Netgear FA411 PC Card 10/100 MBPS 16-Bit

Rating:
Summary: Good product
Review: After my old Xyrcom card's external jack broke down, I wanted to try an integrated Ethernet RJ-45 network card. Netgear's FA411 looked like an affordable option, plus Netgear has a good reputation in the industry. Having Windows XP Pro installed on my laptop, another factor considered for purchasing this card was the XP compatibility stated in the product package.

Installation is simple, the card is hot pluggable allowing for installation while logged on to the OS. The XP driver is digitally signed and worked flawlessly. I found out that an updated driver was already available in Netgear's home page.
Drivers are also included for DOS, Novell, and older versions of Windows.

The card has two LED indicators, one for the 100 Mbps network and the other for the connectivity status.

Since this is an integrated card, there is no need for an external connector that can get lost or bent/cracked. One note of caution though, although the card actually occupies one Type-II PCMCIA slot, the integrated connector covers two. If you need the additional slot, then I'd recommend a card with an external RJ-45 connector. Also, the integrated jack protrudes about an inch beyond the slot, so you will also need to take this into consideration when storing your laptop.

If you need a simple, affordable card that does the job, and do not require 32-bit performance or an external jack, then purchase this card with confidence.

Rating:
Summary: Good product
Review: After my old Xyrcom card's external jack broke down, I wanted to try an integrated Ethernet RJ-45 network card. Netgear's FA411 looked like an affordable option, plus Netgear has a good reputation in the industry. Having Windows XP Pro installed on my laptop, another factor considered for purchasing this card was the XP compatibility stated in the product package.

Installation is simple, the card is hot pluggable allowing for installation while logged on to the OS. The XP driver is digitally signed and worked flawlessly. I found out that an updated driver was already available in Netgear's home page.
Drivers are also included for DOS, Novell, and older versions of Windows.

The card has two LED indicators, one for the 100 Mbps network and the other for the connectivity status.

Since this is an integrated card, there is no need for an external connector that can get lost or bent/cracked. One note of caution though, although the card actually occupies one Type-II PCMCIA slot, the integrated connector covers two. If you need the additional slot, then I'd recommend a card with an external RJ-45 connector. Also, the integrated jack protrudes about an inch beyond the slot, so you will also need to take this into consideration when storing your laptop.

If you need a simple, affordable card that does the job, and do not require 32-bit performance or an external jack, then purchase this card with confidence.

Rating:
Summary: I bought the cheaper but this is real mccoy
Review: I have purchased cheaper solutions to net connections that failed terribly. This was only (a bit) more. It worked like a charm. I am actually connect writting this review with this item. I strongly recommend this product. I honestly don't know what the 16 bit means but, hey it works and works well.

Rating:
Summary: I bought the cheaper but this is real mccoy
Review: I have purchased cheaper solutions to net connections that failed terribly. This was only (a bit) more. It worked like a charm. I am actually connect writting this review with this item. I strongly recommend this product. I honestly don't know what the 16 bit means but, hey it works and works well.

Rating:
Summary: Netgear Equals Superb Service
Review: This holiday season I was a good santa and purchased numerous wireless networking products for my various family members. Sure it was partially a selfish act as I wanted to be able to easily connect when I went to visit, but for the most part it was just an act of giving. I purchased mainly G products and they varied from routers to USB adapters to PC Card adapters. I did also purchase a couple of B products for those in the family that already had some wireless networking products (yes, I know they are backwards compatible but I didn't want to take any chances).

Only two members of the family had installation problems (considering my family is very non-technical I was quite impressed) and those two people both had yet to upgrade to Windows XP SP2. The rest of the family members were up and running within minutes.

As for the couple of family members that did have problems, well they called me first (of course) and I told them to just run back through the installation procedure again. This solved the problem for Uncle Dennis but Grandma Joyce still couldn't get it to work properly. I reluctantly told her to call Netgear's technical support (hey the reviews on Amazon haven't been too pretty for their tech support). I however was quite pleased when an hour later I got an email from Grandma Joyce thanking me for the great gift. I called her back and she told me that after fiddling with the settings with the Netgear people she was up and running within 30 minutes.

Overall, I consider this the ultimate test of product quality and support and I would give Netgear two thumbs up.

I hope this review was helpful to you in putting your mind at ease regarding ease of setup and trust of technical support if needed.

Rating:
Summary: Great card!
Review: This is indeed a very reliable PC card, which works in either 16 or 32 bit PCMCIA or cardbus slot. It is truly an integrated hot-swap to plug in even with your laptop on, and without the older and fragile dongle. Personally I cannot tell the difference in performance between the 16 bit (FA411) and 32 bit (FA511) cards (besides the price). If you buy a 32 bit card however, make sure you have a cardbus slot; otherwise it will not work in a 16 bit PCMCIA slot (found on older laptops). Many newer laptops today come with a built-in ethernet NIC. If your laptop doesn't have one however, you are better off (and cheaper) to just get a 16 bit PC card, and I would definitely recommend this card.