Belkin wireless networking provides the perfect solution for the most advanced, cable-free installations. This Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router (Rout
1 Yup, it sux
You can get Belkin stuff real cheap (...), but is your time worth it? Do you really want to be (...) around with networking problems? You'll be spending lots of frustrating time with it. I have, and I'm a computer professional. Belkin has not figured out that good software is important, consequently it's a mess. Reduce your pain. Forget Belkin, and Netgear.
2 Perfect. Never expected to have such performance.
I got this router inspite of all the negative reviews. it is cheap so I won't lose much. It is true it is 802.11b series not 802.11g so it is theriotically less speed, but who said that 11mb/s is low speed? If ur DSL connection is less than 10MB so u won't have any problem!
It worked like charm, I just followed the instuctions and within 5 minutes I had both my wired and wireless devices working. MAC address filtering allowed me to restrict access to only my PCs and Laptops - I am in a big building so many others might get the signal if i dont block them.
It worked all over my 100 m2 flat from wall to wall, even in the balcony.
I bet u won't get cheaper wireless network with such features at that price!
3 poor signal and unstable connection. dont buy it!!!!!!!!!
poor signal and unstable connection. dont buy it!!!!!!!!!
4 Great wireless router
This wireless router is great. I've never had a problem with it and it has been working continuously for over 6 months. Great conncection, very easy setup.
5 Go with Linksys or NetGear!
I've had this wireless router for about a year and I continue to be unhappy with it.
The Good News: The wired component is just fine. With Cat5, it has been utterly reliable.
The Bad News: The wireless range is terrible. We live in a typical post-WWII, 1200 SqFt house on LA's Westside. Aside from the 3rd bedroom/home office and living room, the signal is unreliable in all other rooms, even the backyard just outside the office's window. There has been no firmware upgrades from Belkin. Ever. The WEP security has been problematic. Even in the room I've never been able to connect up at 128.
I say buy another brand. I'm giving this one away and asking Santa for a better unit.
6 One of the worst routers in the world
poor signal and unstable connection. Don't bother to get one even it is free.
7 Great router
I love my router and feel I need to defend it. I got this thing, unpacked it, stuck it on my DSL modem and it runs...well. No resets, I get excellent signal strength all through my 3 floor brick house, MAC filtering works perfectly (doesn't block connections, but they are useless) and the encryption is as good as you can get from WEP. The PPoE works great and the DHCP assigns wireless IPs without fail.
I might suggest that some of the people who had problems might try to make sure the thing is sitting away from their computer case, as is instructed in the manual.
8 it work and it is cheap
I got this wireless router few days ago. (...) I was going to say to myself if it doesnt work, just throw it away.
First, I turn this router into an access point. I already have a router.
It work well with my D-Link DI-604.
I use IE to configure the router. I dont like to install software on computer if I can.
I notice the users here say the MAC filtering doest work. But the encryption work right? You know how hard to crack a code at 64 bit? At 128 bit, it is even harder. I only did 64 bit encryption. If you see the lights blinking when your computer is off, then you know someone is using it. MAC filtering doesnt work does not bother me for now.
Also the range is somewhat limited. I get around 50 to 70% signal strenght all the time. Even when I am 1 ft. away from the router, I still get 70%. (I heard with the Linksys, you can hack to boost the signal). I can walk around the house with it and few feet outside the house, the signal will be lost.
I have problems using the Belkin PCMCIA wireless card. I call tech support and they are routed to India and they are of no help either!
I only have surf on the web and transfer some files between my computer and the connection is there all the time.
Its cheap and it work, but I had trouble with the PCMCIA card. I will write a review for the card and how I correct it.
9 It works, but has issues...
I'm not normally one to write reviews, but I want to prevent others from buying this if it will not work for them. I have previously been a sysadmin, so I'm somewhat fluent with network compnents and configurations. As a wireless access point, its fine, good range, good speed, etc. As a NAT router, again it works just fine for browsing. However, it has serious issues maintaining connections, either through the wireless side or the wired side, with game servers. Simply put, games will continually "lose the connection" to the server, and drop you from the game. This happened no matter what configurations and/or firmware versions I tried. I ended up using my Linksys router as a router, with the Belkin as a wireless access point and hub. This also reduces it to a 3 port hub, since you need to use a standard port for the connection to the router.
Long story short, it works for everything but games. If you never game, then its good for the money. Gamers look elsewhere. I would recommend Linksys.
10 Advance Users Beware
Wireless router is a must have for laptop users. It provides a range of freedom unparallel to any wired set up. If you go to a university or work for a company that has wireless connection everywhere, you will truly appreciate the convenience of wireless internet. It has revolutionized internet as much as cell phone has revolutionized telecommunications.
Belkin's 802.11b router is a good router to have if you are using it for only wireless internet and sharing connection. The installation is very easy for novice users. It's just a matter of following a bunch of diagrams in the manual to get everything started. If you run into problems, Belkin has an excellent 24/7 free tech support program. I got almost a no-wait response. However, the regular tech support's knowledge is very rudimentary, knowing less about networking than me. I think they just following a manual of FAQs.
With that said, I have found some problems with the 802.11b router running more advanced features like De-Militarized Zone (DMZ). Because many programs such as file-sharing programs, video conferencing, etc. require non-standard ports, you'll need to either forward these ports or DMZ the computer. With the 802.11b, the DMZ feature does not work at all for me. I've talked to Belkin's high level tech support but to no avail. I have to manually forward all the ports that I need to be open, even port 80 for web server. On top of that, the router allows port forwarding for only 20 programs. If you need to forward more than that, you will do some manipulating. You can get around this by forwarding a series of ports, which only takes up one slot in the virtual server feature of the router. Say if one of your program runs on port 1024 and the other one runs on 1030 you can forward 1024-1030. The draw back with this is that it compromises the security of your network. I sometimes change the port of one program so it will run consecutive with a port of another program, so I wouldn't have a bunch of unnecessary ports opened.
RATING:
One star off of ease of use and performance because of the the problems with advance features. Other wise 5 for ease of installation and cost/benefit. Average to 4.5, but since there's not 4.5 option, I would give it a 5.
FINAL WORDS:
All in all, the 802.11b router has an unbeatable value (...)The Tech Support is great. But for more advanced functionalities, it becomes quite a nuance.
11 A Router that leaves you feeling Routed
Simply put, this wireless router did not work in my home office enviroment. I bought this model because of the super rebate that Belkin offered. Installation was easy. This particular model of router did not work with my DSL modem and caused temporary outages within my network. I spent over 4 hours with tech support from my DSL provider, Symantec and Belkin. After several tweaks, signal could not be connected consistantly between my DSL modem and my Dell Desktop. Also, my Dell Laptop could not receive the signal transmission from the router. I cannot recommend this Router and I took mine back the store for a refund. I replaced it with a D-Link Wireless Router and it has worked perfectly.
12 Great Product
Earlier had a DLink DI-614+ wireless router. The router and the wireless card worked great. However, the concurrent VPN connections were very very intermittent. I got fed up and finally gave up on this Dlink Router. Bought this new Belkin wireless router and the wireless card which had a great rebate going.
As advertised, the installation was a breeze. Just followed the instructions and I was online both using the wired and wireless connections. They have very good installation procedure. I guess everyone could do it..
I didn't encounter the VPN problem that I encountered with DLINK DI-614+. I didn't do any setup with this Belkin Router, yet the multiple concurrent VPN connections went thru' without any hitch. This was great after spending too much time with the DLINK router.
Great product for a Great Price.
13 Excellent
I just got this Belkin router yesterday (Model F5D6231-4) and I set it up this morning and it is working great.
I do have firmware version v2.00.002.
It took me less than 5 minutes to get the wired portion working. I have two desktop computers and a color laser printer all networked through this router via another hub.
My Thinkpad comes with a mini-PCI wireless card and it detected the router with no problem. I enabled 128 bit WEP and it is picking up signal nicely. I have a two story house and the router is on the second floor. I have signal throughout the house ranging from 2 - 5 bars. I had no problem using the web in the paces where there is only 2 bars of signal through my 3Mb/256kb line provided by charter.net.
(...)
14 Functional, needs more security
Absolutely no problem setting up and using in built up area. No problem with interference from 2.4GHz phone or microwave operated near client's 802.11b card. Setup was a breeze, 5 min. as advertised, 15 min. total to setup and configure both router and a Netgear card. Security drawback: needs implemented blocking of unknown MAC addresses. Also, turning off broadcast of SSID does not work. This device might is OK if you are not worried about security. For example, in a single family dwelling surrounded by a lot of space (c. 200 feet radius). Not bad for the money.
15 The only thing worse,,,
than this product is the technical support. I've been working for 7 hours now trying to get it set up and working. I write this reveiw as I try to get assistance yet again. TA has been rude and unconcerned. Their number one goal is getting me off the line. This really matters because the documentation is so awful
16 Don't forget Lifetime Support!!!
I had an older model wireless cable router and it worked great but started acting up after about two years. I had decided to buy another and when I called support to ask a question about compatibility with my wireless cards they tried to resolve my problem. When they couldn't, they sent me a new model - FREE.
Try calling support for the other vendors -- I did before I decided to buy Belkin. Sure, it is easier to whine and rant given the short warranty of a lot consumer products, but I suggest those that are unhappy take advantage of this unique warranty (which includes 24-hour support).
BTW: My new wireless Cable/DSL router (this one) works like a champ so far. When it starts giving me problems I'll just keep calling Belkin support until I get it resolved or they send me a new one. ;^)
17 Don't waste your money
I purchased this product about amonth ago. It does work but only if I stay within 10 feet of the base station. I have usb cables that let me get futher away. I have spent countless hours on the phone with their technical support. Everytime they gave me the same suggestions. Do you have any 2.4 ghz wireless phones? No. Ohh?? Did you change the channel? yes. Ohh? Try turning your computer off then back on. Ok. Did that work? No. Let me elevate the call. Then I got the same none solution anwsers from the next guy.
I recomend researching your wireless product well. If it gets lesss than a 70% positive feedback from at least 100 people run. If they support it for 30 days run. I ended up buying a DLINK |DI-624 2.4GHz it cost around the and it works. I can go anywhere in my house and it works (so around 150ft from base that is as far as I have tried).
Douglas
18 Mine turned out to be cheap and unreliable
I bought one of these because it was cheap and came with a big rebate, and now it's driving me crazy. It locks up at least twice a day, forcing me to get out a paper clip and push the reset switch.
Other people on the Internet also report problems.
NOT recommended.
19 Did not work. Period.
It was surely easy to set-up, but hardly worked with both my PC and my roomie's. We tried to figure out what was wrong, but the thin handbook has little troubleshooting tips. We've already returned this product and will try another brand's router instead.
20 Major compatibility problems
I bought two of these routers. I have a D-link DWL-650 laptop 802.11b card, which is one of the most widely used cards on the market. THE ROUTERS DO NOT WORK WITH THESE CARDS. I can establish a connection, and see that the router is there and broadcasting signal, but I cannot get an IP address wirelessly. If I plug in via a wired connection, I immediately get an IP, so I know DHCP is on. I also know my DWL-650 card works b/c I tried it on two other router brands (Linksys and Netgear) with no problem at all. Bottom line: This router is a piece of junk. Save your money and buy something that works.
21 Easy to set up but could have better troubleshooting guide
The router is easy to install with the Install Wizard - by this I mean getting the router to make a connection to your ISP (have your username and password on hand). This literally takes only a few minutes. Any other adjustment to the router settings are done through the browser interface. It helps if you are well versed in the terminology and know how you want the rounter configured as the instructions tell you how to do things but not necessarily why you should or should not make changes. I'm still learning.
I did have problems making a connection between my Apple Powerbook with Airport to the router but this turned out to be solved by going through the browser interface and trying different channels on the router. After a few tries I got a signal on the Powerbook. However, I had to do this on my own because there was no suggestion that this might be a problem in either the Belkin or Apple literature or websites. The range seems to be what they advertise although I didn't bother venturing outside after verifying my whole house is covered (two floors, about 1000 sq feet each).
So. . .5 for 5 for the product but minus one star for the documentation...
22 good value
After 25 years in the information technology industry, I've come to respect Belkin. Anything they do, they do well.
This unit is sound and easy to set up.
It is only 80211b, so it's 11Mbps, but even a cable modem only intermittently gets above 1Mbps, so for almost everone, it's plenty. Plus the peripheral cards for the devices you want to use with it are less than the newer 80211g.
It does currently only support WEP, and Belkin, the last time I asked them, do not have plans to add WPA functionality to this unit, which would provide stronger encryption.
23 Second the motion...better than Linksys
I second Megabeilin's motion!!! I too have made the switch from Linksys to Belkin. At first, this was a curiosity to see if there was any difference in 802.11b performance between manufacturers. I was pleasantly surprised with the signal strength of this WAP. The Linksys WAP worked okay with a Linksys PC-Card; however, it was unreliable with my D-Link PC-Card. I no longer have this problem...the signal strength is excellent at all points in my home. The other thing I like about this router is the ease and depth of configurations. I can set my kids Internet access to various limits based on time and date. Neat! The only quip is that the password is null after hard reset and I cannot change the port number for remote administration. Otherwise, this is a great little WAP and should be pretty cheap...lots of rebates and discounts.
24 worked for me (mostly)
I purchased both this item and the Belkin Wireless Notebook Network Card (F5D6020) for an incredible price at a major computer store. I wasn't really in the market for either product, but the price was too good to ignore, and wireless networking was something I had always wanted to try. Naturally, I was a bit suspicious that it was indeed "too good to be true," but after installing it today, I see I had little reason to worry.
My household was already running a 4-5 computer wired network using the Microsoft Wired Base Station. Belkin claims that the setup takes only 3 minutes; mine took about 5, but only because I had to initially disable my old network and plug in my DSL connection directly into the computer that was installing the Belkin setup software. The setup was then incredibly simple - since I previously had a network set up, I didn't need to do anything else to my other computers other than plug them in (the router has 4 access points for wired network connections), and after installing the network card on my notebook computer, I was off typing away all over my house on a wireless network. Pretty cool.
As a basic user, I find that this product fulfills all my needs. My only criticism would be that the network connections between one of my wired computers and my now wireless notebook computer seem a bit compromised, but that may be more due to user ignorance than anything else.
Bottom line - a useful product, and (if you got the deal that I did) well worth the price.
25 Don't waste time with cheapies.
I tried some cheaper wireless routers and returned them all. I have used two of these and Belkin is quality! I mean they are all little plastic boxes but these have a very steady signal and I even use an SMG brand notebook card.
26 Great product for typical users
This router is great because It's less expensive than it's Lynksys and Netgear counterparts. It set up extremely quickly with no problems. It has four RJ-45 ports for connectivity with non wireless computers and can wirelesly connect with up to 64 computers. To connect a computer wirelessly you will need a wireless network card, which are also easy to use and setup. If you're wondering whether to get a regular router or pay more for wirelss, pay the extra money. You will be so glad you did when you are able to use the internet anywhere in your house without wires. Even if you don't want to move your computer around, wireless makes for a much less cluttered workspace. I don't know about more advanced users, but for the average person who just wants to share their internet connection between multiple computers, this is the best value.
27 THIS WILL SPAM YOU!
This router will take a legitimate connection to a web site and turn it into an ad for belkin products! The older models don't but if you update the firmware (like maybe to close a security hole in the future, or for compatibility of a network game) you will start getting ads! There are a couple of articles that are at popular news organizations that confirm this. BOYCOTT, DO NOT UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE!
28 My opinion, For the price it is still junk
My opinion,
I know a lot of people think $80 for a wireless router is cheap, and so it may be, but $80 for a miserably executed piece of equipment is way to much.
First the range of the wireless is almost non-existant. I have three systems hooked to it. Two about 10 to 15 feet from the router. One is on the second floor. I spent about 10 hours positioning the router until I could get a signal on all systems. Yet it still is flaky. Sometimes its fine, sometimes it bounces like a ball.
Every few days the router locks everyone out and you have to unplug it to get it working again. I tried setting it to renew the IP addresses every day but that hasn't helped.
Also it has no URL filtering, they seem to prefer it if you pay them a monthly subsciption for them to do it for you.
If that is not enough, don't expect 11Mbps. I haven't measured the actual bit rate but I know it is much slower to access the other systems on the network (I was using 10Mbps wired), also games will slow and jump (Im talking about games like Age of Empires, which should run fine on 10Mbps).
I have decided just to run some Cat5e cables and go back to being wired.
So $80 for a wired router is not worth it, or at least not for this one.
Sorry, but I was completely disappointed by this equipment.
29 A great router at a great price
I picked one of these up on sale at (a famous brick-and-mortar chain) and it's performed flawlessly for me over the past month. I've seen no packet issues, and actually my internet connection's been a bit more stable vs. the patch cable and software firewall I was running before.
At the moment I'm only using the hardwired portion of it (I bought it with wireless because I'm planning to get a laptop early next year) so I can't vouch for that end of the unit.
When I first saw the wall mounting holes I too thought it looked upside-down, but if you think about it it's not because you want the ports facing downward. It does look a bit funny though, having the anntennas pointing toward the floor. :)
30 Good Feature Set, Low Sustained Throughput
This router is a great deal if your primary purpose is to browse the web. When I attempted a sustained 50KBPS VOIP connection it would start dropping packets after approximately 4 minutes rendering the conversation useless. This is probably due to memory and processor constraints.
On the positive side, configuration is a breeze, it comes with an excellent feature set and looks cool mounted on the included base. Under normal conditions turning 128 Bit encryption and MAC address filtering on added only 2 milliseconds to device latency. This is better than some other, larger and more expensive boxes I have had to live with in the past. The 4-port switch is a really nice feature and it even comes with an optional content filter to help keep your kids safe.
I decided to keep it and have purchased a cheap 5 Port Switch to place in front of the router so that my bandwith-hogging, latency intolerant, VOIP ATA can benefit from a direct connect to the ISP without clogging up this nifty router.
31 Belkin is just not god for a Router..IT is a WASTE
I bought this and have exchanged it twice in a span of a week.The router has problems in accessing yahoomail and hotmail and the helpdesk would bnever help me through it.I tried it in my friend's place and it had the problem there as well.The helpdesk ppl would never ever understand this problem and also they haven't put anythign regarding this on their website.I would never ever advise anyone buying this router even though it is cheap.I found out how belkin loses its customer base.. "IT LOSES ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME".I am gonna return this router today ...
32 No real complaints so far
I got this because it was one of the cheaper wireless routers, and so far am happy with it. I set it up by hand instead of the wizard that they included with the package. I had the wired portion working just fine in under 5 minutes.
The wireless was a slightly different situation. I use Mozilla Firebird as my main browser, and when it comes to some of the buttons when setting up the WEP keys, the 'Generate' keys do not work. This could be Mozilla, but I haven't had any such problems on websites. Once that was set up, getting encryption turned on and working was easy under IE. My Belkin wireless card only supports 64-bit WEP, which is fine for me, and I haven't had the router start to broadcast the SSID at all yet as others have stated.
I get pretty good range (100' through 3 walls, and about 200' through a single wall) so no complaints there. The web interface is the best I've used yet, especially after digging through the interfaces on Linksys or D-Link routers.
I give this a 4 because of it not working 100% with Mozilla-based browsers, so I'd hate to see people try and use every feature of this router if they run nothing but Linux (which if you're running Linux, why buy a router? ;) )
33 Great Buy
Out of the box to surfing the Web took about 5 minutes. Great product
34 Plain and Simple: Its a POS
The range on this thing is horrible. Don't buy it. I cant go form one room in my house to the next. That is just ridiculous!
35 Works OK -- but security is crappy at best.
1. Blocking SSID broadcast is flaky. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
2. MAC address blocking DOES NOT WORK. You can block a known MAC address, but the whole point is to be able block the unknown ones.
Tried to make this clear to the Belkin tech support drones for about 30 minutes, all in vain. Heavy accents, poor communication skills and utter incompetence. If you can read the manual, you are already far more qualified than those guys. I am not kidding -- I had to read to those guys aloud from the manual before they actually stopped talking nonsence about what MAC filtering is.
No use anyway.
36 Good...not great
MicroCenter was running an excellent sale on these suckers, so I took one home to consolidate my network. The web interface was pretty slick (and highly Mac-compatible), and setup was a snap. The free 24x7 tech support was awesome. Unfortunately, there were two problems with the router that made me take it back:
1. It's not compatible with anything but IP over ethernet. If you want to carry anything besides IP packets between wired and wireless ethernet (e.g., AppleTalk frames), then you're outta luck. Tech support assured me this would be addressed in a future firmware upgrade (which it was for this router's predecessor).
2. After a hard or soft restart, the SSID is broadcast regardless of setting. If it was disabled before, the only way to disable it again is to enable it and then disable it. Since this can happen without notice, it poses an unacceptable security risk in my opinion.
37 Works well
I got this hub to upgrade my security features from my older wireless hub. The addition of MAC filtering, and the ability to disable the broadcast of the SSID, were exactly the security features I needed, so I could drop the encryption.
The range: I get marginally more range than my previous hub, so I can now use it without a repeater.
The case: Cheap plastic. It's the only thing so far I take away from it. But to their credit they include a base, so I can stand it on end. I can even wall mount it too, but the holes to me seem to be 'backward'.
One thing I learned with this hub, is that you DO NOT turn on remote management. I'm on Road Runner, and the administrative functions kept getting locked up by an IP address in the 140 range. It was annoying for a few hours until I figured it out. I think it's the dirty no-good scum hackers/spammers trying to get in. (Make sure you change the default password to prevent access.)
38 MAC Address Filtering does not work even after new firmware
Belkin just released 1.10 firmware for this router without any release notes. I called them up and asked what was changed in 1.10.
I was told that MAC filtering was fixed. Unfortunately, even after updating the firmware, MAC filtering still does not work. I have called them at least 4 times and have escalated but still no response from them.
39 Cheap, it's OK. You get what you pay for
If you can get this on sale cheap, then this is worth it. OH .. and you should be technically inclined ... otherwise you'll really pull your hair out getting this all to work. Mine works, but connecting to the configuration page is very slow and the network connection is a bit spotty. The firewall has little you can modify.
40 MAC Filtering Does Not Work
The router seems to have few bugs. The MAC filtering does not work at all. Disallow Broadcast SSID is flakey. I had to check/uncheck bunch oftimes. The router still showed up in the signal scan with its
hex id. At least the encryption part worked after the support walked
me through the setup. One of the field needs to be flipped to
"auto" before my laptop was able to connect to router after I turned
on the WEP security.
This is my first wireless router/card experience and I am
reasonably happy with Belkin. 24x7 800 support is life-saver!!
41 Better & Cheaper Than Linksys!!!!
I'd been using a Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router with 4-port switch, along with 2 wireless PC Cards for my three-PC home network, running Windows XP. However, we began to experience frequent outages with our cable internet. Not knowing whether the problem was our cable internet connection or the router, I bought a brand new version of the Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router ("Linksys Router II"). But the problem persisted with Linksys Router II, so we called Comcast cable, and they sent out technicians -- twice -- to check our connection. Well, it wasn't our cable connection, so I knew it had to be the Linksys router. I went to a local computer store one day, thinking I'd try out the Microsoft wireless router. But while at the store, a Belkin manufacturer rep just happened to be there, and he convinced me to try out the Belkin Wireless 4-Port Router, which he claimed would set up in 3 minutes. The Belkin unit was cheaper and also had a generous rebate being offered at the time, so I decided to get it. I also bought two Belkin USB wireless adapters; these, too, were cheaper than the comparable Microsoft USB adapters.
The Belkin rep was right: their router and USB adapters set up MUCH more easily under Windows XP than my previous Linksys components ever did. Moreover, the router's software configuration utility was better, more advanced and easier to use and understand than the Linksys software. Best of all, the Belkin products solved our cable internet outage problem! Now our internet connection not only goes out less frequently, but when it does, I simply reboot the router through Belkin's software utility which automatically re-configures the router and in less than one minute (it literally counts down the seconds from 0 to 60), the internet is back.
Yes, it's hard to believe that the cheaper Belkin product could perform better than Linksys (which is owned by Cisco Systems!), but it does. If you're looking for a dependable and an easy to install home LAN (and I mean EASY -- you don't have to know anything about networking since both the router and USB adapters configure themselves in Windows XP), save yourself some money and give Belkin a try.
42 A War Driver's Dream Come True!
I've had the worst time with the people on tech support for this product. First off, they admitted that their MAC filtering doesn't actually filter any MACs. It's a free-for-all. Their "fix" was to enable encryption. Ok. Thanks. I just paid for a feature that doesn't work. They said they are working on new firmware to fix that, but shouldn't they have tested something that serious before hand?
I had encryption working for a while, but I disabled it once and couldn't get it going again. Their first level tech support reps have bad accents and don't grasp concepts very well.
If you want a wireless router that will work right out of the box, this is for you. But if you care at all about the security of your information, look elsewhere. I'm one unhappy customer.
43 A War Driver's Dream Come True!
I've had the worst time with the people on tech support for this product. First off, they admitted that their MAC filtering doesn't actually filter any MACs. It's a free-for-all. Their "fix" was to enable encryption. Ok. Thanks. I just paid for a feature that doesn't work. They said they are working on new firmware to fix that, but shouldn't they have tested something that serious before hand?
I had encryption working for a while, but I disabled it once and couldn't get it going again. Their first level tech support reps have bad accents and don't grasp concepts very well.
If you want a wireless router that will work right out of the box, this is for you. But if you care at all about the security of your information, look elsewhere. I'm one unhappy customer.
44 Good potential, but needs firmware update
I was initially very pleased with this router. It was reasonably easy to set up, although I configured it by hand instead of using the Easy Install Wizard so I can't speak to the quality of the Wizard. The 76-page manual is good, though missing an index.
The web-based interface was very very nice (at first, but more on this later). I was able to enter my settings quickly, and there appears to be a high level of customization possible. This router comes with firewall capabilities that are not necessarily advertised, which was a welcome surprise.
Things worked well for the first day, and the range on the wireless was quite good. At that point I decided to increase security. I disabled SSID Broadcast so that the ID of my network would not be spuriously broadcast...however, a new laptop immediately saw the network. So I'm not sure if SSID broadcast disable works, or if I made some mistake.
Then I tried to filter MAC addresses (which ensures that only specified computers have access to the router). For several hours I tried to enter a list of 5 MAC addresses into the router, but it would not take any more than one! This was a maddening experience. Finally, I decided to try using Internet Explorer to access the web interface, instead of Netscape. Suddenly, it worked. It seems likely that Belkin did not adequately test the product with Netscape.
During the above process, I had tried to check the firmware revision (I have 1.00000000, and no new firmware is yet available). I clicked on the button to check to see if there's an update, and the interface hung every time. So that feature doesn't work right, either, in either browser.
The next thing I did is try to confirm that MAC Address Filtering (above) was actually working properly. I enabled the feature, and removed a few computers from my access list. But they could still access the internet! I then removed all computers but one from the list, and still, no filtering. I called tech support. To give them credit, I only waited on hold a few minutes. But the person I spoke with was clueless. He was probably so used to people having trouble getting the internet to work, that he couldn't process the notion that my problem was that the security features were improperly permitting network access to unauthorized computers. I believe he didn't even know how MAC Address Filtering is supposed to work. When I was finally able to make the problem clear to him, he said someone would get back to me. But that won't be before I return this router for a refund.
In summary: the router has good potential. But the fact that MAC Address Filtering simply doesn't work, and Disable SSID Broadcast may not work either, means that this router is missing at least one of the fundamental security features. There are other firmware problems, too, which don't speak well for Belkin's Quality Control. My advice is not to purchase this router, at least until the firmware is revised.
