Belkin N+ Wireless Router Reviewed

[flashants]

In the wireless router review of Belkin N+, the SAMBA performance is said to be 2MB/s.
Just wondering what are the testing procedure and testing tool.
2MB/s seems to be pretty low...

 

[thiggins]

Performance was measured using iozone and our standard procedure.

I didn't test file sharing on the 610N, but did with the 600N.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30208/96/1/3/
I used the same test procedure.

 

[tdream]

Not many people discussing the belkin, which is a shame as there are a lot of belkin products on the market. I had an old belkin wireless b/g router before that used to overheat when the wireless was active for more than an hour so I dumped that and got my trusty Netgear DG834G which has been in service for the past 3 years.

Now it's time for a change (for the better I hope). Reading the forums a lot of users were suffering from heat issues with the WRT610N, so I'm giving Belkin another shot based on your review of the N+. It looks nice, has upright anntennae and decent throughput. My main concern is speed and range. Normal usage location would be around C and D based on your charts. I'll be happy with 30-40 mbit from my Macbook and Vista 32bit Ultimate Pc. Will report back when I get the router and client key.

Please post more guys, info good or bad is still good. And keep up the great work thiggins. Love the site.

 

[tipstir]

I was going to buy the Belkin N not the plus but I wasn't to impress although it's only $59 bucks at Wal-Mart. The N+ cost $20 bucks more. It does look good from the outside but it had mix reviews here and around the other forums. I was at one store and the someone already returned the G version. I had 4x of the Wireless G Router and one Wireless G Plus Router a few years back. I think the Best G was the Wireless G LAN add-on version. Never had issue with that one, never ran hot or dropped ports.

DIR-655 has been very well so far with A3/1.11 hardware/firmware. I use that as the main Wireless N Router and Gigabyte access.

I had picked up for $25 + free shipping a TEW-652BRP Wireless N Router to use as Wireless N Access Point. That's not too bad, the Web Admin is so basic and doesn't offer a lot of features actually none. So the buzz around the net at the DD-WRT forum group is to flash the unit to DIR-615 C1/3.01 since that's more stable than the Trendnet 1.00.08. So far so good. Well at least I know now that 150mbps link is really 130M inside the router at 40%.

I've downloaded some media to test it out over the secondary wireless access point N performance is very good downloads speeds for 3,000kb files.

Overhaul LAN access like MS Office 2007, download general files open files to install process is very good. Streaming videos over the wireless LAN are just fine.

You might want to think about this model, if not give the Belkin N+ a try out.. I know Belkin Wireless PCMICA cards are very good, I never had issues with G versions.

 

[tdream]

I ordered the Belkin N+ already but it can be returned easily enough. Just like to test it out for myself as thiggins advises, everyone's user environment is different. The house is mostly wood, though the alarm system is wireless, mostly likely a or b, it's quite old tech.

Saw the a lot of good reviews about the DIR 655, the review on snb didn't rate the throughput as high as the N+. The main application will be trying to stream HD files. Compressed HD performs well. I just watched some compressed HD mkv files, peak download was 1.2MBs and .3MB stream once the initial buffer was underway. TS files are a not working well, haven't tried blu ray as that will definitely not work on my g network!

Over 4 MB/sec would be a nice boost for me, would be 100%-150% improvement over g. What kind of throughput are you seeing with your routers?

 

[tipstir]

I got a lot wood here myself our floors, but the house has all new drywall (walls and ceiling) I even got a Sun room where I use as my main SOHO.

Other devices are 5.8GHz DSS for cordless phone, and a wireless door bell system so I can hear either the front or rear door bell. Nice system it chimes 12 melodies and 2 for the front. You can change it around. The wireless receivers are power line type. I need to get one for the family room though.

Wireless N was strong with DIR-655 but on the first floor (main) only in the dinning room kitchen area I get 150mbps excellent link. Now if we move into the living room area that goes to very good 120mbps link using the DIR-655. If I go into the Sun Room it's about the same. I keep the DIR-655 in the family room (basement) closet I deem network closet small enough to house everything I got in there which is 3 switches + 7x 100mbps + 1x 54mbps WAP + 1x 300mbps WAP + 4x 1000mbps, cable modem and DIR-655.

http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/350675530.jpg

Layout #12 still a work in progress I am tying to isolate 100mbps and 1000mbps so I can still have gig speed along with fast Ethernet at the same time.

Now with that Wireless N Router I had mention in the other post I place that on the main floor in the living room in the corner as shown here in this photo.

Now since this is running the weak N is now at excellent 150mbps link in the living room and in the Sun Room. Then again I link directly to this device.

Wireless Turbo G is this Buffalo it running DD-WRT, overclock the CPU from 200MHz to 233MHz. High Power system has the one ANT using 4dbi set to 70mW. That's pretty strong I can really pick that up at 54mbps on the main floor, second floor (I haven't tried the attic that has a lot of wood and is already floored) might make that a library or den) and the family room basement. Last summer I did some test using Passmark Wireless Mon and did a walk around of my property the signal strenght turned out to be very good. I was able to go out into the woods then the signal dropped to good.

 

[tdream]

I wrote a long review and the net died before I could post it (non router related, someone picked up the phone)

So here's the quick and short version of it. Everything installed easily enough. Macbook speeds 6MB/sec download standing right next to the router.
2-2.5MB/sec download, 3-3.5MB/sec in the bedroom.

PC 7.5MB/sec max in the bedroom. Syncing with the USB client at 270mbps

Overall I would recommend this product. It definitely is an improvement on g, mainly on throughput speeds, less so on range. If you're in the market for a wireless N router. You could do way way worse than get the N+ router and usb key.

I'll report back as the days go by and see what other hidden issues or reliability problems come up. But so far so good.

Thanks to Tim Higgins for doing the review, and brining it to my attention

edit- I placed the USB key on a stool outside my bedroom, so it would be 4-5 meters away from the router. Vista registered 11-12MB/sec doing an SMB file transfer. Not bad eh, pity I can't just leave it there as it gets in the way of people walking by.

Macbook is syncing at 130mbps and can get upto 6.8MB/sec when I'm standing next to the router.

Overall N is quite impressive as long as are fairly close to the router you should be ok. If range is your priority, definitely stick with G.

 

[sala]

Firmware v24 has some hidden pages for network share controlling which you can use to make new users and add rights.

It is also possible to telnet into this device modified firmware available at http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Belkin/F5D8235-4

 

[tdream]

Is there a performance boost with the open firmware? Not sure it'd be worth the hassle if there isn't any worthwhile features or improvements.

 

[sala]

Is there a performance boost with the open firmware? Not sure it'd be worth the hassle if there isn't any worthwhile features or improvements.

What is this "open firmware" you talk about?
Firmware mentioned few posts back is modified v24 belkin firmware.
As you can see from readme's there is telnet access, usb-sound modules and dtach.
As this device has usb port, you can run wget or some torrent client in background with dtach to download some content from internet. But you cant do that with unmodified firmware. Anyways, if you don't know what telnet is then you probably can ignore all this

 

[tdream]

What is this "open firmware" you talk about?
Firmware mentioned few posts back is modified v24 belkin firmware.
As you can see from readme's there is telnet access, usb-sound modules and dtach.
As this device has usb port, you can run wget or some torrent client in background with dtach to download some content from internet. But you cant do that with unmodified firmware. Anyways, if you don't know what telnet is then you probably can ignore all this

The OPENwrt link you gave. So it's the "open firmware" I referred to.

Yeah I know what telnet is, but am not sure if it's worth the effort since I already have a dedicated serving downloading torrents and serving files.

As a side note, the reliability of the router is getting very shaky. Lots of restarts, like every couple of days. Sometimes more than a couple of restarts are required in a day. It's also is quite finicky with running g connections too, whilst in N+G mode. It's not enough to get me to return it but it's definitely irritating.

 

[tipstir]

Update N+

NPU
Ralink RT 2880
266.67MHz

RAM 2x 16MB
32MB

FLASH
8MB

Gig Ports
Green (Realtek)
838KB Packet Buffer

 

[tipstir]

f5d8236-4 Update N model Only

NPU/WNPU/10/100 Ports (all-in-one SOHc)
Ralink RT3052F
384MHz

RAM 2x 16MB
32MB

FLASH
4MB

 

[tipstir]

Testing Belkin N+ with Ralink PU/WPU.

I've purchased the Belkin N+ currently using as the main router and ditch the DIR-655 for now. First tested the Belkin N+ as AP mode only which is has that features and it does disable a lot of features doing so. But the problematic DIR-655 A3/1.3.0NA firmware causes the problems for the Belkin N+ in AP mode. I look direct map connections with my server. I use NDM = Network Drive Manager which keeps a constant connection to the map network drives though it. If that looses a connection then I it's either the system down or there is a problem not connecting to that wireless device. All other wireless is able to connect fine.

So what I did was to take the DIR-655 out of the loop and use the Belkin N+ as the main router and wireless. So far after 10 hrs everything has been stable.
Port Forwarding is not present but there is Virtual Server which technically is PF.

Torrents - so far that working better than I hope.. When I first got the DIR-655 1 year ago that was strong but now it's fading. Belkin N+ download number in mb/s shot past 2.50 mark I haven't seen that in a long time with DIR-655.

T-Box has TCP.SYS patched to 200 connections
T-Box BT Software is set to 100 connections
TCP-Z shows max connections at 150

As for Wireless I running in mix mode but G -44dBm and N-54dBM

 

[tipstir]

Current Setup
http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL1099/4465559/21344768/366027516.jpg

Best speed so far...

 

[randallhill]

Belkin N+

I purchased the N+ to replace my Linksys 10/100 wired router to create a wired gigabit network for four desktops (they have a gigabit NIC and/or gigabit port). I'll turn on wireless when I need to. The gigbabit LAN / WAN and price ~$80 were the main reasons to switch out routers. The NICS were about $15 each and support Jumbo Frames. There were two issues that popped up during installation of the N+, however, not N+ related. Issue #1, my NAS (Iomega Storcenter ix2 2TB -w/jumbo frame support) was not being recognized on the network (Win7, Vista or XP) past the N+ and #2 my DSL interent connection was disconnecting/connecting every 5 minutes. Thinking it was a Belkin and/or Iomega issue I contacted their support, they were baffled and could not offer a solution to either issue. Then I read an article here on SNB about setting up a SOHO and checking network connections. So I checked the CAT5e connection to the NAS and it was connected to my APC BX1500G (RJ45 in/out) sure enough that caused the Windows network issue and I plugged the CAT5e directly from the N+ to the NAS and the problem was solved. Although I'm not sure why the Linksys router could be connected to the UPS then to the NAS and be found on the network and not the N+. As for the DSL internet connection drops, it was actually a configuration setting for the SpeedStream 5100b lease time. By default it checks for a connection every 5 minutes, I set it to check every 24 hours, that solved the internet connection issue. So, both issues were not N+ related. I have the network set up for jumbo frames 7KB MTU and the NAS is set up for jumbo frames. Using NetWorx to test the throughput of transfering files from desktop to desktop I saw on average of 300 Mbps. It did help speed up media sharing using the NAS (yep, I know the ix2 is slow, but I think the jumbo frames setting has helped) . All in all, I think the N+ is a great deal, price/feature set wise. I had to do a lot of research troubleshooting the initial N+ installation (NAS/modem issues) and found many threads were outright bashing the N+ mostly because of connection issues or speed issues or not getting the router to work correctly. Seems to me the N+ is probably just fine, it's the users that gave up on the N+ prematurely because they thought the N+ was causing all of their issues. Anyway, great site SNB.

 

[thiggins]

The "data line protection" feature in the UPS is spec'd for 10/100 Ethernet, not Gigabit.

 

[randallhill]

Belkin N+

Tim, thanks!

Good to know re: UPS

...also, how come the Globe light on the N+ faces the wrong way e.g., Africa is backwards...lol...

 

[soconfused]

Wireless backup access!!

My apologies if this is the wrong forum. I have recently connected my ext. HDD drive through my Belkin N+ router. With the help of Belkin and the use of 'Guest' as the username all seems well. I'm running Vista Home Premium and have been using the Backup and Restore Center to backup hard wired. Although I have access to the wireless HDD I cannot get access to 'backup'. When I try to change the settings to access the ext. drive I put the routers address in and I'm then asked for a username and password for access. 'Guest' and the password left blank wont work this time and I'm at a loss. I think I need a folder name to go with router address but I'm not sure. Any help would be appreciated.