Netgear ME101 802.11b Wireless Bridge

by Netgear

Product Details

Product Manual [925kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00008XOLT
• Item model number: ME101NA
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,312 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 21, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Easily Connects Wired Ethernet to a Wireless Network
Bring it all together--your PC, gaming console, Internet Radio, and wireless network. Netgear's Wireless Ethernet Bridge makes it easy to create or extend a wireless network to include Ethernet devices without having to add Ethernet wiring to your home. This powerful bridge delivers greater range and signal strength than most other 802.11b adapters so that you can enjoy uninterrupted wireless network access to Ethernet devices within range of your router. Compact, portable, and wall-mountable, it gives you the freedom to place it anywhere in your home. High level 128-bit WEP encryption provides a high degree of privacy.

Far-reaching
Integrates Ethernet devices to a wireless network to make high-speed wireless internet access available to any such device. A powerful detachable antenna provides access at distances greater than most 802.11b devices. Enjoy networked gaming at high speeds from the most convenient spot in your home, regardless of where your router may be.

Convenient
Quickly and easily links an Ethernet device such as a gaming console or TiVo to your wireless network without having to rearrange the furnishings of your home. Sleek, wall-mountable design can blend in nicely into your home decor without the need for any additional cables. Detachable antenna allows you to choose optimal signal strength.

Secure
Powerful 40/64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption protects your network from wireless eavesdroppers. Tested and proven technology using advanced, high-quality components ensure reliable performance. Netgear round-the-clock technical support is always at your service.

Product Description

The NETGEAR ME101 802.11b Wireless Ethernet Bridge makes it easy to connect your gaming console, PC or Internet radio to your wireless network. No additional Ethernet cabling is required, and no other adapter is needed to connect a device that has an Ethernet port. With its attractive, sleek platinum casing, the ME101 can be conveniently mounted on the wall without your home decor taking an aesthetic hit. The powerful, detachable antenna provides greater range and signal strength than most other Wi-Fi wireless devices.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Works great... 15 minutes at a time!!!, September 14, 2003

By 

C. Gafton (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Netgear ME101 802.11b Wireless Bridge (Personal Computers)

This has got to be one of the worst wireless products to come out of Netgear.
If you want a reliable unit, buy something else.
If you want something easy to configure and install, buy something else.
If you want something that won't get confused when it starts seeing your neighbor's wireless access point, buy something else.
If you would like to be able to call technical support and get a meaningful response, buy something else.

This thing locks up all the time. Sometimes it lasts 15 minutes, sometimes you might get 30 minutes of use out of it. Then you have to power cycle it to make it work again for another 15 minutes. I have tried to mate it to wireless access points made by Netgear, D-Link, Linksys, Adaptec, Cisco. I have tried having only one AP "visible" in its pitiful range; having multiple access points; upgrading the firmware. Nothing changes its behavior of random locks after a relatively short period of time from the moment you turn it on.

Finally, if you don't want to end up like me writing reviews on here, BUY SOMETHING ELSE! Anything.

It can not possibly be any worse than this utter failure and ripoff.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BAD BAD BAD, September 25, 2003

By 

"mav177" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Netgear ME101 802.11b Wireless Bridge (Personal Computers)

I also own a Netgear wireless router. Configuring ME101 to work with my Netgear router wasn't an issue. However, the wireless bridge only works for several hours and hang. Sometimes it only works for mintues. I've updated the firmware and it's not helping at all. It's a piece of crap.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works.. if you know what you are doing, January 5, 2004

By 

Dominguez (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Netgear ME101 802.11b Wireless Bridge (Personal Computers)

I think this is a very good product. However, I do have two complains:

-You need to know what you are doing to set it up correctly since the instructions aren't a lot of help. If you are not familiar with networking terms, seek a friend that does, get another product that has a friendlier manual or prepare yourself with a lot of patience and trial-and-error.

-It won't "connect" to my wireless network if my access point does not broadcast the SSID. It finds it, but it never locks on it even if you enter the SSID in the bridge configuration.

First of all, you need the firmware upgrade. Don't try anything without upgrading first. I connected the cross-over cable included to my computer, installed the utility program included in the cd and upgraded the firmware (you also have to upgrade the utility program).

Once that was done, I had 100% signal strenght across the room (lets say 8 feet.) It was about 70% before the firmware upgrade. The 64-bit encription takes it back to about 84% however. I then took it to my basement (1 floor down, about 20 feet away through 3 walls) to its final location where my Playstation is. It worked without any problems. I've had it on for days now and it doesn't lock up or loses signal strength. I used to run a network cable all the way down there and I can't tell that I am using a wireless bridge instead of an ethernet cable. It is just as fast and reliable.

I also was curious about how the bridge was going to work with access control by MAC id (I have my wireless access point set up this way). It worked great. It locks on the network but it will throw itself out if the device you have connected to it is not in the MAC access control list.

Overall I am very satisfied with it, but I can see how it would get frustrating if I didn't know about networking.