IT Consultant. I hold an ONC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a BSc in Computer Science....
IT Consultant. I hold an ONC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and a BSc in Computer Science. Interests include cars, motorcycles, films, music, digital photography and DIY.
Member since:28.10.2005
Reviews:7
Wireless routers have recently become the bane of my professional life. Having had major issues with 2 (relatively new models) wireless routers from an allegedly top manufacturer that I have been installing and configuring equipment from professionally for over 9 years.
5 replacements under warranty with exact and similar models failed to cure constant lockups and wireless connection drop outs being experienced by my client, often within hours of replacement!
Nearing the end of my client's patience, there being little hair on my scalp left to forcibly extract and with my Valium prescription running low, I decided to try the router I have been using without major issue at home for the last 18 months.
Mindful of the fact that in my clients environment the router's workload/ feature set usage would be totally different from mine, I undertook this with some trepidation. Losing a client wouldn't exactly qualify me for suicide watch and I could always get a repeat prescription…
Asthetics Think carefully before reeling off the feature set and boasting how quick it is compared to your last piece of kit to you mates at work or down the pub.
If you wet their appetite too much their going to want to see this router in the flesh. It has a good size case that appears robust in construction and looks to be well ventilated. The twin aerials look purposeful, the display is functional and the colour scheme gives it an industrial look that reminds me of NAD Hi-Fi
equipment.
Maybe it did fall from the top of the ugly tree and hit all the branches on the way down. Personally, I do not care too much. Admittedly due in part to the fact that I have no friends.
But more importantly because I would rather have a piece of kit, however uneasy on the eye, that works straight from the box and continues to work when my back is turned.
Ultimately more preferable in my opinion than something that shouts Hollywood but develops a drug habit and multiple personality disorder when the lights go on and the cameras start to role...
Setup
The HTML interface is perhaps not as pretty as some, but it is functional and easy to navigate. Hopefully the programmers have focused their efforts into creating robust firmware rather than a pretty user interface.
The on-line help is adequate for all, bar the most novice of users. Setup options are listed under logical headings and the supporting documentation (provided on the accompanying CD-ROM in PDF format) is clear and fairly concise.
There are a few admissions here and there and some of the routers more exotic features are, in my opinion, worthy of more detailed explanations. At least it has not been written in chinglish.
Features
I have not used the complete set of features this router provides, so I will comment on the ones I have.
Firewall with SPI
This should take care of intrusions from the internet, from which I ran a check to see if the most common ports on the router were "stealthed" (I.E. did not respond when contacted) and they were.
On some other routers I have found ports (like the ones used by Telnet and Finger) to be open by default. Not exactly what you want considering there are over 65,000 of them!!
Port forwarding (called Virtual Servers by Belkin)
Appears to work well without issue. I have successfully configured FTP, pcAnywhere, SMTP, VPN and Webserver forwarding from the routers pre-configured drop-down list. You can also specify your own mappings if required, although I have not tested this.
Wireless Security
This router supports 64 and 128 WEP, WPA-PSK and WPA (Radius Server) encryption. Only the former 3 levels will be of interest to most people. I shall comment on these as I have no experience of how the router performs with a Radius Server.
64 and 128 WEP and WPA-PSK all work without issue on the 3 Belkin wireless cards, 1 Pro Link and 2 un-branded cards I currently have in use with this router.
I have not noticed any drastic fluctuations in performance in using either 64 and 128 WEP and WPA-PSK.
Personally I always use the highest level of encryption available and drop back if there are compatibility/performance issues in a mixed environment.
When planning a network from scratch I prefer to use kit from the same manufacturer, as not only is it easier to maintain with regard to driver updates and the like, but should also help to rule out compatibility issues.
Performance
The wireless range and performance at both sites through stud partitioned walls is very good. Wireless machines with a reasonable line of sight to the router (with no metallic objects in the way) connect at good signal strength and speed (around 80-100MB/s) dependant on distance up to 6 metres away.
Clients within 2 - 3 metres with good line of sight repeatedly connected at 125MBs. On my home network this includes a client connecting from 3.5 metres through a stud partition.
Stability
Please note: These routers when sold by PC World (and Argos I have been told) come with a firmware version of 1.00.017. However, the latest version offered by Belkin's website at the time of writing this review (20/10/2006) is 1.00.011.
My personal router has working solidly for 18 months without issue. It has 1 wired (that is in constant use) and an occasional wireless client. It has never locked up or dropped a connection during this time.
This model router is also running 6 wireless plus 2 wired clients in a business environment, 8 hours a day 5 days per week for the last month.
Each client machine regularly has multiple server based applications open at any one time and also has print, internet and email services. It is also configured for remote FTP, pcAnywhere, VPN and Exchange Server (OWA) access.
Unlike other routers in this class from other manufactures (which have often failed or required re-booting within a few days when used in exactly the same environment), it has yet to lockup, overheat or drop a connection.
Did not work correctly with firmware versions less than current version (1.00.011) offered by Belkin's website. Enter the MACAddresses, save and the router would lock up. A few months down the line I upgraded to the latest firmware (1.00.011) which cured the issue.
MS Exchange Server 2003 with Outlook 2003 email clients not connecting with server with MAC Address Filtering enabled (firmware version 1.00.017)
The message "Unable to open your default e-mail folders. The information store could not be opened. Would you like to open your default File System folder instead?" is displayed upon connection. Disabling MAC Address Filtering appears to cure this issue.
Remote Administration (firmware version 1.00.017) Unable to establish connection.
Router Positioning
This is often completely overlooked, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to site the router correctly. Think carefully before positioning your router!
Ideally, you want it to be (as much is practical) an equal distance away from each wireless client machine. However, this rule is not hard and fast as thick walls will tend to absorb the signal whereas thinner walls will more easily let the signal pass through. Unless they happen to be made of metal or some other radio frequency reflecting material…
Also, if you want a less stressed existence, do yourself a favour and do not place the router in close proximity to any of the following devices:
Amplifiers Fax machines Mains transformers Microwave ovens Large metallic objects, I.E. Stainless steel countertops, water tanks in the loft PC's Printers Wireless phones operating in the 2.4GHz spectrum
Conclusion
For most home user applications you could do a lot worse than the Belkin. It is stable, fairly fast, easy to configure and the majority of its features work from the box.
In the small business environment I currently have one running in it remains to be seen if it will continue to behave sanely or whether it will have to be sectioned like its predecessors.
UPDATE
After 6 months of use in a small business environment (6 wireless clients, 2 wired) the router finally expired.
Having used different wireless routers from a variety of manufactures I have since persuaded my client (who was adamant that he wanted a wireless network) to go for a wired network using Gigabit Ethernet, which now has become relatively cheap.
He is blown away by the speed of his newly wired network; 50MB PDF files now open instantly on his Core 2 Duo machine and searching for information in his database application (with many thousands of entries) is spontaneous. I managed to stop short at saying "I told you so..."
I must stress at this point that I never recommend that anyone use soley wireless technology in a busy LAN environement that supports multiple clients with heavy network traffic requirements.
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How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Easy setup, wired and wireless connection, very fast and reliable transfers Disadvantages: No usb connection for those without ethernet/LAN ports
exceptional by (38%):
very helpful by (63%):
