mfarris2's Full Review: Belkin (F5D8230-4) Wireless Router
First let me say I have always been an Linksys fan. Yes, I have tried other wireless routers. D-Link, Netgear, 3Com and even previous models of Belkin. And I have always returned to Linksys. None of Labels I have mentioned above really impressed me. Some worked really fast as advertised, yet keep losing the connection. Others keep the connection and were fast enough for browsing the web or checking mail, but forget about transferring large files between computers on your network. Others seemed to do OK as long as you were 3 feet away from the router,...any farther and the speed dropped to nothing. It always seemed I was back to cat5 cable after investing money on the wireless NIC's. Finally an IT who worked for a large chain of hotels told me about the new standard coming out sometime in 2006. It will be called "N." He told me Belkin has already put out the equipment. He told me that is all his hotel will buy from now on. He told me that they do not get any calls from his hotel to come fix problems since installing this equipment.
Now I am a bit skeptical about what I would call ridiculous claims. But I decided to check into the situation a bit further.
First, I read every review I could find on this issue. Everything I read was positive beyond belief. Range, speed was supposed to be a dream. Installation claims were as good. So I decided to pluck down the $129.99 for the router and $99.00 for the NIC and see for myself. This is what I found.
The installation was a miracle. You put the installation disk in. It walks you through step by step in hooking up the cables,...with pictures. If you can read at a fifth grade level, you will be up and running in less than five minutes. IE First unplug the cable from the back of your computer. Click next when finished. Now plug the cable you unplugged from your computer into the New Belkin routers green plug (Color coded) Click next when finished. It continues like this until it tells you to plug in the power. It then scans your computer all by itself. It sets up the Internet connection without you having to set or select anything by itself. A 10 year old child who has never worked with networks will be able to set this up in less then 5 minutes.
Now if you want to turn on the many security features,..you will need to set up a few items manually. But these were amazingly simple. No more spending hours trying to set up a secure home network.
After setup,....this is what I found.
Fast,.....fast,...fast! This thing seems faster than my wired 100T based network. It connects to the Internet without delay. It moves big files back and forth just as fast as my wired network. The range is a dream. I can now work in my backyard and not know I am not right on top of the router.
Belkin claims it has 800% wider coverage than a standard wireless G. (I now believe them) They also claim a 600% faster speed than standard wireless G. (I can now believe that as well.)
I can tell you that in the three weeks I have owned this router and NIC's, I have not once lost a connection. When I start the computer, it automatically connects. No more right clicking and telling the computer to connect to a wireless network.
The features of the Belkin router that Belkin calls Pre-N are many. Here are some of them.
First Belkin Pre-N is fully compatible with wireless B & G. And the Pre-N does not drop down to the lowest standard on the network B will run at B,..G will run at G speeds and N will run at N speeds all on the same network as long as the router is an N model.The Pre-N is an Airgo True MIMO. It has a built-in Double firewall. It does have a four port switch for the wired. It has WPA 64-bit WEP 128-bit encryption. It has VPN Support-PPTF, and IPSEC pass-through. It also comes with an Lifetime warranty. Belkin has 24/7 toll free tech support. I made one call to get information to their security features. I was on hold for about five minutes. Not long, compared to other labels hold times.
All in all, this is the best router on the market for a home user today. For less than $250.00 ($129.99 for router and $99.00 for laptop card.) I now have my laptop free from wires and can roam anywhere on my property without any signal loss.
I live in Central Florida, the lightning capital of the world. Not to have to worry about having lightning come in through my cable and taking out my built in NIC on my laptop is worth the peace of mind to me.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129.99 Driver Availability: Windows, Linux, and Mac
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