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Belkin F5D6231-4 Wireless Cable/DSL Router

Belkin F5D6231-4 Wireless Cable/DSL Router

List Price: $80.99
Your Price: $64.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Good potential, but needs firmware update
Review: I was initially very pleased with this router. It was reasonably easy to set up, although I configured it by hand instead of using the Easy Install Wizard so I can't speak to the quality of the Wizard. The 76-page manual is good, though missing an index.

The web-based interface was very very nice (at first, but more on this later). I was able to enter my settings quickly, and there appears to be a high level of customization possible. This router comes with firewall capabilities that are not necessarily advertised, which was a welcome surprise.

Things worked well for the first day, and the range on the wireless was quite good. At that point I decided to increase security. I disabled SSID Broadcast so that the ID of my network would not be spuriously broadcast...however, a new laptop immediately saw the network. So I'm not sure if SSID broadcast disable works, or if I made some mistake.

Then I tried to filter MAC addresses (which ensures that only specified computers have access to the router). For several hours I tried to enter a list of 5 MAC addresses into the router, but it would not take any more than one! This was a maddening experience. Finally, I decided to try using Internet Explorer to access the web interface, instead of Netscape. Suddenly, it worked. It seems likely that Belkin did not adequately test the product with Netscape.

During the above process, I had tried to check the firmware revision (I have 1.00000000, and no new firmware is yet available). I clicked on the button to check to see if there's an update, and the interface hung every time. So that feature doesn't work right, either, in either browser.

The next thing I did is try to confirm that MAC Address Filtering (above) was actually working properly. I enabled the feature, and removed a few computers from my access list. But they could still access the internet! I then removed all computers but one from the list, and still, no filtering. I called tech support. To give them credit, I only waited on hold a few minutes. But the person I spoke with was clueless. He was probably so used to people having trouble getting the internet to work, that he couldn't process the notion that my problem was that the security features were improperly permitting network access to unauthorized computers. I believe he didn't even know how MAC Address Filtering is supposed to work. When I was finally able to make the problem clear to him, he said someone would get back to me. But that won't be before I return this router for a refund.

In summary: the router has good potential. But the fact that MAC Address Filtering simply doesn't work, and Disable SSID Broadcast may not work either, means that this router is missing at least one of the fundamental security features. There are other firmware problems, too, which don't speak well for Belkin's Quality Control. My advice is not to purchase this router, at least until the firmware is revised.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better & Cheaper Than Linksys!!!!
Review: I'd been using a Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router with 4-port switch, along with 2 wireless PC Cards for my three-PC home network, running Windows XP. However, we began to experience frequent outages with our cable internet. Not knowing whether the problem was our cable internet connection or the router, I bought a brand new version of the Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router ("Linksys Router II"). But the problem persisted with Linksys Router II, so we called Comcast cable, and they sent out technicians -- twice -- to check our connection. Well, it wasn't our cable connection, so I knew it had to be the Linksys router. I went to a local computer store one day, thinking I'd try out the Microsoft wireless router. But while at the store, a Belkin manufacturer rep just happened to be there, and he convinced me to try out the Belkin Wireless 4-Port Router, which he claimed would set up in 3 minutes. The Belkin unit was cheaper and also had a generous rebate being offered at the time, so I decided to get it. I also bought two Belkin USB wireless adapters; these, too, were cheaper than the comparable Microsoft USB adapters.

The Belkin rep was right: their router and USB adapters set up MUCH more easily under Windows XP than my previous Linksys components ever did. Moreover, the router's software configuration utility was better, more advanced and easier to use and understand than the Linksys software. Best of all, the Belkin products solved our cable internet outage problem! Now our internet connection not only goes out less frequently, but when it does, I simply reboot the router through Belkin's software utility which automatically re-configures the router and in less than one minute (it literally counts down the seconds from 0 to 60), the internet is back.

Yes, it's hard to believe that the cheaper Belkin product could perform better than Linksys (which is owned by Cisco Systems!), but it does. If you're looking for a dependable and an easy to install home LAN (and I mean EASY -- you don't have to know anything about networking since both the router and USB adapters configure themselves in Windows XP), save yourself some money and give Belkin a try.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It works, but has issues...
Review: I'm not normally one to write reviews, but I want to prevent others from buying this if it will not work for them. I have previously been a sysadmin, so I'm somewhat fluent with network compnents and configurations. As a wireless access point, its fine, good range, good speed, etc. As a NAT router, again it works just fine for browsing. However, it has serious issues maintaining connections, either through the wireless side or the wired side, with game servers. Simply put, games will continually "lose the connection" to the server, and drop you from the game. This happened no matter what configurations and/or firmware versions I tried. I ended up using my Linksys router as a router, with the Belkin as a wireless access point and hub. This also reduces it to a 3 port hub, since you need to use a standard port for the connection to the router.

Long story short, it works for everything but games. If you never game, then its good for the money. Gamers look elsewhere. I would recommend Linksys.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A War Driver's Dream Come True!
Review: I've had the worst time with the people on tech support for this product. First off, they admitted that their MAC filtering doesn't actually filter any MACs. It's a free-for-all. Their "fix" was to enable encryption. Ok. Thanks. I just paid for a feature that doesn't work. They said they are working on new firmware to fix that, but shouldn't they have tested something that serious before hand?

I had encryption working for a while, but I disabled it once and couldn't get it going again. Their first level tech support reps have bad accents and don't grasp concepts very well.

If you want a wireless router that will work right out of the box, this is for you. But if you care at all about the security of your information, look elsewhere. I'm one unhappy customer.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Go with Linksys or NetGear!
Review: I've had this wireless router for about a year and I continue to be unhappy with it.

The Good News: The wired component is just fine. With Cat5, it has been utterly reliable.

The Bad News: The wireless range is terrible. We live in a typical post-WWII, 1200 SqFt house on LA's Westside. Aside from the 3rd bedroom/home office and living room, the signal is unreliable in all other rooms, even the backyard just outside the office's window. There has been no firmware upgrades from Belkin. Ever. The WEP security has been problematic. Even in the room I've never been able to connect up at 128.

I say buy another brand. I'm giving this one away and asking Santa for a better unit.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Cheap, it's OK. You get what you pay for
Review: If you can get this on sale cheap, then this is worth it. OH .. and you should be technically inclined ... otherwise you'll really pull your hair out getting this all to work. Mine works, but connecting to the configuration page is very slow and the network connection is a bit spotty. The firewall has little you can modify.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Did not work. Period.
Review: It was surely easy to set-up, but hardly worked with both my PC and my roomie's. We tried to figure out what was wrong, but the thin handbook has little troubleshooting tips. We've already returned this product and will try another brand's router instead.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good...not great
Review: MicroCenter was running an excellent sale on these suckers, so I took one home to consolidate my network. The web interface was pretty slick (and highly Mac-compatible), and setup was a snap. The free 24x7 tech support was awesome. Unfortunately, there were two problems with the router that made me take it back:

1. It's not compatible with anything but IP over ethernet. If you want to carry anything besides IP packets between wired and wireless ethernet (e.g., AppleTalk frames), then you're outta luck. Tech support assured me this would be addressed in a future firmware upgrade (which it was for this router's predecessor).

2. After a hard or soft restart, the SSID is broadcast regardless of setting. If it was disabled before, the only way to disable it again is to enable it and then disable it. Since this can happen without notice, it poses an unacceptable security risk in my opinion.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: My opinion, For the price it is still junk
Review: My opinion,
I know a lot of people think $80 for a wireless router is cheap, and so it may be, but $80 for a miserably executed piece of equipment is way to much.
First the range of the wireless is almost non-existant. I have three systems hooked to it. Two about 10 to 15 feet from the router. One is on the second floor. I spent about 10 hours positioning the router until I could get a signal on all systems. Yet it still is flaky. Sometimes its fine, sometimes it bounces like a ball.
Every few days the router locks everyone out and you have to unplug it to get it working again. I tried setting it to renew the IP addresses every day but that hasn't helped.
Also it has no URL filtering, they seem to prefer it if you pay them a monthly subsciption for them to do it for you.

If that is not enough, don't expect 11Mbps. I haven't measured the actual bit rate but I know it is much slower to access the other systems on the network (I was using 10Mbps wired), also games will slow and jump (Im talking about games like Age of Empires, which should run fine on 10Mbps).
I have decided just to run some Cat5e cables and go back to being wired.

So $80 for a wired router is not worth it, or at least not for this one.
Sorry, but I was completely disappointed by this equipment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Buy
Review: Out of the box to surfing the Web took about 5 minutes. Great product


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