Rating: 
Summary: Perfect for online gaming...
Review: Just to let everyone know: the ME101 now comes with firmware v2.0 and configuration utility v2.0 out of the box, so there's no need to download and install anything when you buy it.I bought this wireless bridge for the sole reason of hooking up my PlayStation 2 to my home network for online games without running 50 feet of Cat5 cable down the hallway. And, for this purpose, the ME101 is perfect. Simply: this thing just works. I configured the bridge with another computer, but found that it actually works best with the default settings. I plugged one end of the cable into my PS2's network adaptor, and the other into the ME101, and a few minutes later I'm online! One of the great things about this device is that it just "disappears" on the network when another device is plugged in (when checking my attached devices on my router, only the PS2 and my other PCs show up, not the ME101). Throughput is great, no lags, and my wireless router is two rooms and 30 feet away. Granted, the signal strength is lower than my other wireless devices on the network, but it's speed that's important to me, and this thing delivers. In conclusion: if you need to hook up a device such as a PS2 or Xbox, and don't want to run yards of ethernet cable thru your house, this little number does the trick. It's simple to set up, and does what it's supposed to do. I recommend it for this purpose.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a Wi-Fi Bridge a Wi-Fi piece of trash
Review: Plain and simple, this item does not work. I fought with it for about a day trying to set it up as a bridge. Whenever anything connected to the eathernet port tried to access the network wireless through this "bridge" the bridge lost its connection with the wireless network. Buy a Linksys WET11 before you buy this.
Rating:
Summary: If only I could give 0 stars...
Review: Please pay attention to the negative reviews. I purchased this product because a) it was less expensive than comparable products, 2) it was small, and 3) I could get it from Amazon.com.
After fiddling with the item for a while, I called support. The bridge came with version 1.0 of the firmware (purchased Oct. 24, 2004), so I don't care what some folks say, not all units are shipping with firmware v.2.
My problem was with functionality-after a lot of fiddling, I decided to turn MAC address filtering off to see if the bridge worked. It did. Turn MAC address filtering back on, and it stopped working. Quadruple-checked the MAC address I had on the allow list, and yes, it was the same.
Called tech support. Got hung up on once, and the other time was told that I had to register before receiving support. Nice try-I can't get online without the bridge working! After (politely, not rudely pointing this out, was told "Please hold to see what I can find out" and was disconnected.
Hours later, I called again, for the third time. Got to speak to someone who seemed to be nice. He tried to solve my problem, but after a certain point (maybe 5-7 minutes), he started rushing me off the phone. "Here is your case number, please call us back if it still doesn't fix the problem." Now, bear in mind that I was on hold for about 20 minutes, and this wasn't my first call to try to speak to someone, so all in all I was killing at least an hour of my day. He was desperately trying to hang up, and actually said "If this doesn't help, there's nothing we can do." then following up on that comment with "If you call back we can contact Tier 2 support and they will call you back." This all for a configuration change that took literally 20 seconds.
Anyway, I'm ranting, so my apologies. Please learn from my (and other's) mistakes and DO NOT buy this product! You'll end up, like me, raving and ranting in a public forum.
Rating:
Summary: Netgear Misses the Mark with the ME101
Review: The first thing wrong with this device is how you interface with it. You have to install a configuration program first to set it up. A web-based interface would have been far easier. No serious user wants the clutter of yet nbother configuration program on their computer. The second worst feature about it is you have to enter your own IP address. This means you've got to ask your cranky network administrator what address is available to you and key it in manually. Being to obtain an address automatically via DHCP is ESSENTIAL for the visitor who only wants to use your wireless temporarily. The worst part is the set up program itself. I installed it in XP. At one point it prompted you for the password but it never accepts it! It's right there in the skimpy documentation what you have to put in the password field and then it refuss to take it! I can't remember a device that has ever inspired such total contempt from me. This device is a complete waste of money. I boxed it back up and took it right back where I bought it the next morning.
Rating:
Summary: The worst wireless device I've ever used
Review: The ME101 worked great - for a few hours at a time. After many calls to Netgear, finally got a replacement. Unfortuantely, it stopped working completely within a month or so. Since then I have called many times, and have been promised a return call from Level 2 support. That never happened. Just today, I called four times, and all four times was disconnected when transferred to Level 2. I've given up on this product.
Rating:
Summary: Major compatibility problems with this unit
Review: The netgear ME101 is a compact wireless client mode bridge and a competitor to the Linksys WET11. It is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and includes a removable antenna, power and an ethernet port. The ethernet port is not auto-sensing so you may need a crossover cable (included) and a standard ethernet cable. The setup menu is web based and includes standard (SSID, fixed WEP keys, and preferred network). 802.11x security is not supported. Setup was straightforward. My problems were with functionality. I am using a 802.11b Intel/Symbol 2011 access point with WEP and Mac address filtering enabled with a wide variety of 802.11b equipment including Cisco, Intel, Orinoco, and Linksys client cards and bridges. The netgear ME101 was unable to lock on to my SSID for more than a few seconds at a time. Netgear tech support was unable to resolve the problem beyond suggesting to flash the firmware (did not help). Support also had long (30+ minutes) hold times during which I was disconnected twice and had to wait an additional 10-15 minutes to be reconnected. When I did get through to level 2 support the engineer was courteous but was unable to resolve the problem. For now, try the Linksys WET11. The Linksys units work pretty well but are subject to loss of setup information without a UPS. I'm still waiting for a reliable and inexpensive bridge.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY AWFUL - DOESN'T WORK.
Review: This device is an abomination. This may sound a bit severe, but it won't even work with a second generation Netgear wireless router. Thinking it was perhaps a problem with the Netgear Router, I tried to use it with an Airport Express base station, and the results were exactly the same....Sees connections, drops connection, endless "reboot"...doesn't work.
The web based configuration software is poorly implemented and doesn't allow for setting the bridge to see the router (gateway) and receive an IP address (DHCP) in the same domain. In other words, all you are allowed to do is select DHCP without further stipulation, i.e. IP address of the router it is seeking an IP address from. When the directions are properly followed the device continues to drop its connection to the wireless gateway. There is nothing more to say, it just doesn't work. A total waste of time and money. I agree, Amazon should drop this product from the catalog. JUNK!
Rating:
Summary: Works great... 15 minutes at a time!!!
Review: This has got to be one of the worst wireless products to come out of Netgear.
If you want a reliable unit, buy something else.
If you want something easy to configure and install, buy something else.
If you want something that won't get confused when it starts seeing your neighbor's wireless access point, buy something else.
If you would like to be able to call technical support and get a meaningful response, buy something else. This thing locks up all the time. Sometimes it lasts 15 minutes, sometimes you might get 30 minutes of use out of it. Then you have to power cycle it to make it work again for another 15 minutes. I have tried to mate it to wireless access points made by Netgear, D-Link, Linksys, Adaptec, Cisco. I have tried having only one AP "visible" in its pitiful range; having multiple access points; upgrading the firmware. Nothing changes its behavior of random locks after a relatively short period of time from the moment you turn it on. Finally, if you don't want to end up like me writing reviews on here, BUY SOMETHING ELSE! Anything. It can not possibly be any worse than this utter failure and ripoff.
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: Nocturnal Gnome
Review: This is a good product for those of you who possess a reasonably good understanding of networking. If you don't, do not buy this product! Customer Service is outsourced from India (I've never had a good experience with any of it, expecially the struggle to understand and communicate with agents). First hand knowledge is extremely limited and they rely on databases driven support.
| 
