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Belkin F5D52314 4-Port Cable/DSL Router

Belkin F5D52314 4-Port Cable/DSL Router

List Price: $59.99
Your Price: $59.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Works Great
Review: The Belkin router works great. I wanted a network that was easy to set up and Belkin did just that. I swear I had it set up in 3 minutes. I also bought a wireless notebook card and 2 PCI cards. All of them were easy to install, although if you have a computer far away from the router, you will have trouble. One computer with the PCI card can't hook up to the internet because it it too far away. I think there are ways to fix that. As for internet speed, it's really fast.

The one problem is that it is very hard to netwok 2 computers together so I can access the hardrive of one computer from the other. I don't know if it's like that for all wireless networks or just belkin. Also I don't know what everyone is talking about Belkin pop-ups happening all the time. I have never encountered a Belkin related pop-up.

Otherwise Belkin provides fast internet speeds and easy set up thats well worth your money. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Unusable Piece of Frozen Turd
Review: The price tag (ten dollars after mail in rebate) was what attracted me to replace my aging, failing 1-port router, but in the end it hardly made a difference.

Good news first, the router is nice and sleek looking, albeit slightly large for what it is. It comes packaged neatly and comes with an optional stand so you can place the router on its side. Set-up was a breeze, in my case literally plug-and-play. My cable internet uses DHCP to assign settings, which is default on the router, so I was sharing my internet connection over my home network in less than a few minutes.

The router seems to have plenty of options and settings for a basic system: web-based admin access, a simple firewall, port router/filter, amongst other things. For accessing the internet and sharing files and printers it was more than sufficient.

However, I seem to have the same problem a few other reviewers have: the router inexplicably locks up, in my case 3-10 times a week, and requires a power cycle (unplug it, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in, wait a minute for it to boot) to get anything on the network working again. Belkin offers no support, and hasn't released a new firmware at all (still on version 1.00, I don't know why there's even an "update firmware" button on the admin control panel).

There are times I'll turn on my computer and try to access the internet and realize the router locked up. There are also times I'm right in the middle of browsing and then the router will lock up. After eight months of putting up with this, the hunk of junk is going out the window.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty good router until it locks up.
Review: The router works very well most of the time on my 3xPC/1xMac/1xPS2/1xPrinter LAN with shared DSL. It was extremely easy to set up and provides adequate security according to the tests I've run. But it has locked up (requiring a hard reset) about a dozen times in the last three months. I'd complain about that problem a little more if I hadn't bought it dirt cheap (with rebate).

There doesn't seem to be any commonality to the lock-ups -- they just happen from time to time. The built-in router utility reports that there is not a newer firmware update available.

The hard reset requires unplugging the power cord or depressing a tiny recessed button at the back of the unit, so you'll need to keep the router in an easy access location (assuming you have the same problem).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fast, Easy Setup
Review: This Belkin router was easy to install and setup. It only took 15 minutes from opening the box to have two computers networked and sharing the internet. The MAC address cloning feature came in extremely handy. No problems at all during setup. Excellent product for the price.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great router for the price
Review: This is a good router for the price. I bought this to replace my old Linksys router which was no longer compatiable with my new DSL (neither Linksys or Bellsouth could figure out the problem). I hooked up the Belkin router and it works great. I have used Belkin in the past and as a PC consultant would recommend their products to my clients looking for less expensive equipment (especially with the recent $40 rebare on this one). The setup guide was also very basic which is great for beginners. I cannot comment on their tech support since I have not had a reason to call them :)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DO NOT BUY!!!!! spamware!!!!!!
Review: This router will take a legitimate connection to a web site and turn it into an ad for belkin products! The older models don't but if you update the firmware (like maybe to close a security hole in the future, or for compatibility of a network game) you will start getting ads! There are a couple of articles that are at popular news organizations that confirm this. BOYCOTT, DO NOT UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE!


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