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All Reviews > Hardware > Connectivity > Wi-Fi

October 23, 2008

Belkin N+ review

Product Code: F5D8635UK4A

Belkin's latest ‘N Class' router, the N+ takes a step back from the remarkable N1 Vision of a year ago. Visually, it's a simpler device, more akin to the original N1 with informative blue icons depicting status - if there's a problem the icon turns amber. It's a single radio 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Certified Draft ADSL router with four gigabit network ports. This is the ADSL version; the plain router version is £20 cheaper.

Like the Sitecom, it masquerades as a ‘green' product. The network ports are energy-saving and you can power off the radio at scheduled times. Quite how much carbon you'll actually save from a low-consumption device such as this we're not sure, but suspect it wouldn't over-fill a pencil or two.

Where the N+ differs from the N1 series is the inclusion of a USB port at the rear. This is strictly for storage devices rather than printers, and it allows you to share storage across a network. This will be handy for sharing music, but to do so you'll need to install the Storage Manager software on each PC. Neither is it as well built as the N1 and, despite its price tag, looks a little cheap.

Once again, Belkin makes setting up the device as easy as falling off a log; complete novices should have no problem with getting the N+ online in minutes. It has nice touches, such as updated firmware alerts and ‘guest' accounts which allow only internet access. It is also a very good performer, managing an excellent average throughput of 76 megabits per second (Mbps) using Iperf.

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User reviews from Reevoo.com

Belkin N+ scores 8.4 out of 10 based on 11 reviews

Reevoo reviews are by people who definitely bought the product

The 2 most helpful reviews:

03 Aug 2009 Mike, telford

Good Points

good functionality, good browser interface with clear settings and controls. Would probably setup OK on PC running XP.

Bad Points

difficult getting all functions to work on Vista PC with anti-virus suite - disappointing wireless capture on default setting (signal good but connection not maintained), cured by using twin channel feature. Wizard software supplied did not work on Vista. USB access for hard disk, memory card etc not possible on Vista but works for notebook running XP.