Networking Reviews

I picked up this switch about two years ago. The internal fan stopped moving after about six months but a few blasts with an air can fixed that. It does have serious overheating issues. So after two years of being on 24/7 it finally died on me. All the LEDs were on steady and it wasn't passing any traffic.

It performed well for the two years it was in service. It's a great switch to have laying around as a spare, but definitely not for mission critical or long term use.

I purchased this switch two years ago. It works perfectly except for the noise. The fan is amazingly loud. I am currently looking for a switch to replace it just because of the noise.

I see from some of the other reviews that this model has been replaced with one that doesn't have a fan. Make sure you get that one!

A Friend of mine said that D-Link no longer puts a fan in this product and the DSS-5+.(5-port Dual Speed Switch) All the reviews say that this series of hardware from D-Link outperforms others and has a lower price so I had to have one, but was hesitant because of the horrible fan stories.

That has all changed! Now the Fan has been taken out and a heatsink has been added to keep things cool. I would recommend that if you purchase one of these from a store open it up and look for the fan. The slot on the case for the air flow is still there but the fan itself isn't. And if you order it online make sure there is a good return policy, just in case.

I am sure I don't need to say that this product is one of the fastest, if not the fastest personal switches out there. It is no hassle for a set-up considering that you only need to plug in the power and plug in the Ethernet cables and your set.

I like companies that hear the consumers complaints and fix them. D-Link gets Two Thumbs up from me.

The previous reviewer said that he cannot get good range from this, but he didn't say what that range was. I can walk anywhere in my house and get great connectivity. I would have to say that the furthest i have gotten so far from my access point in my house would be about 300 feet, and no problem. I have not tested the maximum range yet though.

My walls in my house are not concrete or anything however, so i have never had any problem with 802.11b, (but will probably wish i had concrete when the tornado hits).

Over all, installation was a snap, my range is good, bit of a drain on the battery .You may want to get a wireless pc card and a pc card expanion for the ipaq if battery life is important to you, because the pc card expantion pack comes with its own battery, and the cf expantion does not. So far, the only pcmcia card I KNOW OF that supports windows ce is the Compaq WL110 (which coincidentily is not sold here).

In my opinion, linksys equipment has always been good to me, and this is no exception.

I purchased this card with my Sharp Zaurus SL-5000D. I know that the Zaurus has the drivers already installed for this card so I plugged it in and it was up and running in no-time. I have a Netgear MR314 wireless router and it has no problems working with this card. The speed is great, although I never actually measured it, but many of the websites come up pretty fast. The only downfall to the card (and all other compact flash wireless NIC cards for that matter) is that the unit drains batteries too fast. It eats up a lot of juice and forces me to plug in the charger. The range on the unit is not as good as I hoped, but my router could also cause some problems. So far this is the only wireless CF card I tried, but I'm happy with it.

I bought this CF card for use with a Cassiopea E-200 PocketPC PDA. First, all the documentation says that this card works with Windows CE 2.0 and 3.0. It also works just fine with Pocket PC 2002 using the drivers supplied on the CD.

Setup was pretty easy. I use two wireless networks - one at home and one at work, both with DHCP. The software lets you set up multiple profiles for differnet locations. (I use encryption at home and none at work and the different profiles keep them straight). The MAC address for the card isn't printed anywhere on the card. I only found it by looking at the firmware version number in the software's "About" screen (I needed to register the MAC address to join my work's wireless network).

Last thing and my only complaint (so far) is that the CF card sticks out of the top of the E-200 a little bit two much. Granted, this has nothing to do with the CF card :)

Wireless roaming works well, good througput and good performance. It gets my reccomendation.

As others have noticed, fragile design. I broke it, and I was being gentle. Had to replace it with same model, though, since USB to Ethernet adaptors are not easy to come by (TiVo, thanks a lot for making customers go through this).

I long for TiVo's next generation, when I hope they'll have an ethernet plug in the back.

If you're stuck getting this one, like me, be *extremely* careful plugging it in.

As I've worked in PC repair, freelance consulting, and network administration, I've learned having the capability to do things like update anti-virus software for a client (usually if an anti-virus program is going to fail, it's on install, or the first update), it's nice to be able to hook into a high speed connection, even if the person's computer doesn't have a network card, or even a modem.

I've also used it to troubleshoot existing connections (this NIC does have LEDs, so it makes troubleshooting pretty easy, although you can still run into 10/100 problems... don't be surprised if your hub is glowing amber instead of green... it means your connection is only running at 10 MBPS versus 100), and bypassing bad network cards.

As it is portable, it is my own personal toolkit which only really consists of stuff I use often enough to justify limited space.

At USB 1, the maximum speed for this product is 12 MBPS...which means if you're going to use it for an internet connection, it probably will do just fine (most internet connections, you're a VERY lucky person to have even a 1 MBPS connection), but for networking, it will run almost 90% slower than a standard network card).

I got a brochure recently for the much awaited 2.0 (which runs at 480 MBPS, although I'm not sure if the 2.0 network card will run that fast. At the very least, I imagine it will be true 10/100), but I'm still not sure when that will be released.

As for this product's durability, it is slightly fragile... but I've had mine for over six months now, and I haven't had a day's problem with it... treat it gently, and it'll last a good long time.

If your in repair, I'd suggest one of these, and a USB drive of at least 128 Megs (I kept tapping out my 64, although 64 is still great for pulling drivers from your working machine to one that probably doesn't connect to the internet... or pulling a sample of a corrupted file back to the shop for analysis.

Although this device is a very nifty idea, since this device is only written to the USB 1.1 standard, its top transfer speed will be 12Mbps, which is will only give you 2Mbps more throughput when connected to a 100Mbps network, so beware of that. If it was USB 2.0, then it could more than handle the 100Mbps speed.

This server is simple to setup and get running. I works well with both my Linux and Windows systems, and can be setup by either. The best part about this print server is that it allows me to place my printer where it is convient for me, instead of right next to the computer (Which is inconvient). (LPT cables have a limit on the cable length.) I can print files from either my laptop or desk top system regardless of operating system. I would recommend this server to anyone who needs cross platform printing capability. I wonder what I ever did without it. Keep up the good work Netgear !!.

I have tried numerous other print servers including HP JetDirect and the Linksys network print servers. My experience with NetGear has been the best.

I purchased this product about 1 month ago and abused the heck out of it. Print from detailed photo's to charts and displays to photosmart 1218 and a hp color lazer print. I don't have any back logs or transfer problems. Great product and highly recommended!

This is a tragedy. I've been a staunch supporter of Live! cards since they came out but their quality and support went down the drain. The Audigy 2 Platinum is not plug & play compliant. The end user shouldn't have to install the card and adjust the BIOS and hardware configuration to get the card to work. All this card gives is loud pops, skipping and computer lockups. A reinstallation of the operating system didn't help. There aren't any IRQ conflicts either! Tech support was useless, they don't have clue. The sound of the card is great but that means nothing if there is popping and skipping in the music.
I wasted $165 and i will never buy another Creative product again.

Well ok, after building my own "Dream System 4" I decided to go all out, even on the soundcard. Going by the specs with this card it was second to none. Going by the other customer reviews I read, it made me think twice about getting it judging by a lot of the problems that were addressed. But, I decided that "none of those will happen to me, it will work fine" WRONG. First off for a brief hardware setup. I installed it on a Athlon XP 2800 powered system with dual 80MB 7200 ATA 133 drives, 1 Gig RAM and an Nvidia GeForce4 Ti4800 8X AGP Video with the Logitech X-680 surround speakers.

Now for the problems. That's all I had. All that system robbing software (reminds me of AOL), system crashes, hung installations, more system crashes, numerous calls to both Microsoft AND Creative only to get stuck editing my registry (always a treat) and downloading numerous "patches and updates", all being a waste of time. After downloading the "updated drivers" the problem only worsened. System crashes, hangs and even more system crashes.

Sooooooo after 3 months of beating myself up (I REALLY Wanted this thing to work properly) I YANKED IT! Time to end the headaches! I went out and picked up the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card and it has worked FLAWLESSLY!

Maybe someday (if I don't throw it on Ebay first) when Creative actually gets creative with there software so it will work correctly, I will put it back in. But for now, it will sit in the box and collect dust!

There is so much about this package; I hardly know where to start.

The hardware and software was easy to install (at least with my system - be sure to check out the minimum system requirements). The sound card plugged into an available PCI 2.1 Compliant Slot, the front access panel slipped into an available bay, and the two easily connected with the supplied ribbon cable, the software was installed and the system was ready to be used.

Addition information at: http://www.soundblaster.com

Some Features
---------------
1) The package gives you the ability to record audio at 24-bit/96Khz quality and comes with a convenient internal drive for easy front-panel access, with remote.

2) It is the first sound card to be THX certified.

3) Library search play-list (automatic) with volume matching and hiss removal for MP3s

4) The connectors on the card include:
a) Line Level Out (front, Rear, Center, Subwoofer & Rear Center)
b) Line In
c) Microphone In
d) SB1394/Firewire Port
e) Telephone Answering Device In
f) Analog and Digital CD Audio In
g) 15 pin midi / Joystick extension header

Minimum System Requirements
--------------------------------
1) Pentium II Celeron 350Mhz AMD-K6 450Mhz or Faster
2) Intel AMD or 100% Compatible Motherboard
3) Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, SP2, or XP
4) 64MB of memory for Windows 98SE and ME, 128MB for Windows 2000 SP2 and XP
5) 600MB of free hard disk space
6) PCI 2.1 Compliant Slot
7) CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive required for software installation

These are some of the basic requirements there are additional requirements that can be found at http://www.soundblaster.com.

We are a Netgear home-office. We upgraded to the RO318 security router from the Netgear FS108 ethernet bridge and have been happy ever since.

We chose this router to free up our main office computer from duty as the internet server to our network. With this piece of gear our high speed DSL connection goes directly to the router which in turn acts as a great little network server to our 7 hardwired workstations plus an additional 3 on a wireless sub-system. Once we were set up, we've never had to worry about anything else.

We used the web-browser based set-up feature which was really easy to use and only took a few minutes. You need to know and have your various DSL settings ready such as static IP address etc.

The firewall is effective and configurable to send an email alert when an attack is detected.

The additional feature I love is the integrated keyword or address-based (www. ..) web filter....You can easily configure it to send you a report of attempts to access inappropriate sites.

This is a great little piece of equipment that has a lot of useful features for the small office or home network.

It works well as a statefull firewall. What it is missing: The ability to block inbound (or outbound) ip addresses/ranges. I had a few spammers touching my server > 1 per min - it would have been nice if I could block them at the firewall.

Here's the summary of my experience with this unit (3+ months). In these months, there' never been any need to touch the router AT ALL. This baby becomes INVISIBLE as far as your network hassles... After you've decided to get this router, make sure you upgrade the firmware to the latest available from netgear.

1. Installation is very easy. The user interface is web-browser based and in five minutes you are set to go. The DHCP server in the router OS handles my ethernet cards from various vendors very well. I have used xircom, netgear, 3Com, Melco/Buffalo, and Dell (rebranded 3Com) cards, plus the Trendnet CompactFlash ethernet card (for my Ipaq PocketPC). All work smoothly with this unit.

2. The router is extremely fast. On my cable modem connection, I regularly get speeds of 1.5 Mbps which are limited by the cable provider's setup, NOT by the RO318 router.

3. It has EIGHT ethernet ports. You may quickly find that the four ports on the popular router models are quickly taken and you are left wishing you had more than four.

4. The ethernet LAN ports are SWITCHED, not hub-based which means FASTER connection speeds.

5. I don't know about you, but I like a well-designed box. This unit looks and feels very elegant, sturdy and solid.

6. For the more technically advanced user, there IS a telnet based command-line configuration interface....

You can read more about its security capabilities at the review....

I recommend this routher without any reservations whatsoever. It's the best bang for the buck.

In closing I must say I am surprised by the other reviewer who seems to have missed all that's good and useful in this router, which is what 99.9% of users need (and the rest 0.1% can live with quite comfortably).

The Linksys PCM200 is a good card. However, users with SystemSoft on their laptops should read the extra installation steps required to install the card available from Linksys' Knowledge Base.

I'm running a Pentium 233 MHz with Win95b and SystemSoft (a 3rd party utility for managing PCMCIA cards). Before successfully installing the card, the PC would not recognize the drivers and crash. Customer Support (although helpful), could not rectify the situation. I stumbled on the KB article and it solved everything.

I've had other cards (xircom, 3com) that are erratic and troublesome. Sometimes requiring 3 or 4 reboots/power resets before they will start recognizing the network and passing data. The Linksys (running on a Pentium 266, Win95) just plain works without a hassle.

All in all this is a good card, rock solid and reliable.

I'd like to correct some misconceptions from previous reviewers.

1) The card works fine with Win 95 OSR2 (but as noted in LINKSYS readme.txt CARDBUS is only supported by OSR2 or later). If you are having problems I would suggest you download the latest drivers from the Linksys web site. I don't understand why someone with a laptop without a 32 bit or Cardbus slot was complaining when he bought a 32 bit, CARDBUS PCMIA card and it won't work in a 16 bit slot (obviously a very old piece of equiptment). Linksys makes a 16 bit card (the PCMPC100). You have to be very careful with new technology and Microsoft OS's. (USB is another example it supposedly worked in W95OSR2 but good luck.) I still have problems with it under W98SE especially on 2 year old hardware.
2) My biggest problem was not the Linksys drivers rather it was the PCMIA drivers. Check your Device Manager BEFORE (Control Panel -> System - Device Manager) you try and and configure the linksys card. (I ended up deleting the PCMIA drivers and rebooting several times.) This was the most difficult part. After this I followed LINKSYS instructions for installing the drivers and everything installed and worked.

3) The card works fine on my 2 year old Pentium (NOT II or III) Laptop.

This Linksys card is an amazing performer. I used a 16-bit Xircom Creditcard Ethernet 10/100 adapter, until the fragile dongle failed. However, this Linksys card has taken over with spectacular improvements in speed. Installation was simple (given that you understand your some very basic specifications regarding the PCMCIA slots of your computer). The card practically installed itself!

Additionally, it is hot-swappable, works off low power-levels, and build solidly.

I anticipate that for those with older computers (pre-Pentium II), the Linksys card may necessitate some chilling visits to the infamous Linksys Technical Support group (I have not had to visit them).

Made this setup harder than it should have been. One of the cards was DOA but instead of testing another card in the machine I assumed that I had a software problem. I called the toll free number and had no trouble at 4 pm EST on a Friday getting support personnel. Replaced the card and now have 3 computer network with 2 98 machines and a 95. (Had to buy an extra card, only two comes in this box.) Don't run your modem through it though-- It'll slow the connection down. Also I was not impressed with the Lanbridge software and uninstalled it. Stick with Wingate or one of the other good internet gateway programs.

This product worked great for me and was very easy to set up. I wasn't too pleased with the Internet LanBridge software that came with it, though. Also lacking were details of where to download the drivers for Linux. The first information I found gave me erroneous details about which driver to use and eventually got lucky when someone told me where the obscure FTP site was to download the correct driver ... I also did not like the fact that it had to be opened in Windows and was not a *.tar.gz or *.rpm file. Once the driver was found and installed, it worked great and was easy to set up. I have installed this on Windows 98SE, Mandrake Linux 8.1, and Windows 2000 Professional with no problems except those minor ones mentioned earlier. I read another review that said that Windows XP includes the drivers, but the XP hardware compatibility test told me the device was questionable, so I have not tried it with XP.

The Linksys HPN 200 is one of the best phone line networks out there. The setup is extremely easy. Just plug in the hardware into a free PCI slot, and insert the drivers CD for Windows 98/Me. Windows XP includes the drivers, so it will be setup automatically! Its great for playing games (compatible with IPX games), sharing files, printers, and Internet connections. If you are using Windows98 Second Edition or later, you do not need 3rd party software to share an internet connection. I have had my network for over a year, and it works great!

I was able to connect to my T610 on XP without any extra software installation. But the Belkin bluetooth GPS is problematic, had no luck with that yet. The software that comes with this device does not work with later service packs of XP, which have built-in bluetooth support.

The coolest part is that you don't have to hold your phone in position, or even near your computer to connect to internet through it (I use Tmobile).

It has a neon blue light inside the plastic, but it's impossible to see that blink in daylight. I guess that's why other people haven't noticed it.

If you have a gift certificate and a nice bluetooth phone, this is a good choice.

Laptop: Toshiba P25-S408
OS: XP PRO with Service Pack 1

Installed smoothly. Small 'quarks' exists. some times
Windows throws "New Hardware Found" multiple times though you have installed the drivers.

Reboot and I was all set.

As my Bluetooth Devices (cellphones and PDAs) are still being shipped the only bluetooth device I had is my car with Integrated Bluetooth based "Hands Free Link"(HFL) system.
Went into the garage and initiate "pairing sequence" and my laptop readily recognises the HFL device.

Not yet tested the range though. My car was about (30-40)feet behind 3 walls.

Most of the frustration that other reviewers seem to have appear to due to installation of drivers and other related problems.Not necessarily related to the integrity of the device itself.

Additional Pros:
1. The "glowing florescent carrying band" so that one can easily find their device.

2. USB Extension cable (though the device is thin enough)is helpful when u have a lot of usb devices connected at the same time.

Cons:
1. This one is minor though. I wish there were "power on" and "data transmitting" LEDs on the device. However the taskbar icon mitigates the absence of "Power On" LED.

Hope this review is helpful in making a decision.

I was iffy as to wether I should purchase this adapter after having read some of the reviews and looking over the ratings. I decided to take a chance, seeing that most negative reviews showed some for of misunderstanding on the buyer's behalf. Either it seemed like they did not know how to properly install it, or did not bother to check the compatibility list. I'm glad I took that chance. This device is great! It works great, it has a slick, compact, and low-profile look. It definetely works within a typical apartment/house. I have taken this as far out as 210 feet with no problems whatsoever. It DEFINETELY works with your typical HP/COMPAQ dekstop and it is compatible with all Blutetooth enabled Pocket PC's from HP/COMPAQ. My wife has a 1945, it works. I have a 3975, it works. My buddy has a 5555, it works. My mother has a 3870, it works. Don't be fooled by others mistakes. I have yet to test it with a cell phone. I myself don't own a bluetooth enabled phone, and I don't know many people who do. Notebooks work too. My COMPAQ Evo worked great (you need to adapter's for this) The range is great, and the price is even better. You get what you pay for ladies and gentlemen. You won't regret this purchase. Enjoy!!

Running Windows XP Pro with every available patch and all the latest drivers, and this card crashes my system (infamous blue screen of death) several times each day. I had predicted that this card would be 100% compatible and very stable ... foolish wishful thinking on my part I guess.

I'm about to give up on this MN-720 and switch to the Lucent/Agere/Proxim Orinoco 11b card that I've been using for years without ANY problems.

I know this must be a driver issue, but I don't have the time or patience to pursue MS support for this, I'd rather just chalk it up to a loss and learn from the experience.

If you don't have time to waste troubleshooting, stay away from this card!!!

as my review on belkin card, this card is based on broadcom chip
and I found they have a common problem, that the signal goes down under heavy load (e.g. playing 1400k wav file over network, the signal drops, just not as bad as belkin)
if you're using mixed G or pure G, you may not able to connect due to 54g setting, the default is b only, and there's a simple fix: just change the 54g setting to b-compatible
and, if you'd like to get more stable performance when the signal is low, change the rate to 6Mbps, however, you may not be able to connect pure b network
the installation is easy, as USB version, just put the CD in, and you're ready to go
my personal suggestion, get MN-710 instead due to better bitrate and less hassle

This laptop wireless card has worked flawlessly. Easy setup instructions (install software first) and then install the card in your notebook. Excellent (54 MBPS) to good reception (36 MBPS) even at longest distance from access point. Not trying to offend anyone, some other review complained that its not compatible with a DLink router. First rule in wireless, never mix and match brands for your system. I also bought the base station, which was easy to setup. I enabled WPA security and MAC filtering without a hitch. One con - the manual tells you to enter a unique name for your SSID. Just enter 3 or 4 spaces for your name, there's no reason to broadcast any name, your wireless card will pick up all close range broadcasts and you just won't see any name, which is confusing to any one war driving or your neighbors.

Any other setup problems reported by previous reviews was easy to see that they are computer illiterate. Not their fault, just their lack of knowledge. I'm running Win XP with all the latest patches. To run WPA you must download the WPA patch on all computers associated with your devices. If you don't know what WPA is, then you shouldn't be using wireless.

This is a good card...and the base station is just as good, plus.....the price is very affordable.