NetGear RangeMax™ WPN311 (WPN311NA) 802.11g/b Wireless Adapter
- Interface Compatibility: PCI
- WLAN Standards: IEEE 802.11g/b
- Form Factor: Internal Adapter
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Not a good adapter - but few alternatives
Pros
High speed 108mpbs with a RangeMax wireless router. Reliable until it freezes my system.
Cons
Buggy software and drivers, system instability.
Recommended it?
No
I've had the WPN311 for more than a year, but finally gave up on it today. Ever since installing it my PC has been subject to random freezes, mostly while playing online games. It wasn't the heat of the video card, since the system is otherwise unchanged from when I was running a wired network.
I did see that Netgear had a driver update for the card, but the update procedure included completely removing the card from the computer and putting it back in! That is utter nonsense for a driver update.
Today I saw that Windows Update had a newer driver available, and downloaded it. Unfortunately my Internet access no longer worked after the new driver was installed -- I had wireless connectivity, and domain names resolved, but I could not get ping or HTTP traffic through. After several rounds of uninstalling/reinstalling the card and drivers, including moving the card to a different PCI slot, I yanked it out and put in a WMP54G that I had lying around. Installation was a snap and now I'm back in, writing this review. What a waste of time.
I did see that Netgear had a driver update for the card, but the update procedure included completely removing the card from the computer and putting it back in! That is utter nonsense for a driver update.
Today I saw that Windows Update had a newer driver available, and downloaded it. Unfortunately my Internet access no longer worked after the new driver was installed -- I had wireless connectivity, and domain names resolved, but I could not get ping or HTTP traffic through. After several rounds of uninstalling/reinstalling the card and drivers, including moving the card to a different PCI slot, I yanked it out and put in a WMP54G that I had lying around. Installation was a snap and now I'm back in, writing this review. What a waste of time.
