Networking Reviews

Look out - this card is for older versions of Windows only, not Windows XP. Although it's not obvious from the main page for this product on Amazon, Amazon is selling a 2001 version of the Siemens SpeedStream PCMIA 10/100 Ethernet Card (SS1012). As a result, there is no driver for Windows XP included. If you go to the Siemens website, you learn that there IS NO DRIVER for Windows XP for this product. Siemens later came out with a different version of the SS1012, and that different version does have a Windows XP driver. But for this older version sold by Amazon, only the earlier versions of Windows are supported. Wish I'd known that before I ordered this.

This ethernet card was extremely easy to set up and it seems to work flawlessly. Not all ethernet cards are created equal, some rival others while some are just ok. This card is at the top of the pack, offering ease of use and siemens quality construction. Although, it's a little more expensive than some other cards... I think the price is warranted!

After initially thinking this to be a God send I soon found it to be straight from HELL. This items works only sparadically at best. I called tech support took 1 hour on hold. Finally technical help said, "we have had lots of reports of sparadic data flow". In laymens term, it doesn't work all the time. Software is the issue as data seems to get compacted and lost. Unless they come out with a software upgrade steer away from this.

I bought this ethernet adaptor for my laptop to connect to a Linksys cable/dsl router (BEFSR41). The main reason was that this adaptor is a bit cheaper and comes with a CAT-5 cable.

I installed it per instructions, even went on the net to get the latest driver (which turned out to be same as one that came with it in the box) but it just sat there, no network, no connection to the internet. After many hours messing around with it, I did get it to connect to the internet once (loaded one page) then nothing.

I called tech support but after waiting an hour without being able to talk to a real person, I decided to give up. I returned the unit the next day, picked up a Linksys adaptor. With the Linksys adaptor, it took exactly 5 minutes to get my laptop connected and working perfectly. The moral of the story is to stick to one brand of networking devices.

It has been working without any problems so far on my laptop with Win XP Home. The drivers included on floppy were obsolete, but luckily Win XP had a better version in its database. So no installation was needed for it ! Just plug and play. Although in my opinion this peice shouldn't cost more than [$$$]! The companies making these products are ripping off laptop owners thinking all of these are bought by corporate America, which doesn't care for the price !!
Update: I returned this back to Staples. Found another seller on ebay giving me a Belkin one brand new [$$$]with priority shipping. (This confirms my suspicion that this product should cost only around 10 bucks). So guys don't pay 40 bucks for this simple piece of hardware.

This card is not worth it. During install, it kept indicating that it was not compatible or tested with XP and crapped my standard 802.11 G connection as well. not worth the trouble.

This card is garbage. I have used Linksys products in the past with good luck. I don't know if this product is too new or what. Would recognize the router but would not connect to the internet. After hours of talking with the totally useless Tech Support people, and several installs and uninstalls with the newest driver, I boxed it up and returned it.

I started with the Linksys pre wireless version with 4 port, from Amazon about 4 years ago. Then when I got a Mac PowerBook with airport-B class internal wifi in Late November 2003 (Last PBg4 b4 the new aluminums w/.11G), I ordered a Linksys .11B w/4port and since seeing the one post about the card working in a Mac decided to try the latest GS Combo. The Mac had no problem finding the network. Wifi Setup was a snap) Linksys techs helped get all 3 routers working together, that took 30mins). The new WRT54GS and matching card**** Nice improvement, Video is only a tad slower than cat5e connection. Speed check at optonline hits 5,300(53mbps). Worth the work. You do have to know your Mac though. Airport setup is the key. *Use the WEP-set mac id on router to only accept the listed address the rest is up to you to play with. I highly recommend this setup. You get the best wifi connection a Mac can get for less, especially for pre G models. Linksys use of broadcom chip is the same standard on airport, they are compatible. Airport treats it like internal when inserted. I have had only minor bugs and one crash from not turning airport off b4 powering off the card. As far as G vs. GS price 10-20% dif. Who cares? I wanted SpEED! Besides Amzn px was best (+$30 off with Credit Card deal dropped the px to $109 Flat (no-tax, no Shipping) NOT BAD! So all you preG Mac owners who were hesitating, Get the GS (speedbooster works) 108 never gonna happen, technically impossible... read some reviews. As far as comparison with other brands. Apple certified repair shops sell these because they work. They just don't sell at Amzn prices. So enjoy your Itunes downloads fast from the backyard.

Do you know that feeling? You buy some new hardware and look forward to using it. The first few steps of the installation work but then something else happens that is not described in the manual. In my case the computer doesn't see any new hardware. Things go rapidly downhill from there; you try doing things in a different order - nothing. You try finding it with the Windows hardware wizard - doesn't appear. On the next iteration the whole computer shuts down and you think you've lost it. By then you know that you are going to waste a lot of time. This is what happened to me after buying the Belkin Wireless Desktop Network Card

Manual doesn't help; the Belkin website is next to useless. I am not going to make international phonecalls to the States. Several hours on, adrenalin coursing through your veins you just manage to not throw the stuff out of the window. I lost an afternoon, Belkin lost their reputation. This is the last Belkin product that I buy...

Just read some other reviews of this piece of "kit" and see that I'm not the only one with this problem. I'm going to try and return it to the shop.

Purchased the F5D7000 because of the price. First attempt, windows XP never found the card. Got replacement card from Belkin. Second attempt, computer would not power up. I would push the power button, the fans would come on, the second I released the power button, the computer would shutdown. Would not boot. Took first card back to Office Max. They would only issue me a replacement. Third attempt, computer would not boot. Took card back to Office Max and demanded a different card. Picked up a D-Link DWL G520 (Extreme G). I was up and running in 5 minutes. Very easy install and setup. I need to go to the D-link site to download the latest firmware but I am very pleased with the D-Link. Save yourself some pain and suffering, don't gamble on this card.

Having relied for ages on a wired link from my PC upstairs to my Router/Firewall downstairs, I decided to take the plunge and go wireless. I bought a Linksys router and the Belkin wireless card. Plugged the card in first, booted up, installed the software and was quickly able to communicate with my linksys router. The performance of the card can be a bit funny now an again, but it is generally very stable and I have no problems accessing the Internet at much the same speed as I did with a wired network. I paid £30.00 for the card, so was impressed with the overall quality considering the low cost. For anyone looking to take the plunge into the wireless market, I can certainly recommend this card and for £30.00 you can't go too far wrong!

I was so excited to get this that I paid extra to have it overnighted to me. What nobody told me is that this device doesn't send a signal more than thirty-five feet!!!!!! That's ridiculous. I called the company and they admitted that's the best the device will do -- 35 feet. I hate it. I had to buy a booster and boosters for every computer in the house, and even then the signal was really weak. I'm VERY disappointed. Buyer beware.

I purchased this router at the end of July 2003 and immediately upgraded the router's firmware to Linksys's latest offering v1.04. As an earlier reviewer recommended, I configured the router manually, avoiding the automatic setup.

I am using 802.11a with WEP (better than nothing since Linksys has not provided WPA support yet), MAC filtering and the router's built in DHCP server. Only one client attaches to the router. The router has been up and running for about a week and I have not encountered any of the problems mentioned in earlier posts.

My main complaints are with the router's current feature set:
- No ability to disable 802.11a SSID broadcasts (b/g SSID can be disabled)
- No ability to save the router's configuration to a file
- No ability to create/change/use a logon name to administer the router (you simply supply a password)
- Poor traffic monitoring features

But these are minor gripes. Overall, I am very happy with the WRT55AG.

I installed this product in my home-office network and didn't experience any problems. There are 3 computers in the network; 2 are wired to the router, and 1 is wireless. One machine is running Windows XP Pro, while the other two are running Windows 2000. The wireless computer uses the companion Linksys WMP55AG product. Before installing these products, I printed out the user manuals that came on the installation CDs, and followed the step-by-step instructions there, rather than using the installation wizard on the CD. MAC filtering works fine for me.

The higher the products are situated above floor level, the better they perform. The router is currently located about 8 feet above the floor, and the wireless PC is located about 3 feet above the floor in another building about 50 feet away. Signal strength is "good" (according to Linksys monitoring software).

I am using the 5GHz band (802.11a) to avoid interference with a 2.4GHz cordless telephone system, but unfortunately, that band does not have a mechanism to turn off SSID xmission.

Subsequent to the time when I first posted this review, I attempted to enable WEP. I observed the same problem other reviewers posted here: connectivity to the Net could be established successfully, but then would be lost after a few minutes. Perhaps the new WPA support will be implemented soon.

08/04/2003: With the advent of firmware upgrade v1.04, WEP problems appear fixed. However, I observed a 3.6x degradation with 64-bit WEP enabled on 802.11a. I would expect higher levels of degradation with higher levels of encryption. To their credit, Linksys admits that using WEP causes lower throughput.

Everybody else hit the nail on the head. DLINK is selling a product that is apparantely still in development. I have been unable to get a single MPG or VOB file to play more than 13 minutes into the file. At that point it locks up. Dlink takes 1 week to offer back lame responses. I'm on the latest 1.02 firmware, and the server software is still at 1.0 -- definately, definately, definately AVOID this expensive nonworking product.

I just received my Dlink DSM-320. I was initially excited about the product, but after attempting to use it I quickly realised that it needed another 3 or 4 months to be ready for prime-time. Let's start with the big issues:
1. Component out is broken.
I tried this on 3 different TVs with component out (Sony Wega, JVC IArt and Pioneer SD-643-HD5) and each time the picture was displayed with a severe blue cast (everything was shades of blue). I tried another DSM-320 and the same problem existed, even AFTER the firmware upgrade. How something like this could slip by Quality Control I have no idea.

2. Wireless compatibility is pathetic.
I have been using wireless networks since they came out. I am somewhat familiar with configuring them. My entire wireless network is DLink AirPlus XtremeG running at 108Mbs, with compatibility for 54Mbs and 11Mbs hardware. This worked because I had people connect their laptops to my network for printing and browsing the web. I, of course, had SSID Broadcast disabled so I typed in the SSID into the DSM-320 along with my other network information and it refused to find my network. After turning down my network speed and broadcasting my SSID it connected, but then refused to download the firmware update. It was stuck at zero. The machine froze and I had to pull the plug to reset the machine. Playing videos started well, but 2 minutes in the machine would freeze with no network activity and the plug would have to be pulled. In short, the wireless functionality was terrible, and I like DLink stuff.

3. Does not maintain the aspect ratio.
I bought this planning to use my machine as a video jukebox. I have a dedicated TV card (Hauppauge PVR-250) and schedule my TV recordings over the internet. The DSM-320 was going to allow my to watch these videos on a TV instead of the computer. Also, I have a large hard drive that serves as a movie jukebox. The movies are kept in their original widescreen aspect ratios (16:9 or 2.35:1). I was very surprised to notice that the DSM-320 did not display the black bars required to make the picture look normal. It filled the screen with the picture and made everyone look tall and skinny.

Those are the big problems, it is also plagued by the slow menus and horrible server software mentioned in other reviews. I guess the biggest compliment I can give it is that when connected to a wired network, and while using s-video, it worked great. Even the wife could navigate the menus (slowly), play music (provided I had setup the M3U playlist for her on the server computer), look at pictures and play videos. Unfortunately, there are other products that will do those things better and cost $100 less. Do I think the DSM-320 has potential? Yes, but it needs several firmware upgrades to fix those big problems I outlined. I'm not waiting for that though, I'm sending mine back.

7-16-04

I just bought this device, and it's definately got a lot going for it in the "wow, cool!" factor. Unfortunately . . . it really isn't ready for public release yet. D-link insists that most of the known issues will be worked out with software fixes . . . but the units on shelves now are just a buggy mess.

Most of the problems have already been described in other reviews, but I'm unable to get a solid wireless signal to the device and have no desire to run a hard-wired line to my living room at the moment. I've tried a new router, replacement antenna, and moving the equipment around as much as conceivably possible . . . to no effect. Video and Audio still skip too much.

Also, for what video I could actually get to play, much of it is in widescreen and the device has no options for adjusting aspect ratio, so the picture's just stretched vertically over the whole screen. A letterboxing option on the remote would be a nice addition.

The previous reviews have laid out many of the issues with this router, so I will try to succinctly tell you why I would never recommend this router.

Since I purchased this modem, I have experienced continuous disconnections. I have upgraded to the latest firmware and still see dozens of disconnections per day. The only way to stop this is to take the antennae of the unit.

Do yourselves a favour. Buy a LinkSys.

I decided on this router due to its reasonable price combined with a brand name which, in my mind, has always been associated with reliability. Unfortunately, since my purchase over 6 months ago, the router has been rebooting several times a day, everyday.

My laptop and other wireless devices have no such problem with other routers, so I had to think it was the router. I upgraded to the latest firmware to no effect. US Robotics support replied (after some delay) telling me to try all eleven channels in case there is some interference on the default channel.

After going through this exercise over the course of a couple weeks, it was clear that this was not the problem. I contacted US Robotics support again and am still waiting for a reply. I would like to think this is just a case of a single defective product, but there are accounts strewn throughout the web of sporadic reboots.

Even though the functionality of the product is satisfactory when it is working, obviously it is impossible for me to recommend this product.

I have had this router for 3 weeks now and have had no rebooting issues at all. When I got it I went and got the latest firmware and have had no issue. The range is great awsome. I can go accross the street to the park with my laptop if I want! Great product!

I am in total agreement with the poor reviews of the ME101. It is a clunker of a product. I returned it after a week of fiddling and well-meaning but useless support from Netgear's phone support temps. In my case, it would only work if WEP was disabled and I used static IP addresses on client PCs behind the bridge. If the ME101 was a product released into a older, well-established market, it would be recalled immediately. It is only because consumer wireless networking is relatively new that Netgear can get away with selling this junk with a straight face. The ME101 is not worth your money.

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.

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.

The product failed after one day of serivce. For the next week it would intermitently connect to the Internet for a few hours and fail again for a few hours until it died completely. I called Customer Service, which seems to be overseas, and their technicians were terrible. In two calls I had conflicting answers and they did not seem to know how to troubleshoot the problem; they kept asking me to ping addresses unrelated to the modem and they kept refering to it as a router. Once they decided that it is defective they asked me to pay for shipping charges to replace my brand new modem which amounted to 25% of the cost of the product. I would never buy a Netgear product again.

No more sitting and waiting. No more busy signals. NETGEAR's Broadband Cable Modem gives you an uninterrupted connection plus lightning-fast speeds for streaming music, online gaming, and sharing digital photos so you can be involved and productive anytime and every time you want. When combined with a router, it lets you share your ISP connection among multiple PCs. It's DOCSIS certified, which means no worries because this cable modem is guaranteed to work with your local cable service provider, both now and if you move. Its streamlined design saves valuable desk space - you can position it vertically or horizontally.

Features:
Always ON, High-speed Internet access
No more dropped connections
No need for a dedicated telephone line
USB & Ethernet interface options
Included stand for vertical positioning

i've had this modem running on my Mac for over a year and it's never given me the hassles listed below. bought it, plugged it in--it connected immediately, and since then i've pretty much forgotten it's there. been a solid performer (knock on wood). the case even complements my Mac nicely.

I was actually a satisfied user of this product for several months. My laptop has been sitting on a corner of my desk for all that time, because I've been too busy to configure the system for the uses I intend for it. So it's just been an extra storage box, a place where I could stick stuff that didn't belong on my employer's hardware.

For this non-typical usage, the EC2T seemed a real steal, inexpensive, easy to install, reliable. I was (and still am) skeptical of the complaints in some of the other Amazon reviews. The kind of problems described are typically nothing to do with card or driver. And though this is a pokey 10 megabit card, it makes no sense to spend extra unless you know you're going to connect to a 100 megabit network, and don't want to screw up the other users. Few people need even 10 megabits of bandwidth, and it's silly to buy data capacity before you need it, given the ongoing collapse in hardware costs.

Anyway, I recently started using my laptop as a laptop, and soon discovered the fatal flaw in the design. As with many older PCMCIA network cards, the EC2T accepts the RJ cable not on the card itself, but on an external assembly, a "dongle" which connects in turn to a thin little connector on the card itself.

Dongles have a reputation for fragility, but the IBM Token Ring card that came with my used laptop (useless, alas, on my company's network) has a nice sturdy dongle with a simple thick plastic connector. The Linksys dongle is also sturdy looking, but the connector is a complicated, fragile thing, made of thin metal and plastic. Just now I tried to plug my laptop into the company network for perhaps the 10th time, only to find that a small but crucial bit of plastic had come off the dongle's connector. The whole thing is unusable.

I'm not happy, but I won't boycott Linksys because of this. Hardware makers are under constant, extreme pressure to cut costs, and absurdities like this useless dongle are the inevitable result. Rather than hassle with finding a card with a properly made dongle, I'll replace this one with one that has the network connector built into the card itself. Unfortunately, these all seem to done with a big plastic assembly that juts out of the side of your laptop. But I can live with that.

Thanks to the reviewer above for telling me it is called a "Dongle". The card worked fine, until the connection to it broke. Get a new one where the line connencts directly into the card.

This product actually worked great on my
IBM Thinkpad 760XL for surfing the net, worked great on
my Linksys 4 port router (BEFSR41 ver 2) as well.

only problem I ran into, was trying to setup
file sharing in Windows 98..

the Network Setup wizard, for some odd reason,
would not detect the presence of this NIC card,
not even after reboot, so because of that
I was not impressed.

but it is a great card for those who just want to surf
the net and not use file sharing

(still not sure why Network setup wizard won't detect it
that one has me stumped)