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General discussion

Recommended Wireless Company?

Nov 8, 2004 4:37AM PST

I recently purchased and very quickly returned a Netgear MR814 wireless router and two MA111 USB network adapters because of serious problems. To make a long story short, Netgear tech help was absolutely non-existant: I got disconnected every time I made a telephone call (after spending considerable time navigating their menu) and never got responses through e-mail tech support. I am not a computer novice but networking is a complicated issue, yet since wireless networks are becoming as essential as my microwave or cell phone I am not ready to give up. Is there a company--Linksys, Belkin, or whoever--that actually holds up the "24x7" tech support listed on the box?--I mean, I am willing to pay more to ensure that tech support exists so I can keep a simple home network (two PCs and a DSL connection) running. I would very much appreciate any comments.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Recommended Wireless Company?
Nov 8, 2004 5:34AM PST

None. While I have great success with such hardware, none seem to work out of the box for me. I always have to update FIRMWARE and Drivers.

This can be a strain on consumers and they may need to have such done for them.

Bob

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Re: Recommended Wireless Company?
Nov 8, 2004 9:10AM PST

Thank you for the reply. One of computers is not currently hooked up to the Net (hence the need for a network), so I don't know how I would be able to update it. I find the whole thing frustrating.

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Re: Recommended Wireless Company?
Nov 8, 2004 10:29AM PST

Though you may be having problems with certain makers of wireless equipment, I have found that the industry in general has made home wireless networking rather idiot-proof. This is not to say that anyone who cannot get a wireless network up and running is an idiot, but points more to inexperience or a lack of reading the manual or quick start guide.


I believe that a novice would benefit most by using the equipment from one manufacturer. This way the tech supporter can not blame the other guys device as causing the problem.

Linksys and D-Link have always been good to me and available when support was needed.

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That is one piece you can take to the bank.
Nov 8, 2004 11:15AM PST

Keeping all the parts from Dlink or Linksys solves some headaches, but the last two Dlink Wifi-G routers didn't connect with Dlink clients until the router had its firmware updated. One wishes that consumer devices didn't need such fixing before they could be used.

Bob

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Re: Recommended Wireless Company?
Nov 8, 2004 3:09PM PST

Idiot-proof? I DID use equipment from the same manufacturer and DID follow the included instructions to the letter and still had the device setting my computer into an unending series of re-boots. So then I must be an idiot, right? Networking is NOT plug and play and I cannot believe you insinuate that it is. Your glibness is not appreciated.

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Glib.
Nov 8, 2004 9:49PM PST

To add insult to the glib, some hardware just doesn't work on some machines. To add more insult, SPYWARE is causing people to shell out hundreds of dollars at repair shops.

An example is some IBM laptops and a certain make of WiFi chipset. I won't look it up, but that one caused some hair pulling since the cards work in other (but not all) machines.

You didn't do anything wrong except to take offense at genuine help from nice people. We are here with you on this subject and wish the vendors were doing a better job.

Take your offense to the maker and supplier of what didn't work for you.

Bob

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I had a feeling....
Nov 9, 2004 12:16AM PST

you might take this personally. No insult intended but in most cases I have been involved with, a few software adjustments were all that was needed to bring a network up to speed.

Yes, firmware updates can solve out-of-box difficulties and in my case tech support has always solved the problem or discovered a defective peice of hardware.