Customer Reviews

BELKIN F5D7050 Wireless 802.11g USB Network Adapter

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

I have an older iBook that requires an original Apple Airport card. Unfortunately these are no longer in production. They can still be purchased new online for $150-180 if you look for them, or you can get a used one from eBay for $100-150 or so. Couldn't see going those routes so I picked up one of these babies and it works flawlessly with OS 10.4. Belkin doesn't make drivers for it but you can get the driver at the Ralink Technology site (http://www.ralinktech.com/supp-1.htm). The Belkin adapter that I received from Amazon is version 3000, and it uses the RT71W driver. It's the one listed at the very bottom of the list of Macintosh drivers, dated 2006/01/25. When you open the box for this adapter, take the Install CD and the Quickstart Guide and all that other Windows-related stuff and throw them straight in the trash. Download and install the driver mentioned above and it'll prompt you to restart afterwards. Then go to your Network System Preferences pane and select Ethernet Adapter(en1) as your connection method. Plug the adapter into an available USB port (1.1 or 2.0, either one will work), then launch the Ralink Wireless Utility that you'll find in your Applications folder. And suddenly - hey yer smokin'! Been connected by cable for over three days now via a wireless Linksys router without a single disconnect. You can do it, too...

I've purchased and attempted to install three of these adapters. One of them was on an older Dell laptop,installed without any problems at all and connected seamlessly to a Linksys WRT54G router with WAP encryption.
The problems really started showing when I tried to install the second and third adapters, both on desktop computers running Windows XP SP2. The software installation was a breeze, but when I plugged in the adapter - nothing happened. Connect to network...which network? Scan..who? What?
It looks like this adapter has a very, very short range and doesn't work very well a wall or two in between the routers. It would see the router and connect - to drop the connection and not find one. But then it would find it again, and on and off.
Never really worked as expected on the desktops, so I've given up. I've had to disconnect them and reconnect them multiple times. Downloaded the updated software from Belkin's site, and still have connection issues with the desktops. The laptop works fine as long as I don't take it one room away from the router.
Avoid at all costs please. I've used other wireless devices with the same router that I'm trying to connect and they work fine - a few rooms away and all.
Spend a few more dollars and get something worth the money spent. Spend less time troubleshooting and more time surfing.
Good luck.

Installed drivers, plugged it in, nothing. Uninstalled, rebooted, installed drivers, NOTHING. Googled it and found tons of stories you have read here.

I like what a couple other people have said.

"Buy this for someone you hate." It's terrible...

I've had other Belkin products in the past and I'm surprised at how bad this thing is.

The few people on here that gave it 4-5 stars will probably win the lottery next week because they are the luckiest people I know.

ON WINDOWS XP:
=============

When you install the Software from the Installation CD of BELKIN F5D7050 Wireless 802.11g USB Network Adapter when it finishes, indicates us to Plug the Adapter. The Windows XP detects it and tells us to install the Driver.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM!!!!

The Windows XP, search for the newest driver for that Adapter on the machine, and selects his own driver "PrismaXP.sys", that in theory is the best, but it has the problem that it doesn't work.

When we have finished the Belkin software installation, and had closed all windows, we continue and PLUG the adapter, the Windows XP will detect it, but when it ask to install the software, take the option to select manually the driver, and select the driver located on the Driver's folder on the CD.

The Adapter wil be succesfully installed with 100% functionality.The fact, is that I'm sending that message through it.

I hope that will help you with that problem. see you.

|========================================|

ON LINUX:
========

The problem in Linux is only that there aren't linux specific drivers for that adapter. Well, if there aren't drivers on linux, we will emulate the windows drivers, je je je!!!

There are 2 posibilities to do that:

1.- The LINUXANT

Paying a License of about 25 $, you have the a 100% functionality and an easily WEB configuration (Tested with The 30 day free trial license)

2.- The NDISWRAPPER

That is a free sourcecode project, but it is a bit uncomfortable than the LINUXANT. It is a command line program and there is an available manual on English in the LINK:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

with tha instructions to make the installation. When it finishes, to use the Adapter is as easy as write:

ndiswrapper wlan0

Or another wlan if you have more than 1 wireless adapter.

The reason for only getting a 3 instead of a 5 is because of the following problem that I have encountered in the past on this network card. I have found that following the instructions provided by Belkin can lead to numerous problems. The installation way that I use on installing them are much easier for XP machines that I deal with.
1) place cd in tray, cancel or close the belkins welcome/install
screen
2)connect it to a usb port
3)when XP comes up with the install screen, let it search the
driver from the cdrom (or you can manually select it from the
X:\drivers folder on the cd(of course X: being your cd drive))
4)Let it complete the installation (*some computers ask to reboot
after installation is done,it is best to do this*)
5)depending on your network, you might have to configure your IP,
DNS, Gateway, and any Security or other settings you are
running at this time.
It takes longer to type this out than it does to do the installation. Doing this way has given me less headaches than trying to deal with Belkins software and the error codes an terminal problems running their wireless config software. (The wireless software is an 'aweful'ly close version and layout to the Linksys WUSB11 ver 2.6 adapter software. I might experiment with that later on this Belkin's). Once the install and setup is done, it operates at a relatively good signal in and around my house and yard. If not for their wireless software problem, I would have given it a 5 star rating instead.

Just a few words to say how disappointed I am at the performance, or lack of, on an XP machine.
The F5D7050 works fine on the Win2k OS but AVOID if you are using XP.

The drivers install on XP but give a variety of error codes, depending upon which version you are using and the BELKIN Tech Support have been totally ignorant to any emails.

I eventually bought a Linksys WUSB54G which was very simple to setup and worked immediately.

Hope this review helps.

I bought one of these for an old iMac (Rev A Bondi, no Airport slot, Mac OS X 10.3 Panther). First, the software provided on the CD and available for download @ online support is awful. It doesn't tell you where (or even *what*) drivers are installed, and the generic App for selecting network options is so worthless it's laughable. (Disclaimer: I have worked as a network admin, so I'm not just bashing something I don't understand).

After a couple hours of playing with it, I finally got it to see my wireless network and connect successfully. It stayed connected for about 90 seconds and then abruptly dropped for no apparent reason (plenty of signal strength, no other devices interfering, etc.).

At that point I gave up on the Belkin drivers and tried some generic RALink Mac OS X drivers (Belkin uses the RT2500 chipset for the F5D7050). After many more hours of reinstalling, uninstalling, restarting, praying, etc., there was no improvement in performance.

Bottom Line: This device finds my wireless network with no problem, but it will *never* stay connected for any length of time. Random drops and sudden disconnects. What a waste.

I'm returning it.

The short of it: If you can't trouble-shoot your own equipment then forget this thing. It's plug and play on the surface but evil lurks somewhere, inside the unit or the drivers, not sure.

The Good:

-Performance is great.

-Keeps trying to connect to the neighbors network so the range is super (and their network is G only, not sure where their router is but at the minimum 30 feet through 2 walls, a wood fence and lots of foliage).

-Nice long cord (5 feet or so) and docking station so can be positioned sorta wherever.

-Simple to setup, follow the instructions and 'boom', connection!

-Cheap.


The Bad:

-You get what you pay for in this case.

-'Boom', connection! may require a little fiddling in Device Properties but that's standard so not really a 'bad'.

-Keeps trying to connect to the neighbors network wiping out the SSID in device settings (finally had enough and told them how to change and hide their SSID and things good now).

And the ugly:

-Using the boxed drivers V1.0.0.0, utility version V1.0.7.4, firmware V1.0.0.0. Had the thing for a month now and twice already the drivers, for no apparent reason, froze the system and on hard reboot WinXP would lock up to instant black screen while booting and would only boot in Safe Made with networking disabled and normal mode only if the actual USB connection was physically disconnected, not just the stick removed from the base. Fixing this requires booting into Safe Mode minus networking or normally with the plug unplugged and removing the drivers then rebooting and re-installing the drivers. Updating drivers could help the problem but finding them on their website is sorta a nightmare all its own for time limited people.

-The SSID wipe never happened until the the first freeze and won't go away.

-Prior to the first freeze, on a couple occasions the software would claim the device wasn't present unless I unplugged the stick from the base and plugged it back in.

-Device won't run without the shipped software after the first freeze. Can probably fix that but don't have the time.

Summary: There's flaws, it's cheap, works fantastic for the most part but when it don't work, at least in my case, nothing else works either. But compared to the card it replaced I still love it. But if you've ever called Tech Support to try and fix a problem then buy something else because this will be a pretty shrink-wrapped box of pounding migrane waiting to happen. Just my opinion.

I'm on a G3 ibook and never thought I could get in on the wifi fun w/o spending a fortune on an airport card. This little gadget has solved all my problems and it only took 10 minutes to set up. If you're on OSX panther or tiger, refer to the review "Attention mac users" for complete and easy set-up instructions. Don't bother reading the enclosed instructions or inserting the setup CD. Just download the driver and voila, you'll be up and running in no time. I have not encountered one single problem in the 2 weeks that I've used this product. My only complaint is that I had to go to the Amazon review page to figure out how to make it work on my mac. So I'd have to say that Belkin tech support is pretty awful. They don't even mention the fact that their product works on a mac.

If you're looking for an affordable way to get wifi on your ibook, I'd highly recommend this product. Why should we be left out on the fun!

Bought one in Compusa at only 10 bucks after rebate. Went back home and started installing software by following the instructions in the manual. The driver is not certified by MS and this is mentioned in the manual. That's fine, hit Continue Anyway and installation went on. At the end, I was asked to plug in the device. XP searched driver for this new device automatically and again I had to click Contniue Anyway. Then it reported a Code 10 error.

Uninstalled the driver and reinstalled it. Still not work. Disable Ethernet card and tried. Same result. Called the technical support on Sunday and was helped by a lady. She instructed me to do the same steps that I have already done: uninstall, disable, restart, etc. She asked me to use the driver on their website instead of the one on the CD. I used the newest one on their website at the beginning, which has a time stamp of 11/2003 -- they have not released any update for more than a year.

Finally she asked me to go back to the store and make an exchange. But no thanks, I did a return. Think $10 a wireless-G USB adapter a good price? I wish they could pay me $10 an hour to figure out how their crappy driver works.

My case is not the only one that upsets Belkin customers. My friend bought the same thing on the same day -- for the same reason of course. She did make it through the driver installation step. But the Belkin Wireless Network Utility always froze while searching for an available network. After killed most processes this application still did not respond to a mouse click. Too bad that she couldn't use the device even though she did not get a driver problem.

I gave her a ride to the store to return the product so she can at least save some gas. Like the guy said in the other post: buy this for someone you hate. hehe....