Hardware ReviewsNetgear 100Mbps Network Starter Kit - FB104 Netgear has produced a fast Ethernet kit that is a real contender in the market. Not long ago, PC Magazine recognized Netgear's Ethernet kit (the 10Mbps version) with an Editors' Choice award and undoubtedly many will assume that the fast Ethernet kit will get similar ranking. We found that the Netgear kit came in a fairly complete package, installed fairly smoothly and performed reasonably well. That all adds up to a good kit, particularly with a street price around $120. (We found it for $119.95 + shipping at NECx). However, against some heavy competition from D-Link, Linksys (go to our D-Link and Linksys reviews) and others, we feel the Netgear kit comes out on par or ever so slightly short of the others. Read on. Overview The Netgear kit comes in a very nice package. The back of the box provides some simple, clear information and even states that the kit includes instructions "written for first-timers." (We assume they mean networking first-timers). Inside the box, you'll find the registration cards first. That's fine, but how hard can it be to follow the model that Apple and others use that make the first thing you see when opening a box a "read me first" quick guide or similar. Not a big deal, but a small detail that would make this or any kit that much easier for a true "first-timer." The box also includes two separate foldout instruction guides: one for installation and one for "File and Printer Sharing." Both are pretty much dedicated to Windows 95 (both the original and Windows 95b versions seem to be covered but not specifically so...as in instructions for each)...but that's fine. You can find adapter card readme files for other operating systems, including Windows 98, Windows NT and even Linux, on the included driver diskette.
Of course, the meat inside the kit includes two 10/100 adapter cards (the FA310TX Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter), a 100Mbps 4-port hub (the FE 104 model), and two 25-foot category 5 cables. Like the recently reviewed Linksys kit, the Netgear FE 104 hub includes some informative LEDs on the front panel, including connection LEDs for each port that flash as data is transmitted and error LEDs for each port. There is also a four LED display that flashes utilization of the network bandwidth (from 0 to greater than 30%). A very nice touch. Unfortunately, we think the design is considerably flawed by putting the ports on the front of the hub. We know other manufacturers use the same design and it simply doesn't make sense to us for a hub that is clearly designed to sit on a desktop. Of course if you want, you can hide the hub away in the back of your desk or hang it on the wall, but then you'll go no benefit from the diagnostic LEDs so (from a design standpoint) why bother including them. In the end, you're left with your cables draped across your desk like shown below. Maybe we're being a bit obsessive about this, but we thought a design that just doesn't make sense was worth mentioning. Bottom line: we find it annoying but didn't mark off for it on our rating.
Installation Installation went fairly smoothly, but in both our cases (on the Advanced Test Machine with Windows 98 and the Basic Test Machine with the original Windows 95) neither installation went as specified in the installation guides. On Windows 95, we were asked for the driver diskette supplied by the manufacturer as indicated in the guide, but we did not get to select the adapter from a list (that dialog box didn't even pop up). Also, unlike the instructions suggested, we never were automatically presented the network control panel to install protocols, etc. Obviously that was easy enough to call up manually (although we're not so sure that wouldn't stump "first-timers.") Windows 98 went fairly smoothly although the new Installation Wizard routine in Windows 98 is not covered at all in the guide. Plus, once again (as we've mentioned before as one of our pet peeves) even after you tell the installation wizard where the drivers are and where Windows files are, it gets the two confused and asks again during the install. Argh. We do want to mention that we did NOT experience any of the plug-n-play problems that we had heard of from others (as you might have noticed posted on our message boards from homePCnetwork.com visitors). Keep in mind, however, that we install these kits on machines with absolute clean Windows systems (we reinstall a clean version before every test) and have few other peripherals (no sound cards, no game cards, etc) installed on the system. Once you fill a computer up with cards (and lose IRQs), it might be a different story. But, again, we found no evidence of a problem. Performance Once installation and network set up (protocols and file sharing) were complete, the kit performed very well. The network did lose one computer on the network. In fact, the Windows 95 machine was completely locking up during some of our tests. The solution was to ensure that NetBIOS support was checked on within the IPX properties. That wasn't a major issue and when we were able to test the performance with NetBIOS on and off, there was no discernable difference in the performance so we're not marking off much for this problem. Overall, then, the kit performed well as you can see in the chart below. As most of you familiar with our tests know, we copy a 30 meg file from the basic machine to the advanced machine (what we call reads for lack of a better word) and copy the same file from the advanced machine to the basic machine (writes). The average of the four tests for the Netgear kit at 35.7 seconds is no slouch. On the read tests, the kit was nearly as fast as the D-Link kit (21.9 seconds v. 21.2 for the D-Link) but comes up well short of the Linksys (21.9 v. 16.8). The Netgear kit's average score for the four tests also fell behind the average on the D-Link kit (33.8) and the Linksys kit (23.4). We are working now on a separate test/review of the individual Netgear adapter cards (the FA310TX) and a comparison of those results to the D-Link and Linksys cards should reveal if the performance difference is with the cards or the hub.
Summary Overall, we liked this kit. Installation went fairly smoothly although we would have liked the installation guide to do a better job of matching the real world experience, particularly when Netgear specifically mentions on the box that the instructions are written for first-timers. Performance was certainly OK, but the Netgear kit does in fact currently rank last among the kits we have installed and reviewed at homePCnetwork. In addition, the installation guides are sufficient but not significantly better than those included with the other kits that covered more operating systems and matched the actual setup a bit better. On the positive side, we experienced no fatal or near-fatal install problems like we did on the Linksys. Nevertheless, we believe Netgear is a solid company and this is a solid kit. Many people likely have had good luck with Netgear products in the past and that alone may be reason enough to go with this kit. You certainly won't go wrong with it as far as we can tell. We simply suggest that you take a long look at the offerings from D-Link and Linksys before you buy the Netgear kit. Of the kits we've looked at so far, we believe the decision gets down to something like this: the Netgear had an easier cleaner installation than the Linksys but the Linksys had better performance. Take your choice. We believe those factors even out and we graded the two kits the same (A-). The D-Link performance was slightly better than the Netgear, but it had none of the installation and performance problems of the Linksys. Plus, it offers the dual speed, switchable hub that the others don't...a true versatility option for many people. That puts the D-Link slightly...but just slightly...above the other two (an A grade). Grade = A- Details
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