The Belkin F5D7230uk4 54Mbps Broadband Wireless Router is for those who have a Cable broadband connection. If you have an ADSL broadband connection, your first router is here: ADSL Wireless Routers.
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Image Use with: Belkin F5D7050uk 54Mbps USB 2.0 Wireless G Adapter:
Review
Setting up a router for use with Cable broadband can be a tricky affair. This is because your cable provider will have the address of your Ethernet card. This is unique, so you can't just plug your cable modem in to the router and expect it to work. You need something called MAC Address spoofing. This is when the router pretends to be your Ethernet card. Belkin claim to have you up and running with this router in under 3 minutes. Which is a big plus point!
For those users with children in the house, the Belkin F5D7230uk4 wireless router comes with Parental Control settings. This is built in to the router, and you get a free 6 months trial. You can set which web sites or services you don't want the kids accessing, so as to minimize the harmful material they may come across.
Performance is excellent, too, with a good signal up to 25 meters. With all wireless routers, though, the farther you are away, the more the signal quality drops. When used with a Belkin USB adaptor, you can still surf the internet at the longer distances.
Another plus point is that this router supports Apple OS 8.x to 10.x and some Linux boxes (Ubuntu users should be OK).
- Low cost
- Easy to set up
- Parental Control built in to router
- Supports for Apple and Linux users, as well as Windows
- Excellent results for a low-cost router
- Good wireless signals at low (1 meter) and far ranges (25 meters)
- Getting on a bit now
BroadbandBuyer.co.uk rating 4 out
of 5 - 4 out of 5
Home and Learn Score - 4 out 5
A good all-rounder that you can get at a bargain price these days!