Customer Reviews

Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

First, let me say I'm no tech, so my comments are more observational than technical. I bought this unit and the matching Belkin N wireless router because of the range touted by N wireless. I installed the router in the basement of my home to service a desktop which is located on the second floor, at the opposite end of the house from the router. The Belkin N wireless adapter gives me a 4/5 signal strength and moves data at about 78 mbps, even though the signal passes through 3 floors and multiple walls. So, it lives up to the claim of excellent range.

On the downside, once installed, the Belkin program manager was unable to "see" the router, even though the Vista network manager could see it and reported the signal as good to strong. I could not connect to the router using the Vista network manager because of a conflict between the Belkin program manager and Vista. Every time I attempted to connect with the Vista network manager, I got the "blue screen of death" and the computer shutdown. Therefore, if you are using Vista with this product, you must go to the Belkin website and download the driver for Vista and install it. In attempting to resolve this problem, I called Belkin support. That effort proved fruitless as the Belkin support team was unaware that a Vista driver was necessary and that Belkin had such a driver available on the Belkin website. So, Belkin technical support was not helpful in resolving the issue. Thankfully, a call to Dell Support pointed me in the right direction.

Once I loaded the driver, however, the Belkin program manager would not recognize the router. The good news is that the driver removed the conflict and the Vista network manager now allows me to connect to the router and surf the internet.

Bottom line is that the hardware works well but the Belkin program manager was for me at best useless and at worst, a source of trouble.

I just upgraded from a wireless G PCI card to this USB device. I still have my Wireless G router. My signal strength went from "poor" with old adapter to "excellent" with this device. I would rank this as a 5 star product, but the Belkin software manager is non-functional. It would/could not detect my network. I could not even change any settings in the Belkin program. All of the settings would return to default after you clicked on another field. I repeat, THE BELKIN PROGRAM DOES NOT WORK. Fortunately, it does tell you how to use Window's Built-in Wireless Manager instead of the Belkin program. However, you need the internet to read the help-tip instructions on microsoft.com. I guess the Belkin software turns off the automatic Window's Wireless Manager, so it can replace it's functionality. Like I said, the product works great once you re-activate the Window's Wireless Manager. [...]

I bought this adapter because a double-solid wall appears to make my PC location a black hole for signals. This item's cable is over 4' long, so I figured it could get me better reception in the middle of the room. And better reception it gets (mildly). However, the Belkin connection manager is beyond lousy.

1. When I jump onto my computer after it has been in hibernation, the connection is lost and the program itself appears buggy and unresponsive to my request to connect. The only way to fix this is to reboot, so now I've basically prohibited my computer from ever hibernating. This is a pain.
2. I've gone into the Belkin management settings and chosen only my home network as a default network connection. None of the unsecure neighborhood networks have been "okayed" by me. But the manager keeps going behind my back and choosing random networks as official connections that are "OK" to connect to.
3. When I have no connectivity problems, the manager sometimes says that I have a good signal to the router but the router has no internet connection. It's clearly not in sync with reality.

So despite my hopes that this was the solution to my internet woes, it is only marginally better than the g-card I had installed before, and the lousy program is more of a hindrance than an aid.

The Belkin F5D8053 N adapter is one of the few which will process a 300 bmps signal. The USB cord allows for optimal placement to receive the router signal--especially with the use of powered extension cords. It works well with other brands of routers, also.

I bought a Belkin wireless router and a usb wireless plug in. I bought both products Belkin brand so that I could get support from one company for both products. I have bought Belkin products in the past many times for my computer customers and friends. Spent hours and hours and hours (get the idea,yet?) with their new tech level one support in India, of course and it was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my tech. support 25 years. I had to correct them, was put on hold many many times while they tried to get the answers, did not even understand the operating system and most of all, most of all THEY DID NOT SPEAK ENGLISH WELL ENOUGH FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND THEM. Belkin has gone downhill as far as I am concerned. Products are not their problem, support is. At one point I was kept on hold for 30 minutes and at that point, hung up, returned the product and called and AMERICAN company. too bad......bye Belkin.

(Quick update, 25 January 2010: Works fine with Snow Leopard -- OSX 10.6.2 -- no updating required.)

For a long list of reasons I won't go into here, I needed to get a wireless adapter that would function with my Mac Mini. Only After[...] makes dedicated hardware like that for USB, but I didn't want to go that route. It felt a little too much like the Orange Micro path for my tastes.

Belkin does not officially support Mac for their USB wireless products. However, the makers of Belkin's chipset, RaLink Technologies, does support Mac OS, from X.3 through X.5.

I've got a pretty good balance of tech versus non-technical user. Wrote a book, Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio: A Beginner's Guide, on programming, actually. I've got some background in making technical topics accessible to people who are less than total nerds. That's why I gave this product a three-star review; for Mac users, it might be more work than it's worth (you sort of have to double-click the installer, hold your breath, make what seem to be reasonable choices, and hope), but overall, it's a fine product.

Fast, stable and solid 802.11N connections, good range, and it doesn't feel like it's about to melt into a puddle of heat-killed plastic after several hours of use. Setting it up for Mac, however, can be tricky, since you won't be using a Belkin installation wizard; you'll have to download a third-party driver from the chipset manufacturer to make it work.

Under OSX.5, the USB adapter is seen as an ethernet connection, which is just fine. Under OSX.4, you have to use the RaLink software to make it work; fortunately the program pops up (for both OSX.4 and OSX.5) when you insert the USB adapter, so it's not too hard to figure out from there. It's less than ideal in terms of user interface and simplicity, but it does work.

So. If you're willing to fart around on your Mac for a little and hack a bit to make it work, you'll be satisfied with the results.

To be clear, I would probably rate this as a five star product for speed and convenience, except for Belkin's precisely zero support for Mac users (no stars), but I have to balance that against RaLink's willingness to make the drivers available (5 stars). So I averaged.

Ok, I was a little scepticle about buying this product since it was the cheepest wireless adapter out there. I was not dissapointed at all and it still works great. It was easy to install, internet was faster than when it was plugged directly into the router. I was so impressed by this product I ended up buying a second one for my sister to use with her computer. We are using desktops and this is the way to go if you are tying to go wireless, plus the adapter comes off of the stand so you can plug it directly into the usb port. I highly recommend this product for anyone.

I have been using this adaptor on two of my computers with no issues. It has recently been chalenging to install some hardware on Windows 7 due to driver issues. Belkin has been on top of their game in this regard. I struggled with some Linksys adaptors for hours on end and still couldn't get them to work with Windows 7. This little device was a breeze to install and works flawlessly. Shame on Cisco for abandoning their products when new drivers are needed.

I picked up this device on a whim after I bought a new Dell desktop computer (64-bit Vista) that didn't have a wireless card. I was a little reluctant because I didn't imagine that a relatively inexpensive USB plugin like this could give me the internet speed I was looking for.

It works perfectly. Literally, it was plug-and-play. I placed the USB cable into my computer tower, waited 5 seconds for the hardware to be recognized by my computer, clicked through until a Belkin window asked me to select my wireless network (which was listed first with a full signal). I selected it, entered my network password, and that was it. I was immediately connected at full-speed. Super easy.

I was also unsure whether this would work with a non-Belkin wireless router, since I use a Motorola Surfboard SBG900 router. I didn't have the slightest problem. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone with a PC that doesn't have a wireless card. It was much easier to use this simple USB device than finding and installing a wireless card on your motherboard.

I bought this about 2 months ago for my desktop which is connected to my TV in the living room.

Has been working perfectly. Wireless router is located in the upper level study while the desktop is in the lower level living room. This adapter always picks up the signal whenever the computer is switched on. No issues. Typical speed is 150mbps to 70 mbps (not the usual N-wireless speeds).

Would recommend