Networking Reviews

This switch works great with my desktop's 3Com 3C905TX ethernet card, but it won't communicate with the integrated Intel 10/100 ethernet port on my Toshiba Satellite notebook. I had to place a Linksys device between the two to get them to communicate.

I give it 2 stars for being pretty though.

I've found a number of 4 port minis that are just as good if not better for less. There isn't anything wrong with this one, it just that it costs more for less.

Ok unit but is not a "real" Xircom; no support for DOS or ghost drivers. Good choice for the basics but not a business class unit. I'm returning it and buying a Realport Unit.

As mentioned by others, the interface on the TV is rather clunky and reminiscent of an old video game unit or something; lacks in response, and the remote had to be pointing very, very directly at the unit. I had to reconnect it a second time, and couldn't get it to recognize my home wireless network... which works just fine. Anyway, I just wanted to have my album collection available for play on my home stereo. Be warned! You cannot select an album for play in its entirety... you must go through and play each song manually, in order, if you want to do this. I called tech support and they confirmed that you cannot select play at the album level. You also cannot select mp3's for play, jukebox style, and put them in que... in by book, that sucks. Who wants such a dumb unit that you have to babysit constantly to hear your music?
The only alternative I suppose, would be to create a playlist on your computer for EACH album... but who wants to go to that much trouble?

After spending months burning all our CDs to MP3s, I was excited to get get the SMC multimedia streamer so that we could listen to our entire music collection on the stereo. However, when I went to install the SMC Media Server software that is needed to operate the device, it would not run, and SMC technical support provided zero help!

After hours of effort, here is what I discovered... My McAfee virus software was conflicting with Media Server. But simply disabling the virus software did not remove the conflict. In fact, I had to completely uninstall the McAfee software from my system to get the SMC device to work.

So BEWARE - if you have McAfee antivirus software, this product will NOT WORK on your wireless network!

I was looking for a networked media receiver that supported 802.11G which I've been using for my home network. When I discovered this SMC Multimedia Receiver I was very excited to make it the solution to converging the entertainment center with the breadth of content (photos, music, and videos) available on our PCs.

The SMCWMR-AG was reasonably easy to configure (although 802.11* can be tricky for any technophobe). Once I installed the content server software on my PC, and pointed it at my mp3, jpg, and mpg content everything was ready to go. The first disappointment came when I wanted to start a slideshow from the hundreds of pictures of our infant. The pictures are separated into folders based on events and dates, but I couldn't get a slideshow to work across folders (without rearranging the files or copying to a new directory). Also, the slideshow function froze intermittently (not sure what the issue was here).

MP3's seemed to play fine (along with viewing pictures simultaneously), with the same limitation of playing across folders. I didn't get a chance to setup new playlist to see if this solved these problems. I was also disappointed in the limited types of Internet radio streams supported, but I'm sure that could be improved through software in the future.

The clincher for me returning the device to the store was playing video. Home movies encoded in anything but the lowest bitrates played fine for a few seconds then did an unwatchable jerky dance. The wireless network reported an excellent link and 54Mbit and occasionally 36Mbit connection speeds.

Finally, the user interface seems a bit crude and slow to respond. Again, this may be upgradable in the future so there is the potential for significant improvement. It just didn't meet my expectations at this time.

So, I'm considering trying competitive devices such as the Prismiq or Play@TV products. If they don't do the trick it is time to build that media-center PC in an entertainment center-friendly case and be done with it. That still leaves the challenge of sharing content throughout the house unsolved. :-(

I have to join the chorus of negative reviews of this product. I bought the WET54G and the WRT54G to replace a non-standard (RadioLan) wireless connection. My first suspicion that this might not be a quality product was when I noticed the Ethernet plug wouldn't lock into place. I thought the install was straightforward, and I was initially please with the speed and reliability, but after several days of continuous use the connection began to get fairly flaky, and finally the unit couldn't detect ANY of the numerous wireless networks that suround me. In the meantime, my Apple iBook sitting 3 feet away had no problem setting up a reliable link to the WRT54g. I have more money then time, and didn't want to hassle with customer support, so I foolishly bought a 2nd unit, thinking perhaps I had just picked up a lemon. Same symptoms: an initial honyemoon, increasing unreliability, and finally total failure. I STRONGLY advise against this item.

Actually, the hardware is fine. I'm disappointed in Amazon.com. . .
I bought the WET54G Wireless Bridge from Amazon.com to use with a WRTG54G Router in a small business network I support. I picked the WET54G after reviewing it on the Linksys site and noting that I could enable WPA security since both devices support WPA and WEP.
UNFORTUNATELY, the WET54G I received from Amazon.com was NOT the hardware version 2 device but, instead, version 1.1 which shipped with firmware 2.05 (upgradeable to 2.06). . . BUT I need to have a vers 2.0 hardware with firmware 2.08 or higher in order to have WPA security capability!
Watch out. Make sure that the product you buy is the current version!

For just a little more money, the WET54GS5 adds a 5-port switch. Installation could not have been easier, and the unit seems well-made.

I purchased this high speed router for a dedicated satellite internet connection. The unit provides one SSL outbound connection which is almost useless. The unit will not autosense the modem connection speed either 10 or 100 Mbps. The manufactures solution is to put an ethernet hub between the router and the ethernet modem. (what kind of a fix is that) Not what I would consider top of the line from Netgear. I would not recommend or sell one of these to any of my other customers.

This is sold at a premium price and should be a premium product. It is NOT; it is high priced junk that should not have gotten past their Quality Department into the market.

The first unit lasted 3 weeks on a network of 4 users with a DSL rated @ 384 Kbps.

The tech service people refused to believe their unit could be at fault and blamed it on the ISP. I replaced this $450 router with a $50 one and all worked fine.

After a 2 hour wait for a Level 2 tech, I was issued a replacement unit. This unit, with serial # 4952, replaced one with a 125 serial # so I assumed the bug had been resolved. This unit died after 35 minutes of use.

I then called Netgear Tech Service people again and waited 2.5 hours for a Level 2 Technician. A recording came on telling me that they were too busy (after I waited for them for 2.5 hours) and told me to call at a later date and disconnected me.

I fired off a short letter to Netgear's Technical VP and CEO - which created a response. They offered to get me a new unit, stress test it, and send it to me. Then someone called and told me that it will take a week to get a suitable unit. I am still waiting - a week after the second unit died.

I had a very similar experience with their FVS 318 in Feb 2003 - where it took 3 units to get one that worked. I gave Netgear a second chance then. At this point however, I will no longer use Netgear equipment. I am an installer and I just cannot afford the labor associated with their faulty products.

As I told Netgear people - Stop rushing product to market before it is ready. The recall expense will hurt badly; the upset customers will go away. They did not heed my advice in Feburary and now, after I gave them an ample second chance, I do not intend to use Netgear routers again.

I strongly recommend you do the same unless you like to replace and replace and replace hoping to get something that works.

It is too bad for Netgear - but some people only learn the hard way. I guess they are one of them.

I wrote the above on Oct 10, 2003. It is now Feb. 22, 2004. Netgear does not have a fix as of today for this problem. They issued me a less costly FVS 318 as an interim fix in late October 2003 with the intent to have the FVL 328 repaired and restored. To date, there is no fix and this has been confirmed by an e mail to me of a few weeks ago.

I regret to take this harsh stance, I fully understand the technical problems in bringing a product to market and the unsuspected probems that can arise. However, the manufacturer is responsible for bringing a dependable product to market and this clearly did not happen in this case. For Netgear's sake, I hope they have overhauled their product introduction procedures or they will not survive with new product launch. For those considering a gateway router, I continue to recommend they not buy this one.

I own this product for about a year now and it has worked OK for 7 users connected and sharing a DSL Connection.

Netgear Support absolutely sucks, especially after 90 days of ownership. All they do is direct you to their premium phone support or to free email support which in turn directs you to their premium phone support. For top notch support go with linksys.

The Dynamic DNS they offer through works for short period and then generates DNS query error, good luck solving that. I would say that the firewall and security settings are a bit better then the $50-$90 dollar units.

To use the router as a VPN server for remote users, you need Netgears Client software. Windows VPN connection does not work, since it requares L2TP or PPTP termination which this router does not support. I think it will pass through those connections in which case you need a seperate VPN server like Windows 2000 Server edition OS.

If you decide to go with this router, please make sure you are ready to configure all the options you want this router to do (Dynamic DNS, VPN, Office to office connection, etc.). because if the support period passes you are on your own. Call the premium support and you have to pay nomater if they fix the problem or not.

I've never been so disappointed by a product. This unit has more bugs than the amazon (the rainforest, not this site). After 5 seconds it resets the signal from the keyboard input. So, say you're playing a game or scanning through a video, every 5 seconds you have to re-press the key. It also gets confused when switching back and forth between Mac and PC, making the all-important function key, alt key and control key unresponive or completely dead on the Mac. Supposedly you can update the bios to fix this (using a proprietary cable that you have to plug into the antiquated parallel port), but when i attempted it, it killed the switch completely. Belkin tech support's answer to the death of my $90 investment was "replace the unit". I know there aren't a whole lot of other options, but ANYTHING is better than this.

Just bought one of these so I could use 2 Macs at my desk and control them from one keyboard/mouse. One of the reasons I bought this prudoct is because the box said it's Mac compatible, it's not a complete lie, but your in for some work if you're trying to use it with 2 Macs. I bought this on a friday and came in on the weekend to install it, all that fun work of crawling around under the desk connecting a bunch of cables etc.
It's now Tues. (I wasn't in the office on Mon.) and everything was acting weird. As I was typing I would suddenly be stuck in Caps Lock mode when I hadn't hit the Caps Lock Key. Numbers would appear as I typed and reapeat across the screen and I hadn't typed any numbers either. And volume and eject keys did not work at all. After some experimentation I found that the right shift key was acting like a Caps Lock Key and the arrow keys were producing numbers when I used them, sometimes repeating numbers until I diconnected the keyboard (disconnecting the keyboard produces a nasty beeping noise from the KVM box that my boss can hear across the office with his door shut.)
Off to the website, the FAQ has one question, it's not mine. In all fairness the firmware update I need is on the website but it's only AFTER I call tech support and ask to talk to a supervisor that I realize it's what I need. The description of the software update is so poorly worded that it is impossible to determine that it is the solution to my problem. When I do call Tech support (one hour wait, not an 800#, longdistance call) I am told that this doesn't support the Mac special function keys (volume, eject.) I bought my Mac in 2001 and I remember seeing these keys on macs sometime in 2000. As near as I can tell this product was released in 2002. When I talked to a supervisor at Belkin they were trying to claim it was after mac changed there keyboard layouts that they started getting these complaints. It's been 3 years with this keyboard, thats a really lame excuse when your box says you're mac compatable and the copyright dates on the box and literature say 2002.
In order for this product to work with a mac keyboard I have to connect the keyboard to one of the other USB ports. But as I mentioned earlier, not having a keyboard connected to the keyboard port of the KVM produces an earsplitting beeping noise. To get rid of this noise you can either connect another keyboard to the keyboard port completly negating the reason for buying this in the first place. Or I can upgrade the firmware so the stupid thing doesn't beep when there is nothing connected to the keybord port. You can ONLY preform the firmware update that will make it work correctly on a mac by disconnecting the KVM and connecting it to a PC. Let me repeat that, you need to have a PC to preform an upgrade so it will KINDA work on a Mac.

This camera works ok in windows 2000 but does not work at all with XP. I feel ripped off and will never buy a Micro Innovations product ever again.

Another lousy camera. Does not work with XP. Read a similar review, posted by someone else for the camera IC100C by the same company.
The product box is misleading, says its compatible with XP, but the user manual inside does not include XP in the list of compatible OS. The installation software does not work with Windows XP.
The customer service is also very poor. I called 2 times, each time I was asked to leave a message. No one called me back. I returned the camera, I had bought it from Office Max. I think I will go with a Logitech product.

I had the unfortunate chance to use this camera whilst staying with a friend. The quality is poor, grainy, and though it tracks well, the picture is inconsistant. The software may as well have been written by a five year old for all the good it works with XP. I liked the look, but even with all the lights turned directly in your face the picture quality is poor at best. Spend your money on something better, this product is definately a waste of hard earned cash.

OK, I own many Belkin products. Up until now, they have not let me down. I would recommend just about anything made by Belkin. Anything but a KVM switch, that is.

Does it work? Yes, but it has some MAJOR drawbacks:

1) Not compatible with all USB keyboards

2) Locks up occasionally, requiring you to disconnect it from all computers

3) Periodically switches your monitor off (standby) for no apparent reason

4) Causes degradation of video signal

For one, the only way you will know is to try it with your USB keyboard. But at about fifty bucks a pop for this KVM, that's an expensive experiment.

For two, this is supposed to be a KVM switch. If you need to disconnect it and reconnect it periodically, what's the point of even having a KVM switch?

For three . . . don't know what to say on this one except that it's very annoying.

Also, the picture displayed on my NEC LCD1760V 17" LCD monitor is distorted when using this KVM. It's not terribly distorted (so I know all the hardware is working AS DESIGNED), but it is noticeably distorted. Basically, if you pass video through this Belkin KVM switch, the video is darker and blurry. Bright white colors take on a slightly gray tinge and text is harder to read than it should be. It's almost like this KVM causes your monitor to lose some contrast. Yes, all cables are properly and FIRMLY connected. This isn't a hardware problem or a connection problem, it is a design problem. I suspect the cables used on this KVM are inferior quality, which is possibly what is causing the video degradation.

I think this one is a waste of money. Normally, Belkin makes great products, so I was REALLY disappointed with this KVM.

I don't think the other person who reviewed this model was talking about the right model. This one doesn't have auxiliary USB ports (just 2 for keyboard and mouse), nor does it require an AC adapter. That notwithstanding, I have almost nothing good to say about this switch.

1) Design: This is set up so that the input connectors go in one side, and the output cables go out the opposite side. Most USB switches have all the input and output on one side or two adjacent sides to decrease the obtrusiveness of the switch on your desk. Not this one. The design wizards who put this one together made sure it would be as awkward as possible. Because there are cables pulling from opposite ends, the switch stands up on its side and I have to yank it down every time I want to push the button. Which may be a contributing factor in problem #2.
2) Doesn't seem to have keyboard/mouse emulation. Every time I have to reboot one of the 2 computers connected to this switch, the switch will no longer "stick" on that computer. It will switch over for about 4 seconds, the mouse and keyboard never activate, and then it switches back to the other computer. It may just be that one of the 2 output cables is defective. At any rate, the only fix I've found is to switch the output cables between the 2 computers. Then they'll both work until I reboot one of them again. That sort of defeats the purpose of having a switch. If I wanted to switch peripherals every time I rebooted, I would have just kept doing that instead of wasting money on this junk.

The one thing I do like about this switch is that you can plug your speakers into the switch and use the audio on both computers. However, there are other brands of USB switches that have that feature...and I'll be out shopping for one today

I only gave this one star because zero is not an option.

I finally got this KVM switch to work -- but it has some serious design flaws:
1. the KVM's compact design doesn't accomodate cords easily. The DVI cable from my monitor was a little larger than the design of the switch so it had to be scrunched -- scary -- into place. What's worse the supplied power adaptor cable COVERs one of the auxiliary USB ports -- so you end up with just a single functional auxiliary USB.
2. You still have the two USB ports for the shared mouse and keyboard. But guess what, the keyboard USB port only works with SOME USB keyboards. My Kinesis keyboard failed to work with the switch, which beeps endlessly until you plug a "proper" keyboard into it. Tech support told me that the switch doesn't work with all keyboards including the new USB keyboard supplied with the G5 Mac computer. The only solution I found was to plug another USB keyboard I had into the keyboard port, and then plug my kinesis keyboard into the remaining auxiliary USB port. Now I have NO auxiliary USB ports.
3. Belkin also sells DVI cables with USB and audio cables for this product. But the DVI cable doesn't match the DVI port on one of my computers -- tech support said there's a lot of different DVI connectors. In fact I was told that the switch wouldn't work with my DVI connector, so I was out of luck. Fortunately, I didn't believe him, so I just bought another DVI cable -- and it worked

Once I had it working -- it did what it promised. Switched keyboard, mouse and audio between two computers -- but not after a lot of work, inconvenience (I have this extra keyboard that has to always remain plugged in) and extra cash for new DVI cable

thought i'd suggest this to a friend to try. Complete waste of time. Intermittent setup problems with win xp, had to disable then enable all the time. XP configuration would only intermittently show out our home network that would always show up on netstumbler, even after disabling all security features.

I'm pretty good with computers, and can build a computer from parts. So despite some negative reviews, I was wondering how bad could this be? Well, it's going back in exchange for a linksys.

This product is horrible. It took three calls to tech support to get it "working". It drops the connection all the time even when the signal is very strong. I am using a D-Link DI-624 router. I will be removing this card and returning it today.

Please save yourself a lot of wasted time. Go with a different brand. This card is very bad. It randomly rebooted my machine while I am surfing the internet. I reinstalled my old 802.11b card, no more unwanted reboot.