NETGEAR RangeMax WNDA3100 Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter

10 Review to this product

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  Brian
  May 16th, 2008 on 3:56 am

  Rating

  I’ve been trying out different brands of Wireless-N products, as well as different configs (i.e. PCI, PCMIA, USB). This has been the 1st item that I have used that worked correctly right out of the box. I am using XP Pro, so I can’t comment on how it does with VISTA.
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  R. Lanthier
  May 27th, 2008 on 11:36 pm

  Rating

  I am using this adapter to link up to a Netgear RangeMax WNDR3300 Dual Band Wireless-N Router. The connection with this duo is tremendous and my speed tests are similar through a wireless connection as they are through a direct connection to a cable modem. Very impressive. Because this is a dual band adapter, it is compatible with G routers as well. I was able to test this adapter with my older linksys G speedboost enabled router and was able to get higher speeds than with my Linksys adapter (also with speedboost and also very fast!!). VERY IMPRESSIVE!

  Piece of cake to install. Small, can either plug it directly into a USB port (good for laptops) or use a cable to connect to a desktop (I am doing this and it works fabulously).

  Look no further!
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  Wieslaw V. Burdziuk
  August 26th, 2008 on 8:37 am

  Rating

  RangeMax WNDA3100 Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter
  
  It worked better than I expected. Good range and connectivity. But, I found their software needs to be reworked as it had a hard time connecting using it. As, soon as I let Windows manage my wireless connection everything worked flawlessly. In the setup make sure you let Windows manage the wireless setup and you’ll enjoy this product!
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  Mr. Real
  January 15th, 2009 on 10:51 am

  Rating

  I bought two of these today. One for my XP laptop, another for my Vista tower. And both are working perfect with my Netgear WNDR3300 router. Great range and signal… downstairs, upstairs, and outside to at least 200 feet before I got to cold to keep checking. I had been using two other N adapters from Netgear, and even though they both communicated with the router, performance would sometimes suffer, especially with the laptop (which after an hour would be non-existent). But these adapters are made specifically for the router I have, and I’m having NO issues what-so-ever. Funny thing is, I had been hesitating on purchasing these since they are marketed as USB 2.0 adapters, and my laptop pre-dates 2.0. But, the box says it only needs USB 1.1… and it turns out it is working fine… better than I could ever have imagined… all 270mbps. So the secret seems to be, for the adapter to work as desired, have all Netgear Dual Band N equipment. I also downloaded and installed the latest drivers from Netgear’s website, instead of installing the drivers off the CD. The updates seem to have taken care of most, if not all, of the bugs that previous reviewers were complaining about. And so you know, I can easily connect to other networks outside my home also.
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  W. W. Zhang
  November 11th, 2009 on 12:55 pm

  Rating

  I thought installing the accompanying software that with the product would be an easy way to install the drivers on a computer without internet access.

  Nope. The software was a complete waste of my time. It was confusing. There weren’t any instructions. And it wouldn’t give me internet access.

  So I eventually uninstall the entire software. And just plug and play to look for software online (I had to get a spare long ethernet cable).

  It works great just plug in and play.

  So be warned, if you get this product, don’t use the software. Just plug and let windows find the drivers for you to use it. It works better that way.
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  Andreas Zielke
  November 24th, 2009 on 2:14 am

  Rating

  There were several reviews with negative experiences. That was not my impression. Installation worked quite easy (automatically), performance is great and I never had a connection loss. But I have to admit that my adapter is not far away from my router (next room) and I use it in combination with Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR3300), that means the optimized configuration. I’m totally happy.
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  sherkaran
  November 26th, 2009 on 4:00 am

  Rating

  I used this adapter for about 6 months with Vista 32 bit OS and it worked flawlessly giving me 300 Mbps speed. When I decided to upgrade to Windows 7, it did not work out so well. The netgear drivers do not support windows 7 (even now when its released), which sucks. I was able to find drivers for it but they kept dropping the connection every few days. So, if you are not on Windows 7, this thing works fine.
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  Lenny Dayberry
  December 29th, 2009 on 12:19 pm

  Rating

  …you operate it in conjunction with the right router. I originally used this with a Netgear WNR3500 router and it consistently dropped connections…my wife was not happy since it was her laptop. Because I had other issues with that router I sold it and bought a Netgear WNDR3700 dual band router. WOW!!! What a difference! No signal drops and the throughput is phenomenal…especially on 2.4Ghz band. I was ready to give up on this adapter when I just made the leap of faith (based on good reviews) on getting the better more high end Netgear router and boy was I happy with the result.
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  Bryan C. Greifinger
  February 12th, 2010 on 7:16 am

  Rating

  Easy installation, easy use, reliable….what more could you ask for? It even has an extension cable so you can plug it into the back of your desktop so it’s out of the way but accessible if you ever want it to be….now THAT is perfect!
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  H. Narvenkar
  March 2nd, 2010 on 5:50 pm

  Rating

  I just bought this with the WNDR 3700 router from Netgear and it is as though they are made for each other. No dropped connections, exceptional speed. I sit on the 2nd floor and my router is on the first floor about 100 ft away in a straight line and I can still use the full N speeds. Again this is the new adapter – the one with the light on the top. Make sure you are buying this one, the earlier one has a lot of negative reviews.

  On ease of installation (Windows XP), I just plugged in the CD, followed the steps and it worked on the first try. IMPORTANT – The product ships with a male-female USB cable. If you dont want to connect the adapter to your laptop directly and move around a lot, i.e. if you are worried about bumping the adapter and breaking something, use the cable. I started using it and find it invaluable.

  Buy this adapter only if you are purchasing the WNDR3700 or equivalent / better from Netgear or others. If you are not getting a dual band router, you can spend less by purchasing a single band adapter.