Belkin BELKIN F5D92304 Wireless G Plus MIMO Router
MPN: F5D92304
howard67
from GA
Member Since Dec 2004
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User has 1 Months of experience with this product
 Disappointed with range
Weaknesses:Range and ease of security set-up
Posted Feb 24, 2007 - Before purchasing this router, I had tried another, more basic model Belkin wireless router and was not satisfied with its range. What I was attempting to do was set-up a wireless network to enable two desktop computers to share a common DSL connection. The distance between computers is 50-75 feet, but one resides in my sister-in-law's house and the other in my in-law's house. You can look out the window of either house and see the other computer; the only thing separating them is two exterior walls (mostly windows) and the width of the driveway. The first Belkin router set-up very easily, including security, but the signal strength was very weak. So I exchanged the router for this one, thinking the "MIMO" feature would enhance the signal. The set-up of this router was similar to the first, however, I did not find the option of setting up security on the included software as I did with the first router. For this model, I had to go to the Belkin website for additional set-up instructions not included on the CD. Now that it's set-up, it works, but I'm still disappointed in the strength of the signal going to the remote computer. One computer is wired to the router, the remote machine is connected via a USB wireless adapter. I've found that attaching the adapter to a USB cable and placing it it the window yields the strongest signal. (At first I thought it was an adapter problem, but I get a very weak signal using my wireless-ready laptop.)
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Paid what it is worth ... not much
Strengths:Easy setup, lifetime warranty
Weaknesses:Limit of 4 MAC addresses, poor range/speed, fixed antennas
Posted Jun 13, 2007 - Got this as a replacement for F5D7231-4 that died. First thing I found out is that you can only add 4 MAC addresses (it ignores any added after that). Belkin support had me go to a UK site to get the latest firmware (US site lists none available), but that did nothing. After 2 hours and 4 phone calls, Belkin is "looking into it" and expects to notify me of a firmware update to fix the problem. I am not holding my breath.
The range of this router is far less than advertised (even less than two old "B" routers I had). I was easily getting 100 feet with good to excellent speed, but the F5D9230 barely connects at 50 feet, with very low speed! Cannot even add external antennas to improve performance.
It was a free replacement for a dead router, so I can't complain too much, but I would not recommend buying one. Hopefully when this dies, Belkin will have a decent replacement.
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GKobay
from CA
Member Since Nov 2005
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User has 10 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Farther distance, stronger connection
Weaknesses:Took me a while to figure out I had to go to the BELKIN website to turn on the security
Posted Nov 19, 2005 - I first bought, then returned, a NETGEAR WGT624 (which didn't work very well more than 75 feet away) and returned it for this BELKIN F5D9230-4 G+MIMO which seems to work throughout my larger house, even though I didn't upgrade my G notebook card yet to the G+MIMO.
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phil73t
Member Since Jul 2006
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User has 6 Days of experience with this product
Not bad, not great either....
Strengths:Customer service is helpful.
Weaknesses:Not as strong as advertized. Repeated resetting of wireless system. Wireless system seems to be very badly implemented on this router.
Posted Jul 7, 2006 - Bought this to replace an older Linksys B wireless router. Initially bought a Linksys G router which seemed to be terrible. Returned Linksys router for this more expensive Belkin MIMO model that boasted of its "increased range". This router started off great for about 40 minutes, but then stopped working. Customer service suggested that I set up the router to act as a bridge. This worked, however the router seems to restart regularly causing me to loose my IP address. I often have to turn the wireless off on my fairly new Windows XP laptop. I have upgraded all the software on my laptop so I can only say the problem on the router.
Incidentally, before my old Linksys B wireless router broke, everything worked fine, and the network speed seemed to be pretty fast.
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witzall
Member Since Dec 2006
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User has 4 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Initial setup is dummy proof. I am still fiddling with placement and antennas, but no question that signal strength and range are increased by more than 10%, even with a mere wireless b notebook card.
Weaknesses:I have not yet tried encryption, but I was never able to get it working on the Belkin F5D6231 wireless b, which this replaces. Also, warning to novices-resetting takes longer than you might expect.
Posted Dec 29, 2006 - One disappointment, not exactly this product: the 'matching' card, unlike the router, is not compatible with Windows ME. This should be a flashing warning, not small print! The result of overlooking this incompatibility is best left to the imagination.
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Strengths:The ability to work within far distances and is very easy to setup.
Posted Nov 29, 2006 - This product I recommend to those who are not very tech savvy and is very easy to follow the instructions in the manual. It is very good to use in a large home.
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Unsolid and annoying
Weaknesses:Constantly drops connection, I can't stream videos wirelessly and xbox live is out of the picture, almost unplayable and i'm a room next door to the router and get 1 bar of signal
Posted 2 months ago - Pretty much what the weaknesses are. I literally keep messing with the settings, and its like the internet resets itself every time and I haven't found any fixes for its constant drops, which is a very common problem. BE WARNED: MANY PEOPLE HAVE CONSTANT INTERNET DROPS. DON'T BUY
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User has 2 Days of experience with this product
BELKIN F5D9230-4 WIRELESS-G PLUS MIMO ROUTER - F5D9230-4-->JUNK
Weaknesses:This thing is crap like the rest of belkins products.
Very poor signal.
Posted Feb 19, 2008 - Ok here it is:
Signal is poor going from a distance of 35 feet in Open...I say open air. No walls--> Open air. My wifes G5 tower is 6 feet away from the thing and gets 80% signal. Hey why not 100%? Well you got me. I tried all the dam channels. Number 1 does the best. Turned SSID back on because we couldn't get any signal with it off. My iMac G5 is only 35 feet away with No walls between it. I get a signal of 30 % tops. 35 feet people.Where's this 100 feet suppose to happen...Not gunna.
I am using a Yahoo widget to show signal....Wifi Watcher.widget, and my Mac also has a signal meter built in that shows the same. This is the second belkin wireless router now in a week. The other one...same thing died after less then a week. Do not buy belkin routers people..they are junk!! My next one will be a TRENDnet. Friend has one that's been up running now 3 years with not a problem, and it is their cheep version.
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Strengths:Easy Set up. Reliable so far.
Weaknesses:A little bit slower than the Linksys I had to replace.
Posted Dec 5, 2007 - So far we are quite happy with this Belkin router. It features quick and easy set up with the cd that is included in the package. The settings are easy to make once you gain access to the router through your browser on your computer.
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 Unmitigated Garbage
Strengths:Makes a Good Paperweight
Weaknesses:Pathetic Signal range, Constantly Drops connection
Posted Oct 28, 2007 - After Unpacking This router, the supplied DSL Filter was DOA requiring me to spend $20 to purchase another one.The Setup Interface is very poor, Slow and Clumsy. Signal range is pathetic, i receive a stronger signal from my neighbors d-link router next door than this router placed directly upstairs. Frequently drops internet connection. Requires constant reboots, sometimes three times a day. Investigating other reviews of belkin products, this is not uncommon and serious questions need to be asked why a company is allowed to get away with making such trash.
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Disappointing
Strengths:It works, but only just.
Weaknesses:Limit of 4 MAC addresses. Range not much better than previous access point. Needed to use switch to increase performance.
Posted Sep 9, 2007 - Hi, I have just (August 2007) bought a Wireless G+ Mimo. I was having the same problem as another reviewer with the limit of 4 MAC addresses. It really annoyed me because I wanted an open network but wanted to limit exactly whose machines connected to it. I couldn't find a firmware update, and anyway I was put off by looking any further after reading the other reviewer's mail. Then I started playing around with the router and found that you can edit the settings file because it's text. First I saved the settings (typically in a file called user.conf), then looked for filter_mac_5 and entered a MAC address after the equals sign. I then reloaded the altered settings, and, voilà, it worked. It seems you can add up to 50 MAC addresses: filter_mac_6, filter_mac_7, etc. Watch out for carriage returns and line feeds. It's probably best to use VI, or something serious (i.e., not Windows Notepad). By the way I am sure that this method would not be supported by Belkin, but it does seem to work. Though I would expect you NOT to sue me if your router stops working. By the way (this has nothing to do with MAC addresses), I found that performance was terrible until I placed a switch between this router and my cable provider (Fastweb Italy). Waste of a switch, I know, but at least it works. Cheers Daniel
(I posted this as a comment to another reviewer's message, but I wanted to give a rating as well).
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parokyae
Member Since Mar 2005
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User has 55 Days of experience with this product
Strengths:Signal strength & speed is good. There is very few lag time.
Weaknesses:Documentation is not comprehensive.
Posted Nov 16, 2006 - I've had this router for more than a month now & I must say it's working quite well. I'm able to stream videos/images to my TV from my PC without problems.
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