| NETGEAR WN311T RangeMax Next Wireless-N PCI Adapter |
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Model: WN311T-100NAS
Brand: Netgear
Manufacturer: Netgear
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 8
Form factor: Plug-in card
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Wireless-N PCI adapter delivers exceptional speed and range
Delivers up to 300 Mbps of wireless throughput
Provides up to ten times the range of 802.11g networ
Backwards compatible with 802.11g/b wireless networks
Device measures 4.85 x 0.33 x 2.13 inches (WxHxD) |
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| Description: |
| The WN311T RangeMax Next Wireless-N PCI adapter was designed with your desktop computer in mind. It's ideal for linking it up to laptop or other desktop machines in the house or office, enhancing the capability of each by allowing them to share files easily and rapidly. It complies with 802.11n draft specification standards and works excellently with both heavy internet use and delivering wireless network capability across an expansive space. The WNT311T adapter delivers Wireless-N connections at speeds of up to 300 Mbps, making it perfect for streaming video and music, online gaming and networking multiple PCs. Even the set up is easy with its Smart Wizard installation software. Maximum performance requires use with NETGEAR Wireless-N routers. |
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| User Reviews (8 total): |
Page 1 of Total 1 Pages
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Works Great, June 13, 2008
By user
Easy to install. The fact you can position it to recieve the best signal is a real plus. I had a antena that stuck out back of computer, and didi not like it.
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Works flawlessly, and boosts signal strength of Range Max Next WL Router excellently., April 23, 2008
By user (Chicago, IL)
What can I say...this fine Wireless-N 802.11 draft specification desktop adapter works exactly as it should and how it was described. Installation took only 20 minutes, with most of the time just making sure my crowded chassis didn't get too stuffed.
Just so you know, I am running a Dell XPS 600 3.2 GHz Intel Core2Duo running Windows XP Professional SP2. This item supports Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.
I have never been this satisfied with networking hardware in my life.
P.S. The only con is that the downloaded driver that you can get from Netgear Update before you install the PCI card does not have the correct prompts installed, so it can be a bit confusing if you are not technically inclined. If you are a newbie, I would install from the disk first and then update later following Netgear's instructions.
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Especially Frustrating For Vista Users!!!, March 1, 2008
By user (AL, USA)
I bought this for 50% off from a well known computer store chain that's going out of business. (You know the one I'm talking about) Anyway, I started to try and install this on my machine around noon on a Friday and finally got it up and working Saturday night! I mean I worked on it that entire time, except for maybe 7 hours of sleep. I'll spare you the eye-glazing details about what I tried to get it working, but here is what I finally figured out was the problem: I had too much RAM installed on my machine! That's right, if you are running Vista and are trying to install the drivers for this thing and have more than 2GB of RAM, it won't work! (The drivers "installed", but the device manager gave a Code 10 error: "The Device Will Not Start".)
Where did I get this bit of information? Netgear's forums of course! Like everybody else, I tried their phone help support first and like everyone else was bitterly disappointed with it. (I was on the phone with them for an hour and all they did was have me do the same things I told them I had already done to get it working...utterly worthless that outsourced tech support is!) So finally I looked online in their knowledgebase and found the answer in under a minute! So I took out some RAM, loaded the drivers, installed the card and the driver wizard finally loaded like it was suppose to!
What I find most disappointing, not to mention enraging, is that Netgear's own tech support doesn't know enough to ask how much RAM I have as soon as I told them I was running Vista and told them the error code I was getting! You'd think a GOOD tech support would keep up with the latest problems, but alas, they don't!
And finally, after using this card for a week now I can't say I see next to any improvement in signal quality or speed. (Yeah, the big antenna you'd think is suppose to help get a better signal...not so much) I'm using this in conjunction with my new Linksys N UltraRange Plus router, which puts out a pretty good signal, but for some reason this thing just doesn't pick it up that well. (No more than 60% strength, usually staying in the 50-55% range where I have the antenna piece placed now. I may hang it on the wall since I was able to get a 72% signal strength there when I was trying to find the best place to put it. I just don't want to hang it with that wire drooping down!)
So what am I trying to say with all this? You can get a better wireless N card than this one! I only got this one because it was so cheap! I'll stick with this one for now, but eventually I may get a better one. It's just depends on if Netgear comes out with better drivers that improves performance or if Service Pack 1 for Vista will improve the N draft capabilities. (Which it is suppose to) Hope this helped!
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Excellent, December 14, 2007
By user (Bristol, CT USA)
I have found so far out of all the networking gear whether wireless or wired, Netgear just makes the best stuff and this PCI adapter is no exception. It was easy to setup. You can use the Netgear network assistant or just use the Window Wireless Utility to setup it up (after you install the driver of course). It works flawlessly. A little signal loss up stairs but to be expected due to the houses construction.
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Don't purchase!, November 20, 2007
By user (New York)
Netgear has had problems with their wizard for uninstalling old drivers and installing new ones for over a year and this product is no exception. When updating to the latest driver (due to inconsistent behavior of this adaptor in finding the network)according to the directions on Netgear's website I was unable to completely remove the old driver as instructed or install the new one, even in safe mode.
After an hour and a half with Netgear's tech support who also failed to complete a successful driver update they told me to call Microsoft or the manufacturer of the pc or to reformat the hard drive! They essentially terminated the call at that point, refusing to even escalate the call to higher-level support. I am left with a 2 month old product which is unusable and no connection to the network.
Why do business with a company who continues to sell defective product over an extended period of time (This situation is well-documented on Netgear's own tech forum as well as others.) and won't help the customer correct the problem?
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Avoid at ALL Costs!, September 12, 2007
By user (Gaithersburg, MD)
I purchased the router with seven 311 access cards, for use on computers that interface with financial websites. Router would NOT allow connections--unplug the router and it works fine. Seems there is a firmware problem. Tech Support is worse than banging your head against the wall. First they send you to morans in India, where accent and common sense stretch your ability to get anything accomplished, after 45 min on the phone to re-confirm the data registration. Then stupid questions that make you sure that Netgear wants you to figure it out for yourself long before you finish the phone call. If your problem persists, then you are sent to tech support in the Phillipines, where again you wonder how these people were ever hired. If your problem still persists, you may get the phone number for tech support in the US--where they claim to either fix your problem or give a refund. That is until they hear that you bought more than one. Then another sorry excuse about they are unable to give refunds. Some phone calls to tech support have lasted over 4 hours, with NO resolution. If you are intent on throwing your money away, let me give you a post office box.....
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Works wonderfully..., November 10, 2006
By user (Loganville)
I'm using this in my basement with an older PC so that it will have internet wi-fi access and it works great!
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Fails to Perform, September 3, 2006
By user
I am currently using a WNR834M RANGEMAX Next Wireless Router with a WN511T RANGEMAX Next Wireless Notebook Adapter and a WN311T RANGEMAX Next Wireless PCI Adapter. All of the equipment has the latest firmware and software utilities available from Netgear's website. I currently have no other wireless devices connected to my network. I also can only see a couple of networks near my home. They only have at most a 30% signal. So I do not believe I am getting any interference from those networks. I have also turned off anything in my home that gives off a signal.
I am unable to stream music from one wireless device to the other without the song skipping. Also if I attempt to surf the internet while doing this the connection speed varies greatly and if I do a constant ping I fail to get a response about 50% of the time from the router itself. The same symptoms occur if I transfer any data from one wireless device to the other. The box states I should be able to do all of these simultaneously and much more. As far as online gaming is concerned some games will not even connect due to the packet lose that is occurring. If I plug both computers directly into the router without using the wireless everything works fine.
I have 8 years experience in the IT field and have tried several different troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue. I have tried adjusting security settings, channels, radio frequency, MTU size, wireless optimization settings, and more. Nothing has solved the issue. As a last resort I decided to call Netgears 24/7 support line to see if someone could offer up another idea. After repeating several of the steps already mentioned the technician in India admitted she could not help me any further and a higher level technician would be calling me in the next 24 to 48 hours to assist me in resolving the issue. I have not had a call back yet.
When I hook up my old WRT54g Linksys 802.11b/g router to my WMP11 Wireless-B PCI adapter and my WPC54G Wireless-G Notebook adapter I have a more stable local area network.
I will be returning all 3 of these Netgear products.
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