Netgear WG111 Wireless 54Mbps USB 2.0 Adapter
Posted by Notcot on Mar 30, 2010 in Portable Sound & Vision |
- USB adapter provides wireless access to your desktop or notebook via the USB port. It enables you to download large files, video conference, distribute and play high-quality movies, photos and MP3s without the effort and expense of running cables.
If you are running this on a Windows XP machine and you find it loses the connection every 15 mins or so, you need to go to:
Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services and disable “Wireless Zero Configuration” on startup.
This fix was suggested by Netgear themselves on the discussion forum on their site. It solved the problem for me.
You also need to get the latest version 3.3 driver from the Netgear site.
With these two modifications, my adaptor never loses its connection. Seems to be the answer.
Rating: 4 / 5
I bought this together with Netgear’s 54 Mbps wireless router (WGR614v4) to wirelessly share our broadband internet connection with the kids’ computer.
Once I had set up the router it only took a few minutes to install the adapter. Simply load the software, plug in the adapter and follow a few simple instruction. It located the network straight away plus another network which must be in the vicinty.
The kids’ computer is upstairs about 20m away with a thick wall in between. The signal strength is fairly good and my sons have been surfing merrily for 10 days without losing the connection once.(touch wood!)
Setting up security with WEP (Wired Eqivalent Privacy) was also easy. I simply had to enable WEP on the router, type in a passphrase and 4 encryption keys were generated. The adapter’s program allows you to generated the same keys by typing in the same passphrase.
It comes with a 5ft USB cable enabling you to place the adapter in the best and safest position.
The tranfer rate is a litle slow because the computer only has USB 1.1 capability whereas the adapter has USB 2 capability. Having said that it is still much quicker than dial up and the kids haven’t complained.
We haven’t been able to share files and the printer yet but I think that’s a case of figuring out how to confiqure Windows and the router. I’ll submit a review of the router once I’ve worked out file sharing and ironed out a small problem with the laptop dropping connections.
As far as the USB adapter is concerned it’s thumbs up!!!
Rating: 5 / 5
I downloaded and installed the Vista drivers for this wireless adapter and i was online in no time at all.
However, my connection promply disconnected as soon as I connected ANY type of usb Mass Storage device on another of my usb ports. iPod, USB Flash Drive, External Hard drive…… this usb adapter lost the wireless signal and refused to reconnect. I had to disconnect the other USB devices and reload the netgear software to get back online.
I dont know what this thing does to the usb bus but it certainly doesnt play well with others.
Anyway. I resolved the problem by connecting my Belkin powered USB hub and pluging the netgear adapter into it. Now i can use all my other devices at the same time as this wireless stick. I can only assume this thing uses a lot more power or just cant cope with other devices working on the same usb bus.
Rating: 3 / 5
I bought this after having lots of problems with the more expensive Netgear WPN111 adaptor – my connection kept freezing, meaning I had to reboot the system to get online again. This one, on the other hand, has been completely hassle free right from setting it up. I get a much stronger and more reliable signal even though I’m quite a distance from the router.
I’ve noticed a couple of other reviews have mentioned the fact that the WG111 software, for reasons best known to itself, disables fast user switching and the XP welcome screen, giving you a domain-style login box instead. I did a bit of googling and there is a very straightforward explanation and fix for this. Basically, NetGear software tells the system to use RTLGina2.dll as its logon DLL, rather than the default MSGINA.DLL that XP uses. This disables Fast User switching and the Welcome Screen. To get these back, there’s a tiny program you can download that some excellent techie guy has made, which detects the changes and puts them back to how they were. I’ve just downloaded this and it’s worked a treat. I don’t think I can put a link in an amazon review but if you google “Netgear WG111 fast user switching”, there’s a link to the program in the 4th result that comes up.
Rating: 4 / 5
After reading the first review here for this USB fob I was a bit wary. But I had set up Netgear routers in the past for others. Opted for the DG834G router. Ordered and hoped for the best.
Laptop works anywhere in the house with one of these WG111s and I have since purchased another for the desktop to get rid of the wires running from dining room to study! Both work really well, and never had a problem. Wonderfully easy tpo set up as well.
Rating: 5 / 5