Wireless-Network Reviews

I have an SMC7004AWBR router (by the way, the 1/23/03 SMC firmware upgrade finally fixed the router dropout problems). I bought the SMC 2402W wireless PCI card and installed it with no problems on a Win ME box. Reception was good- different floors of the house, about 75 feet away. Since the router is only 11mbps, I can't take advantage of the 22mbps until I upgrade the router.

For some reason, the included software configuration utility does not allow you to generate any WEP key using a passphrase- you have to enter the key manually. Since I used a passphrase to generate my existing WEP key, I didn't know what my WEP key was, so I had to go back to my router (and each wireless PC) as well to manually re-create the key. If you change your WEP key a lot this would be a nuisance. I contacted SMC email support, and though they were quick to respond, they had nothing useful to say on this matter.

Note also that this card supports 256 bit WEP keys, though my router doesn't.

By comparison with the experience I had with a similar product by Linksys, this baby was up and running in no time. I set it up in a Windows XP machine and it was a breeze to get up and running. One piece of advice (I learned it the hard way): don't expect this technology to go be able to go through metal doors. It just will not happen. Other than that, in a more "normal" setting, it should perform just fine.

The router has not worked since the day I bought it. Technical support sucks! Don't waste your money.

I have to say, I was a little concerned about this product after reading about some of the difficulties other buyers have experienced. I was also a bit nervous about installing it myself, since I am not what you would call a computer expert.

From Day One after installing it, though, I have been impressed. It gets fantastic range throughout my entire house, even through walls and heavy, metal objects. Signal strength on my computers is almost always between 90-100%, and has NEVER dipped below 73%.

As for the network installation itself, it was easy and took a total of about an hour (and that includes installation and configuration of wireless cards on 2 computers).

And you can't beat the price on this thing. I highly recommend this and other Netgear wireless network products.

Easy to set up. Works perfect for me.

shows excellent signal strength but then for no reason looses connection for a few seconds then connects back up, does this constantly, tried changing channel to 6 and that helped a bit, I am going to try to flash the bios in the 614AP. Any help on this one?

A good friend of mine had this USB adapter and a couple of other USB devices like a webcam, a zip drive, and his wireless keyboard and mouse. He was getting poor transfer rates (2-3Mbps) with this USB adapter so he decided to sell it to me and get one of the PCI type Wireless adapters. This was the perfect choice for both of us. He now gets about twice as much speed as he did with this USB adapter and I get about 5-6Mbps with this USB adapter. It seems as though he hade too many USB devices and the bandwidth allotted for this device wasn't what he wanted.

We also found out, after actually reading the manual thoroughly, that placing wireless devices near monitors, TVs, radios, and anything else that uses radio waves could suck up the signal strength of the wireless products. (His USB adapter was on top of his monitor, since that was the highest point he figured it was best.) Turns out it wasn't.

So I ended up getting a good deal, and a great product. And he ended up finding a good alternative. I would like to send my thanks to my friend Matt for the good price and D-Link for the useful documentation.

I own the Wireless Network Kit D-Link sells and it comes with two of these Wireless USB Network Adapters. I was able to set-up my network in about an hour and only ran into one problem. But it turned out to be my fault and thank to the documentation I was able to solve it rather quickly. Next time I will read the instructions a little better.

The netowork runs fast and I am more than happy with the results. I highly recommend this product along with the Kit for people who are like me and don't want to run wires thoughout their home.

I did a lot of research on wireless access points, and this one was very highly rated. It was easy to install and fairly easy to configure using D-Link's web based interface. Unfortunately, the device only worked well for five days.

Then I upgraded the firmware - and things went downhill. The signal strength became very inconsistent: Excellent one moment, fair the next, then poor, etc. It was all over the map - even when the wireless client remained stationary.

I spent hours trying to fix it. D-Link's telephone tech support people were not particularly helpful. It sounded like they didn't know one product from another. Email tech support merely regurgitated what is posted on the website.

I finally gave up, decided to return it, and bought a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router. It is less expensive, easier to configure, performs more consistently, and does the job of both a router and wireless access point - so I've now got one less device to manage.

The D-Link may work for you. But if it doesn't, my advice is not to waste a lot of time trying to fix it.

This wireless AP is a perfect addition to any network. It can do so many things right out of the box and do things it does. The wireless range alone is worth buying this AP. I can get wireless internet anywhere in my home and if I set it out my front window I can go down the street about 2 houses down and still get a connection. A neighbor of mine bought one of these as well and was facinated by it as I was. So we tested out bridging our networks together and found that with a clear line of sight his network can be connected to mine from 3 houses down and across the street. Or he can set his as a wireless acess point and I will set mine as a wireless client and I can receive his signal just fine.

Either way it's fun to have this piece of hardware lying around. I use mine as an AP and access the internet securly with 256-bit WEP enabled on both my laptop and this AP. I can access the internet from any room in my home and I can't thank this little device enough for freeing me and my laptop up from cables!

I did a lot of research on a number of wireless access points and routers but I finally decided that the D-Link DWL-900AP+ would be the right one for me. One of the deciding factors is the 256-bit encryption option, the highest I could find available. From the time that I got the box home to the time that I was walking around my entire house surfing the internet on my laptop took a whole 15 minutes. And I didn't have a single glitch along the way.

Granted, I've been running a wired network in my home for a few years and most of the concepts were not new to me. However, I believe that the installation manual is good enough to get even a networking newbie on the wireless net in no time. The trick is to fully read all of the directions before doing ANYTHING and then read them again as you start the setup process. The one area where the instructions were somewhat lacking was in the advanced setup area such as the MAC address filtering and the encrytion key. I think a newbie might have a little bit of trouble getting these setup. I reccommend the excellent articles and tutorials on 80211-planet.com to help you understand the terminology and concepts before you start changing settings.

I used the DWL-650+ wireless network adapter from D-Link in my laptop and after inputting the encryption key it worked immediately.

I've never had any problems with any networking hardware from D-Link. The quality of their products continue to impress me, especially given their relatively low price. I've also used Netgear, 3Com and Intel and had minor to major problems with all three.

Based on the previous reviews I order 2 of these items to use in my home. On the first install I was able to get a good signal one story away but after rebooting my laptop I could not get device to install properly. I keep getting unknown device. This was on a Win 98 SE system. I also had the same results on a XP machine that I was also planning using them on. Instead of trying to tweak it so much to force it to work I opted to buy the netgear version which matched my router manufaturer. Plugged it in and no configuration needed. I'm new to wireless and been in the computer field for almost 20 years. I think keeping the same manufaturer on these items is probably a good solution for beginners since this technology has become econimically feasible for home users to use. I don't have time to fiddle with pnp devices that are suppose to work right out of the box. Just my opinion.

Inspired by the free sample period for the Home Media Option, I bought this wireless adapter to use with our TiVo2. Setting it up couldn't have been simpler - I took it out of the box, plugged one cord into the TiVo, and it automatically detected our network. To get it running, I just told the TiVo our network encryption level and password, and that was it! This is on TiVo's list of compatible USB wireless adapters, and it was one of the least expensive options when I looked, which was a big plus.

Very easy to install and configure, and has much stronger signal than the Linksys that I have. Great unit, and I'm in the process of ordering another one.

One other reviewer praises the ability to watch his kids in the other room. I agree the camera is useable for this. However, access over the internet for me, so far, has been impossible. I have jumped through all the hoops such as firmware and software updates, followed the very specific instructions supplied by veo for my linksys wireless ap/router, and tried using a different port than 80. I have tried and tried but now must face the fact that I cannot recommend this product in it's present form. A good idea but does not perform as advertised. Something better will come soon I think.

Some pros: Motion detector attachment works well although you can only send the resulting email snapshot to one address. This means you cannot email your phone as an alarm and at the same time have the snapshot sent to a remote computer that burglers will not be taking with them when they leave. You get either a virtual alarm or an email snapshot. Not both. I would think veo would have thought this through and could have easily had this feature.

In closing, obviously I had some idea that I could use this camera for security monitoring over the net. This has not been the case for me and I am not a total amatuer. I usually work stuff like this out.

Oh, and dont let me forget to mention that there is NO telephone support of any kind and my email went unanswered.

Setup's a toughie, no doubt, but I bagged the complex manual and went right to the telephone tech support. After a 15 min. wait, they walked me through the setup in about 45 mins. Works great and compared to other systems its cheap.

Note: For remote viewing you'll most likely need a web portal that will offer a "static" web address. TZO.com will do it for 25 bucks a year.

I hooked it up to my Linksys wireless network and I can now see my kids in the play room while I am working. Very easy to install, I was blown away with the remote pan and tilt features.

I've seen some negative reviews of this card on other sites, but I can't seem to find a thing wrong with it. I purchased this card with the WGT624 and have had nothing but a great experience with it. Distance is great, stability, speed and features work as advertised. I'm thinking about getting another one for my wife as well. Great product!!

At least when paired with the Netgear WGT624 WAP/Router this card does indeed have a significant farther range than for instance the DLINK 614+ was was currently using. I can go from one corner of the house downstairs to a bedroom at the opposite corner of the house upstairs, on a waterbed at almost full speed (this gave the DLINK some trouble).

It also comes with a nifty utility that does a better job than Windows with settings and statistics (like actual network throughput).

One minor issue may be with how hot this card gets which is always a concern with a laptop. To the cards credit there are settings for Power Save and Transmit Power which may help.

I dont want to repeat all the good things said about this product. I have always been a netgear fan, because they make solid network equipment. This is my first netgear wireless equipment, and it works great just like other netgear products.

One thing to remember though...you need to download and install the new driver in order to take advantage of the new WPA firewall security feature.

The following is a recount of my personal experience with this Netgear product as well as my own opinions about the products usefulness.

My background:

I am a computer programmer with about 10 years of work experience and a 4.0 grade point average from an Ivy League school.

I was not able to get this product to work with an IBM ThinkPad T22 running Windows XP. I got the infamous "Code 10" problem that many others are seeing with this product. (...)a google search for 'netgear wg511 "code 10"' to see more.

Besides the problems that users are having, the technical support requires that you traverse "Bangalore Hell", from which you will probably not receive the information necessary to fix the problem (which, from the above posts, seems to be a driver software problem).

I tried various versions of the drive software downloaded from Netgear, including the latest 2.7.0.0 driver. This was the latest software available as of July 17, 2004. I was never able to get my laptop to properly recognize the card. No combination of removing and reinstalling drivers, removing and reinserting the wireless card, or clearing out Windows registry keys helped.

There is a reference to this problem on the Netgear website. However, it is terse and does not seem to offer a solution -- none of the approaches listed helped solve my problem (...)personal "solution" to the "Code 10" issue was to pack up the Netgear router and card and return it to Amazon. I have since replaced it with a Linksys combination which worked right out of the box. I didn't even need to install software -- Windows XP's built in Wi-Fi support was all that was needed.

Please note that this is only my personal experience and the experiences of various other anonymous posters on the Internet. It may not reflect every user's experience (or even the most common experience), and must be taken with a grain of salt.

Thanks for reading all the way through! :-)

--(...)

I bought this combo because I wanted to upgrade my wireless network with faster speed and higher security. The speed is no problem, but the security is. After upgrading firmware on the router, I was able to configure WPA security (the best wireless security) with no trouble. The same did not hold true for the PC card...I got installation errors on the software upgrade for the card (you can't use WPA without the upgrade), and apparently for certain computers, especially those with AMD processors, the upgrade software simply doesn't work. Tech support was a big waste of time so far.

If you want WPA security and you have an AMD-based laptop, you might want to think twice.

First of all, I woould like to commend Amazon.com on their fast delivery. I ordered it on Monday morning and I got the package delivered to my front door the next morning. That was with the free shipping option, which was suppose to take about five days.
Now about the Netgear WGB511 802.11g wireless networking kit...I was able to get the router running with default settings in less than 10 minutes after I took it out of the box and that includes the time that I used to figure out how to use my old Linksys HPRO200 router as a bridge to my HPNA network. Upon inspecting the firmware version, I noticed that the version posted on Netgear's web site is newer and includes WPA-PSK so I quickly downloaded it and burned the new firmware. Except for the slow download from Netgear the whole process went very smoothly, however, the instruction for setting up WPA-PSK is minimal and it took a bit of guessing on my part to set it up (had to guess what needs to be done on my Windows XP, but only took couple tries.) The range of the wireless network is good and I was able to get excellent strength readings throughout most of the house. Over all, I am extremely pleased with the Netgear router so far, I just hope it won't quit on me prematurely as my Linksys wireless AP did right after warrenty expired.

Don't bother reading this if you live in the States or Canada, but if you are one of the many Americans stationed overseas who buy electronics online, you might benefit from my frustrating experience.

When the router arrived, I read the box very closely; even though every other piece of computer equipment I've purchased in the last few years has been dual-voltage, I wanted to make sure this one was, too. The box doesn't specify the input power requirements, but it does say "For all EU countries" and specifically refers to using it in France and Italy. So I logically assumed that I would indeed be able to use this product in Europe without needing a transformer.

But no. The power adapter is 120V only. I've been trying for over a month to get Linksys to send me a 220V-compatible adapter -- I know they make them; Linksys is worldwide. But every call and email I've sent (and there have been many, to the UK and Germany as well as to the States' outsourced customer service locations) has only resulted in being told to call someone else. Customers can request a replacement power adapter from the Linksys website; I did that, specifying the 220V version, and was sent another 120V one (incidentally, I had to have it sent to my parents, who forwarded it to me, as Linksys refuses to ship to APO addresses). I guess the good people at Linksys thought I didn't know what I wanted.

So -- I can't evaluate the product itself because I haven't used it yet. But the customer service has been extremely disappointing.

I've been a Linksys user since my first 4-port DSL router. Unfortunately I made a bad decision when I upgraded to a 802.11g AP. I bought a Netgear 802.11g AP based on the recommendation from CNET. Then my nightmare began!! Whilst the wireless signal strength was quite decent, the connection was dodgy.

After months of suffering it finally came to an end today... from the moment I setup the WRT54GS router. :-) The web GUI is well organized and easy to follow. Connection speed as well as response time is far better than my old Netgear AP that has a very high latency in initiating connection. I used to have problems in maintaining my PPTP connection to my office. Now it's stable as rock!! Overall this is a very well built product with solid support (in terms of firmware updates/bug fixes).

no problems so far with 1 airport extreme card and one linksys PCI 802.11g on a win xp box. using stock firmware.

worked well immediately, is fast, and stable.

avoid the d-link pci card, had problems with this router.

this is a 2 star or less router which will take you a week of screwing around if you havn't read my review. out of the box the DHCP Server within the router will re-lease lan ip's every 9min, 24/7, constantly restarting the lan, which somehow causes all kinds of seemingly unrelated problems throughout your lan if you don't follow these simple steps. when you get the router home, plug it into the wall, cable modem and computer. turn everything on and wait for things to settle down. log onto the web base interface by pointing your web browser to your new router's lan IP of http://192.168.0.1/ (BTW, 192.168.0.1 is not a public IP . . . it's contained within your local network), admin, no password. click the tools tab and firmware button and download the firmware to your desktop. MOST importantly: nOw . . . GeT a BaLlPoInT pEn aNd ReSeT the router _BEFORE_ u go back and update the firmware!! congratulations, you have a smooth running, art state, 5 star router

I had a high-end 802.11b router for two years. When I started having problems, I wanted to go with a dual-band router. This was the cheapest one, but it matched my requirements (built-in switch). Not only was the setup simple and quick, but the network delay caused by my earlier router disappeared. I now have a great wireless network with blazing speed. Wonderful product.

I am using a DWL-G650 in my laptop and my wife uses an 802.11a based card in her laptop she uses at work mostly. She gets a good connection from within the room of the office, but if she goes very far away from the room she loses her connection. 802.11a is that way for everyone so it isn't just this router. That is the price you pay for faster speeds.
802.11g is a happy medium with adequate speeds and good range. I can go anywhere in the house and if I am furthest I can get from the router I still get a good 2Mbps transfer speeds which means no slow down in gaming online and surfing online.
The router/AP keeps our connection fairly good. There have been times when we were dropped from the wireless connection, but it came back up in about a minute after that. It happened at completely random times so it might have been something do to with interference or some weird wireless thing. It rarely happens and it fixes itself so everything is fine with me.
I'd recommend it to others and advise in changing the default password, SSID, and enable WEP to actually be secure. You'd be suprised that about 75% of people don't secure their wireless connections.