Rolling the dice on Belkin's pre-N 802.11n wireless gear
posted Dec 8th 2004 1:13PM
So this past weekend Engadget reader Dimitrios Gazis
decided to take a risk and try out Belkin's pre-N wireless router and laptop card even though it uses a version of
new 802.11n wireless protocol that hasn't been officially ratified yet (if that previous sentence doesn't make any
sense to you, don't sweat it—all you need to know is that 802.11n is more or less the next-generation of
WiFi).Living in the heart of NYU territory, I've found it impossible to keep a stable WiFi connection between the laptop and router in my apartment. Even with a signal strength of better than 90% signal, the interference from over a dozen other wireless networks that are in range, plus countless cordless phones, has meant restarting the WiFi router every few minutes.
I upgraded from D-Link’s 802.11b gear to their
Extreme-G 802.11g router and card—same crappy behavior. Last weekend, I got fed up with this, and so I went to J&R
and bought the new Belkin pre-N router and laptop card.
I’ve had the laptop running on WiFi for two days now without losing my Internet connection once. Setting up with the
Belkin router was simple and automated - a non-techie can have it up and running in under 10 minutes. The only extra
effort is security (WEP/WPA, MAC filtering), and that is made as simple as possible (the manual explains it very
well).
With both of my D-Link setups I had to use an AP in repeater mode in the living room just to get the signal from my
bedroom to work. The pre-N router in the bedroom is strong enough and has good enough range to give me a consistent
95%+ signal in the whole apartment, without a single hiccup in the connection. You might pay a little extra for
Belkin’s pre-N gear might be expensive, but for Manhattanites (or anyone else) who have given up on WiFi, this might be
the answer.
This might be the answer until other people also get n technology. Isn't that obvious?
Do the drivers support LEAP?
what i would like to know from Belkin is this: will a firmware upgrade be sufficient to make these fully 802.11n compliant when ratified?
Is the N gear compatible with .11b and .11g cards and gear, or do you have to be all .11n?
I haven't found any specific reference to LEAP support, but I would guess not, as this product isn't really geared toward the Cisco/enterprise crowd, but toward home/SOHO users, and (supposedly) WPA beats LEAP, since LEAP has already been cracked (even Cisco has issued a warning about this).
If I find out otherwise, I'll post here.
Firmware upgrade to 802.11n - that's the $64,000,000 question, isn't it?
Livin in NYU-ish territory, too. Switched over to 802.11a a ways back and it works like a champ. My cordless phone still crackles from everything else out there, too.
Worked very well with my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron built-in G, and my Tivo's Linksys USB 802.11b works perfectly with it as well.
The answer is a probable no. This is quoted from the TomsNetworking review of this gear, and is actually from the manufacturer of the chipset that Belkin's product uses:
"Pre-n is shorthand for "Wi-Fi compatible 802.11a/b/g products that offer MIMO OFDM extensions." Pre-n gives the significant benefits of 802.11n along with Wi-Fi compatibility today.
"Pre-n does not mean interoperability with future 11n products in the 11n modes. To the extent that 802.11n products coexist nicely in the network with Wi-Fi products (which we all should hope and believe that they will) it means that 802.11n will coexist with pre-n products."
802.11a is a solution that's available now that very few people seem to consider. Works great, very little interference, and its slightly more secure just because there isnt that much A gear out there. We use it with MAC filtering and WEP. Great performance and acceptable, about as good as wireless gets, security.
Sounds like a good product but don't forget about all problems in the past with pre-spec devices.
Also don't forget about 802.11a you can get some equitment pretty cheap now. It's worth a try if you have problems with interference.
After buying/trying and returning every advertised solution (g), super-duper, long range... antenna, extender and gadget known to man I finally for the Belkin PreN... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.... flawless. Went from a dozen dead spots in the house to just one and even that now gets a signal just slow... works with laptops, USB (g), also works with Roku.
Highly, HIGHLY recommend this and you know what honestly. Even if I have to replace it when they standarize... I bought two years of use for under $200 so 'who cares'.
Happy Holidays !!!
Marek
Question for anyone still listening to this thread. I am interested in this particular standard because of the increased range it promisses to deliver. I am looking to build a wireless network over an area about 1,000 ft in diameter that contains several buildings, all made of brick or stone. Being backward compatible with the b/g standard also helps.
Anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this, or whether 802.11n would make a good solution?
Router does not work with XBOX LIVE. Extremely annoying (can't forward port 88 to the xbox).
Do you get much packet loss, in games for example, if you do play any online games?
The Pre-N router DOES NOT work properly where a linksys router is in range. Just a warning from a rather unhappy user, seeing as everytime my neighbour turns on his router my connection drops out, even though I can still detect it. These devices are meant to inoperate correctly, but this one does not.