Customer Reviews

Belkin F8T030 Bluetooth Access Point with USB Print Server

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The tech support was prompt and knowledgeable. The unit has good range which seems to be limitied more by the class of the PDA that is trying to acess it.

HOWEVER this product has a VERY serious design deficiency that makes it UNSUITABLE FOR USE at any price!!!! Belkin tech support has confirmed that there is no way to reset the unit to the original factory settings if you can not acess it via the built in web manager. Belkin tech support also confirmed that there is also a flaw in the unit that will cause some user passwords to not be accepted. Once this happens, this will essentially require returning the unit for complete replacement. I know of no other networking product that has such a serious design flaw (all other networking devices I am aware of have at least a reset button somewhere or a "power on" sequence to handle these inevitable situations). It also makes the unit unusable for any scenario where if you make a change to the settings, you can not afford to be without it for the time to swap it out.

An obvious problem for you, me and Amazon here!

We had this AP in our office for some time now, and it works well (we are using a fixed IP address).

One caveat about the range:
This is a "Class 1" Bluetooth device with an output power of 100mW, which will indeed have a 100m range, but ONLY if the other device is also Class 1. All mobile devices (phones, PDAs) I know of are Class 2, with an output power of 2.5mW and a maximum free air range of 25m, effectively meaning "same room" indoors. Class 1 Bluetooth would drain the battery of a mobile device too fast. This one of the weaknesses of WiFi (30-100mW output power) - a WiFi card needs more power than a PocketPC (let alone a Palm) and will cut your battery time in half or less.

This access point is an ideal low cost option for someone looking to eliminate the desktop wire clutter. The device has a very small form factor and features an Ethernet jack and two USB ports. It is a snap to set up, just plug it in and it finds your DHCP server without a problem. It has a strong radio (100 meters) and is very fast at processing print jobs as well as getting your Bluetooth enabled PDA onto the internet or syncing up with your computer. The only drawback is if you have a printer that will support multimedia cards like the HP Photosmart P1000, you can no longer access these cards through your computer. All things considered, if you are looking to get rid of the wire mess and put your PDA on your network, this is a great product.

The Belkin F8T030 has terrible range. It only worked at full speed when I held my Palm Zire 72 within 8 inches of the unit! It barely moved data at 5 feet and dropped out completely over 10 feet away.

I Returned it and bought an Anycom AP-2002 bluetooth access point. Both are supposed to be Class 1 radios but the Anycom is way better! It has 2 to 3 times the range of the Belkin. If you screw up the settings you can do a full factory reset with out having to establish a connection first. With the Belkin, you have to be able to connect to it to reset it.

Even though the Anycom is better, Bluetooth still has quite a limited range. The Anycom is Class 1, but the Palm is not, and it is the limiting factor. When they say 300 feet, that is only if both ends are a Class 1 radio. When they say 30 feet for a Palm device, you can still connect at 30 feet, but the throughput is very very slow.

Practical distances with the Anycom seem to be around 10 feet and that is still slower than when you are right next to the access point.

I read some of the other negative reviews on the Belkin and thought it cant be that bad, but it was! Stay away, really!

This unit does do the job but its set-up took a day of experimenting with Windows services before LAN and printer access was established. However, the real problem is when you set an authentication password on the web interface - once you reboot your access to Web Manager is gone forever - no hardware reboot! I thought I was going mad as my trusted administrator password and 100 variations failed. Finally I discovered through these reviews that the password set is not always properly recorded. However, there is a back route using telnet - put in your password at the ADMIN password prompt and you are given access the router internals via a unix command line interface. You need the following two commands to disable your password for Web Manager:

Belkin-F8T030>setpb authreq off
Belkin-F8T030>reboot

You will be disconnected as the reboot actualises but then you'll find you again have access to the Web Manager on http://1.2.3.4.

I only wish Belkin support could publish this on their support site as a FAQ but then then is more chance that Narnia is reality!

The F8T030 is one tiny notch above junk. I got it working as a wireless laptop-to-printer cable, but no thanks to the instructions, as it doesn't work at all if they are followed. The network access point function and the web manager won't activate without a pairing PIN, the instructions say nothing about pairing, no reasonable guess works, and there is no hardware reset or bypass. Phone service doesn't connect to a person; it asks you to leave a voice message and promises to get back within 48 hours; it has been 5 days. Buy ANYTHING else!

I actually liked this unit. I have a three story 2200 square foot home and I can access the internet/printer from anywhere in my house. I have to agree with the rest of the reviews dealing with the tech support (hope you do not need them). Luckily, the setup was a snap and my printer was easy to get working. If you are using an all in wonder printer (scan, print, fax) I would not suggest hooking it up to this print server. It works well with just a junk generic inkjet though. I currently interface with it using a palm tungsten t5, but have heard that other PDA's do not play as well.

Yes, it is the best priced bluetooth access point out there but the product has a few flaws that perhaps are addressed with the more expensive ones (PicoBlue, etc).

1) It didn't detect my Netgear gateway/router DHCP. I had to manual set the IP address. I have read other reviews in which this was a problem.
2) My PDA could not detect the unit until I downloaded the flash update (no problem, just make sure you update the ROM). On the plus side, the unit makes updates very easy for the user.
3) They state 100M range which I guess you can get this in a huge open room but my house actually has walls, doors, multiple floors, etc thus in the REAL WORLD the range of this unit is horrible. By attaching the unit to a 25ft ethernet cable in my hallway (which kinda defeats the whole purpose of WIRELESS) I was then successful connecting from the next bedroom (about 15 feet away)

Besides, Bluetooth will not emerge in the wireless arena. Many PDA and phone makers have opted/changed to better wireless technologies (802.11b, wi-fi, etc) that address Bluetooth problems/limitations.

I bought this device to communicate from any room in my house with my tungsten|w (which has its own issues). The devices will only connect in the same room. There are no wi-fi solutions for this palm, so I'm stuck. Technology is letting me down. I'm becoming Amish.

Buyer beware this is a useless product, if you set a password it locks you out even if you use the password you set, you can still Telnet into it but have to return the unit to Belkin for exchange, as Belkin support do not know anything about Telnet.
Belkin are a rubbish company who provide unuseable support and customer service not availible.
I have never used such a bad company this is my first and last belkin product you can not even configure the first client IP it gives out, so is useless in a network enviroment.

Bad product, bad company, bad support, you have been warned.