Belkin wireless N+ Storage Router for $99.95 with Free shipping until 31/09/210 or While Stocks Lasts
Belkin Part number F5D8235AU4.
Belkin Wireless N+ Gigabit Storage Router $99.95 with Free Shipping
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Store RepDigitalstar on 28/09/2010 - 11:58 digitalstar.com.au (1440 clicks)
Last edited 28/09/2010 - 11:59
Last edited 28/09/2010 - 11:59
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Anyone tried one before?
Hi, Go for it mate i have one at home and it's impressive , by the way most belkin products come with life time warranty , just make sure you get a proper invoice/receipt.
Cheers
No but it's listed as one of the top 10 in this CNET article and reportedly has the greatest range of all of them …
http://reviews.cnet.com/best-wireless-routers/yes the range is pretty good if it's not the best …, i don't care about the interference , make sure your cordless phone is 5.4ghz and you will be fine , as well make sure you keep it away from the kitchen (microwave).
Cheers
Absolutely hate Belkin wireless products, worst wireless products ever. Have had so many problems that I'd never consider going anywhere near Belkin ever again.
I'm sure their low end gear is pretty average (as you'd expect) but they do have 24/7 tech support and lifetime warranty, which is a big plus in my books.
Only 'catch' with this router is that it's not dual-band, but for this price, it's still excellent value.
forgive my networking noobiness, if its not dual band, does this mean it doesnt do G network at all? or just not both at the same time?
Dual band is both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz this device is just 2.4Ghz.
@aacheney: So with dual band you get a stronger signal? Or is it just so that you can pick either 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz in a situation where you have a cordless phone running on 2.4GHz (and running on 5.0GHz will reduce interference?).
@illumination: You will get less interference thru 5Ghz as less people are using it. stronger signal not really. 5GHz can have problems with range thru walls.
@aacheney: 5GHZ is 802.11A, not 802.11G/B/N use 2.4GHZ
Not all devices support 802.11A. Just because your device has wifi does not mean it will work on 802.11A
@anthony: Actually 802.11n is both 5ghz and 2.4ghz.
The advantage of going with 802.11n 5ghz is that there are significantly more non-overlapping channels available compared to the 3 (or kind of 4 if you use channels not allowed in AUS). This means less interference and more throughput because of this.
However most 802.11n gear seems to be only 2.4ghz which is so highly populated you get poor performance. Not to mention that to do the 40mhz wide channels to get the max bandwidth you need 2 non-overlapping channels which isn't possible most of the time. I have some 4-5 wireless networks around my house all in 2.4ghz and most using in-between channels which means they suffer from overlap both ways so there is no chance in getting full performance out of 2.4ghz. On the other hand 5ghz in my area is completely empty.
Personally I use a combination of bith 5ghz and 2.4ghz. One 5ghz-n network for anything that supports it, a second 2.4ghz-n for the run of the mill 802.11n gear which is 2.4 only and a third network on a non overlapping channel running 802.11g only for things like the iPhones and gear which doesn't support 802.11n at all. This way I have less performance problems from a single iPhone being at the edge of the signal dragging down the bandwidth for everything else and can cover nearly everything else. I use a Linksys WRT610N (v2) and a Linksys WRT54GS (v1.1) both running DD-WRT. The 610N is dual band but its twice the price of this Belkin, it has also been replaced with the Cisco/Linksys E3000 which also semi supports DD-WRT. I've seen people flash the WRT610N with the E3000 firmware so they are nearly identical but obviously a few changes in there somewhere.
Oh and to be perfectly honest, whilst I haven't used this device I have used a number of Belkin products and some are good and some a crap like any brand BUT their support has been pretty poor. I've got an 8port KVM from Belkin at a client site and i've tried 4 times now to get an issue resolved with it and had no luck.
Only 1 year warranty on this router.
Kind of a bummer, if it had lifetime I wouldn't have had a second thought about buying it. (DGL-4500 karking it..)
"Warranty Lifetime Warranty"
@aacheney: I'm not sure, I assumed that was a typo after seeing "1 year warranty" on cnet as a disadvantage.
Could be different in Australia I suppose.
I have the same experience with my cheap Belkin router. Regular drop-outs, connection issues etc.
It was cheap yes but I didn't expect it to be this bad.
I've got one of these…I've registered to ozbargin to leave this note…Don't get one of these if you want to hook it up to your PS3. Customer support told me to work it with the PS3, you have to disable or lower the security for your wireless internet… My router is stored away catching dust.
how much lower security?
WEP or nothing…
Most of the time I put consoles in the DMZ to avoid online issues
WPA and a PS3 works without issue
@ Cyssero, sorry dunno why this didn't get appended to your thread/reply?
I’m sure their low end gear is pretty average
It's fine actually, quite the opposite; and you cite the very reasons why it's a safe enough bet! ;)
it's not a bargain. CNET shows the stat of price range $75-$99. Considering current exchange rate, A$99 is just a market price.
cnet.com is US so dont forget to factor in shipping.
And buying a new power cable
things in australia, never cost the same as in the states.
Different country, 280 more million people, different taxes. Things always cost more here…
And you can't forget the free shipping…
true, but dont let that fact allow retailers to rip ppl off. big price discrepancies mean some middleman somewhere is ripping people off.
edit: hmm… the model is 2yrs old. is that old?
Positive for the idea.
people are so quick to neg comments. definitely not a bargain, much better buys for the price.
Such as???
Not doubting you, well yeah I am a bit; if that's the case, how's about you share a couple? ;)
Anything that isn't a Belkin router. They're terrible, I'm not just saying that, they really are useless at anything. You may as well not use the "storage" part of this as it'll crap up in no time.
You may think this is hyperbole, but they are useless devices. Belkin don't know how to make good routers, full stop.
@Gecko: Agreed.
I had a belkin for 2 weeks, it went back to the store because it would not work more often than it would work.
I swapped it for a linksys which is fantastic.@anthony: I'll admit my personal experience with Belkin is somewhat limited, but it is positive. I've still got an older Belkin 7230-4 G router, never missed a beat & still works beautifully, I keep trying to give it to someone but nobody I know seems to need one ATM! I've also got a few mates with N1 vision Belkins, they are fine, the guys swear by them!
If you guys want a benchmark standard for shite, check out some Netgear stuff; now the support from them is woeful!
My Open 824RLW is still working great, so I don't need to upgrade yet, but I'm always keeping my eyes out for a cheap upgrade path! ;)
Agreed, Linksys is fantastic, but when you're paying the premium price you expect the premium product! ;)
@StewBalls: How did you go with the 824RLW's VOIP? I found it pretty horrendous, had issues where it would leave the handset off the hook or not pick up when you picked the handset up. Tried multiple phones as well. Went back to my Zyxel 2032RL which was 100x better for VOIP. Open Networks are pretty much gone now afaik so no chance of support not that they gave me anything useful. Technically the 824 was a billion rebranded so I was contemplating firmware flashing but just ditched it in the end.
@claymen: Honestly, I've never bothered with VOIP; I don't make enough outbound calls at home to justify the hassle! ;)
Yeah, no more Open Networks, sadly…however, I am reliably informed I could flash the 824RLW with a Billion 7404VGPM (IIRC) FW since as you rightly point out, it's basically a rebadge! I'm pretty lazy though, by the time I get around to that hopefully it'll have died or be so outta date I've gotta replace it!
Til then, I ain't touchin' it…I'm a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kinda guy! :p
Honestly, I’ve never bothered with VOIP; I don’t make enough outbound calls at home to justify the hassle! ;)
What you can do is sign up on a free monthly plan and if you want to make a long distance call you use your voip providers dial in service where you dial a local number which connects you into their voip network where you can make long distance calls at voip rates.
No hassle, no hardware and no monthly fees.
@anthony: Thanks for the heads up dude! If I start making any substantial degree of national/international calls from home I'll definitely look into that! :)
Is it free shipping till the 1st of October or 30th of Sep?
till 31st of Sep… So I guess it's free shipping forever … because that day will never come.
Edit: On their website it says until 30th September
September only goes till 30th no 31st of sep!
Also How many storage devices does this support at once
Just a note I have this router the wireless strength is very good however if you thinking of attaching a harddrive for storage be aware that accessing it is very very slow
I have the exact model and it comes with lifetime warranty. All i feel like saying to belkin is shove it up their ass. This is worthless. Currently using it and i have a dropout every five minutes. I have a desktop, laptop and a printer connected to this wirelessly and it just can't cope. Internet is slow as. Don't buy this. The lifetime warranty is not much use if they replace shit with shit.
A suitable alternative for some people might be this Networking USB 2.0 Server that connects to your router. While it doesn't have wireless, this shouldn't matter if your router does — and it is half the price.
No reviews, though CitySoftware have a product demonstration clip — I'm pretty sure it's this model. There's a similar version (see SlashGear, Amazon UK & user review) which can handle four devices via a hub, but it may be difficult to get.
In terms of being a standalone product, the Belkin product may be better for straightforward setups for your non-tech companions, although, having said that, this looks like a less complicated product with less to go wrong.
This product looks really good, but a quick questions.
Says that it supports "External HDD". Does this include portable hhd's as well.
Is there some kind of PoE to USB power going on, or would the usb device need external power?! Will buy if its PoE
Says that it supports “External HDD”. Does this include portable hhd’s as well.
Well it only supports USB devices.
You cannot use it directly with a IDE or SATA drive.Is there some kind of PoE to USB power going on, or would the usb device need external power?! Will buy if its PoE
It depends what USB device you are plugging in.
If it is a printer than it will need its own power source.
If it is a USB drive then it will get its power from USB.If you want to power the USB server with PoE you can make your own cable to do it.
Will purchase this if.
- The router doesn't require a restart when you RELEASE/RENEW IP
- The router doesn't require a restart when you PORT FORWARD
I have a DLINK DIR-655 and it requires a reboot for those simple things, I hate DLINK a lot. Their firmware is awful
I use a DGL-4100 as my gateway with a WRT54GL parked inside for wireless. The DLINK gateway is great, can change most of the settings on it without restarting it.
Also has some very nice port forwaring features.
Not specifically what I mentioned.
not a good router. though Cnet rated it high, users only gave it 2.5 star in average
Looks like a decent router, and currently cheapest on StaticICE by $40 (http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=F5D8235AU4&…).