Netgear 802.11g USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter

Anyone know if this works with Series 2 tivos?

The pictured serial number (1NG177…) is not TiVo compatible according to TiVo’s web site which says [list]*“NETGEAR WG111, WG111 ver.2 & ver.3, NETGEAR WG111T, WG111US Any adapters that don’t start with WG72 or 130, such as WG16, WG41, 165 or 1AC, are NOT compatible.”[/list]http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/networkingandphoneconnections/all_wired_and_wireless_adapters.html

READ BEFORE BUYING !!!

This is a bargain, but like most bargains there is a catch. The Wireless Router is strange. Sometimes it works, some times it takes a holiday. Lousy drivers for vista, and poor ones for xp. But there is a silver lining. I was able to get this to work like a charm under Kubuntu Linux latest (Sept 08) release using ndiswrapper and the old XP drivers.

So, if Linux is your main game OR
you don’t mind plugging and unplugging and some times rebooting this flaky device, give it a try. It is worth every penny of the 12-13 bucks, but no more.

Were they USB? Keep in mind things are commonly sold as “windows only” for the general public who might get confused about the generally universal compatilbility of USB/FireWire items. Since Microsoft and Apple started playing nicer together compatibility issues have been less prevalent.
…I’ll still keep my PC and never buy another mac, no matter how good compatibility issues are. There’s always Linux :slight_smile:

Nope.

Unusual to say the least…

This is weird. I own four Netgear USB 2.0 adapters from Woot. I bought three of them at once - as far as I know, three of them are WPN111 USB sticks, and I believe the remaining one is the one sold here, a WG111.

One of those sticks I bought works like ass. Overheats, drops connection, etc. Not a fun time. The other three work very well. However, I’m now in the market for a fifth (maybe even a sixth if I had the money). I think I’m going to pass on this one because the software on ALL FOUR of them suck horribly. Seriously, if you want these to work well, just let Windows’ built-in wireless control panel handle it. Don’t use the Netgear software.

Kinda annoyed that Woot played such a tease on the Yahoo product description, describing a 108mbps PCI adapter… :frowning:

all of netgear’s available wireless adapters supports ad-hoc mode which is communication between two wireless devices without the router however connecting to the internet is a no go with ad-hoc you can connect to the internet seperately but ad-hoc only allows file transfers and remote access

Actually, it is possible to use ad-hoc to provide access to the Internet. One of the computers has to have both the wireless connection (setup for ad-hoc) and a wired connection (to the Internet), and then needs to be setup to act as a bridge. I did this 2-3 years ago at a friend’s apartment to setup a temporary wireless network, even though we didn’t have an access point to use. It worked pretty well, but definitely requires a bit more technical savvy. There are some security concerns, etc.

For most users, just buying an access point and then running through the directions to setup the security is probably a lot easier and safer.

EDIT: Punctuation is your friend.

Test

Bought this from Woot a long time ago, works perfectly!

ok what exactly does this do?

Thanks, LightningDragon and smiller933! We are now in for three!

One of these in the back of my wife’s computer will make it easy for her to use with her Thinkpad (picked up here about a month ago). Her desktop is on the 'net via a cable going into my office, where this machine is hooked up via a modem (not by choice – we live way out in da boonies, no cable, no DSL, and the phone company gave me a funny look when I asked about ISDN).

These will also make a nice addition to the “Oh, s__t!” bag (two of these, plus a “thumb” flash-drive holding the drivers and various utilities will help when visiting friends and relatives who “are just having a little problem/can you help out just a bit?”

“More fun than an RS-232 breakout box!” <g>

(Yes, in an earlier life, I was one of “those” people. I loved it when people would throw money at me AND be glad to see me (without having to remove my clothes!<g>), but nowaways, I’ve been disabled for several years, and the IT world has moved so far beyond where it was back when I was in mh prime that I sometimes feel like a babe in the woods. Thus my probably very naive question – and thanks again for the help!)

Next question - does anyone know if it wold be possible to use two of these in place of a USB printer cable? (I presume I would need a form-factor/gender changer at the printer end – the printer uses the smaller type USB connector — bigger than the type used on phones, cameras, and USB players, but smaller than the type on the back of a computer.)

I’m guessing the answer is a likely “no” but it never hurts to ask.

Do not buy!!!
Love woot!!!
Have one. No good. Disconnects like crazy.

hmmm nice price, decent storage capability. I’ll wait a few hrs til late morning and see where it’s at. Refurb’d has me wondering what was wrong with them all.

Netgear products that are bought as refurb will not receive good tech support. You’re limited to email/web forms, and that can include over 12 hours of wait time between submissions.

When I bought a router that was refurb, I had to submit questions online and wait for a response. Twice they sent me the same response, so that pretty much wasted a day and a half. Finally they sent me new advice, but it still didn’t work.

When they realized the product was not going to work, they offered to send me a new one. But then they changed their tune after they remembered it was refurb, so I had to send it back to the point of purchase.

My advice: don’t buy Netgear refurb. I’ve adopted the policy of never buying Netgear.

Had 2 of these from a previous woot-off. one still works, the other, i thoguth overheated and died, but i plugged it in to test a USB cable, and it lit up.

These are nice to have if you have a wireless connection.

Woot might as well use this item in the elusive bags of crap because this is real honest to goodness crap. It burned out in about 3 weeks. What a waste of hard earned money.

I purchased this exact product around a year ago for $30 from Bust Buy. I got it because my house only had wireless internet and I was running off an old Desktop that didn’t have it when my laptop busted.

It was a decent product at best. I could get access to the internet at a decent speed. However, if I left my computer alone for an hour, the device would have stopped picking up signal by the time I came back. Once it stopped picking up signal, you’d have to restart the computer at the very least to try to get it to work again. It’s not great, but it can get the job done usually.

I used to have one of these… Worked well, but man it would get REALLY hot… Almost too hot to touch… It finally gave up the ghost after two years.

Good deal for this price… Maybe get a second one as a backup!