Netgear WG311 54 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

Manufacturer:	Netgear
List price:	~~$79.99~~
Our price:	$37.69 that is 53% off!

Netgear WG311 54 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

Average rating: Stars

They freeze the PC

I bought two of these for my home office. I installed on two PCs, and both froze completely after about 10 minutes. I uninstalled, switched the cards between the PCs and re-installed, and the same thing happened. I tried again after using Windows update but they froze again. That's four different installs in total and none of them work.

This is not a Windows XP issue - I have all sorts of equipment running on my PCs, including two ethernet cards (now uninstalled) and I have never, ever had this type of problem. It only happens with Netgear. What's that? Re-install Windows? You jest - I have work to do.

I will never buy Netgear again. What a total waste of money.

Netgear WG311 54 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter - Netgear

Doesn't work with linux, uses the dreaded TI ACX111 chipset

If you are a sucker like me, you'll buy this card. The card is based on the Texas Instruments ACX111 chipset, which due to TI's hostility towards open source software, is very hard to support in Linux/FreeBSD, in short anything but win and perhaps macs.
The support is very spotty, and is the result of reverse engineering and hard work of many Linux developers. TI would provide absolutely no specs or details on the card.

So stay away from this card.

Netgear - Netgear WG311 54 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter

Try the D-Link DWL-G122 instead.

I was given this PCI adapter (version 1) by someone who had it for a while but couldn't get it to work.

I downloaded the drivers from Netgear's website and installed them, then install the adapter. Windows XP (with SP2) detected it, loaded the drivers and prompted for my router's (Linksys WRT54G) WEP code. It has worked consistently for a week now without any dropped signals - that's the good part.

Unfortunately, the signal strength is always low in spite of being just one room away from the router - that's the bad part. If your PC is located far from the router, I wouldn't recommend buying this unit. I have a second PC in the same room hooked up to a D-Link DWL-G122 wireless USB adapter and it consistently gets good to excellent signal strength.

Setting up the D-Link USB device was easy right out of the box. It costs less, comes with a cradle (attached to a USB cable) that can be moved around to locate the optimal spot where signal strength is strongest. Highly recommended if you have more than 1 PC/laptop and want to easily connect the wireless adapter to any one of them.

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