Home PNA "Phoneline Networking" Round Up

Like the D-Link, the driver software and Internet sharing software installed without any problems. The Internet sharing software provided, FirstGear, seems to be a transparent proxy server along the same lines as the ISS software provided with the Intel AnyPoint. Unfortunately, no information regarding its operation was available in the box, on Netgear's website, or from their tech support staff. The software requires no configuration on the client, unlike Midpoint Lite, which comes with the D-Link. And it also allows you to share drives between networked computers with a simpler interface than Windows Explorer.

What it did have in common with that software, though, was the fact that it didn't work right away. And don't look to the documentation to help you, as the sum of it is one fold-out sheet that is mostly pictures, and zero troubleshooting tips. To get it to work we had to blow away all the network protocols on both machines and re-install them (thanks to a quick tip from Netgear tech support). Although it seems like a sledgehammer solution, it was fairly quick and painless.

Had the FirstGear software worked right off the hop, it would have been greatly impressive due to its super-simple configuration. You are asked to make a few decisions via radio buttons in the setup, and that's it… at least in theory. Once we took the tech's advice, though, it ran like a charm.

Warranty and Tech Support
In addition to being the least expensive card by about $7, Netgear also offers the best warranty and tech support of the bunch. Like D-Link, Netgear offers a lifetime warranty and unlimited phone, web and email support. Also like D-Link, you aren't grilled for serial number, receipt number, date of purchase, etc. They just help you. Unlike D-Link, however, the phone support is toll-free (there are no less than 15 phone numbers provided for International users) and the wait to talk to a tech was under 5 minutes, though not by much. The tech was efficient, and sent us the solution by email, just as he promised.