... That said, it may nopt be such a problem with the Belkin as I have had disappointing results withthe WiFi coverage from my Belkin. I live in a modern, stud-wall constructed house and my old (802.11b) Netgear used to give me good coverage throughout. The Belkin struggles to provide coverage ... Read review
...such a problem with the Belkin as I have had disappointing results withthe WiFi coverage from my Belkin. I live in a modern, stud-wall constructed house and my old (802.11b) Netgear used to give me good coverage throughout. The Belkin struggles to provide coverage from front to back so careful placement becomes more important.
Configuration of the device is all through a web-interface, so there's no driver or configuration software ... ...major security feature of the Belkin box is it's built in firewall. This effectively protects you from Internet-based hacking attempts and while it will not be able to guarantee 100% protection it is certainly a lot better than nothing. It's safe by default and the only reasons to change it's configuration are if you want to do something slightly tricky, like host Internet multi-player games, or your own web-server or similar. This is where you will ... more
When my old Netgear wireless router broke down (for the fourth time) at the beginning of December I decided that enough was enough.
A trip to PC world saw me return with one of these puppies (and £60 lighter in the pocket). 30 minutes after getting home saw my Internet access and wireless network reinstated. Yup, 30 minutes was really all it took, and that included unwrapping it, fiddling round with the power supply & cables as well as some basic configuration. This was helped along by the excellent quick-start guide on a large, fold-out sheet with it's clearly numbered and documented steps.
At about the size of a large-format paperback, it's middle of the road in terms of size. Aesthetically it's not going to win any prizes, but it does the job. There are screw-holes on the base to allow for wall-mounting should you desire. An array of LEDs on the front/top panel flash to show you that things are happening, 4 RJ-45 ports on the back allow you to plug up to 4 PCs into it and there's a 5th ethernet port for connecting to your Internet connection to it. All are clearly labelled so you shouldn't have any problems. All 4 of the PC ports will automatically detect if they are being used to uplink to another switch/hub which is handy and saves fiddling round with buttons. Also on the back are the two stubby WiFi aerials that don't look half big enough for the job but seem to work. The power supply is a separate brick with a generous lead to both the plug and the device, giving good range when it comes to positioning the box, something that is important for a Wireless access point.
From a hardware point of view, it supports all of the major standards. The 4 computer network ports are capable of regular Ethernet (10Mb/sec) and FastEthernet (100Mb/sec) switched and give good performance between attached computers. On the wireless side, it supports both the older (and slower, 11Mb/sec at best) 802.11b and the newer (and faster 54Mb/sec at best) 802.11g. They are supported side-by-side out of the box so it is perfectly possible to have a mixture of devices, but as they both operate at the same frequency you will find that 'g' devices will be held back if there are 'b' devices using it as well. There is also support for the two wireless security mechanisms; WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is available at 64 and 128bits but the configuration is messy and WEP has been proven flawed. You'll only use this if you are running older WiFi equipment that doesn't support the newer WPA (WiFi Protected Access), which is far easier to configure and more secure.
As an aside, the main benefits of securing your Wireless access are around bandwidth "theft", bearing in mind that typically an Access point in the home will be good for your neighbours both sides and across the road, depending on the size of your garden! It's also useful if you have more than one PC on your network and you share files between them as it would save anyone coming along and taking copies of your shared files. That said, it may nopt be such a problem with the Belkin as I have had disappointing results withthe WiFi coverage from my Belkin. I live in a modern, stud-wall constructed house and my old (802.11b) Netgear used to give me good coverage throughout. The Belkin struggles to provide coverage from front to back so careful placement becomes more important.
Configuration of the device is all through a web-interface, so there's no driver or configuration software installation required. Password protection is available and I'd recommend anyone set up a password, especially if you're not going to secure your Wireless access with either WEP or WPA.
The other major security feature of the Belkin box is it's built in firewall. This effectively protects you from Internet-based hacking attempts and while it will not be able to guarantee 100% protection it is certainly a lot better than nothing. It's safe by default and the only reasons to change it's configuration are if you want to do something slightly tricky, like host Internet multi-player games, or your own web-server or similar. This is where you will run into the first limitation of the Belkin. Unlike some of the more expensive firewalls out there, the Belkin only allows one incoming connection type to each internal PC, so it's not possible to set up your PC to hose Wolfenstein and Medal of Honour games at the same time, it's either one or the other. Thankfully Belkin have realised the limitation and tried to make it as easy as possible to change this aspect of the configuration. Other aspects of the firewall are slightly less intuitive to configure and are probably best left alone unless you are experiencing a particular problem. Fortunately the on-line help is pretty solid across all the configuration areas.
Some of the other more useful features are a semi-automatic firmware update check, a backup function for the router configuration and a Parental Control option, although the latter is subscription based rather than user-defined keywords. It also has the ability to support Universal Plug n Play (UPNP) should you need it, although this is off by default. Finally, there is good support for VPNs so all you corporate users that like to work from home (me included) are well catered for.
It all sounds pretty good so far and, for the money I suppose it is. But I've been spoiled by my Netgear so some of the limitations that bug me are:
- There's no support for Dynamic DNS, where the router automatically registers it's dynamically assigned IP address with a constant domain-name for easy reference anywhere on the Internet. So I have to do it manually once a month. Not a big deal, but mildly annoying.
- The firewall isn't as flexible in it's configuration as I'd previously been used to, either allowing me one service through the firewall per internal PC or everything to the PC with no firewall protection at all. There are workarounds to this (assigning multiple IP addresses to internal PCs is one way) but it's messy. Similarly, while scheduling of firewall access is supported it's also a bit fiddly to implement should you want to do so.
- The subsrciption-based parental control drives revenue, what's wrong with user administrated keyword filtering? It can't be that hard to implement.
Ultimately, you get what you pay for. My old Netgear was £150, this was £60 (now £50 in the PC World Sale). For 1/3rd the price, you certainly get more than 1/3rd the functionality so despite it's shortcomings, I am pleased to say that it was a worthwhile purchase. If you need a basic home router/WiFi access point, it's just the ticket. If you want something more complex and you have the technical knowledge to understand what you need, the Belkin is flexible enough that you will probably find a way of making it do what you want although it may be a bit long-widned and somethings may remain a manual task. In terms of it's competition, I don't think there's anything out there to touch it on price. Pay £20 - 30 more and you will get most of the features that are "missing", but how much you really need them is up to you.
So it's 4 stars for the Belkin, let down by some of it's software features and it's Wireless coverage range.
Advantages: Connect all your computers together Disadvantages: bloody complicated to set up!
So, one day I walk into our computer room. In front of me is some strange silver box with blinking lights. It's got 2 little aerials sticking out of it. 'Christ' I thought 'Dad's gone and bought a bloody router, but why?'.
You see we had a wireless card in our computer. My laptop had a wireless card. We had a network set-up perfectly between them. It was a crap network, but a network nonetheless. The internet was shared through the main computer. ... ...I was wrong.
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What is a router?
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Routers are almost always little silver boxes. They can be identified by wires leading out of them. Essentially they will connect all of your computers together. You need a router because otherwise the computers don't know what to do.
Sometimes in a home network you will link computers directly through a host computer. But this tends to be slower and the host ...
C_W_Monkey 06.07.2004 (07.07.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Router
Advantages: Creates an Internet Network Disadvantages: Uses up yet another plug socket.
This is the Belkin 54g Wirless Cable Router.
For a while now I have had an NTL Cable line in my room giving me access to the Internet. One day I decided to upgrade my connection to BroadBand. After I received Broadband, my family liked it so much that they wanted to join in.
And so we bought this product. This product is connected to my PC and will allow any PC within a certain distance around it to connect to the same Internet connection as long ... ...set up the network. Now we have 4 people in the network, and that bill split between 4 of us comes to £6.25 per month. What a brilliant fee for a 600k Broadband Connection. If you want a network then I would seriously consider using the Belkin 54g Wireless. ...
stargatesg1uk 05.04.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Router
Advantages: Fast, Reliable and Easy to Administer Disadvantages: 802.11b may be difficult to setup as opposed to 802.11g
...this fantastic product.
This Belkin router enables users to share their Broadband internet amongst different computers in their home or office, without the need for any one computer to be switched on for it to be accessed by another. The router also enables you to share files and printers amongst your computers.
You can connect your computers to the Router via an Ethernet Network cable or through a wireless network card from up to 1800 feet away ... ...(Via the web based control panel.)
[If I have missed anything out or there is more you would like to know about this Belkin Wireless Router, just write a comment and I will answer whatever I can as soon as possible by adding it the bottom of this review.] ...
janemenagh 29.12.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Router
I purchased this router to enable me to use my laptop to access the internet both in my bedroom and elsewhere around the house at the same time as my mum was using the desktop PC, and also to avoid the need for trailing wires. I was hesitant at first as the £76.00 it cost was expensive, but I am glad I spent the money now.
My laptop already had a wireless card, so all I needed to do was purchase a pci LAN card for my desktop and I was ready to go. ... ...router. I just plugged it in, connected the broadband microfilter and RJ11 cable, hooked it up to the desktop and it was ready. The quick-start guide was useful to a point, however it did not explain the settings well. Fortunately though, the user interface is quite helpful and the settings are pretty self-explanatory. Accessing the router's homepage for status checks and settings changes is easy with any web browser. All i really had to do was enter ...
patwanet 18.08.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Router
Advantages: Silent, Reliable, Allows for expansion, Fire wall, Secure connection Disadvantages: Cuts out every so often and requires a reboot (30seconds)
The belkin wireless router is in my opinion one of the best routers you can buy and represents excellent value for money for only £60
The router is something which you connect to the Internet via your phone line and allows you to connect computers to the Internet without trailing wires, allowing freedom of movement for laptops and the decentralisation of your network. Look:
The router is small enough to tuck away in the corner without being noticed ... ...computers, you will need either:
Belkin 54g Wireless Network Cards (for laptop use) Around £30 Belkin USB Network Adapter (for desktop p.c use) this fits conveniently into a spare Usb port on your computer. Around £20
Belkin 54g wireless network card (for desktop use) This is what I used on one of my p.c's and I don't recommend it as to install it you have to remove the back off your tower, this voids the warranty in the event of any damage, and ...
ross88guy 27.06.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Router
Speed
Ease of Installation
Ease of use
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Advantages: Mut's Nuts Fast Disadvantages: Not idiot proof
Q - HELP!
A - RTFM.
OK!
But if you can't be bothered to read the manual then you can always ring the freephone helpline, somewhere in punjhabi-land, they understand that you are English - and end up calling their "rowter" a "rooter" - so by the end of the call ...
(allow a/b*c =t where a = idiot level; b=have you read the manual, c=phone charge and t=time spent wasted where you should have done b)
... you are up and running.
And there you are - one fully functional Mut's Nuts wireless network.
We chose wireless to -
- save drilling holes in floors, ceilings and walls
- running cables through heating ducts and some holes.
We chose Belkin ' cos at the time of purchase we could get all the bits for a whole network** all in the same shop*.
* Use PCW at your peril, as ever. They insisted we needed a wireless ...
Advantages: Easy setup, very good performance. Disadvantages: sparse Web site support
The first good aspect of this router is its support of the quicker 802.11g products. The Belkin54gwirelesscable/DSL gateway router is competitively priced but its easy installation, good range, and perfect compatibility with old and new data radios put the router at one of the best around. Add in a built-in firewall, a lifetime warranty, and a six-month subscription to a versatile Web-filtering program for parents, and you have a great all-around solution for distributing Internet access, audio, and video throughout a home or a small office.
Setup is very easy. Simply open the box and read the three-minute setup for the 54gwirelesscable/DSL gateway router. This is no joke, as it took exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds and i had a fully operational 802.11gwireless network with four wired Ethernet ports. As amazing as it sounds, it ...
