Introduction
The device that is almost a necessity when it comes to having a wireless network is an Access Point. An Access Point allows your wireless clients to communicate with clients on your wired network, extending your existing network's capability. Another popular device in today's home network is the broadband gateway router, an efficient and useful device for the many people who have Cable or DSL connections and wish to safely share this connection with more than one computer. Recently, Belkin has combined both of these devices into one, as many manufacturers have done, to produce their Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router. For many people this device seems to be of much use, but let's see if Belkin's implementation worked out well.
Specifications and Features
This Access Point/Gateway Router, as you can tell from the specs, supports access from both wired and wireless clients. The 3-port switch allows access from your existing wired network and integration with wireless clients. As most manufacturers are including switches with their home gateway products, this is not an outstanding feature, but it nonetheless is a good one, as a switch will cut down on collisions, improving the speed of your network should have you have multiple (more than two) computers on it. The Router can be used with both normal Cable/DSL connections and also the PPPoE variants of each. There is no integrated print server, a feature that would have been appreciated, but would not be necessary. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is supported by this unit in both 64-bit and 128-bit key strengths, as should be expected from a wireless device nowadays. The data rate of "up to 11Mbps" means that the rate may be scaled down from that maximum depending on conditions such as range or interference. This scaling-down of transmission rates under less-than-ideal conditions is meant to help preserve data integrity. Lastly, the unit draws its power from a regular AC receptacle through a DC adapter at 5 volts.
The unit with antennae extended. |
Top-down view. |
3-port switch. One of the RJ-45 jacks goes to your Cable/DSL modem. |
The first thing you will want to know is that this router came very will packed, with several inches of foam surrounding it, ensuring the antennae weren't damaged during transit. In fact, my first impression of this gateway router was how small it was, especially compared to the big box it came in. Compared to my older Netgear RT314, this unit looks far smaller (and is quite a bit thinner) and takes up less room, even with the antennae extended. The router is nice shade of purple that doesn't seem unattractive or obtrusive. All of the LED's are upfront, and they provide the user with all the needed knowledge, I.E., Power, Internet Connection Status, Wireless LAN Status and Transmit/Receive Lights for the Wired Clients. Included with the Router is a nice setup guide/manual, and a CD-ROM that contains software to help the new/inexperienced user setup their computers for a networked environment. The manual was well done and contained all the information needed to properly install and setup this device, however left out a few details concerning some configuration options. This did not impede functioning of the router though. In addition, Belkin included a nice glossary at the back explaining several wireless-specific acronyms, as they have done with previous product manuals I've seen. One thing I would like to see included is a CAT-5 cable, to connect the broadband modem to the wireless router. A little thing like that would save time for the end user, who may have a need for one.
Indicator LED's. |
Each antenna can be lowered and swivelled. |
The bottom has four gripping feet. |
Unlike some other Routers out there, there is no serial interface that can be used to configure the router. All configuration is done through a client computer by accessing the Router's interface through a web browser. The configuration options from the browser are fairly detailed, and I will get into them later on during installation/testing. A reset button is provided for those times when the router may stop responding at all, and it is visible in the above middle picture near the left of the back. Like most home gateways, this router supports DHCP and NAT functions. Because it functions as an Access Point, it will be at the centre of an infrastructure-based wireless network. Here's a quick re-cap of what that's about:
Here are a few ghetto diagrams I drew in an attempt
to visually explain Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure modes:
(In both diagrams, the dotted/dashed lines are the wireless signals.)
 Ad-Hoc - Peer-to-Peer type network. |
 Infrastructure - The Access Point is physically wired to the network. |
In the infrastructure mode, wireless clients do not directly communicate with one another. Rather, they send their frames to the Access Point, which then sends the frame to the proper recipient. This mode can be more secure because access from wireless clients can then be controlled via configuration of the Access Point.
Installation
Installation was about as easy as it could get. I connected my computers to the Wireless Router, turned it on, and then configured the settings for my broadband connection through the use of the guided "Initial Setup" page. Since I use Sympatico DSL, which uses PPPoE to establish a connection (and verify the user) I simply had to change the settings to reflect this. I then plugged the DSL modem into the appropriate jack of the router, and opened up my web browser to see if I had a connection. Everything worked fine! This is a definite plus for people who are tired of having to spend too much time configuring products just to get them to work! To get to the configuration screen, you have to open your web browser and go to the address 192.168.2.1, the default internal IP of the router. (I later changed this to 192.168.0.1, which was reflected in some screenshots.) From here you can see the basic options and status of the router and access point. You'll also want to set the SSID to the same value as the SSID on your wireless clients to ensure they can access your network, and also make sure the WEP strength is at the same levels as your clients. That little bit more work is required to get the wireless setup running, but that is expected.
 Login screen to access configuration for the router/access point. |
 Main overview. |
 Connection selection type. |
You'll also want to change the default password after the first logon, as this is highly recommended no matter what situation you are in. In case your ISP binds your connection to a specific MAC address, the Belkin Wireless Router can "clone" that MAC address. All you have to do is enter the appropriate MAC address into the configuration screen. In any case, the Initial Setup covers all essential elements and takes less than five minutes to properly fill out, as long as you have the appropriate details for your ISP on hand.
 DMZ option. |
 Port forwarding. |
 "Triggers" setup. |
However, there are many more options available to work with given you have the time to look around. The first is the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone. This option allows you to place a computer, selectable by IP address, in a position outside of the firewall protection this router offers. This allows that computer to properly play and host some online games or applications that have chronic problems when operating behind a firewall or NAT. In addition, you can open up specific ports and forward them to a specific LAN IP with the use of the Virtual Server settings page, should you want to run some sort of server from behind this router. The manual offered limited help on the use of the Virtual Server settings as well as the Special Application Ports page, and this is one area I would have liked Belkin to be more explanatory on.
 Internal IP and DHCP options. |
 IP-based (Layer-3) access control. |
 MAC address (Layer-2) access control. |
As mentioned before, the internal or LAN IP of the router is changable, along with the ability to enable or disable DHCP. If you have a small LAN, you may not need to use DHCP, and if you are using the port forwarding feature you will not want to use DHCP, since the port forwarding is based on a specific LAN (internal) computer having a static IP. You can also restrict outbound access on an IP-specific basis. The most useful access control feature however, is the MAC filtering setup page. This feature will allow you to restrict access to the Wireless Router/Access Point to specific MAC addresses, prevent unauthorized wireless clients from "hitchin' a free ride" on your network and internet connection.
 WEP options. |
 Utilities Options. |
WEP is not perfect, but the option is made available for it here. Both 64-bit and 128-bit strengths are supported, and the "automatic" options of each just mean that instead of entering the actual key itself, the configuration screen prompts to you enter a passphrase/password, from which the real key(s) are then generated. Makes life a bit easier. Firmware can be upgraded from the web browser, as seen in the second screenshot above.
Testing
I tested the wired LAN throughput of this router as compared to my Netgear RT314, and the results were not astonishing. Both came in at 73Mbps, on an average of 10 tests. The response time was also identical for both units.
The major differences turned out to be not performance-oriented, but feature-oriented. Firstly, the Belkin unit does have a security log feature, which produces results like this: (Results from a DSLReports Scan test)
2002/02/19 23:45:40 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:42855 ->> ***.***.***.***:431 2002/02/19 23:45:42 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:43345 ->> ***.***.***.***:2007 2002/02/19 23:45:43 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:43494 ->> ***.***.***.***:521 2002/02/19 23:45:46 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:43926 ->> ***.***.***.***:945 2002/02/19 23:45:49 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:44354 ->> ***.***.***.***:1364 2002/02/19 23:45:50 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:44472 ->> ***.***.***.***:32774 2002/02/19 23:45:53 ** TCP SYN Flooding ** [IP/TCP] 206.65.191.129:44906 ->> ***.***.***.***:8080My Netgear RT314 has the ability to send logs to a syslog client I have set up on one of my computers. I believe this setup to be more useful, but one could argue differently. In addition, what exactly is logged cannot be entirely controlled. There is only an option to enable "Intrusion Detection". With the RT314, one can configure multiple rules, each of which can be set to trigger a log action. The Belkin Wireless Router does not have the ability (at least to my knowledge) to configure user-defined rules that act on specific packets.
In addition, a scan of ports at GRC.com yielded these results: While none of the tested ports were found to be open, all responded that they were closed. This is part of the TCP/IP specification, but again, with the Netgear RT314 one can configure a ruleset to drop unwanted inbound connection packets, resulting in a "Stealth" mode for a specific port. This feature is not a necessity, but again it would have been nice to have.
Conclusion
Pros
Cons
Not a perfect product, but considering I had no trouble with this product, (which was my first experience with wireless networking), I'm pretty impressed! The web-based interface was easy to use, and mostly intuitive, though the manual was lacking in explaining certain aspects, such as the "Special Application Settings", although nothing critical was left out. What I really wanted though, were user-definable rulesets! After having spent much time playing around with the rulesets of my Netgear, you could say that I've developed an unhealty affection for them, but I still would have liked to have seen them included.
Now that I'm done criticizing those details, I'd just like to say that this product is far from bad. The things I've pointed out in no way impeded the functionality of this device, and did not compromise its usefulness. The ease-of-use is itself a defining feature I wish I'd see in more products. The price is not something that'll burn a hole in your wallet either. Though the MSRP at Belkin's site is a shocking $250USD, I believe this price is unfair, as I've seen this product for as low as $157USD at major retailers.
Thanks again to Belkin Components for providing this product to review!