Rating: 
Summary: Looks Nice but doesn't work
Review: I have spent about 2 hours too long trying to get this device to even see my wireless network. I started with it about 40 feet away from my router. I then moved it to 30....20......10....on top of my router and it was still unable to even detect that I had a wireless network running. I then tried to configure it with my laptop that has a wireless nic in it, The strength on the nic was 100% but 0% on the me101. Trust me save your time and shiping costs, just buy the linksys it works.
Rating: 
Summary: definitely works !!! (if you know what you're doing)
Review: I read all the reviews both good and bad. I needed a hookup for my xbox (minus the wires and a high pricetag. So I bought the me101 anyways. A word to the wise if you are network setup savvy then this is 5min setup issue and your done,it took me about 10mins because I wanted to try it (test it) w/o broadcasting my SSID(of my network) and like the last reviewer said it found it but didnt lock on. Anyways I went down to my office got on my pc and went into the setup for my router (netgear mr814)and changed that setting and voila!!! the me101 works like a charm ... I've had no problems (its been 2weeks ) my wireless network sees my xbox just peachy. Hell I even connected my laptop to the me101 and was able to access the internet just fine. Its cheaper [...] than buying the xbox wiureless adaptor ($109) and its use is not restricted. If I want to link something else instead of my xbox I'm good to go. (lol) .
BUT IT DOES HELP IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy This Product
Review: I set this unit up 6 inches from the wireless router, upgraded the firmware, talked to tech support, and it still didn't work. I have over 20 years of experience with networking and have to say this is a very disappointing product. I have the Netgear MR814 wireless router and Netgear 802.11B and G PCI wireless cards that work fine. This product is no good.
Rating: 
Summary: Works.. if you know what you are doing
Review: I think this is a very good product. However, I do have two complains:-You need to know what you are doing to set it up correctly since the instructions aren't a lot of help. If you are not familiar with networking terms, seek a friend that does, get another product that has a friendlier manual or prepare yourself with a lot of patience and trial-and-error. -It won't "connect" to my wireless network if my access point does not broadcast the SSID. It finds it, but it never locks on it even if you enter the SSID in the bridge configuration. First of all, you need the firmware upgrade. Don't try anything without upgrading first. I connected the cross-over cable included to my computer, installed the utility program included in the cd and upgraded the firmware (you also have to upgrade the utility program). Once that was done, I had 100% signal strenght across the room (lets say 8 feet.) It was about 70% before the firmware upgrade. The 64-bit encription takes it back to about 84% however. I then took it to my basement (1 floor down, about 20 feet away through 3 walls) to its final location where my Playstation is. It worked without any problems. I've had it on for days now and it doesn't lock up or loses signal strength. I used to run a network cable all the way down there and I can't tell that I am using a wireless bridge instead of an ethernet cable. It is just as fast and reliable. I also was curious about how the bridge was going to work with access control by MAC id (I have my wireless access point set up this way). It worked great. It locks on the network but it will throw itself out if the device you have connected to it is not in the MAC access control list. Overall I am very satisfied with it, but I can see how it would get frustrating if I didn't know about networking.
Rating:
Summary: A very poor choice
Review: I use Netgear products exclusively but this is a real dog. I bought the ME101 based on assurances from Netgear support that the ME101 would act as a wireless repeater after a firmware upgrade. it would not configure properly, the configuration utility failed to recognize the bridge even after I specified an IP address and therefore I was never able to upgrade the firmware. It took 4 calls to Netgear support and an escalation before I was told the product would not operate as I had been advised. This product did not perform adequately
Rating:
Summary: ME101 Not Intuitive, but good
Review: I wanted to write a review that covered the steps I took to get this connected because it was not easy. I searched quite a bit on the internet and didn't find too much help. You do not need to be a networking guru to set this up, but if you are a complete novice, you might need some help from a savvy friend. I have a Microsoft MN500 wireless router. I went through many attempts to get this working and wanted to let you know the steps that finally worked in order to help others out. The key element ended up being the manual reset button on the back of the ME101. I tried everything except that, which finally did the trick! Here are the steps I went through to get it working.
1) Plug in the ME101 and connected it to a computer (I used my wireless laptop)
2) Locate the Firmware Version (mine was V1.0)
3) Download the software from Netgear's site if necessary. (I downloaded both the V2.0 firmware and V2.0 of the configuration utility)
4) First, install V2.0 of the configuration software
5) Launch the utility and log in (it should detect your wireless bridge at this point)
6) Click on the upgrade tab, browse to the V2.0 firmware and upgrade the firmware to v2.0
7) Apply and Log Out
8) Before proceeding, I disabled my wireless network card on my laptop
9) Use a toothpick (or pointy object) to press the manual reset button on the back of the ME101 - KEY ELEMENT!!!!!
10) Log into the ME101 Config Utility
11) Set options according to your wireless network. (Mine is DHCP, so I selected my wireless SSID and told it to get the IP automatically, If your network has static IP addresses, you can set those as needed) TIP: Make sure your wireless router is broadcasting your SSID or the ME101 mostly likely will not connect)
12) Log out of the config utility
13) Disable the Local Network Connection, then re-enable it (by right-clicking on the Network Connection (I went to my network connections on the laptop and disabled the Local Network (the RJ-45 port), then I enabled the port)
14) The network status gave me "connected", then "acquiring network address" then "connected". I was able to browse the internet! - Success!
Connecting this to my XBox was another story. I had to manually configure the IP Address and DNS servers on the Xbox using XBox Live and then it worked like a charm. No problems since. Its been running several days now with no disconnects or reboots necessary. The ME101 is connecting at 88% from our 1st floor to my router on the 2nd floor. So once you get this going, it is a great little Ethernet bridge, especially for the price. I gave it 4/5 because it should have been much easier to configure.
Rating:
Summary: It's easy and it works
Review: I was hesitant to purchase this bridge due to the poor customer reviews, but I'm glad I did. I had my old Bondi Blue iMac, running Mac OS 9.2, on the Internet within five minutes. It only took that long because my wireless router's set up with shared key encryption, MAC filtering, and no beaconing. This little unit does what it's supposed to do right out of the box, and it's easily configurable, if needed, using the Web browser of any machine you plug into it. I haven't even opened the CD. The only drawbacks--which are all minor--are 1) it doesn't seem to get as good of a signal as my other devices, but since it has a replaceable antenna and comes with very long cords I can fix that; 2) its form factor and LED displays don't match other typical Netgear products' style (like their routers and access points) so it looks kind of odd; and 3) whenever you click Apply in the Web configuration screens, it requires the bridge to reboot, which takes a minute or two, and if you switch from a static IP to DHCP, you'll probably lose your connection entirely and have to figure out what the bridge's new IP is to get back to the configuration page. None of the complaints I have are a big deal, and I'm very happy with this product. I just wish it was a little cheaper, since it's basically just a wireless "card" for PCs that can't use a real wireless card.
Rating:
Summary: This one is going back
Review: I've had nothing but problems with this thing, and, after spending hours in an infinite hold loop with their offshore tech support, I'm giving up.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor performance, 35% to 65% packet loss
Review: In its defense, version 2.0 of the firmware will make it a real bridge and pass thru the DHCP requests to the DHCP server, and it will assign itself an address from the DHCP server. But this is not the DEFAULT configuration, so you have to install their configuration (PC-only) utility to force that mode (BTW the password is "password"). After upgrading the firmware and seeing 12 hours of fine performance, I started getting HUGE packet losses. I'm running 3 PCs and 2 Mac OS X boxes thru it. Rebooting cleaned up the problem for about 5 minutes. It is UNUSABLE in this state. I called their customer service -- which they've outsourced to India -- a corporate trend I cannot support. It's going back to the store >:-p
Rating:
Summary: It works
Review: It is very straight forward to configure if you you know about it.
a) use "http://192.168.0.200" to configure
b) use crossover cable to connection your computer to me101
PROS:
a) simple and straight forward.
b) very good reception (better than any USB or PCMCI cards.
c) works with SMC, LINKSYS, of course netgear access point and creates smooth internet sharing using any switch or wireless router (I used linksys and ATT and worked equally weel)
CONS:
a) too fewer features.
b) for weeks, it needs to be power-off/power-on.
I got a recertified one and pretty happy with it.
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