Netgear Wireless N 150 USB Adapter

... and I'm still not sure!Good price, good delivery etc from Amazon.I have a 6 years old desk top PC, and a brand new Brightbox router (from Orange). Old Speedtouch Adapter not compatible with new router.Netgear seemed a reasonable price and the reviews were as good as any.When it arrived the product box was in French, and only French on the leaflet. Insert the CD - but it took many attempts to get my PC to read this. Dodgy CD or CD reader? Eventually it opened but it still took ages to install the software. I went off to do something else for a while. The CD was in English though.What was not explained was the little button on the side of the Adapter - I'm sure it is supposed to link the Adapter and the specific router to enable immediate connection to the internet without any clicking in menus each time the PC is started up. Probably supposed to enhance security too. But when you press the little button you get a little on screen dialogue box which makes it obvious what to do (but it does not explain why, nothing in 'Help' either).Anyway, this little button connector doesn't do what it is supposed to do. I'm not sending it back to Amazon (it's not their fault) as it only takes a couple of clicks on the Netgear menu to connect to the internet.So that's one reason why am I still not sure. My connection speed has gone up from a stated 56 Mbps to 65 Mbps (in the router dialogue box) and 72 Mbps in the Netgear window. It appears to be more stable and consistent. But this could be the new router. Signal strength 'very good' 4 bars out of 5, about 20 feet through 1 outside wall and a window. But connection to the internet still drops out briefly about once a week. Is that the BT exchange or my hardware? (Rural town).It looks nice with its blue light, and it came with a USB extension so it sits on the desk in direct line with the router.UPDATE now end of June 2013 so 10 months of use. We still connect via the Netgear menu but this is no hardship - just 2 or 3 clicks. Occasional drop outs but I suspect this is local telephone services or perhaps my router. Anyway the Adapter does its job. I've added a star to make it 4 stars.

Ordered this one as I thought spending a little more now, for something that I would be using for years to come, was worth the extra money. I had read reviews about cheaper wifi dongles and I wasn't prepared to delve into mysterious installation instructions so I plumped for this Netgear one, based on brand. Yes, I could have paid less and did a bit more research but I thought I'd rather it just work straightaway.I paid £18.31 and got a nice, piano black dongle with a dock. The dock connects to the PC via a USB cable, thereby enabling you to move the dongle around in order to improve your signal. I tried it on the shelf above my desk, on the desk itself and near the floor, to see if this affected my signal strength (which varies between 4 to a maximum of 5 bars).This didn't make any difference to my signal strength but it does look rather cool on my desk (see photo. According to the well written and clear manual, this apparently "can extend the range of your adaptor and improve wireless reception."I'm sure others might see an improvement but I didn't - my PC is on the first floor with the router in the kitchen downstairs, with a fridge and a wall in between.My cable broadband is a 40Mb connection and when I did a Speedtest, it comes up around 30Mb. I guess that's because of the obstructions.Please see my photos for notes.

My son was happily accessing the Internet via a powerline system until we upgraded to BT Infinity and all of a sudden it didn't want to play anymore. As everything wireless was working I bought this instead. He is using Windows 7 64bit and this is one adaptor that is compatible.First of all ignore the advice in the instructions that says to use the Windows Standalone driver, we needed the Smartwizard set up accessible via the Setup command on the CD menu or the adaptor wouldn't play.Next we pressed the little button to discover the wireless connection and the corresponding button on the home hub and waited the stated two minutes, three times. I went off to find the home hub instructions in case I was doing something wrong and my son noticed that another window was open in the background that was detecting the network successfully. We entered the key and away we went. Signal started off at about half power but soon shot up to full strength and Junior is happy again.This seems to be okay for his use but the packaging seems to suggest you might need the N300 for serious streaming or big houses. Our signal is going up one floor through wood.

I bought a Synology DS213J NAS for home so that I could put all of our music, photos and data on it so that they were accessible from any device in the house. Bought this Netgear Wireless N 150 USB adapter to make it wireless. After some trepidation, setting it up wirelessly was really easy. Has worked flawlessly since I got it (about 5 months now). The wireless bit means that I can put the NAS box anywhere in the house, so that it isn't next to the main desktop/router. If someone burgles the house, they won't get my data, only the computer.I've now bought a Sonos music system and that plays the music directly (and wirelessly) off the NAS box. Beautiful.

Bought this so that my desktop could be moved to another part of the house on wireless. Delivery quick and setting up the desktop was straight forward. Main phone line input in another room about 5 metres away and two wall between wireless modem and desktop. Bit disappointed with the strenght of the signal which is low, expected to be at least good, will need to re-position wireless modem in another room to improve signal. But can use the desk top but is slow to recieve, laptop when used in the garden is better so do not know if it is the desktop which is not correct. But still worthwhile purchasing and a good bit of kit.