| Belkin F5D8230-4 Wireless 802.11x Pre-N Router |
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Model: F5D8230-4
Brand: Belkin
Manufacturer: Belkin Components
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 216
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Pre-N speeds and coverage mean 4x greater coverage than standard 802.11g and 4x greater speed than standard 802.11g
Wirelessly share a broadband cable or DSL Internet connection
Built-in 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch
High resistance to wireless interference--the router will sense potential interference and shift to the clearest available channel
Note: Pre-N routing speeds require an optional Belkin Pre-N wireless networking adapter |
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| Description: |
| Belkin Wireless 802.11x Pre-N Router - This wireless network router features Belkin's Pre-N networking technology. Pre-N offers you amazing advantages in speed, coverage, & performance when compared to other wireless 802.11x networks. Some of the benefits include up to 800% greater coverage and up to 600% greater speed than 802.11g! If a standard 802.11g or 802.11b networking product is introduced into the Pre-N network, the Pre-N router will not drop to the lowest networking speed. When used with 802.11g & 802.11b devices, the Pre-N router improves their wireless coverage by up to 20%! Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Support Web Content & Parental Control Filter (6 months free) - provides over 50 fully configurable filters Pop-Up Blocker (6 months free) - provides pop-up, adware, & spyware blocking |
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| User Reviews (216 total): |
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Belkin sucks, August 10, 2006
By Alan J. Thill (Norco, CA United States)
This product worked great at first, but the router is totally unreliable. The router will hang & become totally unresponsive. Only solution is a HARD reset. Technical support is unresponsive, next step is SMALL CLAIMS COURT.
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Belkin F5D8230 Wireless Pre-N Router, August 5, 2006
By Darren G. Stevenson (Bay Area, USA)
With 6 computers, (3 Linux (ubuntu) and 3 Windows XP), I found this router to be an exceptional machine. Besides being really fast, it's distance coverage was the longest that I have ever used. In fact, I let my neighbor into my HS network. She is 150 ft. away. The router will let you assign the actual ip address of individual WiFi cards to let only specific computers into your network, in addition to standard Wep and Wpa password setups. Very secure. What was even more amazing is that I have older B and G cards in a few of the computers that work perfectly with this router. Belkin also has one of the best tech support teams I have ever used. It is free. I have had three other (well known) routers in the past and the tech support after the initial installation always cost me. The free tech support made the cost of the router very worthwhile. I use cable HS and this router has never blinked. As you can see, I am one happy puppy with this router and Belkin.
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Be careful!!, August 3, 2006
By J. Jaroslav
I saw from few of you that you have certain problems with N router. This router works bad when you place your laptop too close!! (look into a manual). Also if you use G card switch the automatic channel OFF then your connection will stop to drop..
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it says 250000 feet, August 2, 2006
By KORAY (New york,NY USA)
The machine doesnt have long distance. I go little far away from the machine and my connection speed drops down. I didnt like it..
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This router is nice, July 27, 2006
By Daniel Herring (Anchorage, AK)
This is the only wireless router I've used, so don't count on me for some all-knowing comparison test, but I'll gladly tell you that I've had nothing but good performance with this thing. The connection is solid, and the speed is at least as fast as when I'm wired direct. What more is there? Oh yeah, it was only 95 bucks. Cheap!
The first day I used it, I noticed that the connection had dropped, so I searched around to find out what had happened. I clicked on the airport icon at the top (this is a Mac PowerBook G4), and it told me that I was on xxxxxx network, with the x's representing the name of one of my neighbors. Yeah, well... I suspected what was going on, so I looked up that name in our city's property tax database, and found that we indeed do have a close neighbor by the name of xxxxxx. Bingo! I hopped on my bike and rode down the hill and knocked on the sucker's door to ask what the heck they thought they were doing stealing my bandwidth, but of course, nobody answered. That's when I went home and read some of the manual. It should be noted that, up to now, I didn't even need to read the manual. This thing is truly plug and play (at least with a Mac using an AirPort card). That's when I learned about setting up a password to protect my network. I got on the horn with some nice, well-spoken East Indian woman in Belkin's outsourced tech help department, and got it set up in just a few minutes. Since that day, there has been no bandwidth thievery.
So here I sit in my living room, comfortably nestled in my overstuffed Stickley leather reclining Morris chair, (un)wired and cruising the net. This is so much better than sitting in a closed room in an office chair like I used to do. I am not worried about something faster coming on the scene in few months, or this Pre-N setup not being compatible with the N standard of the future, because it's fast enough for me, and it works. Buy it. 'Nuff said.
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Fast, but unreliable, July 16, 2006
By James K. Kim (Irvine, CA)
I bought this router about 4-5 months ago and was happy with the speed boost over my previous router (Belkin, wireless g). But, the thing keeps dropping the connection every few days. I have to restart the router, or pull the plug for a few minutes. Belkin tech support is very unresponsive. I wouldn't buy another Belkin, but I'm stuck with this one for now.
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Great Range, much better network speeds!, July 6, 2006
By T. Roberts
I used to have an airport extreme base station. After installing the belkin I got about twice the range and I've also noticed the wireless in house networking speeds are much faster. I've very satisfied so far. Oh yea, none of my wireless cards currently use the pre-n technology, although they will soon.
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No problems, super fast, July 1, 2006
By Shekhar A. Khedekar
This is way better than my old Linksys - doesn't drop the connection, data transfer is super fast. Highly recommended.
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Belkin F5D8230-4, June 28, 2006
By NetZone (USA)
I just purchased this router and it is easy to install and works great.As of yet I have had no problems and hopefully it stays that way! I have another desktop and a laptop wireless networked to it and I have not noticed any decrease in speed in either. Highly recommended.
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Constantly drops connection, needs reboots, poor tech support, June 21, 2006
By G. Tomlinson
I bought this with the matching pre-n card and it's been so frustrating. Wireless connection almost completely useless since it constantly drops the connection. My wired connection sometimes stops working and then I have to reboot the router. I've been checking tech support for a firmware upgrade/repair and nothing to be found. Reading the reviews, many people have been having these problems. I guess Belkin just feels a new sucker is born every minute. Well, this sucker is not buying anything from this company if I can help it. Another reviewer spoke well of the new Netgear Rangemax router. I'll probably buy one of those to see if it's better.
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Games/iChat, June 12, 2006
By N. Bains (Sacramento, CA)
I've had this router for about six months. Although overall I've been very impressed, there are two serious issues I've encountered that have sent me looking for a new 802.11n router. This router is not compatible with iChat audio/video chat out of the box, and even if you manually forward the proper ports, iChat still won't work. Also, it's impossible to play a game in Starcraft with more than a few players.
Both problems appear to be rooted in the fact that certain network traffic patterns are interpreted as an attempt to flood your connection and a security feature in the router is triggered. If you call Belkin, they will tell you that they're "aware" of the problem but don't currently have a timeline for a fix.
Using my old Linksys WRT54G, I'm able to join and host larger Starcraft games. Note that this issue does not appear to affect all multiplayer games. World of Warcraft works fine with both the Belkin and the Linksys.
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Quick start up!, June 9, 2006
By Mike Cunningham (Shawnee, KS USA)
I bought this pre-N router this evening. I almost bought the Linksys last night... but decided to get this instead. I got it setup and working right away. My laptop is getting maximum performance with it's wireless speed. Plus, I locked down the router's wireless access with the easy web enabled admin controls. I'll be recommending this product to my friends!
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Very easy to set up, June 3, 2006
By groff5 (Metamora, IL USA)
I've set up a few wireless routers (the last being a linksys a couple years ago) and this Belkin Wireless Router was incredibly easy. Using the setup disk it essentially did it all for you, and it actually worked the first time! No putting in IP addresses, setting up PPOE vs whatever. It did it all. Amazing! Maybe Linksys is better now, but it was a pain 3 years ago. The Linksys finally quit after 3 years, but it had been a good unit overall. This Belkin without a booster gives about the same coverage as my Linksys B did with a booster. Don't have the Belkin wireless cards (all 3 of my laptops have them built in; some are B, some are G), but they all work well and are plenty fast.
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Dont buy if you want to host a web server!, May 29, 2006
By Joshua R. Marshall (New York, NY United States)
Belkin offers a Virtual Servers config page which allows you to port forward any port to an internal machine. This is standard practice in routers these days, and it generally works fine, even on this Pre-N Belkin. HOWEVER, it does not forward Port 80!! If you point a web browser to the external IP of your Belkin, you only get the Belkin configuration page, it refuses to port forward to an internal web server. Most routers (ie a Linksys) let you access the config page only when internal to the router, but will forward port 80, if configured as such, when accessed external to the router. Not so with Belkin. It is a big disappointment. I purchased this wifi so I could host a web gallery of photos from my wifi connected home office PC. Belkin tech support was no help. The Jr tech kept putting me on hold, then started talking to me about the proper implementation of a VPN(!?!?!), and finally told me a Sr tech would call me back, but it never happened. Stick with Linksys. Complaints notwithstanding, if you only want wifi access, it has good range & throughput.
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Easy Set-up at a Great Price!, May 28, 2006
By Knacks (The Show Me State)
Bought this to replace a WRT54GX2 I broke, mainly because they have the same chipset and my old router worked great, but this is cheaper. I am VERY satisfied! Installation is clearer and easier than the Linksys. Those who complain need to study the manual, as options are clearly described in one of the most readable guides I have ever encountered. Works flawlessly in a home environment consisting of Dell and Windows, even with the router in the basement and notebook on 2nd floor. Plan to try wireless networking with my new TIVO shortly. This is a very fine product in a world of complicated junk.
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Really Glad I Bought it!, April 29, 2006
By Jack Z (Berkeley, CA USA)
I don't know why others say they have problems, but this card worked right out of the box, with the included software with no problems at all.
With the associated F5D8230-4 Pre-N router, it connects at 108 Mbps, which is faster than the ethernet cards in most computers. In other words, it's faster than running a cable. I tested it with the laptop by copying a few files and timing them. I can't tell the difference between using the Belkin wireless components with the laptop at the far end of the house, or bringing the laptop to the router and using a cable for the connection. The network performance monitor built-into XP shows the same speed.
My other laptop connects to at its fastest speed, 11 Mbps, and when it does, it doesn't slow down the first laptop connected at 108 Mbps, both laptops perform at their maximum.
The signal strength is hard to measure because the little guages in XP may not be linear, but where I would get one or two bars before, I now get every bar lit most of the time. The signal strength seems better and I can use the laptops around to corners where they didn't work before, and even on the back porch.
I'm using WPA-PSK with a long password with no problem. I was previously using a Linksys with only WEP and it was cracked. Using a network monitor, I found someone could crack any password within a few hours and they were using my connection to download illegal music or video, I'm not sure which. With WPA there has been no outside access to this network even with the much stronger signal it has. So yes, WPA-PSK does indeed work, and the earlier review stating that it doesn't is inaccurate if my components are typical. He must have had a defective one.
My old Linksys router and WAP were versions 1, and they were nothing but headaches to upgrade and maintain. The software interface for the card and the html interface for the router make them very easy to manage. All in all, I'm extremely happy with this system.
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Really Great, April 19, 2006
By In California
I'm not a computer expert, but know my way around well enough. Choosing a router was a real pain. There is no clear-cut winner or obvious choice with routers. I did much research and decided on this one. I'm very happy. The range is great. We don't have some sprawling estate or a great need to use Wi-Fi in the backyard; however, it is a large two-story house and this router gives full strength signal though out the house. Unlike my Linksys, this thing was very easy to set up. It was out of the box, and working within five minutes. I have a Mac and although the box claims the Install Wizard is Mac compatible, it's not. But all you need to do is go to the Belkin website, download the install wizard for Mac, and you will be up and running with no problems whatsoever. Couldn't be easier. Setting up the security was easy.
If you want good reliable wireless, you're going to need MIMO and this router works great. I like it very much. It's easy to set up, has great signal strength, and oh yeah, Belkin gives a lifetime warranty.
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Dont have it, just have a QUESTION, April 19, 2006
By Melissa Burrell
Hi,
I recently got the new Belkin Router, The Pre-N, the thing with the 3 antennas, the new hottest hting. I have comcast hi speed internet, which is blazing fast and all that. 1 problem...when I use the wireless, its incredibly slow. When i download things its pretty fast but when im trying to play online game and the like, it crawls. I can only guess that my built in wireless card on my notebook is not communicating well with the router. Do i really need the 75$ wireless card that goes with my router. Also, even when i use one of the e xtra eternet slots in the back of the router, its still slow..what should i do?
I have Broadcom 54g MaxPerformance 802.11g built in wireless card by the way...
SOMEONE HELP ME
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Oh My!, April 18, 2006
By Ronald Epstein (NJ)
In this review I am going to talk about my experiences with the Belkin F5D8230-4 Pre-N router and its companion, the Belkin F5D8010 Wireless Pre-N card.
But first, let me talk about my experiences with routers in general.
I have owned a half dozen routers throughout my home computing years. All of them have been Linksys brand simply because I always felt that they were the most reliable router company for the home consumer market. Up until recently, I have never had a single problem with a Linksys router.
In January 2006 I bought the Linksys WRT54GX4 which was touted as their newest most powerful flagship router capable of broadcasting Internet at high speeds throughout a large home. This was important for me since I have a very large house with multiple levels and a deck outside -- all places I would want to access the Internet from via my laptop.
The Linksys WRT54GX4 actually worked rather well for the first three months UNTIL I purchased a duo-core IBM Thinkpad laptop and started experiencing all sorts of problems. After a week of research I discovered that the Intel 3945ABG network card that is installed on most Duo-Core laptops has a compatability problem with certain Linksys routers. So, if your laptop is having such problems connecting to a Linksys router -- you now know the deal.
I had to find a new router. It had to be powerful and it had to be easy to configure. Someone on one of the Internet forums I frequent suggested purchasing a Belkin Pre-N router. That person claimed that it did a great job broadcasting an Internet signal throughout his large home.
I went to my local retailer and bought the Belkin F5D8230-4 Pre-N router.
Now I must say at this point that the first one I bought was defective right out of the box. The wireless function would not work. Belkin customer support suggested I return it for another. Fortunately, the replacement worked perfectly! Please don't let this experience deter your purchase decision as I feel the end result is worth the fact that sometimes these things happen.
Let me also say that despite many negative comments I have read on the Internet, Belkin support was very obtainable over the phone, though the guy I spoke to didn't seem very knowledgeable about the product as he had to refer to his manual to address the initial problems I was having before determining I had a defective unit.
Right out of the box, I was sort of surprised at the look of the router. Unlike the clunky Linksys I was replacing, the Belkin looked more like an elaborate paperweight. The design was more sleek and low-key than what I had seen in previous routers.
One of the most amazing aspects of this router outside of its performance is the ease of installation. For most people including myself, router installation and configuration is one of the most cumbersome tasks you don't want to deal with. Well folks, I am here to tell you that Belkin has made the process an absolute no-brainer. You simply pop in the supplied CD and via a on-screen walk-through process, my router was working in under 5 minutes. This was far easier to install than any Linksys router I have previously used. Kudos to Belkin!
So let's talk about performance...
The Belkin F5D8230-4 router performed just as I expected. It provided ample coverage throughout my home -- no more or less than the Linksys router I had replaced. I was somewhat dissatisfied with the loss of signal in the farthest reaches of my home and on the outside deck, and I needed something that would boost signal strength. Enter the F5D8010 Wireless Pre-N card.
Within days I ordered the Wireless Pre-N card hoping that it would increase overall coverage in my home as the manufacturer had promised. Upon arrival, I installed the software and then the card into the cardbus slot of my PC.
Now this is important: many have recommended that you do not install the software that comes on the installation CD but rather download it off of Belkin's website as it is more current. I took that advice to heart and had the software and card installed within minutes.
Well, the Belkin F5D8010 Wireless Pre-N card did EXACTLY what it promised to do. My signal strength almost doubled. My WiFi strength meter went from 2 bars to 4 (out of 5). Surfing speed dramatically increased. It was almost as if my laptop was hardwired to the cable itself.
I was now able to use my laptop in areas that I could not before. As expensive as this combination of router and card was (about $200), it was worth every penny to get this sort of coverage with absolutely no dropouts or disconnects.
I would highly, highly recommend the combination of Belkin Pre-N router and PC card if you are looking for amazingly powerful coverage for a large living area.
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lack of functionality could be a problem in some cases, April 18, 2006
By Alex Norman (New York, New York United States)
I have just installed this router for use in a large (about 300x200 ft) apartment, for guest use (using their own laptops). This means that it is not feasible to get the corresponding client cards and while the coverage without these is OK it still does not cover a the whole apartment. This would not be a probem but you cannot install a repeater or use WDS with this router. I am now stuck with a router that does not cover a large enough distance and cannot extend the network to cover the whole apartment. I think that this information should be much more readily available before buying this product.
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