| Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router (F5D8232-4) |
 enlarge
|
Model: F5D8232-4
Brand: Belkin
Manufacturer: Belkin Components
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 46
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
|
|
|
| |
| Features: |
Interactive Status Display shows your network's broadband speed, computer bandwidth usage, the status of connected network devices, and more.
Plug-and-Play CD-less setup
Easy Security Setup with support for Wi-Fi Protected Setup and Multiple SSID
802.11n draft 2.0 compatible - 3x3 radio design provides excellent speeds and complete wireless coverage
4 Gigabit Ports |
| |
| Description: |
| Packaged in a new sleek and sophisticated design, N1 Vision offers the best in networking performance with its wireless (up to) 802.11n 3x3 radio design and wired gigabit ports. The N1 Vision wireless router continues Belkin's commitment in providing the best user experience in the home market through its Plug-and-Play "CD-less" installation and simple network security setup. |
| |
| User Reviews (46 total): |
Page 1 2 3 of Total 3 Pages
|
Sexy and cool, but has technical problems with VPNs, August 11, 2008
By technocrat (Santa Cruz, CA USA)
This router is sexy and cool, no doubt. The LCD makes a nice clock, and you can watch your upload and download speeds. :-)
The fun stops when you deviate slightly from typical home use and try to connect to your office VPN (virtual private network). Though Belkin claims that this device supports VPNs, there is one fatal flaw that prevents it from working well.
Non-geek speak: The router inserts itself into the process that converts names like "www.apple.com" into IP addresses like 17.251.200.32.
Geek speak: The router advertises ITSELF as the DNS resolver instead of what your internet service provider tells it to use. It acts as the middle-man (and caches the results as well) which causes some interesting problems that are annoying and hard to debug when trying to start an IPSEC+ModeConfig+XAUTH connection.
The current version of the firmware (v1000 1.00.15) also corrupts cached DNS entries over time, and subsequently responds with bogus IP addresses for names. Ugh.
Belkin confirms that there is no setting to turn this "feature" off.
Other than that, I really like the box and hate having to shelve it. :-)
|
Drops MacBook connect several times a day, July 27, 2008
By W. Weider (Appleton, WI United States)
While I like the design of this router, it has proved to be incompatible with my MacBook. The MacBook is losing Internet connectivity several times a day. I have tried to troubleshoot this to no avail. Checkout Belkin's support page for this product. The entire support includes 3 FAQs and 2 troubleshooting tips. That should tell you something.
The router has limited configuration options. I wanted to turn off the "N" and force my Mac to connect at G. But with this router it is all or nothing.
I have applied both firmware updates over the last year, but these have made the problem worse.
|
Awesome Wireless Router!, July 24, 2008
By Richard Edwards
New to wireless routers here. I bought the Linksys WRT110 in May 2008. Both laptops were constantly disconnecting, with one laptop disconnecting at least five times per day. On June 21, 2008 I junked the Linksys and bought the N1 Vision. Signal strength, speed and connection are all now reliable. Granted, I did update the wireless card driver on the one laptop that was disconnecting constantly on the same day that I junked the Linksys and got the N1 Vision, so the updated card driver probably had something to do with it. However, on the other laptop, the wireless card driver was not updated. That laptop was dropping the wireless signal at least once per day while watching youtube videos, etc. Since I have been using the N1 Vision it has not dropped the signal even once, and the network speed on that laptop has not dropped below 48.0 Mbps, usually staying at a constant 54.0 Mbps. With the Linksys WRT110 this laptop would fluctuate greatly, usually staying around 36.0 Mbps, and quite often dropping down to 10 or 1Mbps.
In short, I'll NEVER use a Linksys wireless router again. This Belkin N1 Vision router is absolutely outstanding. Anyone who wants a consistent and reliable wireless signal should have it.
|
The best home router as of yet, July 21, 2008
By Dmitry (Seatte, WA USA)
I had to say that I have had my reservations about the Beklin brand products before... you know the gray-box off-brand stuff. This time tables are turned - simply the best and most intuitive home router product ever. No hassle setup. Besides the fact it looks kinda cook cool. Every wireless device I've got had zero-problem connecting to the new router and performance is spectacular. Highly recommending
|
Belkin N1 Wireless Router, July 10, 2008
By Jane (Missouri)
This is the first router I've had. I bought it to use with my new laptop, so the laptop could access the internet, receive email, "talk" to the printer, etc. It works like a charm, but it should because I had it professionally set up. It was unnecessary to download the new drivers for the N1, BTW, although I read that someone else said it wouldn't work for them until that was done. Everyone's system is likely to be somewhat different; therefore, different setups are sometimes needed.
|
Waiting for my first RMA..., July 8, 2008
By Neil Carpenter (Charlotte, NC USA)
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).
|
Belkin N1 Vision, July 2, 2008
By I. J. Hamid (London, UK)
I have had this router for the past 6 months and below are my observations as compared to my previous DG834g router.
(after installing it, I upgraded to the latest firmware 1.00.15)
+ve
- it looks stylish
- the front display is useful for quick information
- the guest ssid is a great idea (but I can't get it to work)
- i use it with a G card and the range / signal has improved as compared with my old Netger DG834g.
- over all some good features.
-ve
- the odd stand makes it VERY difficult to attach / stick it to the wall (as routers are always recommended to be kept at the highest part)
- it does not e-mail security logs
- the front main login page displays ALL your router information (all ip information, ssid, serial #,etc), meaning if you turn on remote management, anyone with your ip address and WITHOUT the password can still see your router configuration?!?!?!
- you can't assign dhcp ip addresses based upon mac address, meaning you need to hard code the ip address on the computer if you want it to retain it.
- the download / upload display screen freezes atleast once a week and i need to reboot it to work again.
- Support provided for this product from India is as useful as a swimming pool without water. I have called them about 3 times and all they make me to is reset my router to factory settings, or install a new firmaware, neither has fixed any of my problems.
my verdict...it might be an idea to stick with Netgear.
|
Great Product, June 30, 2008
By MacMastaMcConnell (McClellanville, SC, USA)
I purchased this product as part of the project to finally make our house a "smart house". During this project I dealt with TV issues, Wireless printer issues, and even speaker issues. However this was pretty much the only thing where everything worked seamlessly and fluidly. I got home late plugged it in and 5 minutes later had a Wireless network up and running including security features. And the coverage...wow. We live in the country and I set this router up and I was able to pick up a signal on the end of our dock (about 600 feet away) that was decently strong and carried the speed well. It was great with setup to be able to do everything via the computer (not dealing with disks) and just being able to plug and play. The only problems that I had were 1 or 2 minor problems with the printer and the security encryption. The 1st time I had to toy around with it but after that I just made a backup of the settings and it happened again (after power failure) and just reset settings. Everything with this product has been a breeze and it comes highly recommended.
|
Horrible Customer Support, June 26, 2008
By International Baadaass (Salem, Oregon)
Worked great with my laptop and setup was easy. But everytime the router was on, my Dell desktop would blue-screen. I don't know why the signal overloaded the PC, and I will never know because customer service was just awful. This was true for multiple calls (not just a lone bad CSR).
I don't wish to fault the customer service just because it's from India (which it is), like other negative reviews seem to give that vibe. But it is truly horrible.
They do (as others mentioned) instantly blame the non-Belkin devices and refer you to their CS support, even when it's not appropriate. I have a relatively low level of tech knowledge, and they kept trying to convince me of things even an idiot like me knew were absolutely false. They had no interest in solving problems, but only to make it someone else's problem, even if it meant giving conflicting statements during the same call. Never call Belkin CS, it will only make you angry.
I have experienced a lot of sub-par CS help over the years, but none as bad as Belkin's. As long as you never have problems, I'm sure it's a great device... but you could say that for most devices.
|
Wow, this router rocks!, June 6, 2008
By Scott DeLeeuw (Denver, CO)
I have to say, I read some of the reviews here and almost shy-ed away from buying the Belkin N1 Vision. But I woke up this morning and my dang Linksys router was disconnected again, man that thing is a piece of crap, I spent an hour thinking it was a computer problem until I pulled the plug on the Linksys.
I hooked up the Belkin router and just went through the screens manually. The firmware was way out of date 00.3 vs 00.15 that is the current version. I updated that first and all went well.
I have no wireless N devices, but all of my wireless G devices have gone way up. I had 76% signal before and I have 96% now, it's amazing.
A couple of things other posters wrote:
IPSec VPN - I connected to VPN and all was well. From the things I read, this was fixed in 00.13 of the firmware, so posters before April or so of this year may have had legitimate problems.
The LCD screen - yeah, the info really isn't that useful, but oh well, if nothing else it's nice bling...
The buttons - the right hand side of the square can be tough to push, but it's not as bad as others made it out to be...
Rebooting after every option - whoever wrote that was either embellishing or Belkin made huge leaps in the firmware. There are only two options that do a 70 sec reboot, one big one does a 180 sec reboot, and all the others do 10 sec config saves. Almost every router out there does a small config save, it's crazy to complain about that.
To summarize, either I got damn lucky with this router or it's received a lot of unfair criticism. I guess there will always be negative critics, for instance, I find the performance of Linksys to be dreadful....
|
|
|
Junk to Jewel., June 6, 2008
By Brent (Pittsburgh, PA)
Best looking router made, great coverage, fantastic speeds, VPN connection was broken until this weeks Firmware upgrade ver 1.1.15 i think? anyway get the router, then grab that firmware and you will be satisfied. Yeah it runs a little hot as some complain but i dont care i never have to reboot it, and the guest access is sweet. Easy to turn on and off. Had to get used to the interface and choices coming from the WRT54G, but its a good upgrade. Only thing its missing now is a way to do Network storage with the direct connect to a USB drive, but i hear thats not working well on Linksys devices either. So buy this shiny mug, and put it on your desk for all to admire.
Brent
|
Wireless,, forget wireless..., May 6, 2008
By Descenter
I read many reviews and many said this product has problems and Belkin support sucks, yet I was doubting what they are saying because this router IS expensive, I thought how come Belkin would manufacture such expensive product and be that lousy....?
But... If you dare to connect any wireless device to the router, it will operate for 10 minutes then the whole thing will go down and you need to restart it!
I tried to connect using secured and unsecured wireless connections with ALL types of encryptions possible, same result.
Even through the nice option that it has as which is a "Guest" wireless network: same story.
Yet not all wireless devices connect to this router, my i-mate JAMin can't connect! It detects the network but no way it would connect! My brother has a linksys and the phone smoothly connects with its wireless link.
If someone from outside attempts to connect the router will still hang!)
So I ended up shutting down the wireless option and now it's a non-wireless router!
Yet, every week the router hangs at least once! and I need to unplug and plug it back again to power! soft restart won't work, the whole thing is jammed!
The buttons on the front are not something easy to press, you must have your hand behind the router and press with your thumb really hard, and I mean it! first couple of times I thought the buttons were not working!
The reason it is still on my desk (and that I gave it a second star) is that it's the only router -as far as I know- in the market with built in GIG-Ethernet switch because I need it for my network storage, and the fact that the display in the front is a smart idea, looks cool and very useful. Otherwise, this big expensive black box would have ended in the trash bin....
Now I'm looking for a cheap wireless access point to plug into my network.
This device is not worth to buy, I expect Belkin will launch soon a new product that will cover all the bugs of N1, especially that they did not release a new firmware that fixes these problems, which strongly hints that this is a hardware issue.
OH one more thing, I live in Dubai - United Arab Emirates, which means there is a SERIOUS issue with this product if even the stock that we got here has problems too!!!
Bottom line:
STAY AWAY.
EDIT:
Almost anything that you do with the router setup requires it to restart which is VERY annoying... I have never seen a router that requires restart just to change the port forwarding option!!! I was troublshooting a remote access problem and each time I change the port number or the destination IP Address it restarts to apply the changes, I really got frustrated and wasted much of my time, could've solved it in 15 minutes but took me 40 minutes just waiting for it to boot again and again...
|
Not the best, may be it is the worst, May 3, 2008
By Hernan (Boston, MA)
Some of the problems you will have:
Not compatable with Belkin Products. (can you belive it) I have a Belkin Network USB Hub and a USB N1 wirless and it is NOT working well. It gets disconnected all the time from the internet and the HD. I spent 4 hours with the customer support. Very nice people, but it was useless. At same point, they asked me to send the PRODUCTS (ALL) back to them. Then, we tried one more time and it worked, but few days latter stop working. Oh I forgot I already returned a N1 router to Belkin.
Good Wi-Fi coverage, but it is not connected as it should.
Handy LCD screen provides quick view of activity - Useless
Wi-Fi speed is in the middle range for 802.11n routers - This is true
No USB port for connecting hard drives or printers - True, I have Network
USB Hub and thy do ot connected well. But it is not working.
Navigation buttons were frustratingly hard to press - I never pressed them.
|
Good overall router, April 26, 2008
By Justin (Oklahoma USA)
This was a quick product to setup, should be quick even for those that are not technologically savvy. The signal is much better and more consistent than the Linksys 150N I was previously using. Also the display interface is neat, although its questionable whether it is worth the extra cost over their other N1 router.
|
Excellent! Much better than N1 router, April 24, 2008
By Eugeni Gueorguiev
Better in coverage than N1 router. Been vertical designed, no problem with the heat. I had N1 before and had to put it over four match boxes for proper ventilation.
|
Out of the box online in 5 minutes, April 11, 2008
By Freddie D'amico
Ok heres the deal, This router is blazing fast I have my laptop, PS3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360 all running wirelessly to perfection...... I also took my laptop outside about 70 yards till it starting dropping. The Lcd is slick and on point. I was a dlink guys before this Dlink does have one similar for 50.00 more but I'm satisfied with this purchase.
|
Not Recommended - blocks transmission of MS Outlook and Messenger, April 10, 2008
By ACE001 (Philadelphia!)
I was very excited about this router due to it's sleek design and hefty features but I was very dissappointed quickly.
It works great if you only run windows Vista, but beware because in Windows XP sp2, Windows Live Messenger and MS Outlook 2003 did not work, even with turning off the firewall on the device. Somehow the device blocks the sending of mail and the logging in of Windows Messenger. I spoke to Tech support several times to troubleshoot but they could not solve the problem. Switching back to my linksys router works great and there is not special port forwarding needed. The old Linksys just works out of the box but isn't gigabit or have N.
I tried for weeks to get the N1 to work correctly with these programs in Windows XP, including re-installing softwares, resetting/restarting the devices, but no luck, or help from Belkin. Tech support(Johnny, Sara and Mary in India) blamed everything from my service provider to windows but had no explaination why when I switched to the Linksys it worked and the Belkin didn't. They were no help.
Maybe it's just a firmware tweak or I got a bad one but I unfortunately am sending this back and giving it a bad review. I don't recommend this product unless you only have computers running Windows Vista.
|
s1959, April 5, 2008
By s1959 (Leesville, La)
Worked great, right out of the box. Better than the cheaper unit that I had bought at Walmart.
|
This Belkin N1 Vision router is awful!!, March 22, 2008
By cvpuser (Fort Worth, Texas, USA)
I bought this router because of the information display -- I wanted to be able to watch the download speeds and activity of each of my network devices. One of my devices is an Xbox 360 with a wireless network adaptor.
I could not get the Xbox 360 to connect to the router. I spent over 8 hours with both Belkin and Xbox Live tech support and we could never get the Xbox to connect. Furthermore, the Belkin tech support appears to be based in India -- it was extremely difficult to understand ANY of the various people I spoke with (each time I called, I got a different person and had to explain the whole thing over again). This was the most frustrating experience I've ever had with tech support.
After hours and hours of trying to get the Xbox 360 to connect, I took the router back and purchased a D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router. This router is AMAZING!!!! The Xbox connected in less than 5 minutes and I got my laptop to connect in less than a minute (including a VPN connection).
The D-Link router also has a very nice display that shows me the network activity, and the software that comes with the router is just FULL of very useful features, including activity reports, it has a file sharing feature, and lots of other stuff. The D-Link is the perfect alternative to the Belkin, but it's a little more money ($199 at Best Buy).
|
Very Good router, some flaws, March 20, 2008
By Jeff
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.
|
Page 1 2 3 of Total 3 Pages
|
|
| Copyright 2001-2007 WiFiReview.com |
|