Belkin F5D7235uk4 Gigabit Switch Router - Experiences?

[jon_c0]

Anyone had any experiences with one of these Belkin F5D7235uk4 routers?

I'm tempted as they're currently available at a few places for ~ £40 whilst they clear stocks (I would guess) and it includes a Gigabit switch. Not MIMO, but then that's not much of an issue for me. Seems to support all the usual wireless security stuff, but very few reviews...

Added Later

mmm...since seen the EBuyer customer comments - doesn't look promising.

 

[Ger]

I had one of these for a while and it worked fine. It was very easy to setup and required no maintenance.

 

[treacle]

A stock clearance at the issue of a new OS, seems a tad suspicious.

 

[jon_c0]

A stock clearance at the issue of a new OS, seems a tad suspicious.

I was thinking it was more due to the fact it was an "old" Wireless G+ supporting bit of kit rather than an "all singing all dancing" MIMO affair, but I'm equally a little suspicious . Someone else pointed me towards these D-link routers going cheap a while ago - by all accounts they seemed pretty good (Gigabit switch but wireless G again, but...) - all sold out now though... As it stands, a 4-port Gigabit standalone switch costs about £35, so it's effectively a wireless router on top of that for £5-£10, which would sound good if I hadn't seen the Ebuyer comments above...

 

[Paul Shirley]

My F5D7230-4 (appears to be an older 100mbit version of the 7235) showed the same problems those comments list - frequent lockups and restarts and it was tricky to setup. Belkin replaced it with a slightly updated model without quibbling but I preferred a £25 Safecom replacement and only use it as a repeater now. Still has some issues and I wouldn't buy Belkin again. I'm now using a D-Link Gamerlounge 4300 and it does make a noticeable difference when hammering the internet.

That said, its an awkward time to be buying a new wireless device, might be worth buying one as a strictly short term item till the newer wireless stuff gets more affordable. Just be aware that using Bittorrent usually crashed my 7230 and it wasn't very good at handling continuous heavy use of any kind.