Customer Reviews

Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router (F5D8232-4)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

I suspect most of the people with issues or complaints have version 1000 and / or old firmware.
Additionally one needs to use this in conjunction with 802.11n wireless adapters (preferably Draft 2.0 for future upgradeability / compatibility) in order to obtain the maximum benefit out of the router, at least from a wireless performance perspective.

I recently purchased version 2000 of the N1 Vision (check the sticker on the bottom of the box). I have it mated with two PC's with 802.11n Draft 2.0 (2T2R - 2 Transmit 2 Receive) wireless USB adapters (each with just an internal, but high quality, antenna).

I was up and running in no time.
I also had no problems using VPN to connect to my office network.
I am using WPA2 with AES encryption.
For extra security I have it set up with (broadcast SSID set to 'off' and have specifically only allowed my two wireless adapters by entering their MAC addresses in the 'MAC address control' of the router's setup utility).

Upstairs (one room away from the N1 Vision I get 95 - 100% signal quality and 90+ signal strength with a pretty consistent connection speed of 270 Mbps! (not the full 300 maximum but certainly close enough for me). :)
Downstairs (one floor down and all the way on the other side of the house relative to the router), I get something like 45 - 75% signal strength depending where I am in the room. The speed varies between 45 Mbps, at worst (will have to verify this tonight as I only used it one night and believe this minimum can be improved upon), to a more typical 170 or 210 Mbps (wide range, I know, but I only tested it one night and haven't tweaked settings or placement yet via the flexible silver mini extension cable).

The display is useful in that you can see who connected to your network in the past 24 hours (if an unexpected visitor enters your wireless network, at least you will have a way of knowing it).

I am pleased with the Vision N1's speed, range and overall performance, other than the disconnect issue for which there is an easy enough workaround until they fix it permanently, hopefully, via a firmware upgrade for the 2000 model).
Keep in mind my testing was done using Draft 2.0 802.11n wireless USB adapters. Wireless G adapters won't have the same performance or even close to it.


The one thing to note is that there is a known issue where the N1 Vision disconnects every two hours (wireless or all around). This occurs when the router software connects to the time server to get the time (check the router setup page's security log and you can see the entries every two hours).
There is a firmware fix for this for version 1000 but ironically NOT for the newer version 2000.
The N1 Vision 1000 hardware has other issues (reported overheating etc.) though, so I still much prefer version 2000.
For version 2000 there is a workaround to stop it from disconnecting every 2 hours (search the net for it as it requires accessing a "hidden" page).
The workaround works very well and is only required to be performed once after a reboot of the router.
I haven't had to do so in a long time.

I gave it 4 stars due to the issue with it disconnecting every 2 hours and the fact that version 2000 does NOT have a firmware fix for this, even though the older version does.
This should have been caught during pre-release testing. If not, at worst, a firmware fix should have been created for version 2000 very early on.

Doesn't seem to do transparent ipsec tunneling over UDP either with Cisco Windows Vista Client or Cisco WinXP client. Switching back to a Linksys router, I get a VPN connection no sweat. Belkin tech support says I have to create a virtual server with an open port to match my work VPN server (IT says no go - it's security violation to reveal the ports they use). Belkin says opening the ports will create some security risk so I should close them whenever I'm not using VPN - what a drag compared to transparent VPN connections with my old Linksys router. A Google search shows that other people complain about VPN problems with Belkin routers.

The product did setup easily out of the box - but don't run the Setup Wizard unless you need it. Running the Setup Wizard screwed my settings and I had to manually undo the damage.

So I am going to make this brief for those of you who don't want to read a lengthy review. This router is pretty, lots of bells and whistles ont he outside and has a real nice display for easy setup, and on the wired side it does connect at 1Gig, but it does not sustain wireless connections for more than 6 hours, the gig speed really isn't gig. On the G and N bandwiths it has roughly half the range of other routers. Finally, tech support (India) was useless and pretty much kept asking me to reboot the laptop that would not connect, turned out that 20 feet away from the router was too far and hence the problem. Bottom line but a Dlink or Linksys, you'kk sepnd less money and have a more reliable product, just no pretty pictures.

I purchased this product to replace a Belking "Pre-N" router (which is Belkin's way of saying it's a wireless-G just like everyone else has) that was no longer functioning well.

This unit comes with instructions to plug in the unit, type in an address in your browser's address bar and then follow the instructions to set it up. I followed the instructions in detail and they didn't work. When I attempted to follow the automated setup the router would freeze up, restart, close the internet connection and so forth. Each time it would freeze or close the internet connection either it would re-start the setup procedures or it would simply close the internet connection (thus forcing me to restart the setup procedures manually). Finally, I skipped the auto setup, typed in the IP address of the router in the address field and manually set it up.

I wanted to use WPA security instead of WEP due to the increased security. I have five computers and they all support bot security types. All but one of the computers didn't connect to the router consistently with the WPA security. Most would connect, then restart the connection repeatedly. It became apparent that the router had an issue communicating, or that there was some sort ofa compatibility issue

Belkin advertises that this unit connects at up to 300 Mbps. I have a brand new Dell laptop with a Wireless-N card and it would only connect to the router at a maximum speed of 164 Mbps (this is good compared to 54 Mbps, which is hat my Wireless-G router gave me, but it's still not 300). After a few hours though I began connecting at only 48 Mbps or even lower, despite not having made any changes to the router. I tried several locations in my home, restarted the router several times and nothing helped. I contacted Belkin tech support and their only response was to change the channel (which had previously been on Auto). I tried every channel and each had similirly poor results.

I checked the router's pre-loaded firmware and found that it was not up to date. Apparently, according to Belkin's website, the firmware is two or three years old. I was very surprised they are sending out new equpiment with such old firmware. There have been two firmware updates and neither has been loaded into their routers. I downloaded new firmware and the router's "upload" and "browse" buttons on the update firmware page were disabled, giving me no way to update the firmware. I followed the update firmware instructions three times and got the same result so I know I was doing it right. I contacted tech support and got no response.

Belkin advertises this as having a range of up to 1600 feet with ideal conditions. I can't comment on the range except to say that we had full signal from our master bedroom, which only had about 3 bars out of 5 with our Wireless-G router. That's abut the only good thing and I can't verify it. My suspicion is that this is range was probably obtained in an open field or something with no walls and with perfect weather and atmospheric conditions. I'm sure the stars were aligned and the Belkin techs consuled their palm reader to verify the location and time of day.

I did find the router's external display to be unique and nice looking. Some reviewers have found this useful. Unfortunately, my router is usually in an office, closet or someplace out of the way so the display isn't very practical for me. The buttons on the display are also hard to push. I also got relatively clear audio with Skype, which wasn't possible with my Wireless-G router.

Overall, this router doesn't meet my expectations or what I understood from the advertisement for speed, security, connectivity, compatibility or utility.

There are several things that stand out about this router, particularly compared to my previous Netgear router which was also marketed as N-WiFi and gigabit wired.

This router has excellent wireless network utilization, generally 30% on larger file transfers and at connection speeds from 70Mbps to 130Mbps, which is the maximum on my hardware. It also has excellent utilization on its wired gigabit. Performance of both significantly exceed the performance on my prior router. I am near the router so I can't speak for the broadcast range.

Also important is that persistent connections such as messenger applications are able to maintain their connections indefinitely, whereas my prior router would drop persistent connections after 10-20 minutes. This may be because this router has a "forever" setting in its DHCP routings.

The router is also attractive and the display panel on the front is interesting. The browser based configuration of the router is fast and works well.

My only complaint has been the couple instances where I started my laptop and the router did not properly issue me an IP address. Restarting the router fixed the problem immediately.

If you are considering paying for N-Wireless with gigabit wired, this is a great option.

Im only submitting this review because of poor reviews ive seen about disconnecting. Ive owned this router for over a year and have never once been disconnected. Not one problem and we connect 3 pc's our wii, ps3, 2 ipod touch's and my daughter and 2 other sons have no problems connecting (or with disconnects) while visiting. Very easy to use and setup plus it looks great.

I didn't buy this router for the pretty display or the aesthetics, I got it for the wireless-N and gigabit switch (with guest access on a separate SSID a welcome bonus).

I bought it with trepidation, having had unwelcome experiences with Belkin network kit before. I hoped that their flagship product might have seen some better attention to its firmware than their other products.

I was wrong.

It frequently drops wireless connections. When it does, it refuses to accept reconnections or new connections until it's power-cycled. Occasionally, it decides not even to talk to wired connections too. As a piece of vital network kit, as opposed to eye candy, it's a disaster.

This is the last Belkin network product I will ever buy or allow to be bought on my behalf. And, as the Managing Director of three companies, that's a lot of lost sales Belkin have earnt themselves with this classic example of form over function, and technological incompetence. Judging from reviews here and elsewhere, my experiences with this device are the _norm_, not an exception.

The N1 Vision may be nice-looking. And that's what I recommend you do: look. Admire its curves, if not its old-school monochrome LCD. But for goodness' sake, don't actually waste your cash buying the thing.

Bought this router thinking it was advanced technology. This things is advanced garbage. The buttons have to be pushed with force to work. As far as the connection, our two computers constantly dropped connection or could not connect at all. Only after disabling the network security could we maintain a stable connection, and the transfer rate then was extremely slow. This router was a total waste of money. Thankfully, Best Buy accepts returns and exchanges.

This is certainly a pretty piece of hardware and I liked the idea of having at-a-glance utilization data.

Unfortunately, the reality isn't nearly as pretty as the picture. Beyond the uncertain build quality (the buttons are worse than my 1982 Sinclair Spectrum), the wireless stack in this thing seems to be as unstable as a coffee-snorting spider monkey. When it is working, I will sometimes seem ping times as high as 55 _seconds_ (55,000 milliseconds!) between a wireless client and the router. Other times, with no apparent difference, ping times run in the <1 millisecond range, where I would expect them.

Ahhh...but that's when it's actually functioning. Every few hours under load, it seems to completely lock up so that I have to pull the power plug and reboot it. I've tried changing wireless channels and settings but I haven't found any combinations that actually work.

Belkin support offered several useless suggestions (obviously boilerplate text) before telling me to return the device for a replacement. I'm waiting for the replacement but I have no confidence that it will operate better than this one.

---------------

UPDATE

As expected, the replacement router is performing no better than the original. I'm currently on the phone with Belkin technical support (on hold, after being transferred twice).

Well, I have been testing the N1 for a couple of weeks and I can say that is a very good wireless router with good performance, also nice looking. I have found the LCD display very useful, as many others. You can see information regarding connected devices, upload/download speed, bandwidth spent and even a digital clock. Also you can configure some settings from this screen.

The pros:
*Works good with VPNs, I have a Cisco client for remote access to my office and never have had troubles.
Autoupdate firmware setting.
*You can setup NTP servers so the date and time of your router is accurate.
When Internet connection is lost, the screen shows a message and suggest some actions for troubleshooting.
*Design.
*Default "plug and play" settings establish a secure WLAN, good.
*You can configure two concurrent wireless netorks: a guest wireless network, so visitors do not have access to your computers and the "main" network. The guest network can be enabled through the web admin interface or from the router itself (using the LCD screen).
*Has a power-save feature for the LCD screen if no activity is detected. This setting can only be configured directly from the router (I did not find that option on the web interface).
*Signal power. With my old Linksys WRT54G I had issues on signal strength in some points of my house. The N1 does not have that issues.

The cons:
*Default IP address (192.168.1.2) could conflict with other network devices (mine was in conflict with our WiMax router, so I had to change the default IP address).
*The router had stopped working three times under the same situation: If I left the LCD screen showing the digital clock for a long time (4-5 days) and then try to change the info displayed (by pressing the buttons on the router body) the router just stop working and I have to unplug / plug to get it back to life. Very weird.
*The buttons. I agree with other reviewers: you have to push very hard and sometimes for more than 3 seconds in order to change the view or change settings on the menu.
*Default page on web interface. You can administer the router via web by typing the router's IP address on a web browser... but the default page shows too much information regarding router's setup (firmware version, LAN Settings, Internet settings, your SSID!, firewall enabled or not, security enabled or not, etc.) Anyone with access to the router's web interface (basically any computer on your Wireless LAN or Wired LAN) can see that information.
*Buggy firmware? Some of the system settings can not be enabled (the "Only this IP address can remotely manage the router" setting for example).

These were my first impressions on the N1.

== Update on May 14 2010===

Well it seems the router version I got has a very bad flaw. As any other "advanced" user I use to upgrade my devices firmware to get new functionalities or resolve previous flaws. So I did this for mine (Model No F5D8232-4 Version 1), it worked fine for a couple of months and suddenly the device began to restart in an endless loop. It seems this is a very well known issue by the manufacturer. I sent an e-mail asking for help and they replayed back with a complex reset procedure that doesn't work (at least for me). So I had to bring back my old and reliable Linksys WRT54G to save the day.

Be careful you don't get version 1.000.