NETGEAR WNDA4100-100NAS Ultimate Performance N900 Dual-Band Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n USB 2.0 Up to 450+450Mbps Wireless Data Rates WPA2 NETGEAR WNDA4100-100NAS Ultimate Performance N900 Dual-Band Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n USB 2.0 Up to 450+450Mbps Wireless Data Rates WPA2

Pros: when used with the netgear n900 wndr4500 router, this thing kicks some serious @ss.

Cons: none. buy a netgear router and enjoy.

Pros: Always get Excellent signal. I can even pickup networks in the apartment building down the street with excellent signal. Easy setup, but a bit gawdy if you have it on the front of your box. Also, it will not fit in the rear with other USB peripherals plugged in since it is a bit wide. I like it though :)

Cons: None that make it not worth ordering.

Pros: Fast,when in 5ghz. 450mbps

Cons: Doesn't allow for channel selection in user interface, defaults to 2.4GHZ. 216mbps

Supplied CD lacks customization of device.

Other Thoughts: I had to go into my routers settings (Linksys EA4500) and change the password for the 5ghz band and connect that way to force it to use 5ghz. Really should have more options in the user interface.

Pros: I like the remote USB cable. It works great at b/g/n. Getting 150mb/s

Cons: I cannot get it to connect at 5ghz. The access point is 10 feet away and it won't connect. I am using WPA2. Tech told me "wpa2 is too fast so it won't work at 5ghz." I do this for a living, typical support reading from a script and not really knowing what he (or I) am talking about. I finally got to "level 2" support and he wasn't much help either.

The configuration utility is brain-dead. It is for the plug and play user and has no device configuration. The device cannot be forced to a particular protocol (a/b/g/n) so it picks.

Other Thoughts: I'm extremely surprised at this product and at the NetGear support. In the past I have received excellent products with no trouble and have rarely had to contact support. I suppose that I might have a defective unit so I'm sending it back for replacement.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Kevin,

We'd like to help -- it sounds like you are getting a replacement, and we'd like you to let us know how it works for you. If you continue to have trouble, our engineers have some questions that will help them troubleshoot:

- Can the WNDA4100 detect the router’s 5GHz network SSID at all?

- What is the make and model of your main router? Are you using WPA2-PSK-AES for security? What is the 5GHz wireless channel configured on the router?

- What is the OS of the computer on which you are using the adapter?

If your replacement gives you any trouble, please contact us at newegg@netgear.com and we'll be glad to help.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: - Dual-band, up to 450 Mbps
- Reliable connection - never drops
- Looks cool

Cons: - In case the description isn't clear, this will never give you 900Mbps downloads. The theoretical best is 450Mbps down + 450Mbps up. Kind of like saying the speed limit of a road is 140MPH because two cars can go 70MPH in opposite directions at the same time.

- In practice, connecting to a Netgear WND4500 N900 router about 15 feet away with an unobstructed sightline, I get ~200Mbps transfers using 5Ghz band, and ~50Mbs transfers using 2.4Ghz band. (Calculated using task manager "network utilization %" of "link speed" while transferring a 2GB file).

- The "Genie" software, without which the adapter wouldn't work (WNDA4100.exe 1.2.0.2) uses a steady 20% of CPU, even when nothing is being transferred. One core on my 3570k never dropped below 70% utilization.

Other Thoughts: - I finally bit the bullet and ran cat5 through the crawlspace. When I changed network adapter from the WNDA4100 to the on-board ethernet adapter, CPU utilization dropped down to nothing and idle CPU temps dropped ~10C. Oddly, when I switched the adapter back to the WNDA 4100, it didn't run the CPU as it had before... so the CPU usage seems to be an intermittent bug, not "as designed".

System: i5 3570k, ASUS P8Z77 V-PRO, Win 7 Pro 64

Pros: Great range. Easy Setup. Sleek design.

Cons: The light on the side shows false info. Price to performance.

Other Thoughts: Great wifi adapter overall.

Pros: I use this with a N300 Netgear Wireless adapter ( single band ) and from 11 meters I'm getting a consistant 4 to 4.2 bars. I can stream HD no problem.
Go to this address and download the Windows 8 driver - it works well.

http://netgear.com/home/products/wireless-adapters/ultimate-wireless-adapters/WNDA4100.aspx


I guess when this thing first came out they had alot of driver problems, but it seems they are fixed. However, I have not tried the 5ghz band yet as I don't have a dual band router.

I bought the TP-Link pci x1 and TP-Link said windows 8 plug and play, but that #hit didn't work on windows 8 - liars. TP-Link wasted my time and frustrated me. Netgear looks like they care enough to get out the drivers for their products. I called TP-Link and the foreign woman who I could not even understand was making me go through troubleshooting my pc - like there was something wrong with my brand new ivy bridge build and not their adapter's drivers. I don't know how netgear's customer service is because I've never had to call them.

Cons: The only con I have is that this doesn't come in pci x1 form

Pros: None that I'm aware of.

Cons: Does NOT work on Windows 8, as indicated on the description.

Other Thoughts: I tried installing and using this on a Windows 8 system, and the install software didn't even run (complained about incompatible OS). Then I just tried manually installing the driver, and it just BSD'd the machine.

I took it right back and got a refund.

Pros: Was noticeably faster than my built in N adapter

Cons: The 5G band died after 2 weeks...A $60 single band adapter, basically.
I'll add it to my collection drawer of G and N adapters that I don't use.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Anonymous,

You shouldn't be having issues with the 5G band, and we're sorry that this problem showed up. We'd like to help, but we'll need some more details on exactly what is happening with the adapter.

Please contact our online support team; they'll be happy to troubleshoot with you and determine the next steps to getting your connection back up and running:

http://support.netgear.com/

Regards,

NETGEAR Team

Pros: Beautiful design, easy setup. Great range.

Cons: Worked awfully. I have a Netgear Dual Band Router, so this thing should have worked perfectly with this adapter. The adapter cut out CONSTANTLY, like every 30 seconds. If this adapter's signal didn't cut out so frequently, it would be perfect. Returned/ refunded.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi Juan,

We're sorry for the trouble, and we would have been glad to help out. It does sound like you have already returned the adapter, but if you have any questions or further feedback for us, we're here to help. You can reach us at newegg@netgear.com.

Regards,

NETGEAR Team