With the Netgear PC FA-501 10/100Mbps 32-bit CardBus Adapter for notebook PCs, your laptop or notebook PC becomes compatible with 10 Mbps Ethernet, and your migration to 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is built in with 10/100 dual-speed technology.
Netgear PC cards are compatible with Windows Plug and Play, making installation a simple one-step process. This card is also FA510 32-bit CardBus compatible, providing maximum 100 Mbps network performance.
Powershift your laptop or notebook PC up to Fast Ethernet with NETGEAR's 10/100 dual speed Ethernet line of PC cards. With NETGEAR PC cards your laptop or notebook PC becomes compatible with 10 Mbps Ethernet and your migration to 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is built-in with 10/100 dual speed technology; all for a 10 Mbps price. With your choice of 16-bit or 32-bit performance your laptop or notebook PC is ready to share files and peripherals at 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. Simple plug and play installation makes Powershifting to 100 Mbps a breeze.
1 Dont' dare
This is terrible product. The connection between the network card and yout note book depends on a connecting wire which gets destroyed easily. No oned carry the accessory, so you have to order it fro about [money amount]+ S&H
2 Come on folks.. lets get the specs right
OK, fine. I'm the first to admit that I'm not a tech head. That's why I always do my best to match product specs with the system I am buying for. After doing this to the best of my ability it was annoying to realize that this card did not fit into the PCMCIA slots on either of my 4 year old laptops. The company provided specs need to be more straight forward.
3 Turned out to be big dissapointment
After about a month of good work the card died without any visible reason. Windows continued to see the card correctly, but it kept saying that network cable is disconnected.
Indeed, the lights on the dongle were out, as well as the lights on the router. I tried different cables, but it did not help. I sent the card to NetGear for replacement.
I got another card. It worked fine for a week and then began to show bad contact between the dongle and the card. I needed to adjust the dongle in its slot slightly in order to make it work. Slight movement caused the contact to stop.
In both cases the dongle was physically intact, and I handled it with care. I did not expose it to extreme pressures or to dirty environments.
I gave it up and ordered LinkSys PCM200 card with integrated connector - no more dongles!
4 Does its job pretty well for this kind of money
I use Windows 2000 on the laptop.
Install was relatively easy. When I inserted the card, Windows 2000 immediately installed a generic driver, without asking any questions (as far as I remember). I needed to replace it with NetGear's driver, but it was not very hard to do.
One of the reviewers here complained that the card has problems with "foreign" cables. Mine worked fine with a 50ft network cable that I bought separetely.
I measured the network speed, and it is not very great, but acceptable. I got about 3MBytes/second when copying 100MB file using NetBEUI protocol. I used to have 6-7MB/sec at work (with SMC cards).
Many people say the dongle break easily. I have the card only for a couple of days, so I did not have enough time to break it yet. But at work I have a D-Link card with the same kind of dongle, and it did not break for at least a year. You just need to handle it with respect :)
5 Windows NT nightmare
This product is not well supported for the Windows NT environment. They blame the configuration problems on the laptop manufacturer who in turn blames Netgear. The real culprit is probably NT, but Netgear they shouldn't advertise it for NT if they can't support it.
6 Not a good choice after all...
This card works better than Linksys NP100 (has compatibility issues with other Linksys products, can you believe it?) that is I have not experienced any incompatibility with other network cards in my house with things come with the package. This card should have gotten five stars, except there is a major problem with this product - IT WILL NOT WORK with my home-made RJ-45 cables! NOTE: It will only work with the "RJ-45" cable that comes with it. So do be aware of what you are getting into before buying it! Get a 3Com 10/100 card is definitely the way, no incompatibility and no cabling issue.
7 Fragile
The dongle is extremely fragile. I've broken two so far. The technical support is terrrible. Netgear has had "unexpected high call volume" for months. I spent 4 hours on hold for them to confirm what I already knew (it was broken and I needed a new card). Frustrating.
8 FA-510 Installs Easily
This device almost fell into my system by itself. I have a Compaq Presario 12XL310 with Windows ME. The software detected and installed the card automatically. I was online to my LAN in far less than 5 minutes. Although they are all somewhat fragile, the "dongle" seems nice quality.
9 Great card with a poor plug
The coupler (ACC-017-015 FA410) plug that mates to the card is easily broken. Torque transmitted from the RJ45 end of the coupler eventually breaks the plug.
Otherwise this is a great little card. Just make sure you know where to find a supply of couplers!
10 Worth the money
I needed an NIC for college so I could hook up to my campus network. This one looked like the best value out there, so I sprung for it. Installation was a breeze on my laptop, and I connected to the network at school with no problems at all. So far, internet access has been uninterrupted, and the card itself is pretty sturdy. It's a shade more expensive than you're liable to find elsewhere on Amazon, but I consider it worth the price.
11 Great little card
Used this in my Dell Notebook, and with my NetGear switch. Runs really fast, installed easy, and I've had no problems with it all
