Customer Reviews

Netgear MA111 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

Just as a warning, Amazon.com is now shipping v2 of the MA111 adapter. Only the original version 1 is currently supported by TiVo, so do not purchase this if you want wireless connectivity with your Series2 box. See tivo.com/adapters for the latest list. The product box will list "MA111v2" if you have the newest version.

I just bought this and paid more elsewhere (unfortunately). Amazon has a great price on this item, in fact, I recommend this and the Netgear 802.11b (MR814) router. I never have setup a network before myself and was hesitant...but it's not that hard.

Here is what I did:

First I installed the router (you can use any brand B standard router, but the MR814 is a nice choice). Use all software. Configure a WEP or anyone can access your wireless network (read the booklet...)

Next setup the USB on your other PC / laptop. DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE it comes with (USB 1.1) or it will probably crash your PC, according to many online reports. I downloaded the newest 2.0.1 from netgear.com support page. DO NOT PLUG-IN THE USB ADAPTER until this software is installed. This will ensure no PC crashing (at least, my experience)....even the booklet warns against installing first. The software update is A MUST. You can actually leave the USB device plugged in all the time. I even shutdown with it on (no problems, it powers off with shut down and on with startup). After it's installed follow the book instructions. Make sure you use the same WEP and it should automatically detect your router (as long as your router name is broadcasted, if not type it manually).

Now the not-so-good:
The range on this little thing could be better. I get a 40-53% signal but this is my setup:
My router is downstairs in an addition at the very back room of my house. My wireless USB adapter and PC are upstairs toward the front of the house. This thing has to go thru electronic signals (We have a 2.4Ghrtz phone and other electronics) and at least three walls. Considering the size, I am pleased. I had doubts, I'll admit.

If you are debating between 'b' and 'g' standard and money is an issue go with the b standard. Why? It's still fast, and it's going for bargain prices now since 'g' came out. I have cable internet and I think my connection is just as fast thru the wireless.

Way to go Netgear!! My first time setting up a network and now I'm wireless. It took me two hours, but for someone with basic knowledge could have this up in minutes.

Final assessment: For the price this thing is pretty nifty. Works with laptop and PC (It's good for people like me that use both interchangeably). The range is not spectacular but decent. I'd say I'm at a distance of 70 - 75 feet with a 40-53% signal. My connection never goes to '0'. Perhaps people with this problem have old firmware or they don't have their wireless network setup in a good location. It comes with a cable, so I recommend adjusting it until you find a good spot (for me this changes daily).

Recommended without hesitation. There is better out there, but this USB is fast, easy, and affordable. Best of all, no opening up the PC. I experience no PC crashing at all, and no negative issues. 11 Mbps is pretty sweet in fact.

I like this product. The design is sexy; it is able to detect the signal well. The most problematic part of the package are the drivers.

The manual pages tell you that you must first install the software from the CD and then insert the gadget, otherwise your computer will crash.

You should know that when you first install the drivers from the CD and then you insert the device, your computer will crash, too. The reason is that your computer most likely has Windows XP on it. The drivers on the CD are not XP-certified and they will crash your computer.

If you've already installed them, try to uninstall them - and/or make a "system restore" and return your system to the pre-installation era. If you're lucky enough that you have not started yet, just go to www.netgear.com and find the drivers for MA111. You should choose the newest drivers - which means 2.5 beta. Although it is a beta version, it is actually the only version that is compatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2 which I suppose most of you want.

Install the 2.5 beta version only by running the SETUP.EXE program from the UTILITY subdirectory, nothing else, and your gadget will work very well.

I have two of the MA111 adapters. The first, installed on a Shuttle XPC running Windows XP SP1, has been troublefree from day 1. However, the second adapter, installed on my Dell 2650 (also running XP Home SP1) was giving the "blue screen of death" reported in several other reviews on this page. I got the screen 100% of the time. It turns out the problem is a conflict with the standard Dell Synaptics touchpad drivers. If you download the new Synaptics A02 drivers for XP and install them, the MA111 will then work perfectly. I suspect that any laptop running the original Synaptics touchpad drivers for XP will have the same problem.

Now that the drivers are resolved, I am hitting speeds of 1.85G with my MA111. Not too shabby for 802.11b.

By the way, if you download the new Windows XP update for interactive error reporting, it will tell you the blue screens are likely coming from the Synaptics touchpad, not the MA111.

There are two version, V1 & V2. V1 had problems with XP SP2 but the latest driver solves this problem. V2 works fine with XP SP2. In both cases, you MUST install the driver BEFORE plugging in the card! This is very important! If you do that the card works flawlessly.

The range is superb. Better than my Netgear MA401 which is a PCMCIA card. The MA111 works from 4 floors up in my apartment building, which is an amazing range. I am truly impressed.

My husband and I bought three of these Wireless USB Adapters for TiVo 2. We noticed that the new ones work great with the TiVo and allow us to stream music to TiVo and transfer recordings from one TiVo to another.

I want to make one note that we got what seems to be an older version of this model and TiVo get dropping the network adapter after about 10-20 minutes. Amazon sent us another one and it worked fine. So, if you have this problem, don't give up, but try a different USB adapter.

this adapter should come with a warning: "if you're using xp, do not install anything from the netgear cd!" with xp's own driver, it works like a charm. with the netgear driver and tool, it worked sometimes for me, but only when i was logged in as administrator, and only when i was using the netgear utility program, and even then it was kinda unpredictable.

if you have already installed the netgear stuff - remove it with the uninstall tool that's in the folder. make sure you removed all files in c:\program files\netgear (or whereever you installed it). uninstall the driver for the device under wireless network -> properties -> ma111 / general -> configure -> driver -> uninstall. then unplug the usb adapter, reboot your computer, plug it in again, and just use the settings/driver that xp will come up with.

now it works great for any user on the computer, and it's definitely a neat and cheap device!

I bought this in March 2005 and had a great initial experience, but the connection began dropping with increasing frequency as time went on.

Since you're reading this review, you probably don't fully understand how routers and adaptors work, like myself. This product will work really well if an expert installs it. I'm rather confident of that. The problem is that, for a certain percentage of people who buy it, it will take an expert to make that happen.

Two things may or may not help if you have problems:

1. Install the software first, before plugging in the device, remove the disc and reboot. When you do plug in the device after rebooting, you might see a screen that tells you to put the software disc in your CD drive. DON'T. Click continue without doing this.

2. Right click on "my computer" and select "manage". Under "Service and Applications" double click on "Services" and then double click on "Wireless Zero Configuration". Make sure that this is stopped and disabled.

Several reviewers and an amazon "So you'd like to..." list have suggested that the MA111 USB wireless adapter will work with macs running osX. This is not entirely correct. The original MA111 should work. However, the MA111v2 uses a different chip than the old MA111v1. The DWL-122 prism2/3 driver will not work with this adapter, and there is no mac version of the driver for the chip (SiS 162) used in the new ones. At least, that seems to be the result of three days of frustration, searching, hacking drivers and editing plists. :( (I ordered a set of MA111s. Amazon shipped me MA111v2 adapters. Up until I tried to plug-n-play and the adaptor plug-n-failed, I didn't know the MA111 came in different versions. You can't tell from this page.) There is a linux driver that should work for the MA111v2, but some people are reporting bad luck compiling it.

Setup took less than 5 minutes on WinXP Professional. I installed the drivers from the CD, plugged the MA111 into a USB port on my IBM ThinkPad laptop and it immediately got detected. I opened the icon from the system tray and saw that it was aware of my Linksys DSL router within range. I selected the encryption/WEP type and entered the passphrase to match those set for the Linksys router -- it's connected and I was on the Web!

The signal strength wasn't very strong (40-45%) at 1 floor down & 2 rooms away (kitchen) from the router (den). Nonetheless, I was able to stay online without problems. I bought this form factor instead of PCMCIA card so that I can use it both on a laptop and desktop.