Netgear settles WiFi speed lawsuit
posted Nov 29th 2005 10:25AM
Remember a few months ago when
one pundit opined that it was a bit of a surprise
that nobody had sued WiFi equipment providers over inflated speed claims? Well, someone (or, rather, a lot of someones,
in class-action lawsuit attack formation) did sue Netgear over speed statements, and the company has settled, agreeing
to pay $700,000 to customers and to add YMMV-type disclaimers to its ads. The settlement looks like a good deal for
Netgear: instead of offering refunds to customers who were misled by speed claims, the company is instead offering 15%
discounts to plaintiffs who purchase new equipment. And, as is the case with most such settlements, Netgear doesn't
admit doing anything wrong; it just settled to "avoid the further expense, inconvenience, and distraction of burdensome
and protracted litigation."
All WiFi equipment manufactures showed be sued because of outrageous claims. I read several articles & blogs a while back that stated the CPU in my Linksys WRT54G is not fast enough to achieve a performance even close to what Linksys advertises. I have good computers, I use high quality cables & attennas & I place them away from interference the best I can but the best I've noticed an estimated average of about 5Mbps(out of 100Mbps) over the CAT and about 2Mbps (out of 54Mbps) over WiFi. I know others factors are involved so please no one state them to me, but in spite of those factors these numbers are rather pathetic.
The router works fine & I never expected the router to hit those numbers on the box. The manufactures theoretical maximums are misleading particular to ignorant consumers & especially if the guts in the box are not even capable of such performance.
A side note... the router shown in the picture rocks. Went through three others and it has worked the best.
Speed claims are crazy being that most people can't even take advantage of the speed with today's broadband. They should concentrate on marketing the ease of use, range, etc.
Fuck you, Netgear.
Wireless speed claims are just another reason I'm probably going to replace my 802.11g WDS network for a HomePlug2.0 network once it comes out. As it stands right now, HomePlug1.0 runs about 14Mbps and you get around 6Mbps (which is usually faster than I currently get with my 802.11g network). Also, with HomePlug, each time the microwave comes on or you get a call on your 2.4Ghz phone, you don't lose your internet connection.
Fuck you, Netgear.
What a waste. Nothing changes and the lawyers just get richer. No reasonable person would expect to get 100% throughput. So now when you complain they can say, "See that 4 point type on page 27 of the manual."
The product is no different and the consumer is no more educated, so what's the point?
Settlements that require additional purchases are lame. If I bought a "bad" product I shouldn't have to buy more to get my discount, I should get a refund on the one I already bought. This settlement lets Netgear sell more products, that are still "bad". This isn't about making better products, it's just about how much money the lawyers can suck from them.
Would these collection of 'someones' also please get together and sue some DVD-R media corp for stating DVD capacities of 4.7GB. It's not cool to lie damn it.
#2/Gianni:
While it is true that broadband internet has not gotten to the point where a 50Mbps connection is essential for the 'net, wireless networks are used for other things. Many people stream video, music, or other files over home networks. If I want to send my home movie from computer1 to computer2, I would prefer speeds closer to the advertised 100 than to 5, 10, or even 20.
Anyone know how to make the claim with Netgear?
First off, Netgear is not paying 700,000 to the plantiffs. That money is for the lawyers fees! The plantiffs get 15% off their next Netgear purchase. Just another example of scum-sucking attornys, who by the way, find the reason to sue BEFORE! they find the plantiffs, destroying this country.
TORT REFORM NOW!!
FOR YOU
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