| Belkin Wireless-G Router DSL/Cable Gateway |
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Model: F5D7230-4
Brand: Belkin
Manufacturer: Belkin Components
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 244
Operating system: Macintosh
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, FastEthernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Creates a network in your home or office without cables
Ensures data and network security with wireless 64- and 128-bit WEP encryption
Offers backward-compatibility with all 802.11b devices
Sets up easily with Belkin Easy Install Wizard-automatically detects Internet settings and self-adjusts Router to get you online in under 3 minutes |
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| Description: |
| Belkin F5D7230-4 802.11g Wireless Cable/DSL Router - This device is a must if you have multiple computers and a hi-speed Cable or DSL Internet connection. With a built-in 4-Port Ethernet switch and support for 802.11g technology, you can share files, peripherals, or the Internet - with or without wires! DMZ Hosting Configures easily with any web browser or Easy Install Wizard 64- and 128-bit WEP data encryption Stackable enclosure and vertical stand (included) helps reduce the desktop footprint Includes - power supply, manual, quick install guide, RJ45 networking cable, & software CD |
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| User Reviews (244 total): |
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Over an hour to set up? Skip this one!, August 18, 2008
By L. Clausen
Setup Experience:
* Configuration: Belkin Wireless G router (version 9000) with wired connection to XP machine (used to edit settings on router). Second machine running Vista with Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter.
* Initial setup was quick and relatively painless. It took a couple tries to get the properties configured correctly on my Vista machine (with a Belkin Wireless G USB adapter). Connection speeds were 10x faster than with my previous 802.11b router. Encryption setup was also fairly easy.
* Initial problem: A while after getting the router up and running, my Vista machine couldn't see a fileshare I had on another machine (initially it could see this, which is how I determined the 10x transfer rate improvement). I brushed this off as a setup issue that I could fix (though it was really the initial manifestation of my evening woes).
* After poking around a bit in the Wireless Security settings, I decided to go with the supposedly better AES encryption (instead of TKAT). After changing this, I entered into an hour+ nightmare. Vista and the USB adapter absolutely would not connect to the router, no matter what combination of WPA encryption I chose, including more than one restart of the Vista machine, numerous uninstalls of the USB adapter on the Vista machine, a couple restarts of the G router, and even a "return to factory defaults" on the router. Vista only gave me obscure messages: "no response was received from the router" and "unidentified problem". After poking in the event logs on the Vista machine, I found these messages from trying to connect: "Association Status: Fail 0x00038002" and "Association Reason Code: 0x0000000a" (also "Association Reason Code: 0x00000002"). Some searching turned up nothing useful for these errors. I then headed over to the Belkin website to see if they had anything: there's one Troubleshooting issue with "Frequent Wireless Disconnects". Here I found the resolution.
* Resolution: The router ships with the wireless channel set to Auto instead of to any single channel. Apparently, if there's any interference, the router will switch channels. Selecting Channel 1 didn't fix the issue, but selecting Channel 8 (there are 12 channels total) got me up and running (for now).
* Note: Others have had problems with Protected; my router was shipped with this Off by default.
* Second Note: Configuration changes are *slow* - any changes to the wireless settings will take about 15 seconds to apply (though since my two machines are on different floors I spent this time running down to try the change - I suppose this router could be advertised as an exercise machine).
In summary: This Belkin product is poorly tested and difficult to get working. Any cost savings are not worth the extra time you will have to spend setting it up. If you did try it, hopefully you'll find the above helpful.
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value for money; not a great of router when security is enabled, August 18, 2008
By Harsha Bhat
This product is a value for money. But if you try to enable advanced security with 128Bit key, then the connection keeps getting dropped every few hours.
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NOT COMPATIBLE WITH APPLE, July 24, 2008
By Nick
I bought this since it was cheap and I figured I could save a few bucks over linksys or netgear, but that is about as good as it gets with this. It is incompatible with Airport Extreme cards in older macs. The range is about 5 ft max with this and it frequently drops your connection every 20 minuets. Also I tested this with my iBook g4 and my iPhone and neither worked. I would not buy this due to all of the low ratings and get a linksys as I have an old wireless b from linksys that has been on 24/7/365 for about 4 years now!
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Not very user friendly, July 14, 2008
By Mother of Twins
I've had this router for about 9 months or a little more. First off, I am not a techie type person, although I do know my way around computers for the basics and maybe a little more. When I initially bought it, I had to call customer service several times to get all the kinks out. It may have been that it was just my first time using a router. I had a hard time with customer service, because I couldn't understand what they were saying a lot of the time. I'm not prejudiced or anything, but it was very frustrating trying to get technical information from someone with a strong accent. This may be an issue with other brands, I'm not sure. Well, now since it's been a while since I purchased the router, I'm having trouble with my internet being slow when I am wireless. That's really frustrating since I'm paying for high-speed internet. I'm looking into buying a better one that is more user friendly, and I'll do a little more homework this time.
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Better Wired than my Linksys, July 12, 2008
By J. Amenta (Michigan, USA)
My level of computer competency: Advanced (knows what goes on inside)
First off, I'm going to say that this router's wired functionality trumps my Linksys 10/100 4-port router (Model BEFSR41). The linked model does not support high amounts of traffic over multiple connections (BitTorrent), and the aforementioned product seems to self-reset every few minutes during BitTorrent trafficking (and for a few hours afterwards), which is probably the one thing that I cannot understand further than "the router can't handle the weight."
Conversely, this product (which retails for half the price) can handle the same load of traffic... and it is also wireless. I switched to this product when I found out that the aforementioned problem is almost unique to Linksys routers, which ironically seem to hold more prestige.
The product itself functions very well. It handles any load that I can place on it, but the front-end is relatively silly to navigate through. To go back to the root, you have to leave the all-inclusive navigation menu on the left and go all the way to the right to click an unnecessarily small "Home" button; the Belkin logo at the top-left, where the Home navigation should sit, directs to Belkin's website. Also odd is the fact that two options in the "System Settings" screen (NAT and UPnP) have their "Apply Changes" buttons switched: Select the setting you want for UPnP and click the "Apply Changes" button under NAT to make your change. But don't forget to enter your "Current" and "New" password before making changes to either of these settings, or it will let you know that your password is too short before changing the settings that don't relate to password changing! (UPDATE: This is fixed with 9.01.10, and I didn't want to re-write this paragraph after I figured out that it exists, as you will have this problem unless you manually find the new version... see next paragraph)
Please note that the most recent version of the firmware at time of writing is 9.01.10. I personally had version 9.01.07 installed, but when I check for firmware updates, it lets me know that there's a new version available: 9.01.07. Visit http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F5D7230-4&aid=5027&scid=221 and manually download 9.01.10 and upgrade it. With this installed, the router's "Firmware Update" functions now to tell me that there is no new version. Still keeping my 3-star rating, because I shouldn't have to hunt down new firmware updates... even though the firmware update fixes that problem in the firmware. Come on, Belkin... test things before you release them!
Aside from unnecessary difficulties in navigating to the home menu, the router does offer the functions that I need. Its wireless functionality is good. I can connect to it from upstairs, a good few feet above the router and separated by a floor and bed. The only problems that I have are with the front-end.
Also, I couldn't find a way to describe the feel of the plastic that this is made of... my significant other calls it "happy-meal plastic", as though it were a toy out of a combination food-and-children's-toy combo meal. It feels like the same type of plastic, so I will agree with that.
Other misc. notes:
--Lightweight
--Gets really hot... make sure there's airflow
--Not complicated: plug stuff into it and it works.
I give it 3 stars, because even though it works for me and I can work it, you don't get ahead of the competition by just having things work "eventually" (with the exception of Linksys... see first paragraph)... it should work "out of the box", and the "automated firmware update check" should actually update to the newest version, especially if the firmware fixes an error in changing something on "System Settings".
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DO NOT BUY!!!!, July 12, 2008
By P. Small (Chicago)
The router we wanted was not stocked in the store so we took the Belkin on the advice of the clerk. It did not work at first. Finally after lots of resetting it allowed internet to the pc for a minute. I tried without firewall to same result. Finally, I could at least keep the internet to the pc but the laptop would not connect. Then after a week it started to work for five or six days. The connection would drop every 5 minutes. Then it would not work at all. Tech support was terrible. Total waste of time and when he sent me to the level two his only idea was to shut off the firewall. Thats when I hung up and boxed the thing up and returned it. Bought a Linksys and it worked perfectly.
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Works fine as a "Wireless Switcher", July 9, 2008
By Medical Student
I have already a ethernet network and I was looking for a wireless access point in a corner of my network. I didn't wanted to remove the ethernet that was working fine. I was a afraid that this device needed to be connected directly to the DSL modem (as shown on the box). I just plug it in on one of the ethernet cables (that already has gone by the router) and bingo, it worked! No messing around with configuration or anything. I access the setting via 192.168.2.1 to put a wireless password and that was all, it is working fine and I am very happy.
It has some setting that extend the range but since I don't need them I haven't played with them.
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Help!, June 27, 2008
By PAT J. Miller (Staples, MN)
Belkin Wireless- G Router
Hi, my dsl is provided by a wireless co. When I hooked up the Belkin G the inernet connection light didn't come on, any suggestions?
Pat
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It keeps dropping my streams, June 14, 2008
By A. Liu
See title. It's a problem with the router/gateway part and not the wireless, b/c my ethernet connected computer has the problem whether the wireless is turned on or off.
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User friendly, June 2, 2008
By J. Whittaker (Traverse City, MI)
This was very quick and easy to set up-very user friendly. Simple easy to follow directions. Security setup was a breeze as well. Up and runnning in about 5 minutes.
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Great Product, May 31, 2008
By Insane Dragon (Phoenix, Arizona)
This router works out of the box within minutes. I have it networked with my laptop and my PS3 and it works wonderfully. I would recommend this to anyone looking to connect wirelessly throughout their house.
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ok, May 29, 2008
By Edgar (Las Vegas)
It was ok until broken...all good, but the hole where the power adapter goes got lose and can't plug it anymore, a waste, otherwise it did good while working.
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Good product, May 28, 2008
By Mahesh Hegade (Los Angeles, CA)
Good value for money. Worked right out of the box. Device management console is good. Easy to configure security settings etc. Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I had to contact Belkin support once and my problem was resolved promptly by a friendly and knowledgeable service rep.
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Nice Router, May 27, 2008
By snowfrog (Martinsville, IN)
I got one of these routers today in the mail and it was an open box item. I hooked it up and followed the instructions and found it very simple to install. I can say even though it's not top of the line my internet connection is a lot faster than just using my regular DSL modem that came with my internet connection. I have 2 game systems and a computer hooked up wired and 1 laptop wireless. They seem to do all right. I'm not for sure how they do while being on two at the same time but when I'm on one or the other everything works fine for me. I would recommend this to people who are just looking to hook up a small home network and don't want to pay to much to do it.
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Works okay, but I recommend getting a better quality one., May 21, 2008
By S. Matthews
This is definitely on the low end of 802.11g&b routers. Setup was easy, and within minutes I was surfing. But while monitoring the Network traffic in Windows Task Manager I noticed a big chunk of performance overhead compared to wired ethernet, especially for streaming video.
So I tweaked the settings to minimize the router overhead:
1) Disable 802.11e QoS. This was the biggest source of overhead.
2) Disable the Firewall if you already have one on your PC.
3) Disable "Protected" mode. This is covered in detail in one of the featured reviews.
4) Do NOT use WEP for encryption. It's been cracked for years. Use WPA-TKIP or WPA2-AES.
But be careful when choosing your encryption key. Short or easy to guess passwords are the only potential vulnerability of WPA/WPA2, but a long, random string is virtually impossible to crack. So I use a random string at least 30 characters long. I simply banged away at the keyboard and got a random mishmash of letters, numbers, and punctuation.
The final tip is for those of you who haven't purchased a router yet (and the BEST tip I can give you): If you're using bandwidth-heavy apps like file sharing and streaming media then spend a few extra dollars and get a better quality router. Yesterday I exchanged this Belkin for a Linksys WRT54G2, which is the new version of their very popular router. It's noticably faster at loading web pages. The reason is that the chipset in the Linksys is newer and faster so there's less router overhead. And the cost difference wasn't that much, especially when factored over the several years I plan on using it.
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Terrible, Terrible, Terrible!!, May 14, 2008
By Smooth Operator (Salt Lake City, UT)
Don't plan on being able to do much of anything online with this wireless router. It jumps on and off the internet, the signal is constantly coming and going, and no, it was not the cable modem, it was this router. It stinks, what a waste of money!
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Cool, May 14, 2008
By Joseph C. Bright
I have had no issue with it really. Ever now and then I have to restartedd my laptop so it can pickup the wireles signal but orher than that everythings fine
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fast set-up, May 10, 2008
By luigi (nobbern, wi)
I wasn't sure if this was the right product for me, but WOW, was I impressed. Fast and easy set-up! I was online in no time.
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YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, May 9, 2008
By CHIROSTANG
Waste of money. I could be within 5 feet and not be able to get a signal. Customer support also had no idea of what to do. Spend a few more bucks and get the Linksys.
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Lasted for four weeks., May 9, 2008
By C. Cauthen (Rome, GA)
This product didn't come with the installment CD or the manual. When I finally got it to work, it worked great...for four weeks. Now it won't hold a wireless signal. I am looking for a replacement.
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