Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router wireless router

...problems and that's just what Belkin are trying to achieve with their latest wireless offering.

The "pre-N" range of wireless networking kit from Belkin provides a sneak preview of how wireless will be in the not too distant future. Taking advantage of recent improvements in technology, the "pre-N" name refers to the fact that the technology used is a pre-standards version of the next generation of wireless which ...
...that has set up a Belkin Router before. Simply attach your PC to one of the LAN ports and open up a browser. On entering the default router IP address in the browser you are presented with the router config homepage that gives you basic stats information, like whether or not the Internet link is working, what IP address you have, the version of the router software currently installed etc. You also have access to all of the configuration menus, which ... more

Wireless networking is great. I know it's stating the obvious, but it's just so great that it's worth pointing out.

Despite being great, wireless networking is not without its problems. Bandwidth, interference, range and security are all common areas of difficulty. In a truly great wireless world, none of these things would be problems and that's just what Belkin are trying to achieve with their latest wireless offering.

The "pre-N" range of wireless networking kit from Belkin provides a sneak preview of how wireless will be in the not too distant future. Taking advantage of recent improvements in technology, the "pre-N" name refers to the fact that the technology used is a pre-standards version of the next generation of wireless which will be called (as if you hadn't guessed already) 802.11n. So Pre-N is the practical implementation of a technology that is being designed to provide higher bandwidth and greater range than the existing b and g wireless standards.

For those of you that are interested, the improvements come through the way data is sent and received using multiple aerials and doing some clever calculations to achieve a best average signal across all the various versions. The result is an effective bandwidth of 108Mb per second and an 800% increase in coverage over 802.11 b and g. At least that's the claim.

Before I get on to how well the Pre-N aspects work, I will give you a quick run-down of the device and its general features.

I bought this router, along with a desktop/laptop pre-N wireless card for the princely sum of £99 - it was on special offer in PC World (of all places!); the router on its own should have been £99 and the PC network card another £65.

Packaged in an oddly trapezoid shaped box, it comes complete with power supply, instruction book, quick setup guide and an installation CD. The device itself is typically Belkin. A gunmetal grey/silver colour with nice curves, some ventilation and subtle logos. Physically it's a relatively compact 17 x 17 x 4cm. A cluster of LEDs on the top indicate the status of the various Network, Internet and Wireless connections, the sockets for which are all present and clearly labelled on the back of the device. The most unusual feature is the 3 repositionable aerials. It's these 3 aerials that provide the "pre-N" features, each one being used to optimise the sending and receiving of data.

Location of a wireless access point is always important, put it near a big stone wall, behind a monitor, near a radiator or anything else that could shield or otherwise interfere with the radio waves will significantly impede performance. The manual points this out and identifies the worst culprits to help you make the right decision, although the location of internet connections, power sockets and other such factors usually conspire against optimal placement. The compact size is a benefit here, and the provision of screw-mounting holes on the base of the unit, combined with its light weight mean that it's best mounted on a wall. Although the wires then hang downwards and look a little untidy, it's easily the best way to get it up and out of the way of any interference sources etc and provide a good "bubble" of wireless coverage.

Physical aspects aside, the configuration interface will be broadly familiar to anyone that has set up a Belkin Router before. Simply attach your PC to one of the LAN ports and open up a browser. On entering the default router IP address in the browser you are presented with the router config homepage that gives you basic stats information, like whether or not the Internet link is working, what IP address you have, the version of the router software currently installed etc. You also have access to all of the configuration menus, which cover every aspect of the router's setup including:
• Internet connection settings
• LAN settings (IP address, DHCP server etc)
• Wireless settings (including the name, speed and security settings for your wireless network)
• Firewall settings which protect against unwanted hacker activity on the Internet and also allows you to set up the firewall to allow you to play multiplayer games, host your own web server etc.
• Miscellaneous settings that cover most everything else, like the administrator password, configuration backup and firmware upgrade.

Following the quick-start guide is simple enough and will have you up and running in less than 10 minutes. More complex configurations are possible and both the manual and on-line help provide good reference for some of the less familiar options.

I could go in to detail on each specific function of the setup but if you want this, far better you hunt out the owner's manual on the Belkin support site. Instead, I will tell you the features that I think are the most important.

First off on the impressive feature list is support for just about every type of broadband internet connection there is. Don't misunderstand me on this point - the router ONLY has an Ethernet port for internet connectivity so if you're an ADSL user you WILL STILL NEED A MODEM. But beyond that, the router will support dynamic, static, PPoE and PPTP connections, all with relative ease meaning its unlikely there's a broadband provider you can't use this device with.

Next up is in the wireless settings. All the usual settings are present and correct; network name, channel selection (including automatic); wireless mode (b & g, g only or off) and whether or not you want to broadcast your network name. This time, Belkin have also included some performance tweaks, including 802.11e - better known as Quality of Service (QoS) which will allow your router to give higher priority to latency sensitive traffic like Skype, video on demand etc should you need it. It should be said that it's extremely unlikely that you will make use of this right now, but handy for the future.

In terms of wireless security the Belkin scores well; providing support for 64 and 128bit WEP as well as Server and non-server WPA and no encryption at all should you be that way inclined. Of the 5 modes either of the WPA is preferable as it is far more robust than the ageing WEP standard.

The firewall is relatively easy to configure too. It has a drop-down list containing all of the protocols for all of the common games and network applications making it a simple task to add a rule to allow your favourite multiplayer games to work across the Internet. Custom rules are also possible and the format is easy to grasp - you will just need to know the technical specifics of what you want to allow.

There is also limited support for client filtering of certain or all network traffic at specific times of specific days. More likely because they could than because it's of any real use although I suppose it might be useful if you have kids ad don't want them to have Internet access between homework hours on a school night.

The Pre-N router sees the first support Belkin have provided for dynamic DNS entries and this is a "very good thing". Dynamic DNS is a great invention that allows you to access your home PCs across the Internet, even when your internet gateway has been assigned a dynamic IP address that could change every so often. The Belkin currently only supports DynDNS.org but as that's the one I use I'm more than happy. It means that, combined with the Belkin firewall feature, I can host a website from my home PC without having to remember cumbersome IP addresses that are prone to change.

Parental control is provided, but it's a subscription service, the first 6 months of which you get free. The license is activated through the Belkin administration interface but I haven't turned it on so can't comment on how effective it is.

Getting towards the list of notable features, the last one worthy of comment is the firmware upgrade check - a neat feature that will tell you whether or not there is a software upgrade available for your router with only a couple of mouse clicks. This partners up with the configuration backup & restore feature to ensure that firmware upgrades are as painless as possible. I can vouch for the ease of use here, having performed one such upgrade that took only 5 minutes from start to finish. Far better than the malarkey I had to go through with an old NetGear router which, more often than not, resulted in certain doom for the router.

So that should be your router pretty much set up. Pretty straightforward, even if you want a relatively advanced configuration. What's it like in operation?

Let's start off with the wireless signal… The first point to mention here is that you will ONLY get a 108Mbps connection if you are using a Belkin Pre-N wireless card. The same goes for the extended range. DON'T buy this router and expect it to increase the range of your existing wireless cards because it WILL NOT. The extra range and bandwidth requires the multi-input/multi-output (MiMo) aerials on both the sender and receiver.

All of this isn't to say that it won't work with your existing cards; in fact the Belkin implementation of Pre-N is superior to most other vendors in that it will allow you to use older (non-Pre-N) wireless equipment alongside the Pre-N equipment without downgrading the Pre-N performance. So I can still happily run all my old cards at 54Mbps while the media PC in the lounge gets a full 108Mbps. It also gets a much stronger signal than it used to. With my old access point, the PC in the lounge used to get predominantly "Weak" signals with the occasional "OK". With the pre-N setup at both access point and PC, it now gets consistently "Excellent" signal strength.

For the sake of completeness, I will also mention the 4 switched LAN ports that are included. Each supports 100Mbps Ethernet and they all work well. The inbuilt DHCP server supplies addresses from within the configured range and any machines you have plugged in to the router, or connected via wireless, will be able to communicate.

On the down-side, it isn't the prettiest box. The Automatic channel selection can lead to intermittent breaks in wireless signal but this is easily overcome by manually selecting a channel.

And that's pretty much it.

So in summary, it's a fine piece of kit. One of the better pre-N implementations I've seen especially as it gives full Pre-N speed even when running alongside older equipment. The difference in speed makes it ideal for bandwidth hungry applications like music, video streaming or telephony (Skype). The extra range means placement isn't quite as critical and signals tend to be more reliable. The setup is intuitive and the software is well featured - the addition of Dynamic DNS being a significant bonus. In terms of a score, it would be unfair to give it less than 5 stars, just remember there's no point in buying the router on its own - to take advantage of Pre-N you will need Pre-n wireless cards in your PC as well!

 

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