Review of Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
I’m in the midst of putting high speed WiFi throughout my entire forty-nine unit apartment building (more on that in a future post) and in doing so have been testing a bunch of WiFi equipment to see what is going to make this both easy and possible. When I lived in Spanish Harlem I created a WiFi network that spanned my entire floor and bled down nicely to the courtyard below with two Buffalo routers and WDS, but it became clear that the Buffalo equipment wasn’t up to the task of spanning entire floors at this new and much larger building.
Enter the Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
Enter the Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router F5D8230-4. The range on this thing is fantastic. I tested it’s reach with both an 802.11g Airport card built into my 15″ Powerbook and also a 802.11b Orinoco PC Card. With both, the range was more than double that of my 802.11g Buffalo Wireless router. Note that I’m using plain old 802.11g and b clients with this so-called Pre-N router and getting fantastic results. You would absolutely get the best possible range and speed by getting the Belkin Pre-N Router and matching Pre-N Client PC Card.
What’s This Pre-N You’re Talking About
802.11n is the next WiFi standard that will become reality in late 2006. Much like the improvement from 802.11b to 802.11g, it will offer better data rates and a much larger reach, but that’s not until 2006. Until then, companies like Belkin are coming out with what they term as ‘Pre-N’ equipment that has some of the advantages we’ll see in the future. Since real 802.11n equipment is so far off, don’t have any illusions that this product will be a valid 802.11n router when that time comes. For now however, it’s an excellent 802.11g and 802.11b base station that has a lot more omph than your standard 802.11g router. Of course, it also has a higher price tag, but if what you need is a wireless router with a more impressive range, this is it. It doesn’t offer WDS, but odds are you won’t need it.
Only Suckers Pay Retail
The best price I can find for the router seems to be over at Amazon. Amazon has the Belkin Pre-N Router for $119.99, the Pre-N Notebook PC Card for $79.99 and for those who need to add one to a desktop, the Pre-N Desktop Network Card.
Keep in mind that this is just my impressions and your house, apartment or whatever may vary your results. Whereever you order it, make sure they have a healthy return policy.
Reset the Belkin Pre-N Router to Factory Defaults
One last note: To reset the Belkin Pre-N Router to factory defaults, unplug the router, press and hold the reset button while plugging the power back in. Release the reset button and it will be back at factory defaults. The manual mistakenly says that you reset your factory default settings by hitting the reset button for 10 seconds while the router is plugged in. The manual is wrong.
Permanent Link
thanks abunch I was trying to figure out how to reset this damn thing!
“Reset the Belkin Pre-N Router to Factory Defaults”. Thanks for info. Had spent over an hour poking a pen point into the back of my router. Nearly threw it out the window before doing a google search.
Dude.. Thank you for the reset info. I was about ready to toss this router
Sames as 1, 2 & 3. Thanks!!!!!
Thank you very much for your info. You are correct the manual is wrong.
Thank you so much!!!!
Cheers for the rest tip. I had changed IP address for router to use it as a repeater, but did not take a note of new IP, could not log in. Thought I was never going to get it to work again. Thanks again
Same as all of the above. You little side note saved me a lot of time and frustration.
thanks fot telling me to reset the damn thing.
it was a miracle to reset the ting.
everything works now.