops that will not support a newer 32 bit cardbus interface.

This is in addition to the fact the MA401 is built well and has very good signal strenght.