Belkin Pre-N Report

Thought I'd pass along to the group my initial experience with a Belkin
pre-n system. I have the pre-n router, a desktop card (which is really a
PCI card with an adapter built into it for a wireless PC card to fit into),
and a notebook card for my Dell Inspiron laptop.

The setup was incredibly easy. Most other networks I've set up have been
Linksys, mostly because I'm familiar with their configuration utilities.
The Belkin router software starts with a wizard that basically sets up
everything automatically on a cable system (I'm sure there'd be a little
more user input on a DSL/PPPoE setup, but not much). There is new software
online for the network and desktop cards, which I'd highly recommend using
(self-extracting zip file that winds up being identical to the "shipping"
CD's except for updated drivers). I set up the system with WPA, which
requires you to use Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Service to manage
the connection (the only thing I found surprising/disappointing).

While I didn't experience speeds and ranges that approached the estimates
given on the box (6 to 8 times better than 802.11g), I did get both better
range and throughput than I got on my previous Linksys Wireless A/B network.
On that network I could sometimes get 30 mbps on the "A" network (but
usually in the 20's), but the range was limited to about 1 room away. The
"B" side was good for 6-7 mbps but had good range. On this system, I can
get 100% signal on a room that is one floor up and slightly horizontal from
the router, if the desktop is oriented properly, which is challenging with
the card sticking out of the back of the machine, which in turn normally
backs up into my desk. Even with it just shoved into its normal spot, a 70%
signal is normal. Depending on how I position the desktop, throughput
ranges from the high 30's to the low 40's, which I consider pretty good. My
laptop now works in areas of the house that it never worked in, getting a
50% signal in the farthest reaches. It consistently delivers 25+ mbps even
in the weak signal areas where "A" wasn't even an option. My guestimate is
that range might be 100% better, but I haven't tried a scientifically valid
experiment to verify.

I think there's probably more speed available through tweaking some
settings. I've played with a few briefly, but so far they mostly seem to be
range/speed trade-offs.

All-in-all, I'm very pleased. The network is fast enough and reliable
enough for me to be able to do full system backups across the network, which
is my toughest requirement. Streaming video and games seems to be excellent
thus far as well. A little less puffery on their numbers and having their
own software manage the connection with WPA on the notebook/desktop machines
are the only significant shortcomings I see thus far.

Questions, comments, and others' experiences are welcome.

--
Bob Horton

Bob Horton wrote:
> Thought I'd pass along to the group my initial experience with a Belkin
> pre-n system. I have the pre-n router, a desktop card (which is really a
> PCI card with an adapter built into it for a wireless PC card to fit into),
> and a notebook card for my Dell Inspiron laptop.
>
> The setup was incredibly easy. Most other networks I've set up have been
> Linksys, mostly because I'm familiar with their configuration utilities.
> The Belkin router software starts with a wizard that basically sets up
> everything automatically on a cable system (I'm sure there'd be a little
> more user input on a DSL/PPPoE setup, but not much). There is new software
> online for the network and desktop cards, which I'd highly recommend using
> (self-extracting zip file that winds up being identical to the "shipping"
> CD's except for updated drivers). I set up the system with WPA, which
> requires you to use Windows Wireless Zero Configuration Service to manage
> the connection (the only thing I found surprising/disappointing).
>
> While I didn't experience speeds and ranges that approached the estimates
> given on the box (6 to 8 times better than 802.11g), I did get both better
> range and throughput than I got on my previous Linksys Wireless A/B network.
> On that network I could sometimes get 30 mbps on the "A" network (but
> usually in the 20's), but the range was limited to about 1 room away. The
> "B" side was good for 6-7 mbps but had good range. On this system, I can
> get 100% signal on a room that is one floor up and slightly horizontal from
> the router, if the desktop is oriented properly, which is challenging with
> the card sticking out of the back of the machine, which in turn normally
> backs up into my desk. Even with it just shoved into its normal spot, a 70%
> signal is normal. Depending on how I position the desktop, throughput
> ranges from the high 30's to the low 40's, which I consider pretty good. My
> laptop now works in areas of the house that it never worked in, getting a
> 50% signal in the farthest reaches. It consistently delivers 25+ mbps even
> in the weak signal areas where "A" wasn't even an option. My guestimate is
> that range might be 100% better, but I haven't tried a scientifically valid
> experiment to verify.
>
> I think there's probably more speed available through tweaking some
> settings. I've played with a few briefly, but so far they mostly seem to be
> range/speed trade-offs.
>
> All-in-all, I'm very pleased. The network is fast enough and reliable
> enough for me to be able to do full system backups across the network, which
> is my toughest requirement. Streaming video and games seems to be excellent
> thus far as well. A little less puffery on their numbers and having their
> own software manage the connection with WPA on the notebook/desktop machines
> are the only significant shortcomings I see thus far.
>
> Questions, comments, and others' experiences are welcome.
>

There have been some reports of the Pre-N pc card having reliability
issues with some laptops including Dell (specifically the Lattitude D600).

Have you had any issues with the laptop and what model is it?

Thanks,
Harvey

Hi Harvey,

Looking back, I see that I said,it is an Inspiron, but forgot to say that
specifically it is an Inspiron 8500. No reliability issues thus far, but it
is still a new installation. One thing I did, though, was to disable the
mini-pc card that is sort-of built into the machine (FYI, in case you're not
familiar, the machine only has one external PC card slot; the other PC card
is called a mini-PC card and is accessed through a cover on the bottom of
the machine where a small plug in board resides. I've been told that this
is becoming a pretty common way of building notebooks recently). The
built-in card was 8022.11b. I think disabling it removes a good chance of
conflicts and/or hard to diagnose issues.

I'll let everyone know if anything changes.

--

"Harvey Gratt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:7uOdnc9RN4JzttvfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Bob Horton wrote:
>> Thought I'd pass along to the group my initial experience with a Belkin
>> pre-n system. I have the pre-n router, a desktop card (which is really a
>> PCI card with an adapter built into it for a wireless PC card to fit
>> into), and a notebook card for my Dell Inspiron laptop.
>>
>> The setup was incredibly easy. Most other networks I've set up have been
>> Linksys, mostly because I'm familiar with their configuration utilities.
>> The Belkin router software starts with a wizard that basically sets up
>> everything automatically on a cable system (I'm sure there'd be a little
>> more user input on a DSL/PPPoE setup, but not much). There is new
>> software online for the network and desktop cards, which I'd highly
>> recommend using (self-extracting zip file that winds up being identical
>> to the "shipping" CD's except for updated drivers). I set up the system
>> with WPA, which requires you to use Windows Wireless Zero Configuration
>> Service to manage the connection (the only thing I found
>> surprising/disappointing).
>>
>> While I didn't experience speeds and ranges that approached the estimates
>> given on the box (6 to 8 times better than 802.11g), I did get both
>> better range and throughput than I got on my previous Linksys Wireless
>> A/B network. On that network I could sometimes get 30 mbps on the "A"
>> network (but usually in the 20's), but the range was limited to about 1
>> room away. The "B" side was good for 6-7 mbps but had good range. On
>> this system, I can get 100% signal on a room that is one floor up and
>> slightly horizontal from the router, if the desktop is oriented properly,
>> which is challenging with the card sticking out of the back of the
>> machine, which in turn normally backs up into my desk. Even with it just
>> shoved into its normal spot, a 70% signal is normal. Depending on how I
>> position the desktop, throughput ranges from the high 30's to the low
>> 40's, which I consider pretty good. My laptop now works in areas of the
>> house that it never worked in, getting a 50% signal in the farthest
>> reaches. It consistently delivers 25+ mbps even in the weak signal areas
>> where "A" wasn't even an option. My guestimate is that range might be
>> 100% better, but I haven't tried a scientifically valid experiment to
>> verify.
>>
>> I think there's probably more speed available through tweaking some
>> settings. I've played with a few briefly, but so far they mostly seem to
>> be range/speed trade-offs.
>>
>> All-in-all, I'm very pleased. The network is fast enough and reliable
>> enough for me to be able to do full system backups across the network,
>> which is my toughest requirement. Streaming video and games seems to be
>> excellent thus far as well. A little less puffery on their numbers and
>> having their own software manage the connection with WPA on the
>> notebook/desktop machines are the only significant shortcomings I see
>> thus far.
>>
>> Questions, comments, and others' experiences are welcome.
>>
>
> There have been some reports of the Pre-N pc card having reliability
> issues with some laptops including Dell (specifically the Lattitude D600).
>
> Have you had any issues with the laptop and what model is it?
>
> Thanks,
> Harvey

Bob Horton wrote:
> Hi Harvey,
>
> Looking back, I see that I said,it is an Inspiron, but forgot to say that
> specifically it is an Inspiron 8500. No reliability issues thus far, but it
> is still a new installation. One thing I did, though, was to disable the
> mini-pc card that is sort-of built into the machine (FYI, in case you're not
> familiar, the machine only has one external PC card slot; the other PC card
> is called a mini-PC card and is accessed through a cover on the bottom of
> the machine where a small plug in board resides. I've been told that this
> is becoming a pretty common way of building notebooks recently). The
> built-in card was 8022.11b. I think disabling it removes a good chance of
> conflicts and/or hard to diagnose issues.
>
> I'll let everyone know if anything changes.
>

Disabling the built-in card was the right thing to do - it has been
demonstated to cause conflicts. If you haven't already, you should visit
the Belkin Forum at the dslreports.com site. There is a lot of first
hand info on the Pre-N products, almost all favarable.

Harvey

"Harvey Gratt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:-dOdneLG-czSRdvfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Bob Horton wrote:
>> Hi Harvey,
>>
>> Looking back, I see that I said,it is an Inspiron, but forgot to say that
>> specifically it is an Inspiron 8500. No reliability issues thus far, but
>> it is still a new installation. One thing I did, though, was to disable
>> the mini-pc card that is sort-of built into the machine (FYI, in case
>> you're not familiar, the machine only has one external PC card slot; the
>> other PC card is called a mini-PC card and is accessed through a cover on
>> the bottom of the machine where a small plug in board resides. I've been
>> told that this is becoming a pretty common way of building notebooks
>> recently). The built-in card was 8022.11b. I think disabling it removes
>> a good chance of conflicts and/or hard to diagnose issues.
>>
>> I'll let everyone know if anything changes.
>>
>
> Disabling the built-in card was the right thing to do - it has been
> demonstated to cause conflicts. If you haven't already, you should visit
> the Belkin Forum at the dslreports.com site. There is a lot of first hand
> info on the Pre-N products, almost all favarable.
>
> Harvey

I haven't been on that forum (use their speed tests and utilities, though),
as this is my first Belkin system. Thanks for the tip!

--
Bob Horton

I set up my Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router yesterday and was surprised
at how easy it was to do. And the signal strength is definitely
stronger than my old Linksys router.

But that was yesterday. Today my hard wired desktop, (not the
wireless laptop), was running painfully s....l....o...w. So I finally
broke down and called Belkin. The tech guy was polite and helpful and
he had me pull the plug (d'oh!) on the router for a few seconds. That
helped a little but then he said this:

"We are coming out real soon with some new firmware that you can
upload. Check back in a few days."

So there you have it. My Belkin story.



On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:09:35 -0500, "Bob Horton"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Harvey Gratt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:-dOdneLG-czSRdvfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Bob Horton wrote:
>>> Hi Harvey,
>>>
>>> Looking back, I see that I said,it is an Inspiron, but forgot to say that
>>> specifically it is an Inspiron 8500. No reliability issues thus far, but
>>> it is still a new installation. One thing I did, though, was to disable
>>> the mini-pc card that is sort-of built into the machine (FYI, in case
>>> you're not familiar, the machine only has one external PC card slot; the
>>> other PC card is called a mini-PC card and is accessed through a cover on
>>> the bottom of the machine where a small plug in board resides. I've been
>>> told that this is becoming a pretty common way of building notebooks
>>> recently). The built-in card was 8022.11b. I think disabling it removes
>>> a good chance of conflicts and/or hard to diagnose issues.
>>>
>>> I'll let everyone know if anything changes.
>>>
>>
>> Disabling the built-in card was the right thing to do - it has been
>> demonstated to cause conflicts. If you haven't already, you should visit
>> the Belkin Forum at the dslreports.com site. There is a lot of first hand
>> info on the Pre-N products, almost all favarable.
>>
>> Harvey
>
>I haven't been on that forum (use their speed tests and utilities, though),
>as this is my first Belkin system. Thanks for the tip!