Cisco-Linksys AE1000 High-Performance Wireless-N Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been working to get the AE1000 (Windows 7-64) consistently connected to my E3000 router on N on 40Hz for over two weeks now. This is what I have learned:
1) If you are running Zone Alarm firewall software you need to uninstall it, not disable it, prior to running the AE1000 setup. If you do not the setup will indicate you are running wireless management software that is not compatible. You can reinstall Zone Alarm software after the AE1000 is setup.
2) All important wireless features work, including WAP2, MAC address control, and QOS.
3) I was able to get 250+ Mbs from one end of my house to the other with signal strength in the 50% to 70% range even through two walls and 50 feet away.
4) All the above dies after anywhere between 8 and 30 minutes, especially if there is significant throughput, like streaming music or video. The blue light on the AE1000 glows a steady blue and there is no connection to the router.
5) A reboot and reconnect works for a few minutes and then the connection to the AE1000 is dropped again.
6) Updating to the latest firmware for the AE1000 did not change things.
Other wireless N devices I have connect to the E3000 on N on 40Hz with no problems and maintain stable connections for days with not problem. I'm going to try the AE1000 on an XP Pro laptop to see if it is only a Windows 7 64 problem and will update this review at a later date.
Cisco-Linksys High-Performance Wireless-N AdapterTried using the AE1000 with an XP Pro laptop on 2.4Ghz G with no success. I've returned the AE1000 to Amazon for a replacement and hope it was a defective device.
I received a new AE1000 in one day from Amazon. This is the first time I've had to return a product I purchased from Amazon. I was very easy to get a replacement. This is my experience with the new AE1000:
1) The drivers were already installed and updated from the prior installation and Zone Alarm already "knew" about the device. I plugged it in to a 3 foot USB extension cable and it was immediately recognized.
2) I had MAC address control turned off and SSID Broadcast turned on. I made a wireless connection to my 5 Ghz network with WPA2 without a problem. Speed was 271 Mbps.
3) I turned on MAC address control after adding the MAC address for the AE1000 and the connection remained solid.
4) I have been showing 50% to 70% signal strength over a distance of about 125 feet and through two walls and one floor with a consistent 271 Mbps connection speed.
5) It's been up and running without a problem for 24 hours now.
Remaining things to check:
1) Does the connection survive a reboot without having to specifically reconnect to the network.
2) Can the connection be maintained with SSID turned off.
At this point I am changing by rating to 3 stars and will rate it higher if it continues to function well.
Update:
I have been able to establish a stable connection at 271 Mbps for 48 hours using WPA2, MAC Address Control and SSID broadcast off. It appears that the device I was initially using was defective. Amazon sent me a replacement device that appears to work with no problems.


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Connect your Windows laptop or desktop computer wirelessly with the top-notch performance of wireless-N.

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NETGEAR XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridge Review

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(More customer reviews)I tested these between the two units in a duplex apartment building. Each apartment has its own electrical meter and main panel, although they share the same 240Volt service from the street. Result: Works great! The speeds varied slightly depending on the outlets into which these were plugged, but were always much faster than my 3 Mb/s cable modem connection, and were also consistently faster than 802.11b wireless. Supposedly, the connection quality is not limited by distance, and the signal travels just fine across circuit breakers, fuses, and even between the two 120V legs of a 240V service connection, as I confirmed. In a big building, or one with many obstructions, wireless is a hit-or-miss solution, whereas this seems to be rock-solid.

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The NETGEAR XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridge lets you easily extend a network using just the existing electric lines of your home, eliminating the need to run unsightly Ethernet wires all over your house or apartment.
True Plug and Play Installation To extend a network using the electric lines in your home, you need two XE102 units. Simply plug one of them into a wall outlet and connect it to your router with an Ethernet cord. Plug the second one into any wall outlet that is electrically connected to the first and you have an instant Ethernet port to plug a computer, gaming console, or other networkable device with an RJ-45 Ethernet plug. You can create as many network connections as you need by connecting more XE102 units. The device has easy-to-read icon LEDs for status information at a glance.
The XE102 has a 10BASE-T Ethernet jack and supports the 10 Mbps HomePlug 1.0 standard. It uses Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Automatic channel adaptation to ensure the integrity of the data. In order to enable encryption, you need a computer with Windows XP, 2000, ME or 98.
The NETGEAR XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridge is backed by a 3-year warranty.
What's in the Box XE102 Wall-Plugged Ethernet Bridge, installation guide, Ethernet cable, resource CD, and warranty/support information card.

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Seagate Maxtor Central Axis 1 TB Network Storage Server STM310005CAA00G-RK Review

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(More customer reviews)I've just purchased this device to backup my Macbook because of a hard drive crash.
I specifically bought the device because it would work with a Mac and I've met all of their minimum requirements.
So I hook up the thing, and their software doesn't find the drive as it's supposed to. I think, oh that'll be okay, I'll just configure the IP in the device and it'll be good from here on out.
Nope, It *must* run through the detect phase of the program every time. After a lot of trial and error, I got the thing to detect, but not reliably. This means backups don't happen as scheduled. Pretty much making the product worthless to me.
I spoke with their tech. support, when I told them I was using with a mac they actually said "you're killing me"
I recommend against this product if you have a mac.

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Digital videos of your children taking their first steps. The music library you\'ve built. The 15 years of personal financial data you\'ve compiled. They\'re highly valuable—if not irreplaceable—but when stored on your home computers they\'re also vulnerable to system failures and viruses, loss and theft.
Automatic data backup, secure web access and sharing, and convenient media access and streaming for your home network Central Axis storage server delivers a smart, simple way to automatically back up the valuable digital content on all the computers in your home network. Backups happen automatically—a welcome change from the tedious chore of copying your content to discs and thumb drives.
You can securely access and share your content via any web browser, too, so it\'s a snap to grab a file from any computer in your home or on the road, and you can easily share content with friends and family everywhere. And for a rich home entertainment experience, you can create a centralized library of household photos, videos, and music that offers anytime access and streaming to your networked TVs, digital music players, and computers.
With automated data protection, you can automatically back up all your network-connected computers to one central, safe location. The Maxtor Central Axis can securely access your stored content and can view images and slideshows from any Internet-connected PC, Mac, or laptop while keeping your firewall intact. Easy file sharing allows you to invite friends and family to view and download select photos and other files via the web. You can even authorize guests to upload their own content. The convenient media access and streaming will let you enjoy the convenience of a centralized, always-accessible library of your household\'s digital music, videos, and photos, and stream media from your Central Axis to any networked computer or home entertainment device. (Requires a UPnP AV-compatible player.)
Printer sharing allows you to print from anywhere on your network. Most importantly, Maxtor Central Axis Network Storage Server is easy to use. Plug your Central Axis into your router and it automatically configures to your network. The server quickly loads and organizes your content by file type, provides at-a-glance storage and backup status, and notifies you via email of system events.
The stylish design of this hard drive--only measures 6.8 x 2.5 x 5.9-inches (H x D x W). All that is required is a wired or wireless router with an available 10/100/1000 Ethernet port, an Internet connection (for system updates and web access), and a UPnP AV 1.0 certified Digital Media Adapter if media streaming is desired.
System Requirements - Windows - Pentium III, 500Mhz equivalent processor or higher, Windows Vista or Windows XP, 128MB RAM, and Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Firefox 2.X or later for management interface of or web access to Central Access - Macs - Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later, Safari 3.1 or later, and 128 MB of RAM.
Product Highlights What's in the BoxMaxtor Central Axis storage server, Maxtor installation CD, quick start guide, Maxtor manager software, Ethernet cable, AC power adapter, user guide on CD, and a 5-year limited warranty.

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TP-Link WL TL-WR841N 300Mbps Routr Review

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(More customer reviews)The router now sits in the corner, and I almost forgot about it. The reason - it just works with no issues so far.
It was easy to set up, it automatically found all the right settings to connect to my cable modem (once I figured out that I needed to power cycle the modem after I connected the router to it). I manually changed all the WLAN security settings to use an advanced encryption. Similar to the previous reviewer, I did not use the installation CD.
Now the router pairs nicely with a laptop (WLAN N) and a desktop (using another great TP-LINK product - 150Mbps USB adapter TL-WN722N). Desktop reports 150Mbps link all the time (about 30 feet distance), and so far I experienced no dropped connection, despite having many active WLAN routers around my apartment. During installation, I looked for the least used WLAN channel and set the router to use it.
I did an extensive research to find the best moderately priced 300bps WLAN N router before choosing this product, and so far I am very happy with my choice.

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Wireless N Router, Atheros, 2T2R, 2.4GHz, 802.11n/g/b, Built-in 4-port Switch, with 2 fixed antennas

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VTech IS9181 WiFi Internet Radio with Access to Online Content Review

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(More customer reviews)Imagine playing music directly from Japan while eating sushi in your dining room. Or playing Hawaiian music from Hawaii at your next luau. With this WiFi internet radio you can listen to music from all over the world and save your favorites with just a push of the "favorites" button. Then the next time you want to listen you can go directly the the "My Stations" list and choose one of your favorites. I have a classical station in Italy, an oldies station in France, a Celtic station in Ireland and some radio stations in the midwest that I grew up listening to in my favorites list. I also have a French news talk station to keep up on my French. In my video I'll show you how to make some of the internet radio selections and find your own favorite stations.
One of the other options is to listen to music from your computer on this device. The included manual gives simple instructions, with some photos, for setting up your computer so that you can connect via WiFi with this internet radio and play your favorite mp3's, WMA's, Real audio, MP4 and M4A files. There are instructions included for Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5. I've listened to music from both my Windows and Mac computers without any problem. And the good news is that it's easy to set up, even for a non geeky person. The internet radio is also simple to set up. When you turn it on for the first time it asks you if you want to set the time, weather setting (your zip code) and wireless settings. It looks for your WiFi network and asks you to enter your password. I used both the little dial on the top of the radio and the remote to make entering it faster.
I mentioned in my video review that you can use the RCA connectors on the back of the unit to connect to other speakers, such as your stereo speakers. The RCA connector cord isn't included with the radio. There is an auxiliary audio cable included to connect another device such as an mp3 player to this radio (audio in). If you wanted to connect earphones, like the type from an mp3 player I think an adapter like this would work 2 x RCA Male / 1 x 3.5mm Stereo Female, Y-Cable, 6 inch
The sound on the video is limited not only by the camera, but by the compression into a video small enough to show here. It sounds so much better in person. But I hope the video gives you an idea of the different menus and features.

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WiFi Streaming Music Device with Access to Online Content

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Netgear WG111US Wireless G Usb Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased a Vista laptop a few months back and no longer needed my XP desktop on the first floor of the house. The problem was, I dreaded the prospect of having to get a super long ethernet extension cord and tediously staple-gunning it along the wall all the way down to where I wanted to put my computer in the basement. The other option was to get some sort of wireless card installed to my desktop, but I'm not that tech-savvy and generally try to avoid ulcer-causing IT-related nightmares.
So I procrastinated for a good long time, frozen by my aversion to either manual labor or the daunting task of setting up my own wireless network. The months passed --spring summer autumn winter / he sang his didn't he danced his did-- and one day I finally just went out and purchased this Netgear USB Adapter, and it was so much easier than I had ever expected to get it working. For one, it's a plug-in usb interface, so there wasn't the PCI card installation to deal with, and since this interface works so well, I wouldn't recommend that the novice user go out and get the PCI card version unless s/he has particular reason for it.
This is about all it took to receive wireless internet on my XP desktop:
1) Removed driver cd installation disc and usb adapter from box
2) Installed drivers from enclosed cd onto my desktop pc
3) Plugged in the usb adapter into a rear port on my desktop pc
4) Clicked "next," etc. as directed by the setup window after I plugged in the usb wireless adapter
And then I was online. I was a little worried that the wireless range wouldn't be very good since the router was on a different floor, but it turned out to be fine, for the most part. Once in a while the little green icon in the taskbar that indicates online connectivity blinks red, but it's only for a second and isn't enough to cause much interruption in my site browsing activities.
I'm not sure if the setup process was made easier because both my router and this adapter are made by Netgear, but for whatever the reason, it was simple for me to set up and use so I'm recommending it. That is all... I hope my review has been helpful to you in your hunt for the perfect network adapter!

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Netgear Wireless G Usb Adapter

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