1. It's not compatible with anything but IP over ethernet. If you want to carry anything besides IP packets between wired and wireless ethernet (e.g., AppleTalk frames), then you're outta luck. Tech support assured me this would be addressed in a future firmware upgrade (which it was for this router's predecessor).

2. After a hard or soft restart, the SSID is broadcast regardless of setting. If it was disabled before, the only way to disable it again is to enable it and then disable it. Since this can happen without notice, it poses an unacceptable security risk in my opinion.

The range: I get marginally more range than my previous hub, so I can now use it without a repeater.

The case: Cheap plastic. It's the only thing so far I take away from it. But to their credit they include a base, so I can stand it on end. I can even wall mount it too, but the holes to me seem to be 'backward'.

One thing I learned with this hub, is that you DO NOT turn on remote management. I'm on Road Runner, and the administrative functions kept getting locked up by an IP address in the 140 range. It was annoying for a few hours until I figured it out. I think it's the dirty no-good scum hackers/spammers trying to get in. (Make sure you change the default password to prevent access.)

The Belkin rep was right: their router and USB adapters set up MUCH more easily under Windows XP than my previous Linksys components ever did. Moreover, the router's software configuration utility was better, more advanced and easier to use and understand than the Linksys software. Best of all, the Belkin products solved our cable internet outage problem! Now our internet connection not only goes out less frequently, but when it does, I simply reboot the router through Belkin's software utility which automatically re-configures the router and in less than one minute (it literally counts down the seconds from 0 to 60), the internet is back.

Yes, it's hard to believe that the cheaper Belkin product could perform better than Linksys (which is owned by Cisco Systems!), but it does. If you're looking for a dependable and an easy to install home LAN (and I mean EASY -- you don't have to know anything about networking since both the router and USB adapters configure themselves in Windows XP), save yourself some money and give Belkin a try.

I had encryption working for a while, but I disabled it once and couldn't get it going again. Their first level tech support reps have bad accents and don't grasp concepts very well.

If you want a wireless router that will work right out of the box, this is for you. But if you care at all about the security of your information, look elsewhere. I'm one unhappy customer.

The web-based interface was very very nice (at first, but more on this later). I was able to enter my settings quickly, and there appears to be a high level of customization possible. This router comes with firewall capabilities that are not necessarily advertised, which was a welcome surprise.

Things worked well for the first day, and the range on the wireless was quite good. At that point I decided to increase security. I disabled SSID Broadcast so that the ID of my network would not be spuriously broadcast...however, a new laptop immediately saw the network. So I'm not sure if SSID broadcast disable works, or if I made some mistake.

Then I tried to filter MAC addresses (which ensures that only specified computers have access to the router). For several hours I tried to enter a list of 5 MAC addresses into the router, but it would not take any more than one! This was a maddening experience. Finally, I decided to try using Internet Explorer to access the web interface, instead of Netscape. Suddenly, it worked. It seems likely that Belkin did not adequately test the product with Netscape.

During the above process, I had tried to check the firmware revision (I have 1.00000000, and no new firmware is yet available). I clicked on the button to check to see if there's an update, and the interface hung every time. So that feature doesn't work right, either, in either browser.

The next thing I did is try to confirm that MAC Address Filtering (above) was actually working properly. I enabled the feature, and removed a few computers from my access list. But they could still access the internet! I then removed all computers but one from the list, and still, no filtering. I called tech support. To give them credit, I only waited on hold a few minutes. But the person I spoke with was clueless. He was probably so used to people having trouble getting the internet to work, that he couldn't process the notion that my problem was that the security features were improperly permitting network access to unauthorized computers. I believe he didn't even know how MAC Address Filtering is supposed to work. When I was finally able to make the problem clear to him, he said someone would get back to me. But that won't be before I return this router for a refund.

In summary: the router has good potential. But the fact that MAC Address Filtering simply doesn't work, and Disable SSID Broadcast may not work either, means that this router is missing at least one of the fundamental security features. There are other firmware problems, too, which don't speak well for Belkin's Quality Control. My advice is not to purchase this router, at least until the firmware is revised.