|
reviews shortcuts
|
Belkin F5D52304 Port Cable/DSL Gateway Router
Quick Index:
SECURITY AND PERFORMANCE OK, lets see how secure we are! We have a list of websites that can test your security, just pick a site and click on it to begin. Steve Gibson has a very decent security port scan, so let’s see how the Belkin Router does on this "Shields Up" Test.
CONCLUSION The Belkin 4-Port Cable/DSL Gateway Router is a fine choice for the economical minded home user and entry level SOHO user. It does lack some of the optional functions, bells & whistles that the more expensive routers offer, however many of the potential users of this router probably wouldn’t need those features. You can plainly see what this router offers and decide if it does what you need. The ease of set up and install, coupled with a reasonable price is very appealing. It took about 4 minutes to have both of my home PCs online, and less than an hour to have my network up and fully functioning as well (using the Belkin software), sharing files, etc… Good to go! The router is secure to use and allows you to connect 4 computers directly to it (and onto the Internet) without even adding a switch. The unit is fast and provides software for the novice user to to network all LAN clients and share files and peripherals, it is attractive as well as space saving. For the price, it is a good economical router. I found it readily online for ~$80. Some sites even had it ~$40 after mail-in rebates! Overall, a great entry level router !
PROS
CONS
User Reviews/Comments:
rate:
avg:
by
davisre - 2006-06-05 20:07
I just bought this router as a trial run before installing in my wife's small business. We were most interested in the greater range and hopefully immunity to drop outs while walking from room to room with her X41 tablet. It does seem to meet that goal, since the signal is much stronger than my previously installed router, a Netgear WGT624, throughout the house. However, I ran into one problem that you should know about. It does not seem to implement VPN correctly. I need to use (and had been using) the AT&T Network Client to tunnel into my firewalled intranet at work. I wasn't able to get the Belkin to work.
Right now as a temp solution, I am playing around with daisy-chaining the two together, with the Netgear attached to the Cable Modem, and the Belkin connected to it. The default IP for the Belkin being 192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0 and the default for the Netgear, 192.168.0.0/255/255/255/0 made that a no-brainer! And it nominally works, I can surf from the farthest reaches of the house on the Belkin, and for work switch to the Netgear. However, my daughter , who spends long hours on the internet, complains that it periodically drops connection. She is hardwired to port one on the Netgear. Maybe the backdoor traffic from the Belkin is tying things up. I have notes in to Belkin support to see if they can resolve the VPN problem, and maybe I will just go with a single router connection. By the way, I do have the latest version hardware and firmware. V2.
While it does work and will transmit signal, it does frequently drop connection to the Cable modem very regularly. We have 3 computers hooked to it, all hard wired with nothing else between like switches or hubs etc... and it just can t hold a connection. We have tried all kinds of settings and talked to Belkin also tryin to fix the problem, but neither were succesful. Definetly do not buy this product!! It will drive you crazy!!! We actually ended up buying a Netgear which worked great for a couple years and one of the ports blew on it so we actually had to go back to this thing and use it as a switch...which it works fine for that purpose!!! lol... hope this helps the people on the fence out there. \m/
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
