Belkin N+ Wireless Router Reviewed

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/conte.../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/VOL109.../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.

http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL109.../350675537.jpg

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.

http://pic19.picturetrail.com/VOL109.../350675545.jpg

[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/...lkin/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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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