Anyone know if Belkin Pre-n router offers advantage to people with 802.11g connections?

Per Belkin, there is an advantage in a mixed b and g environment, as apparently the pre-n does not fall back to lower speeds like the g does in similar situations. Best to read the Belink Pre-n documents.

Thanks. Wish some real users who bought this would chime in. Thanks Patty

Patty -

After months of tinkering with DLink super G (DI-624, dwl-g650 an dwl-g520) with varying degrees of success, I just today bought a Belki F5d8230-4 along with a notebood and PC version of their pre-N NIC's.

In a word: superb! Range, speed and signal strength all blow away th best I've ever seen with D-Link's super G. Also - the router tested ou to be very compatible with my D-Link dwl-g520 and dwl-g650 in "norma G" mode, with an excellent signal and good bandwidth.

Overall, this appears to be a well thought out and well execute product, despite being brand new

Patty -

Just realized that I didn't address your question directly. I probabl should have tested actual throughput with the DLink router talking t the DLink pc card vs. the Belkin pre-n router talking to the DLink p card - but I didn't.

A couple of issues involved here:

If you're actually getting better-than-G throughput due to proprietary mechanism such as Atheros "super g" or Broadco "afterburner", then it's quite possible that throughput between a ne Belkin pre-n router and your legacy "g" card will be slower than it wa with the proprietary technology.

If, however, you're using "standard G", at 54 mbps signaling rate, the I believe you'll actually see better results with the new Belkin route than you would with your old standard G router talking to your legacy card -- although I can't swear to it. It would have been interesting t try that out.

When I first installed the Belkin pre-N router, I left my old D-Lin "super g" cards in my wireless pc's. Everything connected up ver quickly, and it felt - subjectively - that the connection wa significantly quicker than it had been with the DLink di-624 running a a claimed 108 mbps signalling rate. But it was when I installed th Belkin "pre-N" card in the pc that I saw the really dramati improvement in speed that's promised by the Airgo mimo "pre-N technology in the Belkin router.

I know this probably won't talk to the 802.11n standard that will b finalized in the next 18 to 24 months. But as far as I'm concerned, a the minimum, it's a souped-up proprietary "super G", no different i the compatibility issue than Broadcom's afterburner or Atheros super g None of the proprietary speed-boosting G technologies will "talk" t the eventual "n" standard at anything other than standard "g" rates Belkin's version is somewhat pricier than the others -- but it's muc faster and has better range -- and the difference in performance i worth the difference in price for me, and the compatibility issues ar NO different than you'd see with ANY proprietary enhanced "g technology.

Last note - more directly in answer to your question about improvemen with legacy network adapters:

The Belkin wireless connection to my old Dlink dwl-g520 wireless car proved to be more stable than the Dlink di-624 connection to the sam card

Glad to hear that you have good result from your pre-N wireless router. May I ask you one question:

- Have you ever tried the reset button at the bottom of the router?

- Do you need to use a pin or a paper clip to press down the reset bottom?

- Was this easy for you to press down the reset button with a paper clip?

- What did the router respond when you hit the reset button? Did the LCD start blinking?

I am having trouble with my Belkin pre-N wireless router. For some reason, using a paper clip to press down the reset button doesn't seem to do anything. Therefore, I want to see if mine is a lemon or something. Unfortunately, the tech support didn't know much about how the reset button works because the router is too new and they don't have a picture on it on files. I am still waiting for a replacement unit from Belkin. While I am waiting for the replacement, I would like to learn how to reset button works and what I should expect when I press down the reset button.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Jay -

I haven't tried the reset button yet, but I'm guessing that this is pretty basic microswitch. I looked at the hole on the bottom labeled "reset". In my experience, sometimes if you use something as thin as paperclip, it might actually slip alongside the microswitch when yo insert it in the hole, instead of depressing it.

If you have an oversized paperclip (about twice the size of a norma one), or a thin nail or brad, that might work better. Be sure to inser it *straight* into the hole so it can't slip to the side of th recessed button.

Also - from what I read in the Belkin documentation, pressing th switch momentarily will do a simple reset - probably the same effect a if you simply selected Reboot in the web-based configuration utility If you want to reset to factory settings, you're supposed to depres the switch for at least 10 seconds before releasing it

Thanks for the suggestion.

I am almost ready to return it today. The Belkin tech support losed the record of the conversation; therefore, they don't know that they are supposed to send me a replacement unit.

I will try your tip to reset the router one more time with a brad nail when I get back home. If this still doesn't work, I will have to return it tomorrow.

Jay Chan

No luck. Last evening I used a finish-nail to press down the reset button, and I surely felt the button toggling down. But the router still didn't work (the installation program no longer recognize the router).

I will return the router today before the refund period expires.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Jay Chan

Sorry to hear that it didn't work. I know that having a positive experience with SOHO WiFi equipment is largely a matter of luck. So far (only 3 days), my Belkin pre-n equipment has been working perfectly. Got my fingers crossed, hoping that it will prove to be more stable in the long run than my DLink setup was.

Good luck Jay.

Jay,

To restore the factory defaults, you have to follow what I have written below. The Belkin manual is wrong. Apparently they know about the problem and are going to fix it.

1. Power down the Router
2. Press and hold the reset switch.
3. Continue to hold the switch in and connect power again. Keep holding the switch for 5 seconds.
4. The Router will boot up with the factory settings.

Kinda lame way to do it, but they say they are going to fix it.

Jay (and wirelessnetguy) -

Interesting - that's virtually the same way that DLink (and I believe Linksys) let you restore a router to a "pristine" factory default state. In DLink's case (as with the di-624 rev Cx), you hold in the reset button, unplug the power, continue holding in the reset button while powering up and for an additional 10 seconds. This does what they call a "crash recovery" process -- it actually wipes the firmware in the DLink router, and when it comes back to the life, the router screen requests you to point to a firmware image to load into it.

One thing I noticed that's different between Belkin and DLink's approach to this is that Belkin actually specs a separate piece of firmware to manage the initial boot up of the router that's apparently separate from the user-loadable firmware image. For example, on the status screen on for my F5D8230-4, I see that the "Boot Version" is

Actually, I have known about this. One of the Belkin tech support told me something like yours already. The steps are slightly different though:

1. Hold the reset switch for 15 seconds.
2. Power down the Router while keep holding down the reset switch.
3. Continue to hold the switch in and connect power again. Keep holding the switch for 15 seconds.
4. The Router "is supposed to" boot up with the factory settings.

The differences between what they told me and what they told you are:

- My version requires me to press down the switch while I am powering it down.

- They want me to hold a down for 15 seconds instead of just 5 seconds.

I have no idea which way is the "TRUE" way to reset that pre-N router. Anyway, I already returned the router (CompUSA didn't give me any problem as long as I purchased stuff from them). I am in the process of wiring most of my house using cat.6 cable and a Gigabit switch. I will revisit the wireless situation when the official 802.11n comes out in 2006, and I will use it to cover areas in my house where I cannot run wire into.

Jay Chan

You are correct. The Belkin router uses a Linux kernel and the bootloader is the same CFE (Common Freeware Environment) available freely over the net. The Router is using a Broadcom microprocessor (BCM4704) to perform the routing functions. From my understanding, the firmware image stays in the NVRAM of the router and is simply re-written to the flash memory during the restore process.

Thanks all. Great info. I may soon buy one of these units. Patty J