NETGEAR WNHDEB111-100NAS Wireless N Access Point by Netgear
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Our Price: $149.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of NETGEAR WNHDEB111-100NAS Wireless N Access Point
Digital camera Review: Intermittent functionality. Bad customer support!
Summary: 2 Stars
Ok, I needed to find a product that would allow me to get an improvement over my existing wireless G connection with my XBOX 360. I'm running a Wireless N router but currently connecting with a wireless G XBOX 360 adapter. It currently connects at about 50% 100ft and two rooms away from my DLink-655 Wireless N router. It slows down quite a bit when streaming video so I wanted a solution that took advantage of Draft N wireless. Supposedly the 5GHz Netgear AP and Bridge are supposed to provide faster speed with better range that is less susceptible to interference.
Real world results were not very good. The AP and Bridge connected quickly and the XBOX 360 saw the ethernet connection no problem. For a while everything was working well. 30 minutes later I was getting erradic behavior. Shortly after that it disconnected all together. I've since spent two days trying to get them to work reliably. Network perfomance tests reveal anywhere from full signal to no signal at all and it consistently fluctuates. Both units have the updated firmware and I tried manually setting the mode switch instead of using the auto settings. Nothing has worked.
Netgear tech support was a disaster. I got right through but when speaking to them all you can hear is the sound of other tech people in the background. The first time he called I could barely hear the guy over all the background noise. He told me that I had a bad connection and should call back. The second time I called I got the same background noise but the guy attempted to help me with my issue. It was obvious right away that he didn't have any idea what he was talking about. He asked me about my wireless setup and then proceded to tell me that my wireless G laptop would not connect to the Access Point. I still don't know what he's talking about. My laptop is wireless N 2.4GHz through my DLink router and had nothing to do with my Netgear problem. He then put me on hold for several minutes came back and told me to put both switches on both units to bridges mode. What is he talking about? The Access point is supposed to be in AP mode and only the bridge should be in Bridge mode! He then puts me on hold again and he asks the distance between units. He says that my distance is too far and he can no longer help me. I tried to explain that I am currently getting a better connection and speed with my wireless G equipment so the 5GHz Wireless N setup should get better than that with the same distance. "Sorry Sir that's all I can do for you."
Needless to say I'm returning these. Maybe at closer distances they will work well but that kind of defeats the point! The whole purpose of wireless N is added range and speed. For people with short runs this product will probably work fine but for me I don't think it lives up to the hype!
Digital camera Review: It just works
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this wireless networking kit after I was unable to find the DLINK DAP1522 access point in stock at Amazon or other retailers. I already have a DIR-655 and thought that going with an all DLINK network would minimize problems. I was concerned that the ethernet port on the Netgear product was only 100MB versus the four (4) GigE ports on the Dlink. I left my DIR-655 in place as the DHCP server on my network and put the Netgear as a supplemental wireless N network operating in an N-only mode. The push button WPA is very easy to use. The over the air firmware update worked flawlessly. Netflix streaming on my TiVo HD works perfect as does streaming to my Vudu. I did have to add my ethernet switch to multiplex the one port on the netgear to my three (3) home entertainment devices (TiVo HD, XBOX 360, and Vudu). In summary:
Pros
- Cost efficient way to bridge wirelessly to HD capable entertainment devices
- Supports adding additional wireless N endpoints to the network
- Simple to use push button WPA security
- Decent web-based configuration software
- 5 GHz bandwidth which is a pro and a con
Cons
- Only 1 non-gigE ethernet port
- Signal strength on 5 GHz is not as high as my DIR-655 operating on 2.4 GHz. I haven't run enough tests to determine throughput wirelessly over the 802.11g DIR-655 versus the 802.11n Netgear.
Digital camera Review: Just OK
Summary: 3 Stars
Maybe its me, I had a difficult time getting this to work, once working it was great. I have one acting as an AP and the other connected to direct tv receiver and to media center computer, the direct tv receiver works flawlessly but the computer connection is lost every time it is booted and the 2 WNHDEB111 need to be rebooted for the computer to connect to the internet but no problems with the direct tv. So my conclusion is just to connect the tv and not the media center through the AP.Digital camera Review: Net Gear
Summary: 1 Stars
I really cannot rate the product as I cannot get logged into the product. I attempted to register the Netgear WNHDE111 and they never send me a reply or confirmation that I have registered. When I try to utilize the device it asks for a password. I tried several renditions but have not been able to get it to work. I called customer service and informed them that I had attempted to login for product registration. They were able to see that but I still have not received a confirmation and even after they stated they would send me another confirmation reply with my password. I still hav not received that reply.
This truly may be agreat product but the customer service that Netgear gives is deplorable. Fortunately for me, I have 2wire or I still would not be able to gain access to the internet.
I cannot login to the web site to get the proper assistance and when I did talk with one of their representatives they told me the the problem was with 2wire as they don't need a password (the instructions say 'password' is the password but I stgill cannot gain access). That is not true. So presently I have paid for a product I cannot use!!!!
I would strongly state that no one should pourchase products from Netgear. They have absolutely the worse customer service. What good is spending your money on something and you cannot use it.
Digital camera Review: Nice looking, cheap feeling, poor range?
Summary: 2 Stars
Ok so I want to setup a wireless bridge. I have about 200 feet from one building to another. I used my home made "Cantenna", and an old laptop as a gateway using xp and setup a bridge manually with fixed ips, worked great. However the ISP changed the modem/AP to a newer box, that does not support 802.11b which is what my Cantenna uses(yea it is a little old). So I figured why not jump to N while I am redoing everything. I purchased the whole kit Netgear WNHDEB111-100NAS with 2 APs. Hooked them up and they took a very long time to connect. I ended up using the switches on the back to set the unit by the ISP Modem to "AP" and the remote one to "bridge". Connection established now, but for only about 5 minutes at a time then drop!
I decided to move the bridge outside the building, a little better, but still not a solid connection. About 3 days (countless hours) later, I have the "AP" unit on the top of the shelf above the ISP's modem and the "Bridge" bungee corded to a tree about 100 feet from it, and a 100+ foot cat5 cable run into the second building! Get this: I can sit under the tree with my laptop and connect easily to the ISP's modem/AP no drops at all, but the "bridge" continually drops about every 10 minutes, and sometimes it stays down for several minutes. No idea why! There is no way to see the signal strength or anything so it is like flying in the dark.
I am still messing with them so I may get it working. Currently my suggestion is to save your money/time and build a cantenna using a usb 802.11g adapter and use an old laptop for the bridge, if you have a similar situation to mine. I think that is what I will do in a few days when I am totally frustrated with these two units.