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(More customer reviews)Based on so far excellent experiences with Netgear, I obtained the router WNR854T and the access adapter WN511T. To my dismay, I was never able to get network established. Even the router itself is very troublesome, uncharacteristic for Netgear so far. But is works finally, as a wired router at least. Not so the adapter.
After I installed the software, I instantly saw our network discovered with 85% signal. Good, I thought, a piece of cake. Well, it was not. The IP address of the adapter was always 0.0.0.0 and no connection has ever been made. Strangely enough, when I changed anything on the router wireless setting, this change was instantly discovered by the card adapter WN511T and the software, and yet no channel change, with or without security setting has ever helped to establish a connection on my WinXP system.
I called support and someone with an obvious indian accent was to assist me. We have spend 1 hour 50min while basically repeating everything in the book, like changing settings, rebooting, rebooting in safe mode without firewall or virus scanner etc., etc., all such basic stuff. All to no avail. The specialist escalated the case and gave me another case number. He promised me that I would be called.
Meanwhile my right to return the product has expired and noone called me. Instead I received two emails from Netgear asking me for... satisfaction feedback, including this "escalated case"!!! I think that this outraged me most. I did not wanted hang on a phone again and so I filed an online complaint with Netgear. I received yet another case number, the 3rd to be precise. Yet another person with Indian name send me guide to establish the network. This person ignored completely my message so far, did not explained what went wrong with the "escalation," and send me again most basic hints from "page 1" in the manual. All I could do was to click "does not help" and remind them of the 1 hour 50 min spend with someone already on making basic steps.
I have also received a "critical firmware update" email for my router. I performed the upgrade in a hope for an improvement. This upgrade said that we have to upgrade the firmware for WN511T as well. So I downloaded this upgrade 1.0.0.4, or similar, but it never wanted install. I started the installation program from the CD. The installed notified me that (surprise, surprise) "critical upgrade 1.0.0.4" is available via net (I have also a wired adapter with direct net access) and asked me to use this new version instead. So I did, and it installed this time, but afterwards the adapter card has vanished from the list of devices. After some rebooting, removing and plugging in the card, it appeared once for a brief time, to vanquish for good. Device manager sees some "unknown network adapter" and fails to install drivers for it, via net or from the CD.
I could here also write an essay about Netgears wireless assistant software, let me skip this here except for a remark: It is not a mature software either.
Another email came in from Netgear support from another person, this time, wow, with English name. He assumed that we have bad interference and asked to switch off wireless phone and all other devices operating in the 2.4GHz range. We use 5GHz phones, and here in the dense populated Silicon Valley we cannot avoid interference, if the interference is the reason for the problem at all. Finally, Netgear's enthusiastic promotion claims that interference and dead spots are now history with their so great RangeMax NEXT 811N technology...
Now that I cannot return the device, I am hang with it and I am exploring my consumer rights to send it back to Netgear. I have no time to fight this immature technology. Like you and you, I am busy and I use computer to work.
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NETGEAR WN511T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Notebook AdapterThe NETGEAR WN511T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Notebook Adapter makes it easy for you to provide blazing-speed wireless internet access to your notebook computer, letting you surf the web, check email, stream music, make internet phone calls, and get a leg up on opponents when playing online games.
Easy Setup The WN511T is a PC Card and requires a Pentium 3 class PC with an available PC Card slot for installation. It supports Windows Vista and is also compatible with Windows XP and 2000 SP4. Setup is as simple as inserting the card into the slot and installing the included software. A built-in stub antenna helps you receive a strong signal for the fastest possible speeds.
Fast, Backwards Compatible, and Secure The NETGEAR WN511T uses the Wireless-N protocol (based on IEEE 802.11n draft) for speeds up to 300 Mbps and a range ten times that of 802.11g adapters. With this much speed and bandwidth, you can easily download large files, place Internet phone calls, download MP3s, stream video, and play online games -- all at the same time, without hiccups, and from farther away. You'll notice the difference immediately.
The WN511T is backwards compatible with 802.11g and 802.11b wireless networks so you'll be able to connect to any hotspot, and it improves network performance up to 50 percent when used with the older 802.11b/g networks.
You can feel secure about your information as the adapter supports Wi-Fi protected access (WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK) and 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption for IEEE 082.11b and IEEE 802.11g. The included software makes managing different WEP passwords a breeze as you can set up different profiles for each location you frequent, saving yourself the trouble of having to type in encryption keys each time you connect to a hotspot you've already used.
The NETGEAR WN511T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Notebook Adapter is backed by a 1-year warranty.
What's in the Box WN511T RangeMax Next Wireless-N Notebook Adapter, setup CD, warranty/support information card.
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