Is the Belkin N1 Junk?

I just bought this router off eBay( Belkin N1) After I won, it I looked at reviews on Amazon, and it doesn't look so good. Have any of you used this router before? And will it be faster than my 2005 Linksys G router?

 

Looks like this router has issues with dropping connections. Before you fully set it up, make sure it has the latest firmware. Download it now, and make sure you get the right version for your particular hardware revision. Here is the download link, which from your auction link looks like 3xxx.

Unfortunately, if it ends up not working well for you, you're going to be out the $35 you paid for it, plus whatever extra money you'd need to spend for a new router. I would have bought a brand-new router from somewhere with a return policy. I've been burned by this in the past. IMO, whatever money you might save upfront just is not worth the risk that it might not work, and you'd have no recourse.

 

If its a defective router when I get it, shouldn't I be able to return it?

 

Right at the top of the listing it says no returns accepted. You might get lucky and receive a refund from the seller if it doesn't work. I personally don't trust any eBay sellers with a feedback rating of less than 99% when they have less than 500 overall evaluations. You might have recourse with PayPal if dealing with the seller directly doesn't help, but that process can take weeks.

 

I saw it says no returns, but if its a defective, I believe they'd take one it back if I opened a dispute. I personally have 269 100% feedback, so I know the system.

Thanks for replying

 

I've been doing the eBay thing for more than 11 years myself as a buyer and seller. I've managed to stay at 100%, except for one a-hole seller that left me a neg after I left them a well-deserved neutral. I withdrew it, and in a fine act of poetic justice, they're no longer registered on eBay.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Good luck with the router. I've personally had some really bad luck with routers of late, so I hope this one works without hassle for you.

 

Me too, I bought a Belkin Basic that was crap. Worse range and speed than my old G router. I'm still wondering after I lost out on the Belkin Basic, i bought another Belking? I should just get a Airport Extreme router

 

That's exactly what I ended up buying after failed experiments with Linksys and D-Link. The quality of those routers just isn't what it used to be. I bought a D-Link DGL-4300 router when they first came out, and after a couple firmware updates, it was absolutely fantastic. The only times I ever needed to reboot it was whenever my Internet connection went down due to a service outage.

The Airport Extreme doesn't have any of the advance configuration options of the popular brands, but it just works. Its speed is good, the range is outstanding, and it doesn't have annoying flashing/blinking LEDs. The fact that it only has 3 ethernet ports versus 4 on most isn't a big deal. I never have more than 2 wired devices connected at a time. I had no problems connecting my PS3 and Wii. Even my HP AIO printer connected without a hitch.

It's expensive, but I was able to get a discount from the Apple Store because my company has an employee purchase plan account. I also had a mail-in rebate debit card from a cell-phone upgrade, so the total out-of-pocket was less than $100. You can't beat it at that price.

 

yes it is.

 

Care to elaborate?

 

all i no is that my buddy had one, and it wouldn't connect to the dsl line, it may have been just that one.

 

i dislike belkin routers very much - my baseline belkin N router has frequent dropouts, and i'm pretty sure that the lights on the front are meaningless (lol it'll be flashing red, yet i can connect to it and access the internet, and other times, it will be blue (the color it is supposed to be when working) and I won't be able to get it working at all, but then sometimes, it just works fine.

 

Belkin routers suck all around. I have had too many problems with mine to bother listing them down.

In short, just don't bother. Get yourself a quality Linksys, D-Link, or Netgear router.

 

I echo everything they said. If you buy a Belkin router, and you're an internet junkie of any kind, it will drive you to the funny farm. What Belkin does is design a nice looking shell for woefully inadequate internal components, which most of the time can't handle anything but 1-2 devices with only casual web browsing. Try to do any of the following would cause it to freeze:

Move files across local devices
downloading anythink larger than 50MB
Netflix
Local iTunes sharing
etc, etc... I could go on for hours.....

 

Agreed, except that I would drop D-link from your list as well. They have gone way downhill the last 2 years. It took them about a year and a half to make the 655 work properly, by which time they had dropped one major selling point and a minor (but handy) feature. Their longevity has also taken a hit.

Buffalo and Asus are good alternatives, however the Asus interface leaves a bit to be desired and both can be hard to find. Get a router from either of those 4 that are capable of aftermarket firmware (don't use it unless you have a need) and you will very likely end up with a nice router that will last a long time with very few, if any problems.