Belkin Accessories

[Dolby]

Are these any good ... ?

I usually try keep my my card / wireless router to the same brand and it's usually Linksys. However I quite like the Belkin Vision router http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=377018 - not only for it's good looks and LCD display, but because of the Wireless N and 1000mbit ports.

I'd also be looking at a Belkin PCI Wireless N card on the other side.

Any idea of the quality? I think the router retails for R2,699.00

 

[fxit_man]

I have it. It's nice

- Range is very good from what I saw (provided you don't have metal stuff next to it sucking up all the signal)
- LCD display is very cool! Allows you to see who's connected, data downloaded etc etc.
- Looks very sexy!

 

[Dolby]

How much was your router? You think R2699.00 is a decent price?

 

[fxit_man]

I actually got it as a present from my grandfather in the UK. I think the price there is about R1800

I saw the price here at IC, but to be honest with you, I didn't find anything about the router that could justify the R1000+ more price tag than the rest of the Belkin products (for my use anyways).

As it has it, Belkin products are already overpriced!

Just watch out (as with all the new Belkin products), most of them (including this one afaik) don't include a modem. They are just routers (i.e. they just share your internet connection). They need to be connected via Ethernet to your broadband modem.

If you've got extra money then by all means go for it!

However, you said you have a Linksys. Is it the WRT54G? There's quite a few supported models.
Have you loaded the custom firmware onto it? Apparently you can increase the range a heck load and add features found on the expensive high end routers!

Read up about it here

The advantage with the Linksys also is that you can buy one of those long antennas which can increase your range by a lot!

Was thinking to myself in shopping malls, restaurants etc where they have wireless connectivity - they all use Linksys. Must be because of the range? If so, maybe you could buy an antenna or load that custom firmware and give it a shot before emptying your wallet on a Belkin.

 

[Dolby]

I currently have a Linksys WAG300N ADSL/router with 4 x 10/100 wired ports and Draft N wireless. On the wired ports I have the following connected :

*TViX Video Streamer (gigabit ethernet)
*Xbox 360 (10/100 ethernet))
*Logitech Audio Streamer (10/100 ethernet)
*PC (10/100 ethernet)

On the wireless side I have only a single PC with a Linksys WMP54G wirless (54mbps). The wireless signal/range is perfect - but I find 'G' a little slow. Also the security is only WEP from what I understand.

With the Belkin, I planned to replace both Linksys to get quicker throughput than the 'G' I'm getting at the moment (hopefully double!) so my wireles performance would increase ; my TViX would operate at gigabit ethernet and I'd add a gigabit network card in the PC.

Effectivly I'd have a similar config, but the TViX and wired PC would be 10x quicker (in theory) and the wireless would be twice as fast (hopefully).

But you're right - price does come into it and I'm not sure whether R2700.00 + R600.00 would be worth it.

 

[fxit_man]

Yeah it's quite a pricey idea. And it's almost always better on paper than in reality!

I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives out there?

Sorry I couldn't be of more help