Belkin ADSL2+ Modem with Wireless G+ MIMO Router - wireless router

...so I looked at what Belkin had to offer.

They do lots of different wireless options. I knew from my previous sortie that as I had and ADSL broadband connection (through my telephone line) that I needed a combined modem and router which helped to narrow down the field. I also know that there are various ratings for modems and that I wanted an 11g - that bit was easy because most of them seemed to be 11g.

I opted for ...
...chiefly because according to the box it gives a good range - up to 200m and because it allows multiple connections (MIMO stands for multiple in multiple out). It isn't that I anticipate wanting to use it 200 metres from home but I figured I needed to take account of the range of places I might want to use it in the house and the impact of walls etc on transmission. I may want to use it outdoors as well although I doubt that I will be able to read ... more

I recently bought myself a new laptop which is wireless enabled and it seemed a shame not to use that facility so that I could use it anywhere in the house. Not being too much of a technophobe I wanted something which would be simple to set up and easy to use so I set off to PC World to see what they had on offer.

They had a myriad of options of course, great if you know what you are looking for, just plain confusing if you don't. Plus, although they have lots of salesmen around happy to latch on to you if you shop early when the store is quiet, I question their abilities to explain in plain English to a networking novice what each of them will do. To be perfectly honestly I looked at wireless networking a year or so ago but ended up returning the products as I was mystified and couldn't actually make them work!

This time I decided I would stick with a tried and tested make who, in my experience, provide good products which are generally fairly easy to install so I looked at what Belkin had to offer.

They do lots of different wireless options. I knew from my previous sortie that as I had and ADSL broadband connection (through my telephone line) that I needed a combined modem and router which helped to narrow down the field. I also know that there are various ratings for modems and that I wanted an 11g - that bit was easy because most of them seemed to be 11g.

I opted for the Belkin ADSL2+ Modem With Wireless G+ MIMO Router - chiefly because according to the box it gives a good range - up to 200m and because it allows multiple connections (MIMO stands for multiple in multiple out). It isn't that I anticipate wanting to use it 200 metres from home but I figured I needed to take account of the range of places I might want to use it in the house and the impact of walls etc on transmission. I may want to use it outdoors as well although I doubt that I will be able to read the screen well in bright sunlight. It has a speed of 108mbps which is reasonable - there are faster models around but they are more expensive and 108 Mbps will serve most of my needs for emails etc as I rarely do huge downloads. This modem has four ethernet connectors it also comes with a lifetime warranty!

The other thing that strongly influenced my choosing this model was that it was wrongly priced at £69.99 and should have been £89.99 but PC World agreed to honour the price on the shelf edge! (Good for them as that rarely seems to happen these days!)

Setting it up
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This was the bit I was most scared of (isn't it always when you buy some new PC kit?) so I opened the box gingerly and read the instructions. The first thing I needed to do was to find the information for communicating with the server which I had received from my Braodband supplier. Fortunately I had stored it in a safe place so that bit wasn't too tricky. It was very easy to follow the 'quick start' instructions that came with the modem. Basically plug a netwprking cable into your PC (two are supplied with the modem) and plug it into the telephone line and the mains. No problems with any of that.

Next I had to configure the modem and to do that you open your internet browser, key in a number (the IP address of the modem) and it should bring you up the configuration screen. I did that and my PC insisted that the page wasn't available 'offline'. Very frustrating as I knew it was but no amount of telling that to the PC made a scrap of difference. Even swearing at the PC and trying again was no improvement. Finally I connected up my old modem, let the PC go back online through that and lo and behold asked for the page again and it came up like magic.

You need to configure the modem using the details you got from your broadband supplier and as long as you have that information it is easy to do. Once I had put that in I was able to disconnect my old modem and get online using the new one.

Security
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One problem with using a wireless modem is that anyone within range can also see your wireless connection and use it unless you secure it and having bought a 200m range modem that meant most of the village! I therefore decided it would be a good idea to make my network 'secure'.

It would have been helpful if that had been covered in the Quick start instructions - it wasn't. That meant I had to access the full instruction manual which comes on a CD in the pack. The full manual is hundreds of pages covering everything you ever wanted to know so I hunted through that to find the chapter on security and set about following their instructions to make it secure.

To be honest it wasn't that difficult - the hardest part was reading through the options and deciding which one I wanted to use. It sounds terribly complicated as you read through the chapter and I would have preferred a simple two page guide which could have been easily provided with the modem and which would give basic security. If I wanted anything more complicated I could have referred to the manual.

In use
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Basically once you have set it up you don't have to do anything else it just works alongside your PC connecting you seamlessly to the internet. It seems much more reliable that my Freeserve modem which I got free when I signed up for Broadband. I had no problem persuading my work laptop to communicate with it which will make life simpler when I am working from home occasionally.

Would I recommend it?
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Yes I would - it was easy to set up apart from the slight glitch with my PC. It seems to work well and has a good range so it works everywhere in my house. I would try it out in the pub but sadly we have no pub in my village! If you are thinking of going wireless I think this modem is ideal especially if you have family who might all want to be accessing the internet at the same time.

 

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