Broadband in Bed! (Belkin Wireless Lan Router)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	Belkin Wireless Lan Router
Date:	20/03/04 (871 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to set up, Free technical support / freephone number / lifetime warranty, Relatively good price!

Disadvantages: Call centre seems to be foreign - not necessarily a disadvantage unless you get someone who doesn't understand you!

The Background:

After contemplating it for some time, I finally decided I wanted a wireless internet connection for my laptop... I use my laptop no end, as I like the convenience of being able to get on with some work whilst also being able to sit myself on a comfy sofa in front of the telly. Lazy? Probably... But if you've got to do the occasionaly bit of work from home, you may as well be comfy doing it!

Although I consider myself to be pretty good with computers (I teach ICT!), it's the software I'm good with, I have much less knowledge of components and networking and the likes. My original plan was to try and network my laptop with my desktop PC using a really long ethernet cable, therefore giving me the ability to roam my house (allbeit trailing a long cable behind me) and use the internet. I gave up on trying to set this up - I just couldn't get the two to talk! Anyway, after making use of Dave_UK's offer of computer advice in one of his recent reviews (hope you don't mind the mention there Dave) that's when I decided to splash out on a wireless option.

The Purchase:

As much as I dislike the place, my first stop was PC World - I figured this way I could have a look at the different types of gear available and get an idea of prices. As usual a "helpful" assistant offered their advice by saying that NTLWorld (my ISP) was only compatable with a certain brand of wireless gear, and, that brand just happened to be the most expensive in the shop. Fortunately I didn't fall for this... I left the shop determined to do a bit more research on whether there really was only one compatable brand, which I really didn't think was the case. A few telephone calls later to some randomly picked computer related businesses in the Yellow Pages and I was clued up on what it was I needed. I returned to PC World to make my purchase (reason being, I am a typical girl, who, when she decides sh
e wants something she has to go out and buy it there and then and can't be patient and order it online etc.)

I opted for the Belkin Wireless Router for a few reasons. I'd never heard of Belkin before, but when I was making my earlier calls this is a name that had popped up, and additionally at £74.99 it was one of the cheapest in the shop.

The Router:

The information on the box looked promising. It was going to share my internet connection without cables, it could be set up in 3 minutes, there was a free-phone telephone number prominently displayed on the box, and liferime warranty and free technical support!
I was pleased to see pretty much all the information I wanted to see on the box somewhere - the back showed a few diagrams of how it could be set up, a basic step-by-step guide for setting it up, a list of the benefits and a bit of blurb about wireless networking. The sides of the box gave all the info on what was included in the package and all the specifications, as well as diagrams and brief details of other compatable Belkin products. There's also information about a Parental Control package that Belkin offer with this product free for 6 months (no interest to me with not being a parent, but I'm sure would be of use to some people).

The router itself is a slim, flat, rectangular box that can be mounted on its side to save space, or can be sat flat somewhere. Setting it up is simple enough - basically a case of putting the CD provided into your computer and following the instructions. The software on the CD automatically configures the Router, however, for those more technically minded there is an instruction manual provided that guides you through various options that allow you to configure it yourself. Everything you need to set it up is provided in the box. Although the CD instructions are simple to understand, there's also a step by step leaflet in addition to the full instruction book
I've already mentioned.

This router can operate up to a range of 1500 feet (roughly 500 metres) - more than enough for the average household user (looking forward to the summer when I can sit outside!).
A maximum of 253 LAN users and 32 WLAN users can use the router all at once. Looks like it'll cope with my laptop on a wireless connection and desktop on a wired connection just fine then!
Minimum system requirements need you to have a Broadband Internet connection with RJ45 (Ethernet connection), at least one computer with an installed network interface card, TCP/IP networking protocol installed on each computer, MS Internet Explorer 4.0 or later or Netscape 4.0 or later.

Management of the router:

Once you've got your router all set up you can manage it through your internet browser. By going to a specified address you can change things such as the name of your network (SSID), add a password, change encryption settings, look at a list of all computers connected to your network (useful to check if anyone you don't know about is using your wireless network!), get firmware updates and much much more. All of this is set out in a way that even more novice users will be able to comfortably browse through the options available and make any amendments they might want to. There's normally a 'More Info' link on the page somewhere that'll give you any extra info you might need.

Support:

I've used the freephone telephone number on two occasions now. Once when I was first trying to set the router up, and again when I was having trouble making my laptop connect through a wireless connection as opposed to being wired to the router.
On the first occasion I didn't find the help all that much use. I'm not sure the lady I spoke to fully understood my problem as she gave me a totally irrelevant answer. My call was made at about 7:00 on a Friday night and the lady was foreign - I
put my experience down to the fact that the call centre must switch abroad out of office hours and decided to call the next day. As it happened I managed to solve the problem on my own after a bit of playing.
My second call was much more successful - this time it was on a Saturday morning. Again, it seemed to have been routed through to a foreign call centre, as the person I spoke to had a similar accent to the previous lady I'd spoken with. This time however they were much more helpful, and talked me through exactly what I needed to do - by the end of the (very brief) call, my problem was solved. I'd have no hesitation in using the support again as the second call more than made up for the useless lady the first time around!


To Conclude:

There's plenty more techy information I've probably not included in this review that some people may be interested in. As a general home user myself, my opinion is also geared towards the general home user who may be interested in looking at making the change to a wireless internet connection. I'm more than happy with my new internet connection - it does exactly what I need it to do, and despite my couple of little problems in setting it up it was a relatively easy process. Obviously when you've got a wireless connection you need to take into consideration the fact that other people within the range of the router may be able to connect using your connection, so it's important you bear that in mind when looking at your settings.
As my laptop didn't have a wireless network card I also had to purchase one of those - again I chose a Belkin one priced at £44.99. This brought the total cost of my wireless connection up to £119.98. For the amount I use the internet I'll have got my money's worth in no time!
Definitely recommended * * * * *

Summary: