| Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card |
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Model: MA 401
Brand: Netgear
Manufacturer: Netgear
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 153
Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT 3.5, Windows NT 4, Windows NT 5, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000 Server, Windows
Form factor: Plug-in module
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b
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| Features: |
Wireless connectivity for notebook PCs
High-speed 11 Mbps data rate
Operating range up to 500 feet indoors and 1,650 feet outdoors
Supports Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, and 2000
5-year limited warranty |
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| Description: |
| NETGEAR's MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card gives you total freedom - it allows you to stay continuously connected to your Local Area Network without any wires. Roam freely throughout your office from one access point to another and continue to send and receive e-mail and use other network resources, such as files and printers, at 11 Mbps speed. Quickly and effortlessly network your employees, including those in remotely located offices in your building, minus the time and expense of Ethernet cabling. Standards-based 802.11b technology and 128-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption provide your network with the highest level of reliability and privacy. Designed for PCs running Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, and 2000, the MA401 performs with a wide range of wireless Internet services available in airports and hotels, and supports the vast majority of notebook PCs. |
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| User Reviews (153 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 of Total 8 Pages
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Works OK, April 20, 2008
By Dale M. Seigler
This wireless PC card does work intermittently, but is very inconsistent and slow. Do not recommend!!
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forget about the rebate amount, December 14, 2004
By amazing (Virginia, USA)
product works great. but i never recieved the rebate amount. Whatever product you will buy from Netgear, you will never get the rebate amount.
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Worked better than internal 54g card, October 12, 2004
By kireviewer (Sunnyvale, Ca United States)
This card works great and I haven't had any problems with it in spite of abusing it. However, the price seems a little high. You can buy newer models and even 802.11g cards for less.
I have used this card on 2 laptops. I used it on a work laptop that I used for travel, and then gave it to my daughter for her laptop, which she abuses. There is even a dent in the metal case. I was worried because about a quarter of the card sticks out from the laptop (for the antenna).
It came right up on both my computers, and I don't think I even needed to use the installation disc (maybe I did, I can't remember, but if I did, it was so easy that I forgot about it). Both my laptops have Windows XP.
The signal is very good. It is much better than the factory installed card that came with a Compaq computer. It is about the same as the internal card I have on an IBM laptop.
Note that with a router and this card, I am not able to get a good connection everywhere in my house. I blame that on the router and not the card. There are only so many walls 802.11 technology can penetrate. To get wireless connection to a remote bedroom, I bought a Buffalo router and repeater kit. It works great, when it works (the router had to be sent back to be fixed.)
Note that I have researched wireless networking systems, and they don't seem to be very reliable, especially wireless routers. I had both a Netgear and Buffalo wireless routers where the radio portion went out. These cards are probably more reliable.
If all you need this for is the internet, 802.11b is sufficient, because DSL or cable modems are not any faster. If you want to send video data between computers then you should go with 802.11g.
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Great for OTHER operating systems and older laptops, July 27, 2004
By OP
The Netgear MA401 802.11b Wireless PC Card is great for Windows 95, NT, Linux and Macintosh operating systems. The reason is that there are no other wireless cards that I know of that have DRIVERS for the wireless card to operate with the other operating systems. Newer Netgear products will not work.
The MA401 has a 16 bit PCMCIA interface is great for some older laptops that will not support a newer 32 bit cardbus interface.
This is in addition to the fact the MA401 is built well and has very good signal strenght.
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Just stopped working, June 7, 2004
By unknown
After using this with the MR814 router for over a year, my computer no longer recognizes this product as a wireless adapter. When it's plugged in, it's identified as the MA_(four box symbols), and won't recognize the drivers that are installed because of this bogus product name. The last time this happened, tech support, which was previously very helpful with set up (terrible, incomplete instructions included in the box), had me try to ping my router a few times and then said they couldn't help anymore. Since this problem has happened multiple times, I have fixed it by uninstalling the bogus name from the device manager list and then plugging the card back in, which usually worked. Once I had to do a system restore--I'd like to not resort to that again.This may be a problem with the "hibernate" as in some previous reviews (my computer has hibernate issues anyway), but this latest problem occurred after a full shut down. When it works, I was pretty happy with it (wireless is amazing), but I've had regular enough headaches that I can't recommend it, at least not with my low-end Dell laptop.
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Easy, never fails, January 27, 2004
By unknown
I have 2 wireless cards, one being this one. It works better, never fails me, and gets better reception than my other one. It was easy to install. It, as does any wireless card, does stick out from the computer, but it's very sturdy and I've never had a problem during my daily travels with the computer.
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Works, January 4, 2004
By unknown
Works with my Windows XP laptop and Netgear MR814 802.11b router. Latest release of XP worked with the card, did not have to install anything from the Netgear CD.
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New to wireless, but it was simple!!!, November 30, 2003
By James M Erb (Mt.Holly Springs, Pennsylvania United States)
This netgear product had me scratching my head for a minute or two, but once I realized that I was connected to my network, I was happy. Setup was simple. Im on my laptop right now and can go anywhere in my house with an excellent signal. I would recommend this product to anybody. I tried using the Linksys Wireless B card, but it wasnt good at all. I returned it and got this. Definately 5 stars on this one.
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Good Product. Non-existent Tech Support!, November 13, 2003
By Network Administrator (Raleigh, NC)
Sent to Netgear 11/12/03:
(The MA401 installed on my Windows 95 laptop without too much trouble a year ago. When I got a new SONY VAIO XP laptop, I tried to install the card in it.)
After contacting Netgear Tech Support twice and twice being connected to a non-primary english speaking staff person, my inability to install my MA401 Wireless PCM-CIA card on my new Sony VAIO XP laptop persists. The first person I "communicated" with directed me to a "personal" web page of a German for assistance. The second person that I "communicated" with told me to turn off my XP firewall but offered no instruction on how to do that, leaving me to investigate on my own how to complete that task. I did and while I have a wireless network connection now and an IP Address, I can still not connect to any resource through any browser.
After purchasing Netgear products for several years, my next purchases will be of another brand to see if they offer english speaking tech support staff that actually assists users.
Do (they) do any quality control of (their) tech support staff?
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Works well, November 11, 2003
By unknown
The installation was very easy on my laptop running W98SE adn took less than 5 minutes. I'm using this card with the MR814 router from NetGear. I'm getting good reception from one end of the house to the other. The signal strength drops down to the 50% range, but the connection is still at 11 Mbps.
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I won't buy it again, November 8, 2003
By Alex (New Jersey, USA)
I usually don't write reviews, but after reading other reviews, I became kind of upset and couldn't resist writing. I just can't believe those reviews who gave it high points. I bought "two" MA401 and a Netgear router 1.5 years ago. First of all, their effective range is less than 50 feet. I put my router on second floor, and I couldn't use it downstairs. The signal goes below 30%. I moved around, turn the direction, even installed RF mirror with aluminium foil, but couldn't get above 50%. At low signal strength, the speed goes down to 5.5 Mbps or 1 Mbps, but then, no data goes in/out. Is this how 802.11 supposed to work, stopping transmission at all below 11 Mbps? I had to live with barely 30% signal strength and a lot of frustration. Secondly, the netgear router is very unstable. It works flawlessly usually, then at a critical moment, it stops working. Not only wireless, but all the wired ports too. I turn it on/off, reset, cut off the cable modem, and do a lot of things in vain. Then after a few hours, it starts working again. Also it does not work very well with non-netgear cards either. My visitors can't use it wirelessly. Thirdly, the PC card is unstable. Sometimes it becomes hot and stops working. After cooling down, it becomes ok. Sometimes it fails to work when I boot up my notebook or plug in after power up. It finally stopped working entirely last week, and I am happy to be able to throw it away. I am shopping around for a new card, and that's why I came across with these reviews.
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Works flawless with Netgear MR814 802.11b wireless Router, November 4, 2003
By unknown
This is a great product. I recomend this product to everybody who wants to go wireless. The installation was very easy. Security setup was also easy too. This card is working great with MR814 router and my dell laptop with windows 2000. I will buy Netgear products again for my wirless needs.
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Easy as pie, October 30, 2003
By unknown
Wow, nice and easy. I purchased this adaptor to go along with a Dlink 614+ Broadband Router because I couldn't get the Dlink NIC to work...hmmm. I am running Win XP Pro on a company IBM Laptop. Loading the software from the CD was a easy. HOWEVER, NOTE WITH WINXP MACHINES: After you install the software, Windows automatically selects itself to "configure the wireless connections". This needs to be unchecked within the Network Connections. As soon as that is done, configure the card with the software installed and you are on.
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Not bad, October 24, 2003
By Vincent Cheng (San Diego, CA United States)
I purchased this for my brother in law. Setup was good and the quality of the card seem to be on par with the rest of them. I've never been a netgear fan, but the price of this after rebates was a good deal at the time. Overall I was impressed. I'd buy Netgear again.
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GNU/Linux Plug and Play, October 23, 2003
By Anand Babu (Fremont, California United States)
Netgear MA401 802.11b card gets recognized, the moment you plug in
the card under Debian GNU/Linux and should be the same case for
most other GNU/Linux distributions. The chipset is compatible with
the standard "orinoco_cs" GPL driver. Let me know if you need my
configuration scripts.
- ab@fig.org
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Perfect Match, October 3, 2003
By Kwang Ee Tan (midland, michigan United States)
This Pc card perfectly match with netgear MR814 router. it works great and easy to install. i spend less than 1 min to install the whole thing. simple easy and quick. i have no comment if this card is install with other router.
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Wireless in a flash, September 15, 2003
By jojo vicencio (Mandaluyong City Philippines)
I just received the BEFW11S4 and the Netgear PCMIA card. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. One thing I learned was that ensure that the BEFW is transmitting before you install the Netgear receiver. Once I crossed that hurdle, it was wifi city all the way.
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Very simple to install and use, September 13, 2003
By Sean McLeod (Northridge, CA USA)
Installation of this product couldn't be easier. WinXP has all the drivers. It's almost a plug and play. I haven't looked into the security options--I suspect those would take a little more time to setup. Literally-10 minutes out of the box I had this product up and running along with Netgear's wireless router (MR814).
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works great!, September 2, 2003
By ehc19 (pine brook, nj)
paired with netgear mr814 wireless router. works smoothly in a crowded apartment building.
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Great product at a reasonable price!, August 31, 2003
By poliglota (San Ramon, CA United States)
The Netgear folks have done it well -- a sturdy and aesthetic 802.11b product offering that most of us can finally afford. I didn't even have to use their CD-ROM, instead downloaded the latest driver from netgear.com, plugged in the MA401 (for XP, don't forget to disable your built-in Ethernet card interface), and its MAC was automatically detected by the MR814 wireless router (default configuration has no security or encryption enabled, which I strongly advise to do after successful wireless hookup test "in the open"). Total time to install, get connected and secure the wireless connection: 15 minutes. Then tried it around our two-floor townhome, backyard, etc., and getting very good to good signal strength in the farthest corners. When my DSL only gives me 1.1 Mbps downstream, this signal strength is more than enough for surfing. File copy speed between my laptop and my Linux server was also very decent. Strongly recommended!
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