| 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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it does all it's advertised to do, January 31, 2003
By Don Graf (Bellevue, WA USA)
This card plugged in and played. Perfectly. The first time. What else can I can I say? I've used in daily for over a month, about two hours per day. It's as great as the first day I plugged it in. Great value.
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Great value, January 25, 2003
By Wilson Lau (NYC, NY)
I just got this card the the MR814 router. This was my first time using wireless products and I have to say that is was a very easy and fairly painless experience. When I first installed the card, I instantly picked up 3 networks from my other neighbors' routers in my building. I not quite sure about the actual range, however it works fine in my entire apartment, 1100 square feet. Like I said, I can get on three other networks so that range must be fairly good. The only concern that I have is regarding the firewall/security for my network, but that because of the router software and not the card. The MR814 router is great too, however you can't uplink it to another router like with a Linksys... so beware of that if you plan to connect the router to an already exsisting home network. I definitely recommend this product, especially if you can get it below list price. I got mine with a $15 rebate direct from NetGear.
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Excellent wireless card!, January 21, 2003
By owm (-, - Singapore)
I was looking for a wireless card to hook up my Sony PCG-C1VG to my home and office network when I came across the Netgear MA401 wireless PC card bundled with the Netgear ME102 access point.Since I have been using a Netgear FS105 switch in my home network for the past 1 1/2 years without any problems, I decided to give this bundle a try. (Was initially swaying towards a Orinoco Silver card 2nd hand for USD55 and an Enzer AP). The price of USD152 was also very attractive. The MA401 came in an attractive package and the contents were well organized. Installation was real easy following the clear written instructions in 8 simple steps. Only problem was that I had to copy the driver cum card utility files from my external CDROM to the notebook first because the CDROM interface card plugged into the PCMCIA slot and that slot was to be occupied by the MA401. Hope that didn't look too confusing :) Within 10 mins of installation, I had access to the Internet but it took another extra 10 mins to custom configure the card to my network. With the MA401, access to my office network was also no issue. All in all, this is an excellent card for those who are looking to hook up their notebooks to a wireless network with minimal fuss.
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Buy, if on sale!, January 19, 2003
By N Ebanks (New York)
I have not notice a performance difference in wirelessPC cards.
Buy a name brand that is on sale.
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Excellent Wireless System, January 17, 2003
By unknown
I recently purchased this Netgear MA401 and the Netgear MR814 Router for my desktop and laptop computers. I was able to set this wireless network up in about 15-20 minutes by just following the great step by step directions that accompany the router. The setup for the laptop was just as simple. I was amazed that I had it up and running so quick. My last networking attempt with Linksys was a nightmare. It took me hours and several calls to tech support, who kept me on hold forever. I finally gave up. After reading the reviews for Netgear, I figured I would give it another shot. The installation was a breeze! I had only one question about setting up the Netgear compact flash adapter MA701 for my PDA and contacted Netgear tech support. My call was answered immediately and I had the solution in minutes. I am very satified with Netgear's products and their customer service department. I highly recommend any of the Netgear wireless products.
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Netgear MA401 Wireless PC Card, January 16, 2003
By Glen Smith (Pflugerville, Texas USA)
I received this card for Christmas to go along with a Netgear wireless router. It is an excellent system! Installation was a breeze and it works brilliantly. I've got the router at one end of our home and the notebook usually resides at the other and I do sometimes have a weak signal. That's when I just plug it in to the wired network connection. It does allow me to roam about our home with the notebook and connect to the network with ease. In the wireless system's defense, the router is located at desk level - not up high as it probably should be.
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Great for notebooks!, January 14, 2003
By phazed (Atlanta, GA)
I have a dual boot Dell Latitude (CPxJ - P3-650) running Win98SE and Win2K and it installed within 2 minutes on each OS. I get no lower than 83% strength/quality anywhere in my apartment. I had disconnect issues with WinXP Pro, but that was solved in about 30 seconds (don't let Windows manage the NIC, let the Netgear software do it). I also tinkered with SuSE Linux 8.1 and the card works flawlessly using their built in generic/Orinoco wireless PC Card driver (you don't need to install Netgear's drivers). I don't really recommend transferring large files across your network with this, but it's perfect for all internet applications. If you have the free PC card slot, don't bother with USB-- it isn't worth the intense CPU utilization.
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A great product but rather prefer MA101 Wireless USB adapter, January 4, 2003
By mllk (Brooklyn, NY)
I have Windows XP and have both MA101 and MA401. The program that came with the card was horrible with Windows XP. It kept disconnecting me but after removing the software, I haven't had a problem. I prefer the MA101 over this because it has a better range. From the same distance to my wireless routher, I was unable to get any connection from this device while I was able to recieved "good" connection using my MA401. The only bad thing I have to say for the MA401 is that it uses my USB port.
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Good card, especially for the price, December 31, 2002
By Robert Huffstedtler (Cary, NC United States)
I already have one of the Linksys cards for another laptop, but I bought this one for my second laptop, largely on the advice of the other reviewers here. It's good, but not as miraculous as some make it out to be.The signal strength is marginally better than the Linksys. The installation was a bit more straightforward as well. As one of the other reviewers pointed out, the flat antenna is a nice feature if you have another PCMCIA device that is at all thick.
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not easy to install but works great, December 30, 2002
By kate (DORCHESTER, MA USA)
The instructions that came with the card were totally baffling. BUT tech support was great. I was on hold for less than 10 minutes and then the tech spent about an hour helping me to get it going on my toshiba satellite running Windows XP. I could never have installed it without tech support. The reception is fabulous and I couldn't be happier.
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Truely plug n play..., December 17, 2002
By arifm (Bloomington, IL United States)
I used Netgear MA401 wireless PC Card with Dell Inspiron 8200 on MR814 wireless access point and it was my best experience working with wireless networks. If installing this on XP, be sure to run Network Setup Wizard so it doesnt drop connection every few minutes to scan the available networks. Very easy setup and works great...
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Flat antenna - an advantage over the other wireless cards, December 16, 2002
By Beeeil (Unionville, PA USA)
I have a small network of laptops connected wirelessly with a Lucent Orinoco RG-1000 access point, and I buy workstation cards by price. I've used (or currently using) Lucent, 3Com, Microsoft, Linksys, and Netgear cards, and they all work find with similar range and speed (in my environment).I decided to keep this card because it has an advantage over the other cards - its flat antenna. With the other cards, the bulging antennas are taller than the thickness of the cards, forcing you to use it at the TOP PC Card slot. This means you'll *NOT* be able to use a (necessarily) tall PCMCIA card such as an USB 2.0 adapter. With the Netgear, I can put the wireless card at the bottom slot, and the USB card can occupy the top slot. Perfecto! The card works with XP Pro and my Lucent RG-1000 without any problem and was up and running in 5 minutes. I guess the only complain I have is that the system tray icon is kinda ugly and amaturish! :) Update: After using it for a few weeks, I'm still very satisified with it. It keeps up at 11mbps at locations where my other Lucent cards drops to 6mbps (per XP system tray icon). I did notice that it does not have an Activity light (only a Link light), so you can't see externally that your card is transmitting data, which can be useful at times.
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Do not buy if you have Windows 98, December 9, 2002
By unknown
After 4 hours with tech support I still can't install the driver for this card. Bottom line (and recommended by tech support): I have to return it. What a waste of time and energy. I've also had problems accessing email using the Netgear MR814 router...I'll never buy a netgear product again!
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[Inexpensive]... and Easy, December 6, 2002
By unknown
I bought this card to use with my laptop in school. The school has a Cisco wireless system and recommended the ...Cisco card, but this card works great! ...I'm running Win XP and had the card working 5 minutes after I started to configure it. The range is solid and I haven't had any problems.
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Works Great With Linksys Routers too!!!, December 5, 2002
By William R. Stockstill (Marietta, GA United States)
I bought this card to work with a Linksys Wireless 4 Port Router mainly because of positive reviews here, especially when compared to Linksys wireless cards. It is very easy to install with Windows ME. Basically plug in, start up the laptop, and when asked for the driver put the CD-ROM in and select that drive. There is a little program that will load in the area by your clock and it immediately scans for your access point's sigall. Make sure you have not implemented WEP (encription) on your router so the card can find the signal. Once you get a signal and you know it works, you can set up WEP. I get an excellent signal throughout my 2000 sq ft spilt level and a "fair" signal in the back yard. My refrigerator is in a direct line from where this location is and may be the culprit. HOWEVER, even with a "fair" signal I noticed no degradation in surf speed. Grab one now, while there's a rebate!
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Real Plug and Play, December 4, 2002
By Ganesh Venkateswaran (NJ USA)
I am a dummy when it comes to networking. I was really sceptical about getting all these products to work seamlessly. To avoid confusion, I wanted to buy all the products from one manufacturer so there won't be any issue. I settled for netgear (mainly because of the promotions and rebates) and I am really happy. I bought MR314 router and MA401 pc card. Both are working perfectly. When I first tried MR314, I was not able to get it to work. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of 'hold time' when I called their customer support. All I had to do was put off the modem and start it again. Bingo, it worked.I would certainly recommend Netgear. For the price I paid I thought I got very good value.
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Zero problems., December 2, 2002
By Rheumor (New Orelans)
I had been playing with my LinkSys wireless card for quite some time with very variable results. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to its moods. For considerably less money, I thought I'd try another brand and got a Netgear router with which my Linksys card seemed to work much better. When it was time to add another PC card, I got the Netgear and found it worked right out of the box, with an "excellent" signal at 68 feet from the router. It has yet to go down, and I am therefore very pleased.
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Netgear worked where Linksys didn't, November 26, 2002
By K. Brown
After first trying Linksys PC card and USB adaptors to make a peer-to-peer network between a notebook and a desktop, I was never able to get the two devises to connect. I ended up returning the Linksys equipment and buying Netgear. The Netgear hardware worked almost instantly and it has been great since. Even though I am only using dial up for my Internet, having the flexibility and connectivity anywhere in the house has made a big difference. It really is the way to go.
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Here's my setup for my boss's office, November 26, 2002
By tech junkie (Los Angeles CA)
Goes through a file cabinet, a bookcase, and 3 walls at approximately 40 feet and still has about 25 percent link quality. Decide for yourself. This is with the MR314 netgear router btw.
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Works well with XP for me, November 23, 2002
By joefnblow (Livonia, MI USA)
After returning the more expensive Dlink router and card I bought because of poor range (I have an old house with wetplaster walls on steel mesh) I bought this card with the 814 router. I was up and running in 15 minutes and I am an accountant not an IT person. The card worked flawlessly with windows XP. I puchased it a few weeks ago so it is posible they update the drivers for XP. If you are on the fence about buying this because you have XP don't let that stop you it works fine. As far as range it is much better than the dlink card I had.
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