NETGEAR WG311 Wireless G PCI Adapter :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review
At 54 Mbps, this wireless 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g PCI card is much faster than existing 11 Mbps wireless networks and will supercharge the delivery of media-rich content to your desktop PC as never before. It easily handles huge digital video and MP3 files, firing them through your network at blazing speeds. It gives you continuous access to your home wireless router or office network, saves the time and expense of installing Ethernet cabling when you want to set up or expand a network, and makes it simple to relocate your desktop PC without rewiring. Moreover, it allows network users to wirelessly share a broadband Internet connection for access to corporate resources, the Internet, and e-mail all with the highest available level of industry standard WEP encryption security.This high-speed 802.11g PCI card delivers large files in the blink of an eye up to five times faster than 802.11b, allowing wireless video streaming for the first time ever. Dynamic rate shifting according to environmental conditions achieves the fastest possible connections.The card adds convenient mobility and reliable standards-based wireless connectivity to a network from a desktop PC via an 802.11b, 802.11g, or dual-band router or access point. It makes the most of your broadband connection, allowing network users to wirelessly share one IP address. The card quickly and easily networks employees for ongoing access to corporate resources, e-mail, and the Internet.Secure 40/64 and 128-bit Wired Equivalency Protection (WEP) encryption allows for secure data transfer and increased shielding from wireless eavesdroppers. The card supports Virtual Private Network (VPN) pass-through for protected communication over the public Internet. It is simple to install and use.
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Customer Reviews

Works fine with Vista

2007-10-27
I installed the WG311v3 board today into a new computer with Vista OS. This was the easiest networking installation I have ever done! (And I have been dealing with TCP/IP for many years...) Install the driver software, shutdown, install the hardware board, reboot. Then bring up the Network and Sharing Center, type in my WANs password, and it was done! So far, performance has been excellent. FWIW, my wireless router is also a Netgear - model WGT624v3.

Garbage

2007-07-10
Bought this for its vista compatibility. It does not work with Vista despite numerous attemptes. Searching for resolutions to this online reveals hundreds of other frustrated purchasers and not a jot of evidence anyone got it to work. Netgear should be ashamed of themselves for this product and the pitiful support they offer.

Bad compatability

2007-06-04
Product Randomly Disconnects from network. After 6 months of off and on tech support still no resolution. I've been using computers for almost 20 years and tried everything imaginable. Just bought a new product from linksys, install was faster, easier, better defined, working flawlessly now.

Problems linking up with lynxus router

2007-05-06
I baught this thinking that this would be compatible with my lynxus Router. Am I doing something wrong on my part?
If so please direct me as to better serve me.

old product

2007-03-20
I expected to get a WG311v3 instead I got a WG311v2. Also, Netgear is not abble to supply a driver for Windows Vista at this point. v3 would have at least a beta driver.

Dont do it!

2008-05-02
I bought this card to give wireless access to my desktop which is downstairs. It often lost connection, and at its most effective level gained 1 bar of signal. Even when the computer was within 30 feet of the router it still registered a lousy 3 bars. I've just upgraded to a cheaper edimax pci card which has 5 bars of signal through 3 interior walls and a ceiling. I expected more from netgear...

Horrible product with worse technical support

2008-02-19
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT
After reading the reviews I bought this product thinking how bad could it be. Wow, I had no idea. I've got two computers, a laptop with a linksys pci card, and my desktop with this netgear pci card, both coming from my wireless router. My Linksys works perfect all the time, this netgear disconnects about 4 to 5 times an hour (both are running next to each other. The laptop has excellent reception; the desktop with this netgear card, always has low reception). Over the 5 times that I have called 'tech support' I've spent hours waiting for someone in India to help me. Their help? One word: WORTHLESS. Despite giving case numbers, which document exactly what the previous "tech support agent" has done, they repeat the same old 'remedies', which don't work. On one of my most recent calls I was told by a 'tech agent' that her boss was watching her and that I was taking too long, so she would have to hang up. Simply amazing.

Instead of netgear, look at the Linksys products from Cisco, they seem to work very well.

Unstable, poor signal reception, confusing software

2008-02-11
I had this adapter for about 5 months now, and I have to say it's one of the worst pieces of hardware I ever used. The driver installation wants to install Netgear's version of wireless network manager that replaces the Windows WiFi manager. The main feature of the Netgear's manager is that it does not work, at least not on Windows XP, and it sure makes installation confusing. The second issue I ran into is very poor signal and frequently dropping connections - in the same room where other computers report excellent WiFi signal strength. Looking for an updated driver was an adventure, because Netgear uses the name "firmware" to describe drivers. I was eventually able to get them on the phone and they were quite helpful on the phone, and we got the driver updated. With the updated driver, the signal remains very poor, and dropped connections have become much less frequent - only about daily - but still enough to be really annoying. On top of dropped connections I also experience hung connections - where the network reports to be connected, but no data flows, and outright adapter crashes, where device manger ends up disabling the adapter until a reboot or until explicit enabling.

So save yourself a hassle and buy something else... I don't yet know what, though...

USE VERSION 3!!!

2008-01-23
Use the version 3!! I have V2 and V3. V2 was a pain but has worked without a hitch for over a year. Just got V3 and it was up and running in less than 10 minutes--Package unwrapping to surfing the net. I use winxp 2 and winxp2 pro. Got it off ebay for 20$$ brand new!!

Does not work reliably on XP PC

2007-12-02
I have wasted many hours fiddling with this card trying to get it to work on my XP PC. No matter how I configured it, it would intermittently freeze up my PC. Netgear's tech support tried to help but to no avail. Ultimately, I found that the MSI Turbo PCI card [ASIN:B000M5U9GI Super G 802.11BG Wireless Pci 64 Bit Xp Compliant Turbo Mode] works 100% reliably on my XP PC and, ironically, gets a much stronger signal from my Netgear router.

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