Belkin N1 Wireless Modem Router

Belkin's N1 was one of the first draft-n routers, and this version with an integrated ADSL2+ modem sports the same black styling.

Glance at the feature table on p112 and you'll notice there are several missing features including quality of service, wireless bridging and WPS. The four-port switch at the rear is only 10/100 and, unlike the USRobotics, there's no VPN termination - only passthrough.

It all makes the N1 appear overpriced at £97, and the matching F5D8011UK PC Card is also more expensive than others at around £65 inc VAT. Plus, performance wasn't good enough to elevate the N1 above the competition.

In fact, the N1 was the second slowest on test overall. Using the matching PC Card, throughput never rose above 19Mb/sec, and at 15m its speed of 15.7Mb/sec was the slowest we saw. At 25m, 6.4Mb/sec was respectable, but the Netgear beat this with the standard Centrino Wi-Fi adapter. Also, we found the connection was unreliable at 25m - on several occasions, the utility reported that the signal was too weak.

At least the N1 is easy to set up, while the front LEDs remain the most intuitive on test. For example, the padlock symbol glows orange if the wireless connection isn't secure. The management interface is tidy and well organised, and provides options for port forwarding, dynamic DNS and a DMZ. There are separate MAC address filters for wired and wireless access, which could prove useful.

But, apart from the built-in modem, there's nothing to recommend the N1. It doesn't deliver on the promised range or speed, and the features on offer are inadequate at this price.

Author: Jim Martin