Belkin N1 Vision review - page1
Well, here it is... the Starship Enterprise of routers. With it's sleek black and chrome looks, built-in display and hefty price tag Belkin look to be creating a new market segment - luxury routers - with this one.
So, let's start with the looks - this is probably one of the best looking routers you're going to see. Full stop. It's not really a standard router shape, and banished back to the data centre are the flickering LEDs we've all come to know and love to be replaced with an LCD screen. This is a sylish, consumer router - and it wouldn't look out of place next to your phone in the landing. Let your visitors see and admire it, and with the screen in full motion it's sure to be quite the talking point.
Installation of the Vision is one of the easiest we've come across, a short printed guide helps you set the router up and the enclosed CD has a full set-up, but you can use the built in wizard (which is much easier).
Once it's up and running the router operates well, with good range and connectivity. You can use the screen to show you all connected devices, and to see the speeds you're getting. This is good to ensure that only those you're expecting are using your wireless connection.
Security wise - the Vision has all you'd expect, and setting up WEP, WPA or WPA2 is a doddle, with one touch association often possible. There is also a great feature for visiting equipment - the Vision has a second SSID allowing you to put visitors onto a separate network so that they don't interfere with what you're doing, and again you can join them to this second network with a simple one button connection. The other boon is that you can also see on the screen how much bandwidth your guests are using.
The Vision is a 802.11n draft 2 router, although older models are only draft1 so check the version you're getting from the seller. It's backwards compatible with older wireless b and g kit, and boasts Gigabit ethernet which is a big plus for devices that can operate at these speeds. Without Gigabit sockets the wireless signals received by the router (at up to 300Mbps) would have to be slowed down to 100Mbps when being sent out on cables. For most people this isn't a problem, but if you're lucky enough to have a very high speed ISP or are using the router for a Local Area Network (LAN) then not having Gigabit Ethernet can be a show-stopper. Most home PCs now come with Gigabit Ethernet ports as standard.
Be warned that this router is available in both broadband (cable) and ADSL 2+ modem varieties - there is no easy way to tell the difference between the two other than comparing the part numbers (or the sockets at the back). So do make sure you get the right one - the ADSL version is F5D8632uk4A, and the cable version is the F5D8232uk4.
Overall, this is an excellent wireless n router, with some unique features. It looks stunning, and the Gigabit Ethernet and second SSID are especially useful. The screen is helpful in setting up but you don't find yourself referring to it that often afterwards, and the price may put some people off, but if you can afford it and you know what style is, then this is the router for you.
