Belkin Play Max router review

On the back of the Belkin Play Max router, you’ll find 4 Gigabit ethernet ports, the usual ADSL connector port, and two USB 2.0 ports.

The PlayMax supports both 2.4Ghz and 5GHz frequencies. For security there’s WEP as well as WPA/WPA2.

The power and ADSL cables are connected to the main unit out the box, and the default SSID and passwords were on a card on the side of the unit, with a special holding place stationed on the bottom.

Setup

The PlayMax comes with a setup CD that is, unfortunately, only compatible with Windows and OS X. Linux support (or lack thereof) aside, the setup is fairly quick and easy, though it can hardly be described as painless.

For one, I had to input VPI and VCI numbers, something which I haven’t had to do in ages. For another, the procedure installed a host of crapware that had to be manually removed after the review was completed.

Browser UI

The browser UI is split into two main pages. The landing page is not a usual login page; it’s a status page that lets you see if you’re connected or not and also displays information about the router. At the top of this page is a “Login” button that takes you to the usual login page.

The layout is fairly simple: a header panel contains links for “Home” (which takes you back to the “Status” page); “Help” (which is non-contextual and takes you to a long “Help” page); Login/Logout; and shows your Internet connection status.

On the left is a panel that has links to all the various options, while the rest of the page displays the actual information, settings, toggles, and switches.

It’s simple and uncluttered, but there is a lot of space on the right that could be used to provide contextual help (i.e. help that is relevant to the current settings that you are viewing).

Belkin Play Max ADSL router

In use

Generally, the Play Max handled things well, but there were some problems with wireless connectivity.

The range on the WiFi was decent, but connected devices would sometimes lose Internet connectivity. The effects of this could be seen when wireless devices could no longer update social feeds or browse, while devices connected by cables remained unaffected.

Using the USB ports was easy: plug in your drive and browse to your router on your network. Using both ports at the same time is somewhat tricky because the they’re placed very close together.

Conclusion

The Belkin PlayMax ADSL router is a fully-featured router, but falls somewhat short in terms of usability and reliability due to the setup and WiFi issues. This doesn’t necessarily make it bad, just unimpressive.

If you’re in the market for a new ADSL router, the PlayMax is worth a glance, but you’ll probably find a better fit elsewhere.