Belkin - Wireless Router - IEEE 802.11n

Approx 15 min to set up, all devices in the house connected without a problem, good speed for streaming videos to the bluetooth player, Wii, and laptops. Unit does occasionally lose connection when using the 5ghz band for streaming video, otherwise it appears to be a solid unit.

Bought this unit, was tired of Windows 7 dropping the printer share. Plus didnt want to turn on a computer just to print from another. Unit does as it is advertised. Has dual band network, easy to plug in and go if router is plugged into the cable/dsl modem. My network is much more complicated, using a firewall/switch at modem with wireless router at another location - for better house coverage. Also have partial 1gb network and 100 mps network. Setting the router up as access point was difficult. UNTIL I DOWNLOAD AN UPDATE OF THE FIRMWARE. Installation advice - update firmware before doing all the setups. Having the wireless (both bands) already setup was a plus. Printer sharing does require the software - reason is that as you print, the computer which is printing takes over the printer as if connected to local usb port. It is this take over feature which allows you to use a multi-function device. Default connection is connect only as needed then releasing printer back to hub. So if you want to scan, you use the software to access and hold printer, thus allowing direct access until finished (note only 1 PC access at a time). I haven’t tested full network strength/speed but connection signal appears better then my trustee Linksys router.

Got this a few days ago. My computers with XP set up easy and fast. But my wifes laptop with Vista had some problems. I called Belkin customer service (didnt have to wait long at all) a few things had to be changed on the router, but after a few minutes I was up and running. I had a netgear wireless G before and it was ok, but i needed more and on a budget. I was skeptical becouse of some of the reviews but it seemed like Belkin had fixed the problem. I must say, I love it, i can now download video's and music faster and play online games. I think there may be some glitches with this products set up, but for the price and Belkin resolving the problem, i am very pleased. Also it was very easy for my wii, Xbox and PSP to find my new router and connect to the internet, plus nextflix down loads faster now.

SET UP EZ/EXCELLENT. PURCHASED SPECIFICALLY FOR 360 ONLINE GAMING. WORKS FINE. PRODUCT STOPPED WORKIN AND HAD TO RESET DEFAULT SETTINGS FOR PRODUCT TO START WORKIN AGAIN. NOT ABLE TO TEST MAX SPEED FOR PRODUCT. BUT I FIGURE ITS GREAT. I ONLY GET 1MB IN AREA IM LIVING AT, WAITIN FOR UPGRADE TO SITE. WOULD RECOMMEND NEXT PRODUCT UP. ALTHOUGH THIS ONE WORKS JUST FINE.

This router looses connection easy, Belkin customer service is very poor you get a person that knows very little english and is not that helpful. You must use Internet Explorer, we use Firefox and now cannot because Belkin does not recoginize Firefox.

I did quite a bit of research online before picking up this router. In retrospect part of me wishes i'd picked up the "Play Max" version (only $30 more) because it has Gig-E ports, whereas the Play does not. Between that, a second USB port, and a few extra apps, there is virtually no difference between the two from a hardware standpoint. One thing that sets this router apart from most in this price range is that it supports simultaneous dual band (2.4 and 5Ghz). Most routers that have this feature go for at least $150. If you are running a lot of other wireless devices, like portable phones, bluetooth, etc., this is especially important, because the 5Ghz band is perfect for streaming video, VoIP, etc. From a future-proofing standpoint, it's a good thing to consider. This router is EXTREMELY easy to set up. If you're a novice but want a great router, this is perfect. The desktop software is pretty great, too, as it provides easy access to router settings, and the extra "apps" that Belkin includes. I have to admit that the included "apps" are pretty awesome, like the music metadata scanner. It will scan your iTunes library for songs that are improperly labeled and fix them for you. There are serveral other apps included as well. Also, the USB port on the back makes it really easy to share a USB device or devices if you hook up a hub (haven't tried that yet, but assuming it works, as it does in most routers with USB). For those more technical in nature, this router uses the Broadcom BCM4718 System-on-a-Chip (SoC), which is the same chipset used in the Linksys 620N. It's much faster than most router processors (@533MHz I believe, whereas most current routers are in the 300-400MHz range), which opens up a ton of possibilities if you are willing to try out open source firmware (which this *should* support, as it is Linux-based).

I had $25 dollars from the Rewards Zone program that I needed to spend and the only thing I could thing to buy was a new wireless N router. I ended up buying the Belkin Play router because it was $20 cheaper than the Linksys 2000. I also bought the Belkin Play USB hub for my son’s computer. I brought home the router and it was easy to set up. In no time at all I had all my computers connected and everything was rosy. I have an IT background and understand how to set up routers so I was not expecting too much difficulty in doing this. For two weeks the router ran fine and then my son’s computer stopped connecting to the Internet. I called Belkin Support. The call center is located in India (I assume from the accents) and I had trouble understanding a few of the representatives I talked to. When I called in the first time I was on the phone for a half hour while we went through all my setting in the router interface. We tried about ten different things and then I went to my son’s computer and reinstalled the software. Everything worked fine. Well, everything worked fine for two days. I called Belkin again. This time I was on the phone for an hour and a half. When I called in I had already done the ten steps that I had done with the tech the first time with no luck. I also had reinstalled the USB driver and had no luck. I talked with this rep who after a half hour on the phone with me told me he was escalating this issue to level two support. Fantastic! I then gave them my phone number so they could contact me “in the next 24 hours.” Well, the long and short of it is that I was not home and they left a number for me to call. Unfortunately the number was to the general support line and I had to start over again even though I had the reference number to this never-ending incident. I called the next day and we started from scratch. I told him that I needed level two support and gave him my incident number. He ignored this and went through his script where we did the same ten things again that I did the first two times. Soon I moved to my son’s computer and we played with the USB for a while. I tried the USB on two other computers with two different operating systems and it worked fine. It would not work on Windows XP. Anyway, I had this gentleman on the phone for about an hour and a half and after an hour he kept trying to get me to hang up and call back when I completed the next steps he had for me. I asked him why he was trying to get rid of me. He said he was trying to save me money from my cell phone. I told him it was a land line and I had unlimited minutes. He asked me to hang up at least six times. In the end, I hung up and told him I was buying a Linksys. Thank God for Best Buy. I went that day and returned the Belkin Play and the USB stick. I paid more money and bought the Linksys e2000 and a Linksys USB stick. I hooked both up and they work flawlessly on all my different operating systems including my son’s computer with Windows XP. Stay away from Belkin. Their equipment did not work for me and their support was absolutely horrible. Buy name brand, I like Linksys.

I am not sure what all the negative reviews are about. It seems like it was for the older N600 model. This version, which I have been using since October 2010 has worked like a charm! The best part I like about it is how easy it is to set up. One: Plug in the LAN cable to the modem Two: Connect the AC Power Cord Three: Install the Utility Disc. So far so good. What was nice was that I was up and running in minutes. I also noticed that the PC and MAC versions are identical making it easier all around. I still need to hook up my USB printer to the unit, but so far my 2 notebooks and Tivo HD seem to be doing a-ok with this router. Far more reliable than an older Wireless G MIMO Router I was using for 2 years.