Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router (F5D8232-4)

We own two MacBooks (2.4 GHz) and several other wireless devices at the house. I've owned several wireless routers and access points over the years from various manufacturers. I assumed that this router - with the three discriminating antennas, pretty display screen on the front and a little command keypad on the front - would be a rock-solid choice for my wireless needs. I don't need all the fancy features of a router, I just need an access point for my wireless devices, as I handle the firewall and router elsewhere on the network. The first problem I noticed out of the box is that when you disable the router features (by switching it into gateway mode), this little box gets really dumb: it forgets how to display some of the pretty graphs, and disables a lot of the settings one would not normally associate with routing Internet traffic. The connection worked pretty well for awhile, but we started to notice random drop-outs with our MacBooks and some of the other devices. Sadly, with all the problems I've experienced with this wireless router, and the fact that Belkin hasn't released a firmware update since 2008, I'm starting to lose faith in this company's consumer electronics products - especially at the top end. For the price I paid for it, I would expect it to work flawlessly, and it doesn't.

Oh, and we've tried restarting the router numerous times since we first bought it, and keep things as up-to-date on the MacBooks as well - even using Snow Leopard, with similar results.

Summary: it's pretty, with lots of features, but I wouldn't recommend this until Belkin decides to fix the problem which seems relatively common with other Mac users.

Got this along with 4 of the USB adapters, (already wrote their review (1 star))
This was not an easy transition from my 'G' network as I hoped, and most of it had to do with the USB adapters being bad.

My Issue with this is that it will lock up about 1 to 2 times a week. From what I've read else where, it is due to heat, but I don't know that for sure.
When it is running it is working as well as I could hope, but falling off the network a couple of times a week.... :(
When you are sitting 3 rooms away from it, your first thought is Ok, what did the Adapter do, or the PC or did I have interference. After the 4th time of troubleshooting at the computer first, now I just go and reboot the router, and see what I get.

Recommendation is try another system, The pretty window doesn't mean much once your connection is estabilshed, because well I expect it to work, and not have to look at the thing every couple of days.

Belkin Tech support is almost useless if you have an issue that isn't fixed by changing the basic settings or rebooting.

Just a great product, easy to install, just plug in the wires and the Belkin N1 Vision does the complete set-up for you. This N1 Vision takes all the guess work out of setting up a wireless router. You don't even have to install the set-up CD that comes with the unit. If you're a novice like me you will appreciate this feature best of all. The screen displays all the systems (and much more) that are running on your network; giving the names of the computers that are online. Other makes/models give you those flashing lights, which I think most of us don't understand. I hooked this router to my computer (running cable) then to my daughter's computer using the old slow AOL phone modem. Installed the Belkin N1 wireless USB adapter to her computer and she is now downloading/uploading at lightning speed. If you're in the market for a home network system this is the way to go, easy to install, no configuration to figure out, just plug in and go. Just remember what ever router you purchase they come in various speeds and performance. The "G" - "G+" - "N" - "N-1". The "G+" and above come with the new technology called NIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) based on the 802.11 draft and the N-1 technology appears to be the best on the market which enables multiple receivers to send and receive data using intelligent multiplexing techniques. One last advantage of the N-1 vision router, it has a range of 1,600 feet, just think of the advantages of this feature alone. I would recommend the Belkin N1 Vision to all with no reservations.

The ease of setup is amazing! I have several devices that can access a wi-fi router and all of them were amazingly simple to setup. TRULY a plug and play device that is as powerful in options as it is easy to set up.

If you considering a wi-fi router this one is well worth it.

Worked great with my laptop and setup was easy. But everytime the router was on, my Dell desktop would blue-screen. I don't know why the signal overloaded the PC, and I will never know because customer service was just awful. This was true for multiple calls (not just a lone bad CSR).

I don't wish to fault the customer service just because it's from India (which it is), like other negative reviews seem to give that vibe. But it is truly horrible.

They do (as others mentioned) instantly blame the non-Belkin devices and refer you to their CS support, even when it's not appropriate. I have a relatively low level of tech knowledge, and they kept trying to convince me of things even an idiot like me knew were absolutely false. They had no interest in solving problems, but only to make it someone else's problem, even if it meant giving conflicting statements during the same call. Never call Belkin CS, it will only make you angry.

I have experienced a lot of sub-par CS help over the years, but none as bad as Belkin's. As long as you never have problems, I'm sure it's a great device... but you could say that for most devices.