Belkin Wireless Play Max Router (F7D4301)

6 Review to this product

• 

  L. Tilden
  December 7th, 2010 on 11:17 pm

  Rating

  I upgraded from a wireless n draft. I have 2 O! plays streaming movies and music over my intranet and we play online video games with 2 pc. I would give it 5/5 stars if it wasn’t for the hours spent with tech support..but they did fix the problem. it seems the modem and the router wanted to use the same address.. other then that it works great!

  edit after a month:
  
  I have no trouble with the hardware at all! that being said it lost a star for the software issues I continue to have. everything from slowing my internet speed to dropped connections I PRAY THEY FIX THE SOFTWARE because that is half of the appeal of this product.
• 

  parrotbsd
  December 9th, 2010 on 12:57 am

  Rating

  I bought this modem from a big box retailer, and only afterwords checked Amazon for reviews. Despite all the negative reviews, this router has worked out great for me. The range is superb, and the speeds in uTorrent are the same as when I had it hard wired to the cable modem. I will probably uninstall the apps though.

  edit**

  After owning it for a few months.

  This router sucks. Period. Every single page in my browser has to be loaded 5 or 6 times before it will display. Every new link I click on returns the message “error-webpage not found”. Words cannot describe how much I hate this thing. I have to move my laptop into the office and hardwire it to my cable modem just to get my schoolwork done. I will never buy another belkin product again.
• 

  J. Marmo
  December 9th, 2010 on 3:17 pm

  Rating

  I have had this router for about two months, and it has performed well so far. I didn’t install any of the bundled management software that comes with it. I configured the router manually. It has very good wireless range and has given me stable performance so far.

  My main beef with this router is that you can’t statically reserve ip’s to mac addresses. The previous line of Belkin N routers supported this feature, why did Belkin leave this out? I prefer assigning my devices addresses in this way. I hope Belkin adds this feature in a future firmware update. If this router is supposed to be Belkin’s best, then ip reservation should be included.

  Other than that, it has worked well with my setup. I have three wireless laptops, a network printer, a network enabled digital photo frame, and an OOMA VOIP phone system. I also connect two smart phones.
• 

  M. Edwards
  December 10th, 2010 on 8:24 am

  Rating

  I got this router about a week ago, and I initially had a lot of the same troubles that the other reviewers have had: multiple internet connection drops, variable speed, overall spotty performance, et cetera. But a couple of things since then have made a huge difference: a firmware update from Belkin (on September 28th) and understanding how to get my Belkin router to work better with my modem. As I have learned by some internet research, my modem (like many modems these days) is actually both a modem and a wired router. So my Belkin wireless router was butting heads with the modem. The solution was to change the Belkin just to function as a wireless access point by using the web-based user interface. I then gave the WAN port on the Belkin a fixed IP address on the same subnet as my modem also by using the web-based user interface. (My modem’s IP address was 192.168.100.1, and so I changed the Belkin’s IP address to 192.168.100.3.) I also turned off the router’s firewall since I have software-based firewalls on all of my computers. Since then, everything has improved. I consider myself perhaps a little above average in tech knowledge, but anyone with some understanding of setting up wireless networks should be able to make the aforementioned changes and get this router working the way it was initially supposed to. I hope this helps others who have this router or others who are considering obtaining one. I also want to say that Belkin customer service seems to be very motivated to make things right, and that is also a good sign.
• 

  J. McGreggor
  December 12th, 2010 on 6:53 am

  Rating

  I also had read all the negative reviews, about the problem plagued installs, troublesome complicated setup issues, extremely slow speeds and poor performance all around so I was prepared for a challenge but also curious to see how what sounded on paper like a terrific product in print could be so consistently bad.

  We have only ever had Belkin Wireless Routers this being our 3rd, now needing an upgrade from our previous 150N Basic to a Dual Band 300N+ for HD Video Streaming and other demanding Apps now available.

  I was sure to read through the instructions completely and most importantly Download the “Newest Installation Program” from the Belkin Play MAX website to use instead of the included CD with the older installation software.

  The setup was fast, perfect and trouble-free, although it did have a few more steps than our basic 150N.

  The only problem I had was when it came time to enter the Router Number and Pass-code which is printed on the bottom of the Router, it is printed in incredibly small type with the letters & numbers densely packed together and I missed a very important “Dot/Period” that was in the middle of the sequence the first time through and although it still completed setup without a hitch, it wasn’t until I went to access the Routers Online Fine Tuning and Settings page that it wouldn’t let me have access saying the Password/Code was wrong.

  I checked the numbers again this time with a flashlight and magnifying glass I found the “Dot” I had left out of the Pass-Code sequence, so then simply went back and “uninstalled” the Router and Software in the Remove Programs on Windows 7 and reinstalled using the correct Pass-Code and it was up and running in minutes and was online and downloaded the newest Firmware upgrade all by itself and has been working perfectly without a problem.

  Ive had it for a week now and it has been fantastic!
  
  whether we take our Laptop outside or anywhere in the house we get a super fast 300mbps connection consistently and dependably.

  The WiFi connection to our Samsung Ht-C6500 Blu-Ray Home Theater is amazingly fast as well with downloading updates and Samsung Internet Apps or streaming regular and HD movies from Netfix and Blockbuster online.

  So overall we where pleasantly surprised by and very pleased with this New Belkin Play MAX Router and am still not sure how so many buyers could have such bad experiences,
  
  We have Windows 7 running on our PC’s and Pro DSL with AT&T.
  
  It might also be that we used the Newest downloaded Istallation SoftWare from the Belkin site and not the installation CD that came with the Router, maybe other buyers misread the super tiny Pass-Code on the bottom of Router as well, missing an important “Dot” within the sequence of numbers as we did, but we cannot say enough about what a fantastic Router this turned out to be.
• 

  Linda Moskowitz
  December 13th, 2010 on 12:49 pm

  Rating

  It would be a really quick user-friendly 3-step set-up it you had all new computers that immediately searched out the Belkin network at its standard settings and functioned that way but…it doesn’t quite work that way and after 3 phone calls that went to India and several hours of them trying to help me (a lot of stuff over and over the same procedures) the network finally connected. I am still trying to get the print server and back-up software working so I’m still in the midst of calling. At some point we need to by-pass India because if someone told me that I could get a dual-band router and get American customer service help that would be the brand I would buy.