Belkin Wireless N Router

Recently I moved to O2 Broadband, and so far so good but there is one thing I hate, the O2 Wireless Box III! It’s not only huge, has awful styling and the integrated software is rubbish but it loves to reset it’s self just when in a game, or streaming media. Why? Not a clue! I have looked on the forums and noone seems to really know what causes it. I knew I was in trouble when it refused to recognise certain computers connected via Ethernet,when it decided it didn’t want to forward ports and half of the inbuilt features cannot be used but the resetting was the last straw for me.  Anyway when I saw the Belkin on offer for £32 at my local computer shop I had to get it and here are my thoughts…

UPDATE 12/04/2010 – I really wouldn’t waste your time in reading any more. This Belkin Router is pretty awful if you want/need to configure port settings. It works fine for browsing the web, sharing Internet between PC’s but if you want to allow external access then good luck because this is awful. After forwarding ports, disabling the Firewall it still blocks incoming connections for games like Modern Warfare 2 and my TeamSpeak server. It seems to be far to sensitive and theres no way to stop it. Personally steer clear of this router it will cause you headaches!

…brilliant, so far. I have to say so far as it has only been up and running for a couple of days but I have had no problems, touch wood, yet.

Unboxing

I did an unboxing you may be interested in…

Review

The setup was really straight forward too. I used to have a Belkin many moons ago which was Wireless G, I only replaced it as the BT Home Hub was Wireless N and solved all the moans from downstairs, “Internet’s cut off…again”. There was a disk that come with the router but I didn’t bother with it. All I did was plug it in, connect the Ethernet port to my PC typed 192.168.2.1 into the browser and I was away.

Belkin Set-up Screen

The setup screen hasn’t changed too much since my old Belkin, apart from it now has a grey look rather than a blue one, maybe they think this makes it look cool and sleek? All the options are on the left hand side and the homepage shows all the information you would ever need.

The default password is Blank, no not the word Blank just leave it blank. I instantly changed this also the wireless setup as default has no security turned on which is one of the reasons ISP’s now give you a router as they come with it on, which for people who don’t understand how to setup the security is a must. However fortunately I do and it is really simple. The Belkin lets you pick WEP 64bit (no way) WEP 128bit (no way) and WPA/WPA2 (YES). WPA is a far more secure option and should always be picked unless you really have to pick WEP.

Other features such as MAC address filtering, DMZ, and even DDNS are really nice additions that the O2 router was missing/didnt work!

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the results so far and will, as always update the post should it suddenly die, or I come across anything interesting!

Model: Belkin N Wireless Modem Router – F5D8633UK4A – Product Link