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    Netgear Card Does It All

    By
    John Taschek
    -
    March 24, 2003
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      Wireless warriors confused by todays 802.11 standards have a new ally: Netgears WAG511, a wireless PC Card that supports two bands and all the major wireless standards, including 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g.

      I expected compromised performance from this $129 all-in-one wireless card, but performance met or exceeded that of the best cards Ive tested.

      In 802.11b mode, the card offered performance that far exceeded most 802.11b cards. The one exception was a Sony PWCA-C150S (which includes a better antenna design but supports only 802.11b).

      In 802.11g mode, the WAG511 had 30 percent greater range than the next-closest competitor; and in 802.11a mode, it had about twice the range of any card based on Atheros first-generation chip set. In fact, the WAG511 card came as close as Ive seen to matching the performance of built-in 802.11 antennas.

      The WAG511 is based on Atheros yet-to-be-announced chip set, which is an update of the AR5001X chip set, signaling that Atheros has successfully escaped its 802.11a heritage.

      A potential issue with this card is with its driver. Version 2.3.0.73 (actually the first version) of the Netgear driver isnt Windows XP-compatible, and I had driver problems with three systems. I dont find these to be serious issues because drivers are updated frequently, and the cards worked fine eventually.

      As with Netgears other new wireless cards, the WAG511 ships with a configuration utility thats better than Windows XPs wireless utility but is unnecessary nonetheless.

      John Taschek
      As the director of eWEEK Labs, John manages a staff that tests and analyzes a wide range of corporate technology products. He has been instrumental in expanding eWEEK Labs' analyses into actual user environments, and has continually engineered the Labs for accurate portrayal of true enterprise infrastructures. John also writes eWEEK's 'Wide Angle' column, which challenges readers interested in enterprise products and strategies to reconsider old assumptions and think about existing IT problems in new ways. Prior to his tenure at eWEEK, which started in 1994, Taschek headed up the performance testing lab at PC/Computing magazine (now called Smart Business). Taschek got his start in IT in Washington D.C., holding various technical positions at the National Alliance of Business and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. There, he and his colleagues assisted the government office with integrating the Windows desktop operating system with HUD's legacy mainframe and mid-range servers.

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