Pros: Low cost - Good wireless range - Easy setup/config
Cons: Wireless drops at least daily if not hourly... requiring several restarts to get it working.
The Bottom Line: Don't waste your time and/or money if you want a reliable, stable wireless router. I do this stuff for a living and this goofy thing is just not acceptable.
dragracer's Full Review: Belkin (F5D9230-4) Wireless Router
We just got broadband. I wanted wireless network access out to my shop. I bought the Belkin F5D9230-4 (G Plus MIMO) because it was advertised to have longer wireless range than other similarly priced routers. I hooked it up and setup all the wireless security (WPA encryption, MAC filtering, etc) and got it working. It was very easy to setup and the wireless range was excellent (IMO). So far, so good.
The next evening I tried downloading Windows updates on my laptop using the wireless connection to the router. The updates got about 50% downloaded and then just stopped. I checked the other (wired)computer and I had lost the Internet connection completely. I restarted the router(several times) and finally got it working. Tried the MS updates again....same thing. Finally gave up and just plugged the laptop into the router with a patch cable and did it that way. Worked fine.
Hadn't fooled with it for a few days, but last night I wanted to use the laptop and could not get it to connect to the wireless at all. I tried restarting both the laptop and the router several times with absolutely no luck. I finally gave up on it after an hour or so. This thing is supposed to have a lifetime warranty. MAYBE I just got a lemon...who knows. I just can't live with a product that is this unreliable so it's going back to the store for a refund.
I was searching the web for a different router and kept seeing great reviews for the Linksys WRT54GL. After some reading, this is what I learned. Most routers run on a proprietary operating system. This router runs Linux. It was discovered a few years ago that Linksys had used Linux as the underlying OS on the original WRT54G. Since Linux is open source, some guy sued Linksys to release the code for the firmware....so they did. There are several groups that have written/built new firmware for these routers and most of them are totally free. So you can take this fifty($52 on Amazon after rebate) dollar router, flash it with one of the available firmwares, and you can have a router with features available on routers costing upwards of $500-600. Nobody knows how long Linksys will keep selling these so I went ahead and ordered one. There is a possibility you can turn the router into a brick if something goes awry during the flash, but for fifty bucks you aren't really out much if you do kill it. I have read lots of reviews that say these routers are as stable as a rock on the factory firmware. People are running them for months without the need to restart them. Since this router doesn't have the latest technology I don't expect the wireless range to be quite as good as the Belkin, but if it's stable it will be well worth it. Some of the available firmwares(DD-WRT) give you the option to turn up the transmit power on the router, so this may make up for (some of) that. We shall see when I get mine next week. Oh, one last thing....The new G model does NOT run Linux, only the GL model.
After writing the above, I came home and tried to get the wireless going again. I reset the router to factory defaults and the wireless still will not connect....with NO security on it. It has obviously just quit working entirely at this point. Junk.
Network Protocols: TCP/IP DHCP TKIPSecurity: 64/128-Bit WEP WPAWPA/WPA2: WPAPorts: 1 x 10/100M WAN; 4 x 10/100M LANLEDs: Power Wireless Internet ...More at Newegg.com
Share music, movies and data files among all your computers with wireless convenience. Everyone can get in on the high-speed action - ideal for homes ...More at eBay
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