What is it with Belkin wireless routers?

[Gary Allan]

We bought a Netgear N router for installing in churches when we're overnight monitoring the homeless shelter so we can work (the pastor and myself). He plugs it in and everything works fine. His Blackberry (I think) sees it ..my Toshiba ..his whatever ..his Netbook ...blah..blah..blah

The wife got a netbook size thingie and I upgrade from a G to a Belkin 300N. I had to call tech support.

It was the same with my Belkin G router.

I mean, it's not really difficult to navigate once you get the body language down, but at about 4 years between bouts you can get stale. The thing comes encrypted, unlike the Netgear, so you can't connect except by hard cable and then you have to do a ditty in the setup.

Why did I do it again for the second round after the first episode??

 

[SLCraig]

Really? that's quite stupid.
I've never had a problem with my D-Link consumer grade stuff. Always works and setup is easy.

Never used a Belkin router, but I certainly will consider this next time when buying one.

 

[SrDriver]

Nothing but good experience with Belkin routers.

 

[JustinC25]

Nothing but bad experiences with Belkin routers.
I won't buy one ever again.

Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link for me.

 

[PandaBear]

It depends on which company's chipset it uses. I would look online and see why, but most likely it is buggy firmware from some low end chipset manufacture, and in those cases, you are at the mercy of the chipset vendor and router manufacture.

If you know what works for you (exact model and revision), stay with it. I found Linksys' mid range model to be excellent, but have problem with their low end models. Reason? Ralink vs Broadcom chipsets.

 

[FusilliJerry82]

You may want to see if there's a firmware update.

 

[JustinH]

I'm a computer tech by trade. For many of my friends and family, I have been recommending them to go buy the $29 Belkin G router to share internet and get wifi in their home.

I have installed probably six of them this past year. Not a problem. They did change the 29 dollar router a couple months back, it no longer has ANY antenna on it, it is an internal antenna.

I thought it would cause problems with wireless range, but it seems to be about the same.

The ones I have bought from walmart for some reason always have the newest firmware on them.

I like to setup a WPA2 network, then write all the information on a piece of tape, and tape it to the bottom of the router and then show the user it.

That cuts down on calls and confusion!

I'm still using a 6-7 year old Linksys router, if its not bad then why change it?

The only router I have had die on me was a Netgear a few years back. It was one of those deals that came with a free PCMCIA laptop card..

 

[OVERKILL]

I spiked one into the trash last year and replaced it with an ASUS WL-500W. Sketchy junk. Though I can say the same about the little black "spaceship" Linksys routers, and the ASUS RT-N13U.

 

[Gary Allan]

Let me add that the only problem I had with either Belkin was the setup. The function was just about flawless except the G had such limited range in my house. The signal @ 50-60' is just barely usable. Even the N is "fair". I can pick up other neighbor's wifi easier than I can in my kitchen (not my main computer). There must be some major density issue between here and there.

About the only thing "buggy" about the G was that if the older laptop powered down, it had some odd ditty with getting linked up again. Sometimes it was seamless ..other times I needed to seek a connection and reboot the router. I attribute this to range since my closer laptop had no issue with it.

The hard cable handshaking was the most annoying. Once you get things set right, it works as intended.

 

[ddrumman2004]

I had a Netgear router that wasn't wireless that the only problem with it was ventilation.
I replaced it with a Linksys wireless router when my wife bought her new laptop and wound up replacing it with a Netgear Wireless router from Walmart.

Works great other than the annoying blue lights on the side of the thing.

 

[Nick R]

Have a netgear wireless router. It is a POS. Have to unplug and plug it back in again several days because the wireless [censored] out. I'm definitely switching to a Linksys WRT54GL when I get the opportunity.

 

[tmorris1]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
I spiked one into the trash last year and replaced it with an ASUS WL-500W. Sketchy junk. Though I can say the same about the little black "spaceship" Linksys routers, and the ASUS RT-N13U.

Try installing DD-WRT on the Asus. it is much better firmware than the OEM. It may make it a workable router.

 

[Colt45ws]

I got tired of home router products a long time ago after I went through 4 in a year and put together a Linux PC with a couple NICs to do the job. Though I do have a Trendnet 638APB access point for N wireless. Its alright, though it had to be reset every few days until latest firmware. Only one computer uses the wireless so it didnt matter much.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: tmorris1
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
I spiked one into the trash last year and replaced it with an ASUS WL-500W. Sketchy junk. Though I can say the same about the little black "spaceship" Linksys routers, and the ASUS RT-N13U.

Try installing DD-WRT on the Asus. it is much better firmware than the OEM. It may make it a workable router.


A lot of these space ships are using ralink chipsets and marvell network bridges that won't work with DD-WRT, and even if they do the transmission power is significantly lower than their broadcom equivalent.

That's why you need to look at the serial number and on the Internet to see which version you have.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: tmorris1
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
I spiked one into the trash last year and replaced it with an ASUS WL-500W. Sketchy junk. Though I can say the same about the little black "spaceship" Linksys routers, and the ASUS RT-N13U.

Try installing DD-WRT on the Asus. it is much better firmware than the OEM. It may make it a workable router.


I had DD-WRT on the WL-500W actually

The RT-N13U doesn't support it

The issue was the wireless failing on the device. I've had two of them do it, and two RMA's in a row for me = never buying that model again.

It is a black spot on the otherwise spectacular record ASUS wireless products have had for me.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
I got tired of home router products a long time ago after I went through 4 in a year and put together a Linux PC with a couple NICs to do the job. Though I do have a Trendnet 638APB access point for N wireless. Its alright, though it had to be reset every few days until latest firmware. Only one computer uses the wireless so it didnt matter much.


As per my most recent thread, I'm using a Cisco 1841 w/ADSL2+ HWIC card for my router and a Cisco AP541 for my wireless. I was running a PFSense box (and prior to that, an IPCop box) but got a good deal on the 1841.

A dedicated Linux or BSD routing box is a massive upgrade over any consumer-rate piece of routing equipment. And far less expensive than buying something like a Cisco 861 if you have the hardware already kicking around.

 

[Colt45ws]

Yes, with a lot more functionality...

I am using a Linksys WRT54G in my network right now as a switch. Recent development as my 5-port metal netgear 10/100 switch has had an unknown hardware failure. I pinged the router box 1000 times with 1460 buffer size and got a 33% loss. Oh, well. Ive been wanting to upgrade to gigabit switches for awhile now.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Yes, with a lot more functionality...

I am using a Linksys WRT54G in my network right now as a switch. Recent development as my 5-port metal netgear 10/100 switch has had an unknown hardware failure. I pinged the router box 1000 times with 1460 buffer size and got a 33% loss. Oh, well. Ive been wanting to upgrade to gigabit switches for awhile now.


The Cisco "small business" gigabit switches are actually quite inexpensive, I have one on order; using a D-Link 24-port managed switch temporarily.

 

[Cutehumor]

I'm using a linksys WRT160N that I bought in 4/08. I haven't had a single problem with it. Before that, I had netgear wireless router, what a piece of..

 

[tmorris1]

The only downside of a Linux PC as a router is the power consumption and possible noise. Unless you have a small form factor case and quiet fans or fanless, it might be OK. It depends on the environment that it is used in.