Subscribe to the Free Print Edition!
Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 03/31/08 issue

Speed 'n' distance

GCN Lab Reviewer's Choice Award winner: Belkin N1 Vision Wireless Router

By Greg Crowe

THE N1 VISION Wireless Router from Belkin is a sleek, futuristic device that would look at home on the set of any science fiction movie.

The reflective black surface of its front is broken only by the LCD status screen and accompanying buttons.

In addition to a Gigabit Ethernet port for connecting to the Internet, it also has four gigabit ports for local network connections. Each of the N1’s three antennae can handle at least 180 degrees of rotation and 90 degrees of inclination, which increases the chances of finding optimal placement.

We were a bit disappointed to find no wallmount option for the N1. Your only choice is to set the device on a horizontal surface, such as a shelf or table. Of course, having all the ports in the back would have made wallmounting difficult anyway.

We were also concerned by Belkin’s decision to put the serial number and other unique information on the detachable base instead of the unit itself.

With no other placement option, the odds of the unit and its base becoming separated are low, but we thought it would have been better to put this information directly on the device.

Once the N1 was connected to the host computer, we could switch to AP mode with as few as two clicks.

The first click was on a link that was clearly indicated on the left side of the admin page menu screen. The second was a confirmation. After the second click and a reboot of the device, the N1 functioned as an AP.

We found the 3-inch by 1.5-inch LCD to be useful. With a glance, we were able to tell precisely how many devices were connected to the N1, a boon for security-minded administrators — if you only have five authorized users, and six are connected to the device, you know you’ve got a breach attempt.

The N1 also has other screens that can be accessed by the buttons to the right of the display, such as a download/upload speedometer and the unit’s current IP information. The visual display was impressive and simpler to use than most clock radios, which it slightly resembles.

The transfer speeds we achieved in our tests were easily the best in the review.

It wasn’t always the fastest at the shorter distances, but once we got down the track, it started to shine, maintaining speeds faster than 14 megabits/sec at the greatest distances, which smoked the other APs.

This is as fast as the best speeds we got in last year’s indoor line-of-sight tests.

A price of $180 is a good deal for a device such as the N1, with router capability and good transfer speeds at long distances.

It would be a good choice for any network administrator, especially if you are considering replacing your existing router and have a horizontal surface for the wireless access point.

Belkin, (800) 223-5546, www.belkin.com

Previous << 1 2 3 4 5 >> Next

More news on related topics: Communications / Networks, Mobile & Wireless, Enterprise Architecture, Hardware



GCN Popup