Belkin N1 Wireless Router

by Belkin

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 11.5 x 4 inches ; 2.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000FPIVLU
• Item model number: F5D8231-4
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 14, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer Connecting the Belkin N1 Wireless Router to your cable or DSL modem lets you share your broadband Internet account with all your networked computers. Now you can exchange documents, share resources, and distribute large video and music files throughout your network within a greater range, at faster speeds. N1 offers the easiest setup ever, and our built-in Network Status Display lets you see your connections working.



Each icon represents a network component, so you can easily monitor your connections for fast troubleshooting. Based on the 802.11n draft, N1 Wireless uses smart-antenna technology to enable multiple receivers and transmitters to send and receive data wirelessly. Intelligent MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) spatial multiplexing techniques build upon the widely deployed 802.11g standard by greatly increasing speed, range, and faster speeds of up to 300 Mbps*.

Features

Shares your Internet connection and lets you simultaneously:

• Stream HD video
• Listen to digital music
• Play online games
• Transfer photos and home videos
• Shop online and surf the Web
• Email and chat
• Handle multiple VoIP phone calls

Package Includes

• Installation CD
• N1 Wireless Router
• Power Supply
• Quick Installation Guide
• RJ45 Ethernet Networking Cable
• User Manual on CD-ROM

System Requirements

• Atleast one computer with an installed network interface card
• Broadband internet connection with RJ45 (Ethernet Connection)
• Internet Browser
• TCP/IP networking protocol installed on each computer

Easy Install Wizard System Requirements

(not required to use Router)

• A computer running Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Mac OSx v10.2, 10.3, or 10.4
• CD-ROM drive
• Internet Browser
• Minimum of 4 MB of RAM

*NOTE: The standard transmission rate--300 Mbps--is the physical data rate. Actual data throughput will be lower.

Product Description

Enables Multiple Receivers & Transmitters To Send & Receive Data Wirelessly Quick & Efficient Way To Distribute Video Music Photos & Files Among The Networked Computers Handles Multiple Voip Phone Calls Delivers Greater Range & Faster Speeds Of Up To 300 Mbps Based On The 802.11G Draft Receives Data Using Intelligent Mimo (Multiple Input Multiple Output) Spatial Multiplexing Techniques Limited Lifetime Warranty

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DNS Cache Corruption, October 28, 2007

By 

Jeffhdz (CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Belkin N1 Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

I had this router for a while now (longer than I could return it for a refund). Very often I cannot connect to web sites that I frequently use. Eventually I did some research and found that this router has a fatal defect - its DNS cache will get corrupted over time. The latest firmware from Belkin does not fix it.

When I initially had problem accessing web sites, I naturally assumed that the web sites could be down or my ISP could have problems. One day when I tried to VPN into my office the VPN could not be connected. I tried to ping my office VPN server and the IP address returned was different from the actual IP. My VPN server was on xx.xx.xx.84 but the PING request indicated xx.xx.xx.4. I then used NSLOOKUP to check various DNS servers, and pin-pionted the error to the Belkin router's DNS cache.

The DHCP server in the Belkin router automatically sets the DNS server address to be those provided by my ISP plus the Belkin's own IP address 192.168.2.1. There is no way to get rid of it. If there is a way to only use my ISP's DNS server the problem could be worked around. Belkin does not provide this option.

The DNS cache corruption problem will cause a lot of mysterious connection problems. If you are not familar with TCP/IP networking technology there is no way to find out what goes wrong. Shame on Belkin to release a product with such a critical defect.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smooth Install - Delivers Range and Performance, June 16, 2006

By 

ESVK "SVK" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belkin N1 Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for Home...not for Enterprise, January 7, 2007

By 

David L. Harrington (Sugar Land, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belkin N1 Wireless Router (Personal Computers)

Outstanding Router were it not for some wireless glitches. I now share my wireless network with my inlaws 3 houses away (though clear line of sight). Took a long time to sort out why I couldn't maintain a wireless connection even within my house though...and I note some people think the wireless does not even work.

A review of the product at "Tom's Hardware" website finally pointed me to the problem. Apparently, the router has some hardware issues related to their Security feature. If you enable WPA-2 the signal can drop by more than 85% leading you to believe it doesn't work...I'd suggest you read that review.

Based on that, I removed the Security settings and all my problems with dropped connections etc. ceased. I provide some security by using the MAC Filtering and not transmitting the SSID. I suspect that is sufficient for a home router but not for an enterprise. But I could not engage the WPA-2 (either TKIP or AES) and get any reliable range or connection out of this router. Caused a great deal of frustration for awhile. But now it works great and I get the range and speed I was hoping for.