Belkin Wireless Play Router (F7D4302)

Bought at Costco as it was the only router for sale, and it has a USB port which means network printing OR file sharing without having a server turned on. My first complaint is that the "Easy Setup" diagram on the box clearly shows two USB ports on the back of the device while the spec. list says that it only has one. Two would make sense, since the router can act as a print server or a media server using an external hard drive. I can see that doing both at the same time would overload this router's abilities, as connecting an external hard drive and then trying to stream DVD quality video over the WIRED connection is sluggish and will cause VLC or Windows Media Player to hang. Forget about playing ripped DVDs from the hard drive if they have a menu. The menu will load and you will do nothing but wait once you click "Play Movie." Hell, even browsing files on the external HD will cause explorer to lock up.

If I stream a video from a computer on the network (over the...Read more

This was the first item I've purchased that had an Amazon rating of two (as of 6/10/2010) or lower. From what I could tell, most of the negative aspects of the router were due to:

1) The router locking up, forcing a reset.
2) The reset losing configuration information.
3) Extremely poor N signal transmission distance.
4) Worthless/non-working "apps" that install on a windows pc
5) Lack of tweaking options, missing front panel connectivity indicator

I'm on a mac, so the apps weren't of interest to me. However, the other features of this router (dual band wireless, usb print/drive sharing) coupled with the low price did attract me.

I immediately upgraded the firmware, and it solved problems 1-3 for me. I've had no issues with connectivity, the router has not reset in at least a week, and I can get a strong signal from either transmitter from down the block if necessary. I cannot vouch for the "software" based...Read more

I think I am most upset with the fact that I threw away the box and can no longer return this useless piece of plastic. The signal strength is terrible; I can usually find my 2.4GHz signal, but don't plan on finding your 5GHz that it is supposedly streaming out unless you're sitting directly on top of your router.

Every morning after the 2nd or 3rd day of use, my laptop would show the signal, but would not connect to the internet so I would go and do a reset (just like they tell you to do) and everything would work just fine - annoying, but manageable. On the 3rd day of reseting this :"router," it reset and had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN WHO IT WAS! Network name (SSID) and password were reset to company shipping defaults (thank god those were saved in my keychain) and I had to reset all of my settings.

I suppose this is what I get for saving the $10 and not buying a router from a more established brand. Trust me, buy another router - any other router - there are...Read more