Belkin F5D8053 N, Good Range
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Good Range
First, let me say I’m no tech, so my comments are more observational than technical. I bought this unit and the matching Belkin N wireless router because of the range touted by N wireless. I installed the router in the basement of my home to service a desktop which is located on the second floor, at the opposite end of the house from the router. The Belkin N wireless adapter gives me a 4/5 signal strength and moves data at about 78 mbps, even though the signal passes through 3 floors and multiple walls. So, it lives up to the claim of excellent range.
On the downside, once installed, the Belkin program manager was unable to “see” the router, even though the Vista network manager could see it and reported the signal as good to strong. I could not connect to the router using the Vista network manager because of a conflict between the Belkin program manager and Vista. Every time I attempted to connect with the Vista network manager, I got the “blue screen of death” and the computer shutdown. Therefore, if you are using Vista with this product, you must go to the Belkin website and download the driver for Vista and install it. In attempting to resolve this problem, I called Belkin support. That effort proved fruitless as the Belkin support team was unaware that a Vista driver was necessary and that Belkin had such a driver available on the Belkin website. So, Belkin technical support was not helpful in resolving the issue. Thankfully, a call to Dell Support pointed me in the right direction.
Once I loaded the driver, however, the Belkin program manager would not recognize the router. The good news is that the driver removed the conflict and the Vista network manager now allows me to connect to the router and surf the internet.
Bottom line is that the hardware works well but the Belkin program manager was for me at best useless and at worst, a source of trouble.
Update (5/17/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.
The featured review for this product, Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter Electronics, was written by Hunt N. Peck.
The average rating for this item is out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.
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Tags: 802 11n, 80211n, adapter, belkin, belkin f5d8053 n, belkin wireless router, extension, network, networking, poor support, usb, usb wireless adapter, vista, wireless, wireless adapter, wireless n, wireless router
Posted on: April 19, 2010
Filed under: Reviews
Reviews (3)
C. Hauptman
March 24th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Excellent Signal Strength, but disable the Belkin Software
I just upgraded from a wireless G PCI card to this USB device. I still have my Wireless G router. My signal strength went from “poor” with old adapter to “excellent” with this device. I would rank this as a 5 star product, but the Belkin software manager is non-functional. It would/could not detect my network. I could not even change any settings in the Belkin program. All of the settings would return to default after you clicked on another field. I repeat, THE BELKIN PROGRAM DOES NOT WORK. Fortunately, it does tell you how to use Window’s Built-in Wireless Manager instead of the Belkin program. However, you need the internet to read the help-tip instructions on microsoft.com. I guess the Belkin software turns off the automatic Window’s Wireless Manager, so it can replace it’s functionality. Like I said, the product works great once you re-activate the Window’s Wireless Manager. [...]
Hunt N. Peck
April 8th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Good Range
Rated 4 stars.
S. Vaughan
April 9th, 2010 at 4:52 am
Lousy management program makes problem solving impossible.
I bought this adapter because a double-solid wall appears to make my PC location a black hole for signals. This item’s cable is over 4′ long, so I figured it could get me better reception in the middle of the room. And better reception it gets (mildly). However, the Belkin connection manager is beyond lousy.
1. When I jump onto my computer after it has been in hibernation, the connection is lost and the program itself appears buggy and unresponsive to my request to connect. The only way to fix this is to reboot, so now I’ve basically prohibited my computer from ever hibernating. This is a pain.
2. I’ve gone into the Belkin management settings and chosen only my home network as a default network connection. None of the unsecure neighborhood networks have been “okayed” by me. But the manager keeps going behind my back and choosing random networks as official connections that are “OK” to connect to.
3. When I have no connectivity problems, the manager sometimes says that I have a good signal to the router but the router has no internet connection. It’s clearly not in sync with reality.
So despite my hopes that this was the solution to my internet woes, it is only marginally better than the g-card I had installed before, and the lousy program is more of a hindrance than an aid.
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