Customer Reviews

Belkin F5D5231-4 4-Port Cable/DSL Router

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I originally purchased a Linksys DSL/Cable router because of a clerk's recommendation. It never worked even after I took it back and got a replacement. I then purchased a Netgear ProSafe router which sort of worked with the BellSouth DSL modem but still had all sorts of packet losses. I went back to the store and purchased the Belkin Cable/DSL router and it worked flawlessly right out of the box! I ran the set-up cd-rom, attached the cables, and I was on-line in 3 minutes. I then hooked in my wife's computer and laptop and they too worked after booting. If you have BellSouth DSL or any other "finicky" ISP, this router is the one to get, it saved the day!!

This router will take a legitimate connection to a web site and turn it into an ad for belkin products! The older models don't but if you update the firmware (like maybe to close a security hole in the future, or for compatibility of a network game) you will start getting ads! There are a couple of articles that are at popular news organizations that confirm this. BOYCOTT, DO NOT UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE!

Belkin has released software for all of their routers that not only redirects random HTTP traffic to advertisements of their choosing, but they also leave your router open to configuration from external web pages.

You have been warned.

This is the Wired Router that you want

Belkin is cheap and fully universally compliant as a 10/100BT Ethernet Router with even Australian Bigpond settings in the internal software. I got the wired version as opposed to a wireless for starts to setup a home backbone network. It is quite possible to add a wireless access point later if you choose and so go wireless with a home wired network also. The router is a peace of cake to get working. The best solution I have found for this system is to make sure that your ADSL modem has Ethernet capability. If not, then it is time to get an Ethernet modem and not just that USB connectivity that limits you when you introduce the USB only modem to such hardware as an Ethernet (no USB, nor should you really be using USB for home networking) router like this one. Linux is especially difficult to setup USB so if you stick with Ethernet setups you can hook up to any operating system you like. My ADSL modem has both USB and Ethernet so I use the Ethernet connection and jack that into the WAN port of the Router. Then it is just a matter of following the setup in the manual and soon enough your router is sharing your internet connection to as many computers as you want. As soon as you go wireless you can easily set up an AP (access point) by just disabling DHCP in the wireless router, using the LAN connection and making sure that the IP does not conflict. Throw in as many Ethernet Switches and your possibilities are endless. Phone Line -> ADSL modem -> Wired router (this Belkin)->Ethernet Switch->Wireless router... you can see where this is all going.

Some people like to get their ADSL modem/router/wireless as all one unit. To be honest this is not such a bad idea but the advantage of keeping the hardware separate can be seen in its usability, connectivity and sharing. You can disconnect wireless and still have a wired network. You can disconnect this wired router and still have ADSL on one PC via the Ethernet ADSL modem.

This is all good fun and a router like this for $30 is cheap for what it does. This is domestic telephone company technology. I have only found a few instances where the router jammed up. If your internet goes down just unplug the router and modem and then plug them back in after 30 seconds have passed. If that does not solve the problem then it is usually a problem with your ISP. There is software in the router to help prevent various malicious attacks... a good reason why this router suddenly stops working. I have never had any spam ads or anything like that from it. This is a very cool piece of equipment. I would highly recommend it.

I had been using a direct cable connection with no problem whatsoever for about 1 month before I got a roomate and had to share the cable connection with him. We decided to use this Belkin Router and since installing it, my internet has cut out every day, sometimes twice per day. It requires a power cycle of the router, then works fine, but this is a royal pain!

This router does not do the primary thing it is meant to do, and hence any positive qualities do not redeem it. Stick to another product for routing your cable/dsl connection.

I just got the Belkin router installed and it's working fine so far. Tests with my work computer (a Wyse box running XP) accessing my desktop at the office via VPN were just fine. I was able to use my Mac iBook at the same time with no discernable speed decrease while using Remote Desktop of the Wyse.

I only had one "problem" during setup. The first time the setup software running on the iBook tried to detect the Internet connection, it failed. I tried again, following troubleshooting, and it failed again. I then pulled out the power cable for the cable modem, waited 30 seconds (recommeded by Earthlink), and plugged it in again. I then re-did the Internet connection part and it worked just fine. So the problem seemed to be the MAC reset on the cable modem side.

Now if it works past the warranty period, I'll be very pleased.

Update:
I have now had the router working for about 8 months with little or no problems. Occasionally I have to reboot to fix a problem, but that's it.

I previously owned a Linksys router and had nothing but trouble with it. Then I upgraded to an earlier Belkin model with a lifetime warranty. It stopped working after about a year and Belkin sent me this one free.

I have had this router for ever 2 years now and it has performed flawlessly. I highly recommend this product from Belkin. It hasn't failed in over 2 years and still going strong. Setup was easy and maintainance is non-existent. Buy it!

I had a Linksys equivalent router, but my network ground to a halt, and Linksys felt their router (after downloading new firmware) was at fault. They mailed me a replacement, but in the meantime I tried this Belkin, and found out using their security log (not a feature on the Linksys) that one of my machines was generating "SYN ACK" errors, broadcasting msgs to all kinds of non-existant IP's that were not returned. Found out which process was the culprit on the sending machine which was the origin of the msgs, killed that process, and the network was back up. Nice, once in awhile, to know what the hell is going on!

After so many months of use, I could say this router is right on the money. I had to restart it maybe once a month or less, though the root cause might have been the DSL modem. It's been working well in a mixed environment--different OSes, card adapters, etc.. For those of you who have PPPoE networks, this router works indeed very well (INSTALL INCLUDED). Get as fast as you can to the web interface and drive things from there--security, firmware updates, monitoring, etc. And now, a word of caution: do not trust 100% the built-in firewall. There have indeed been 5 or 6 attacks, over 9 months of use, detected by the software firewall I kept. So, to address this issue, keep all firewalls running and up to date. As for the price, people around speak of all kinds of coupons/rebates. Unless you have the option to wait, get it right away and see the difference!

I've had this router in its previous incarnation for about 18 months. I've finally gotten fed up and I'm replacing it. It constantly needs to be rebooted and it's a total pain. I echo all of the other negative reviews here. Next time I'm buying Linksys.