Belkin N1 Wireless Router

10 Review to this product

• 

  Anonymous
  November 20th, 2010 on 11:21 pm

  Rating

  Alright, this Christmas I was surprised with an Xbox 360 and a Linksys wireless router. I tried setting up the Linksys first to get my 360 online, but there was no luck.

  The next day we stopped in at Circuit City, replaced the Linksys, and got this one. All I can say so far is GREAT! Even though it’s a little bit more money than the Linksys, it’s far worth it. I get 100% signal on both my 360 and laptop.

  This product is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
• 

  R. Warren
  November 21st, 2010 on 6:46 am

  Rating

  Prior to having this router I had trouble getting a decent wireless signal throughout my house when using my laptop. Now I have excellent signal using this router. I love the easy to use interface as well which makes it easy for anyone to setup this amazing router.
• 

  Greg G
  November 21st, 2010 on 7:12 am

  Rating

  With all the negative comments on the Linksys model, I previously decided to try the Netgear Next router. After over 2 hours on the phone with their useless tech support, and going through two separate units, I still could not get the wireless part working with my internet service. So I rolled the dice and tried the Belkin unit. After running through the setup wizard and one short call with tech support this unit works great..good range, speeed, and the diagnostic icons on the front make it very easy to tell the status of the router. Well done Belkin!
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  WEATHER NUT
  November 24th, 2010 on 8:11 am

  Rating

  Had belkin router “g” series previously, but sometimes could not connect in the family room. Now i can connect anywhere inside or outside my home. Set up was easy. My router is in an upstairs closet, but the design with the icon lights is so cool, i’m tempted to move it to my desktop!
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  ESVK
  November 24th, 2010 on 8:39 pm

  Rating

  Update 6-17-07: I have now owned this unit for a year and I still love it. I experienced intermittment drops for a short time when I switched from DSL to a cable ISP. But Belkin issued a firmware update in mid May ’07 that totally resolved that problem. No issues since.

  After trying the Linksys SRX400 and WRT300N routers and being totally discouraged by poor performance, I decided to give another brand a try. The Belkin N1 worked right out of the box as advertised. All I did was hook up the router to the DSL modem and then to my workstation, restarted, and then ran the CD and that was it. The WiFi range and consistency of the signal is superb. I bought this router primarily to stream video to Media Center Extenders that are littered throughout the house in various rooms. I had no problem getting an “excellent signal” in several areas – both inside my home and outside on my patio. The signal was constantly strong and did not bounce around a lot like it did with the Linksys. At the time of this review, the N1 runs rings around the newest Linksys WiFi routers – at least that is my experience. I spent many days and hours trying to tweak the Linksys routers and I only spent about 15 minutes tweaking the Belkin N1 before I was satisfied with the performance. I believe that the Belkin N1 came out about 1 month later than the other pre-N routers that are now on the market. My guess is that they spent the extra time running it through Quality Assurance. This is the first pre-n router that I am aware of that hasn’t needed firware patches immediately. Anyway, if your experiencing WiFi congestion and you need the extra speed and range, then I would definitely buy this product.
• 

  Will
  November 25th, 2010 on 8:44 pm

  Rating

  I have tried over 10 different routers over the past 9 months, mostly Linksys, since in my opinion they made “the best looking devices,” but certainly not the best in any way and I finally found the best wireless router of them all and the best looking one as well!

  I have tested over 5 Linksys devices, including their first one with SRX, then the SRX200 and SRX400 and most recently the very nice looking N from them to connect the following items: Two laptops, two PDA’s, an XBox 360, an HP wireless printer, a Motorola Ojo and several VOIP (Sunrocket) telephones as well as wireless security cameras!

  After countless days and hours of painstaking configuration and endless hours on the phone with Linksys’ very poor English speaking and poorly trained support, I could never get any of these devices to work with all of the wireless devices I own!

  Their latest one, the “N,” is a joke! That thing never did anything other than look nice on my desk and their customer support was horrible!

  Their technician had the audacity to tell me that all of my over 10 recent wireless devices were incompatible with their product, instead of the other way around and advised me to call Sony, Toshiba, HP, Microsoft, ReplayTV, the makers of my devices customer support to configure each and every single device individually to work with their piece of junk!

  The truth is, technical support from Microsoft, Motorola and HP told me that they always had some kind of issue with most of the products made by Linksys! It doesn’t surprise me, after their wireless print server device fried my printer!

  This one from Belkin was so simple to set up, it only took me about 12 minutes and I was up and running in a secured wireless network with every single one of my devices working better than ever! I can now stream live TV, videos and music to my XBox 360 without any jitter or lag!

  My online gaming is awesome! No lag either, so I highly recommend this router for XBox 360 owners!

  Take it from me! Buy this router from Belkin, you will not regret it, this is truly a work of art with its really helpful status glowing icons, which also makes it look awesome and sets it apart from all the other manufacturers!

  Most importantly, it is a very compatible router, working with over 10 wireless devices which I currently own from different manufacturers and it is also amazingly easy and quick to set up! Trust me on this one, you will not go wrong with this awesome product from Belkin!

  In fact, I am so impressed with this company, that I will be replacing any Linksys devices that I may still have with Belkin devices, which should be easy to do, since they are quite literally plug and play! Thank you Belkin!
• 

  Logos
  November 26th, 2010 on 10:31 am

  Rating

  I wanted to leave my initial review below, so that you can see that when I used this router it initially worked quite well. However, I have no idea what happened, but the thing got progressively worse and eventually stopped responding altogether. It actually seemed to drop connections more frequently when more people were using it or when there were either multiple or very large downloads occurring. So, in the end, I was forced to abandon what, I thought, was a great router. I have since changed to another one which works much better, can handle large networks, and has no problem with large downloads as well, which is unfortunate since I really like Belkin as a company, but they really seemed to drop the ball on this particular router. If you are in the market for a new N router I have to say that, unfortunately, you will be better off passing this one by. Personally, I use the Apple Airport Extreme, but even that is not for everyone.

  I bought one of these for the place I work since they did not have any internet apart from dial-up. Setup took very little time, it was just tweaking and setting things up like security (I really like the TKIP WPA PSK option). The range is unbelievable and covers from my office which is one side of the building to the other side of the building with no problem. Unfortunately, it cannot reach a few offices on the far east corner of the building, but I think that may be due to the bathroom that is located over there.

  There are currently 8 different computers (Mac and Windows) connected to this router by G wireless, and I have not had any issues at all. Many people recommend just using a G wireless router, but I was looking for range rather than speed and the N1 fulfills that need.

  I do agree, however, that it does tend to drop the connection from the surfboard modem, but I find it does not happen as frequently when people are using it. It is not a major issue, and I am sure it will be remedied when the firmware is updated.

  All in all, I am very pleased with this router, and have owned many belkin products in the past with no problems. The only issue I ever discovered apart from the router dropping the modem was when I used a wireless adapter that was pre-N capable, that seemed to lag the network because all the others were G, and I have heard that if the router sees an N on the network it gives it priority, which does cause major bottlenecks, so be careful.

  Otherwise, I have had no issues and, like I said, am very pleased. In fact, I did the same for another small company, and also use one at home as well with no problems. Granted, I never tried the other N’s out there, but I tend to like Belkin and stick with a name I trust and like.

  I just wanted to add a follow-up. I have two of these routers, one seems to work well the other seems to constantly drop the connection. The one that is working well is the one I set up at home, the one that is dropping connections is the one I installed at work. I cannot figure out what it is that is causing the dropped connections, but, unfortunately, the one at work winds up dropping the connection at least a couple of times during the week, and I know when it is about to happen. I usually get no response from the internet, then looking at the router the wireless light goes dark and the internet signal (the earth) starts blinking orange. It will then sometimes come back up or just go completely down. When it does go completely down, it is not normally enough to power cycle just the router, you also have to do the same to the modem as well.

  So, unfortunately, though I initially gave it a glowing review, I must withdraw a full five stars, maybe 3 or 4, since when it does work, it works great. I am just wondering if it is not something with the firmware or if it has to do with many users using it at once. For the life of me, I still cannot figure it out.
• 

  James D. Jasperson
  November 26th, 2010 on 8:39 pm

  Rating

  I first installed the latest firmware from Belkin’s site on my PC, and then hooked up the Router via the supplied cables to one of my PC’s. I then installed the latest firmware for the matching wireless card on another PC, and the installed the PCI card itself, (I made sure to FIRMLY push the antenna cables onto the card. The connection was snug and I had no problems with it loosening up.

  After powering up the router and the PC’s, the router virtually set itself automatically with no problems whatsoever.

  The wireless signal strength is excellent and constant acroos two floors of my large house. I’m getting download speeds of almost 30 mbs according to the “SPEAKEASY speed test” is use via the internet.

  The only complaints I have are minor. One is, that I wish the user manuals were supplied via hardcopy and not just on a CD. The other is, that the antenna cable for the wireless PC Card needs to be longer to more easily place the antenna on my computer’s furniture cabinet.
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  Gadget_Guru
  November 26th, 2010 on 11:33 pm

  Rating

  I was not always a Belkin fan. I thought they were good at making knock-off iPod accessories and USB hubs. But Belkin has proven they are a true tech company to me again and again. ALL their products work flawlessly. I bought the Pre-N to replace the Netgear 240. Don’t get thrown off by the child-like icons on the front of this router. It is actually quite useful and something new in the industry (to tell you exactly what part of your network is or is not working!!). From opening the box to surfing the web, I would say it took me 10 mins tops. The instructions are EASY to follow, you cannot miss a step unless you are blind. The config page is very easy to use and I even setup wireless encryption without much effort at all. The sleek high-gloss black case is very cool as well. Kudos to Belkin for a great product at a great price. I highly recommend this product.
• 

  Warren Mells
  November 27th, 2010 on 5:43 pm

  Rating

  Belkin is making a name for itself in the WiFi market with this gem. I own a Belkin USB Wireless Adapter for a PC in my Local Mesh and it works like a charm…I was so impressed with the PC Adapter that when it came time to upgrade my LAN to all wireless as some of the CAT-5 Cables were degenerating over time, I decided to give up my Linksys ‘G’ router and opt for the Big Belkin N.

  Now…here’s the deal. There are actually two phases of setup for the Router…one is easy and the other a bit more challenging. The first part just gets the unit communicating with the other wireless adapters in your network…the second part gets you hooked to the internet.

  After following the instructions…YES, I had to read the users guide, I was able to get the Mesh up and running. After a brief conversation with the techies @ Belkin, I was hooked to the internet in about 10 minutes.

  Let me say at this point in time that the unit is also UPnP for media streaming and shows up as an icon in your ‘My Network Places’ Window. Just right click the icon to ‘Invoke’ the Set Up Page and you’ve got enormous control over the setup and nuances of your Belkin N Router.

  As a side note…it works great with my Roku M500 streaming music device which is another great wireless item and when used with Yahoo’s Music Jukebox with Unlimited service, you may never have to buy another CD in your life. Also, the Belkin delivers great video signals to my Sony Location Free TV system and works like a charm when I’m viewing TV & DVDs at my local Hot Spot.

  A lot of problems that others encounter may not be issues with the Router itself but with the Modem supplied by their ISPs. The Netopia DSL Modem supplied to me by AT&T is a bit quirky as it is a Router as well as a Modem…so a bit of tweaking and uncoventional thinking was used to get the two Routers to cooperate. As I said, after about 10 minutes with the Belkin agent..I was painlessly up and running.

  Now…about the signal. It is very strong…very fast…and very reliable.

  That being said….spend the dough and get one.

  Warren