Product Reviews

Belkin's Pre-N MIMO router has been on our A List for eight months, with range and speed more or less unrivalled. Until now, though, there was no ADSL-modem-equipped version.

The new model is very similar to the old, but not identical; the square design has given way to a larger rectangular case. The internal web server's configuration interface is similar, but in a pleasing departure from the norm, the processor powering the server isn't woefully underpowered and it's all very responsive. There are no great surprises in terms of features, but every base is covered. At the basic level, there's WEP and WPA support, as well as WPA2, which adds support for AES encryption. There's also time-of-day-based access restriction and MAC-address-based access control. Virtual-server capability is there

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too: in conjunction with dynamic IP facilities such as dyndns.org, this allows you to set up a web server and host it on the wider Internet.

Performance is excellent. Remember that you also need Belkin Pre-N client network adaptors for full performance, but the system has no problems with mixed-mode 802.11g and 11b devices. With standard 11g hardware, range is definitely improved, but not by anything like the extent to which it is with MIMO devices at both ends of the wireless link. In our test environment - with separation of around 8m and a solid wall in the way - 11b and 11g devices, which previously intermittently failed to connect to an 11g router, were able to get a reliable signal. When we replaced the receiving clients' 11g hardware with Pre-N adaptors, suddenly the signal strength was at maximum. We found it easy to get speeds of 20Mb/sec through the wall; well below the theoretical maximum but enough to stream DVDs straight across the network with no dropouts or stuttering of video. That simply isn't feasible with any 11g device we've tested.

The vagaries of wireless reception mean it's difficult to give absolute range and speed figures for the Pre-N, but we can certainly say that it beats any 11g device we've seen in terms of speed, range and connection reliability. If you have ADSL broadband, the Belkin could be the answer to your wireless prayers.