| Netgear MA521 802.11b Wireless PC Card |
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Model: MA521NA
Brand: Netgear
Manufacturer: Netgear
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 34
Form factor: Plug-in module
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11b
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| Features: |
802.11b wireless access with 802.11g compatibility
Speeds up to 11 Mbps
Superior range -- up to 300 feet
40/64 and 128-bit Wired Equivalency Protection (WEP)
Supports any PC equipped with a processor faster than 400 MHz |
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| Description: |
| Go wherever you like and stay connected with NETGEAR's Wireless PC card. Once you've got one in your notebook computer, you can easily access the Internet from anywhere in your home or office, and from campuses, parks, airports, or public hotspots in bookstores and cafes. Whether you are in a conference room, waiting for a flight, or out on the quad on a warm day, you can be fully productive without being at your desk. Use this well-designed card to quickly network your employees without the time or expense of installing Ethernet cabling. It lets you experience data speeds of up to 11 Mbps, greater range with automatic speed adjustment, and greater safety with secure encryption - all for a moderate price. With NETGEAR, Everybody's connecting, and with the MA521, they can connect everywhere. If you have an 802.11b wireless router at home, you can access the Internet easily from your notebook PC at up to 11 Mbps. Share your broadband connection at home or gain total mobility in the office. Achieve superior range with distances of up to 300 feet with automatic rate fallback. Auto-adjustment transmit power provides longer battery life and reduces interference.Small-sized antenna prevents card from getting bent. Thorough testing ensures powerful throughput and dependable operability. The MA521 is configured to interoperate with other NETGEAR wireless products, and is compatible with any notebook PC having a processor speed greater than 400 MHz, with drivers available for Windows 98SE, Me, 2000 and XP.Secure 40/64 and 128-bit Wired Equivalency Protection (WEP) encryption provides secure data communication and increased shielding from wireless eavesdroppers. |
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| User Reviews (34 total): |
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A Really Great Product!!!!! A+ All The way!!!!!!, September 25, 2006
By Victor S. Mannahan (Nevada)
I just purchased this card, and had it up and running in about 20 minutes! The package arrived in a Netgear box and was sealed from the factory. Instructions were clear, and easy to understand. However, the sales ad stated that it came with an installation cd with the drivers on it, but only came with instructions on how to download the drivers from thier website instead. I can understand this due to the fact that drivers are always being updated. No big deal, but it would have been nice to have been told that up front. As for functionality, this card rocks it hard! Don't waste your money on 802.11g, 802.11b has enough power to surf the web wirelessly without any problems at all. I have used both 11mps and 54mps, and don't notice any difference between the two. I have it installed on my IBM T22 Thinkpad, in conjunction with a Linksys Wireless 802.11b Router model BEFW11S4, and have 98% signal strength at over 100 feet away, and a signal that never drops! Even comming out of hibernation the signal is still up and running! People have said that the drivers are a pain, but I have not had a problem installing them on XP. Others complain that the drivers are not compatible with thier operating system, and take thier frustration out on the product, and give it a bad review.
Remember, just because a driver is not functioning properly, does not mean that the card is bad. As for install problems with Windows XP, it is usually the user who messes up the installation of the drivers, or downloads the wrong ones form Netgear! I did exactly what the instructions from Netgear told me to do, and had no problems!
Also, when purchasing any wireless card, you must take into account your wireless router! Alot of customers who have purchased this card, state that they have problems with dropped signals. Your wireless card will only work as good as your wireless router! If you have your router in a bad location, it will greatly effect the performance of your wireless card. If your walls are made of concrete, it will effect your range as well. I recommend not paying attention to customers who state that this card is crap, just because they have a poor or frequently dropped signal.I highly recommend this card!
In conclusion, this is a great wireless card that never drops signal at a great price! It arrived in a timely manner with no problems. I highly recommend this card!
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Good, economy wireless card., August 2, 2005
By Prakrit Jena
The card set up easily and works well. It's a lot better than the internal card most laptops now come with.
I bought the 11b to save money and it works well for the price.
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Excellent, April 24, 2005
By Nursing Student (USA)
I've had this card for almost 4 months. I use it on T-Mobile's WiFi service at Starbucks etc. It is excellent! I got it for $10.00. You can't beat that price. You'll never use the 11 mbps anyway; 802.11g etc. are overkill inless you work in an office.
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Poor if you have a poor signal, April 21, 2005
By Fi555Fi
My signal is not consistent and this card drops every 5-10 minutes. My old card was much more consistent - I upgraded to this one for speed but it has caused all kinds of problems for me (including the driver problem mentioned by others here).
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Great for the price, December 20, 2004
By Jane
We had problems with our Netgear wireless router, but this card has worked great in several hotels.
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Nice Card, November 11, 2004
By Richard (Fairfax, VA USA)
I have used SMC wireless card for a while for my xp pro laptop, two problems, drop connection every 5-10 minutes, need to choose connection after laptop wake up from hibernate. But Netgear card works good without any issue so far (two weeks). I bought the card from Microcenter, almost free (only pay tax) if I can receive the rebate. Since I heard Netgear custom service is worse and maybe no chance to get the rebate, so I rate it with 4 stars.
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Excelent buying option!!, November 8, 2004
By Patricio (Buenos Aires. Argentina)
I bought some time ago NETGEAR MR814 802.11b 4port ROUTER and I have finally bought this item to complete my wireless home network. It has not dessapoited me: excelent presentation, easy installation and configuration. Good signal power (could be better indoors). For security reasons I have chosen one with 128 bit encryption and same brand as my router. Next time I will get USB/PCI wireless network adapter.
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Very poor signal quality, August 25, 2004
By kjcdude
Do not buy this item if your signal is not all ways excelent.
I have prevously owned the two older versions of the netgear 802.11b pci cards and both were much better than this one.
Only buy this item if you want a small compact card and you have an excelent signal quality.
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Decent card, July 21, 2004
By Harold Phipps (Winston-Salem, NC USA)
I have installed this card in a few different laptops. Never had a problem. Just follow the directions, install the drivers before you put the card in the laptop. Works fine on 98SE and 2000. Signal strengh seems a little weak but it works fine around the house.
If all you are planning on doing is surfing the web around the house then 802.11b is all you need. It has a faster transfer rate than most broadband at home.
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Good Wireless Netgear MA521, July 11, 2004
By pinoy-kabayan (NSW Australia)
At first it will now work on my Compaq Armada 100s 550MHZ AMD K6 (June 2000) 16bit card bus with Win98 (not SE) giving out " NDIS.VXD NTKERN.VXD device loader for this device could not load the device drive {code 2)" error and exclamation mark under device driver. I suspect it to be either the previous PCMCIA LAN Card I used and interfering with this new wireless hardware or the anti-virus program. I have no time to find out. So I reload my laptop with a clean install of Win98SE (SE this time). This time it works and no more code 2 errors. It averages 85% signal strength and 85% link quality thru walls and close doors.
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Good card but not as good as MA401, May 22, 2004
By unknown
I found the MA521 at Staples for $39 with a $20 mail in rebate. I already own an MA401 which I use in my other laptop. I didn't realize these two cards differed until the installation completed and I recognized a difference in the appearence of the config util. I had hoped the 521 would outperform the 401 (not that the 401 is a slouch). The install went very smooth for the 521 as opposed to some minor problems I experienced with the 401. However, my laptop was setting on my desk barely 24 inches from the router and the signal strength of the 521 was in the 82% range with link quality about 10% higher. I was amazed yet totally disappointed! How could ANY wireless device not achieve 100% signal and link when so close to the access point?!? Two rooms away is my other laptop with it's 401. A quick check showed 100% for signal strength and link quality! There must be a big difference in the internals of the 521 and the 401. While the 521 is a nice card for a nice price after rebate, I prefer to have a better performing card and will be exchanging the 521 for a 401 (IF I can find a 401!). If your wireless needs are such that the very best in signal and link is not required, then the 521 would be a nice card to own. It's a great card, just not as good as the 401.
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Poor Technical Support, May 21, 2004
By pb12345 (Bay Shore, New York United States)
My Netwiking Card all of sudden stopped functioning afer 4 months in use. Reading the literature on web I was able to do basic debugging and found that Networking card is not able to pickup the signal and when could not resolve the issue I called there Tech Support who were not willing to help at all unless I agree to pay them 28$ service fee or agree 2$/minute charge of the call. Guys have you heard of this. My experience with Netgear is not good and would suggest you not waste your quality time and money on poor quality products from NetGear!!! And be carfull of their disgusting technical support
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Sets the standard., May 1, 2004
By rx4notax (Tarzana, CA, United States)
OK you have tried Linksys, now come try the best, Netgear. I have been using this card for a month now at T-Mobile Hot Spots such as Kinko's and Starbucks with no complications whatsoever. If you are operating under Windows XP Professional, installation of the card is as simple as "plug and play". Just put it in and go. Be sure to ignore the disclaimer about the operating system, everything works just fine if you let Microsoft Windows do what it's designed to do, and run the show. That way you will have one less driver software program to clutter up your hard drive. This is a must have product that sets the standard for its category.
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No problem on Win98 w Belkin router, April 9, 2004
By gephardt
I spent as much on the card (not much) at Best Buy as I did for the cheapest Belkin wireless router at Microcenter. Absolutely no problem running Win98 on wireless laptop and wired Win2K desktop. Had to reboot laptop. Browser interface lets one monitor wireless access. Great card and a good buy.
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Exactly what I want., April 4, 2004
By unknown
I've been using this gizmo for months and have no problems with it. Signal strength is strong everywhere in my house, it never drops off. As soon as I turn on the laptop, I'm connected to the WLAN! No buttons to press, it's all very easy. It sticks out about a centemeter, and the part sticking out won't break off. If you want a wireless card, this is the one to get.
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easy setup works great, March 19, 2004
By Glenn Sanders (Valley Village, CA USA)
Love it, like I love the Netgear wireless router it connects to (see my other reviews). Easy to install and setup, sleek design. I love Netgear products. The way to go for wireless, IMHO.
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Happy in Houston, March 13, 2004
By unknown
Have used this card for a week and no dropped connections. Works great in my small two story townhouse. Setup took maybe 30 minutes and I'm a novice. I have a Dell 1100 computer and a D-Link 714P+ router and so far everything is working well together. I thought the Netgear setup guide was good-helped me understand things about the router I didn't get from D-Link.
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Despite clunky software, excellent card, March 8, 2004
By Pace Ripley (Somerville, MA)
After several experiences with cheaper wireless cards, this NetGear is finally the one. I purchased and passed along wireless cards from Adaptec, SMC and Gigafast, which in one way or another were lacking; their software was not working well (SMC), connectivity was not too great (Adaptec) and the updated Windows XP driver just killed the card outright (Gigafast). I decided to spring for a more expensive card and got the MA521 and it is the best so far. It cooperates well with my Adaptec access point, reception working well across my 3 bedroom apartment. Its management software could be better, but all in all it works great.
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Easy setup and strong signal, February 9, 2004
By theoriginalsubguy (Florida)
This card was extremely easy to setup and linked up quickly. The signal is strong even across the house. Only while running the microwave do I ever lose the signal.
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Do NOT use this card with Win98!, January 6, 2004
By unknown
This card is incompatible with Win98 SE, regardless of what the product listing says. I spent the past 55 minutes with Netgear tech support, with no resolution to the problem other than "contact Microsoft because their operating system isn't installing these drivers correctly." Pshaw! My prior Netgear card (MA401) worked fine on the same machine. This new model simply won't work with Win98 SE.
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