Product Description

Netgear 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter WG311GE Networks Wireless Adapters

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12993 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: NetGear
• Model: WG311
• Released on: 2003-08-12
• Platform: Windows
• Dimensions: .86" h x 5.23" w x 4.76" l, .53 pounds

Features

• Wireless PC adapter provides touchless Wi-Fi security and turns dead spots into hot spots. Network coverage is extended up to 10 times that of standard 802.11g. RangeMax maintains clear connections without interference.

Manufacturer's Description
Power-packed 802.11b/g Wireless Networking for Your Desktop At 54 Mbps, this wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g PCI card is much faster than existing 11 Mbps wireless networks and will supercharge the delivery of media-rich content to your desktop PC as never before. It easily handles huge digital video and MP3 files, firing them through your network at blazing speeds. It gives you continuous access to your home wireless router or office network, saves the time and expense of installing Ethernet cabling when you want to set up or expand a network, and makes it simple to relocate your desktop PC without rewiring. Moreover, it allows network users to wirelessly share a broadband Internet connection for access to corporate resources, the Internet, and e-mail all with the highest available level of industry standard WEP encryption security.

Blazing-fast This high-speed 802.11g PCI card delivers large files in the blink of an eye up to five times faster than 802.11b, allowing wireless video streaming for the first time ever. Dynamic rate shifting according to environmental conditions achieves the fastest possible connections.

Efficent Adds convenient mobility and reliable standards-based wireless connectivity to a network from a desktop PC via an 802.11b, 802.11g, or dual-band router or access point. Makes the most of your broadband connection, allowing network users to wirelessly share one IP address. Quickly and easily networks employees for ongoing access to corporate resources, e-mail, and the Internet.

Safe & Simple Secure 40/64 and 128-bit Wired Equivalency Protection (WEP) encryption allows for secure data transfer and increased shielding from wireless eavesdroppers. Supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through for protected communication over the public Internet. Simple to install and use.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Faultless electronically, just needs a better antenna
The Netgear devices are rapidly becoming the industry standard for wireless devices, the installation of most of their hardware is moderately simple and the tools and monitoring software is pretty self-explanatory.

The only slight downside is the limited range of the antenna. If you’re practically sitting on top of your access point (the device you are connecting to) then it will be OK. The rather under-sized 2dB omni-directional antenna will have a clear line of site range of 100m – pretty good you might say, until you realise the a single brick wall may reduce that by 90% to 10m. Two brick walls and you will be relying on the complex patterns of radio constructive interference to get a good signal – and a prayer might help!

So you may well be buying a 54Mbps 802.11g card and only ever achieving 2Mbps because the signal is just so weak. As this is a desktop device, you may find that investing in a 5-6dB directional radio antenna the tonic to making your wireless experience a whole site more pleasurable. After all, it’s advisable to focus the power that your Netgear card generates towards the access point instead of the omni-directional antenna which sprays the signal in all directions wasting the majority of the power.

[By the way, dB is a logarithmic scale, so you will be increasing the radio signal considerably by going from a 2 to a 5dB antenna.]

All that said, without a reliable and easy-to-use wireless network interface card such as this you won’t be going anywhere! This is a good mainstream purchase for a desktop system.

A Good Product - Needs Better Support
I'm certain that reading such negative reviews must make some readers very nervous about purchasing this product. There is good reason for much of the frustration and this is partly the fault of Netgear.

I have a Win XP Service Pack 2 dell. The utility software that comes with the card (when I bought it) has a serious conflict with Win XP Service Pack 2. This will cause you hours of pain if you're not in the know. Fortunately the solution is easily rectified and involves downloading the latest version from the netgear dot com site.

Win XP Service Pack 2 has a built in firewall which you'll need to deactivate (via control panel/security). You'll then need to install this software (ignore the CD completely) BEFORE you install the PCI card and that's that.

I've got the netgear wireless 54Mbs router/modem which worked great with this.

Netgears support adds a whole new dimension to the pain and frustration of getting everything set up. You'll need the serial number handy and wil have to answer lots of inane consumer questions before they will get to the point. After this, I've found them very helpful, but I was screaming inside and had to call them a couple of times.

All in all I'm very satisfied with this product. The XP SP2 issue makes a call to support a high possiblity and that's where the pains starts...

Walking Talking Disaster
This product is a complete hoax from Netgear (very unlike them), it didnt even register with my nieces new Dell PC. The software installed fine but failed to find the drivers even though they were installed on the system. The netgear technical support system is a even bigger hoax who clearly dont know anything about networking. They refused to talk to me unless I registered there product online and this happened after I waited half an hour on the phone to talk to them on an 0870 number, because the 0800 number has been evidently replaced. Online forums talked about a bios update but what is the point of the bios update when the computer is brand new. Even then i checked for a bios update and surprise surprise I had the latest BIOS. Also I know I have a compliant motherboard, so why shouldn't it work?? DONT BUY THIS PRODUCT - Settle for the USB equivalent Netgear WG121 - but only if you have sufficient IT or Networking skills because Netgear support is just not worth the telephone bill! The USB works a treat connects to my DG834G access point at 54MBPS (note you have to have USB 2.0 port to achieve this speed - hence the new computer). By the way Amazon were great in issuing me a refund and even paid for my royal mail special delivery charge!!!