Belkin F5D7633-4UK

The Belkin F5D7633-4 has been my broadband modem/router for two years, give or take. It has its irritations, but is generally reliable. It's used with three wired Ethernet computers and two or three wireless laptops. The router part is fine, never a problem. For the first few months, the ADSL modem was crashing every couple of days, but a software restart would cure it each time. More recently, it's been more reliable, only needing a restart every few weeks. As noted by other reviewers, the software is quite flaky, and I wouldn't want to try a download-and-upgrade. The unit can be set to disconnect ADSL after a variable period of inactivity, and it does; but it doesn't always re-connect quickly on request, and this is the usual reason for a reboot. The browser-based user interface is reasonably intuitive and user friendly. One irritation is that the wireless security page isn't always accessible, apparently because of a broken link. Another is that the DHCP client list is only randomly updated.

The wireless range is adequate for my needs, about 25m through a couple of brick walls in the house, a hundred metres or so outside in any unobscured direction. With some experimentation, the position and dual antenna angle setting can be optimised for a particular direction, although you would need a field strength sensor to do the job properly. The firewall appears to be a vital feature - its security log shows regular intrusions from assorted IP addresses, all of which are blocked from the rest of the network.

In summary, I'm happy with this device; it was originally bought as a stop-gap until my ever-efficient and wonderful ISP (ha!) came up with their promised hardware package, but having subsequently received the latter I've no incentive to change the installation.

Ive tried Netgear, U.S Robotics, EchoLife 520b(provided by ISP), and all cannot come close to this particular Belkin model of modem router, granted similar ADSL modems by Belkin have given rise to some problems I have had the misfortune to encounter, but Belkins' customer support soon resolved any issues with it.

I understand some users or owners of the said modem may well have encountered a long list of problems, but with the RIGHT firmware, my belkin has seen me through 3 isps and has been glitch free, I enphasise right because, unfortunately there is a few sources online which will render your modem unusable, so beware of those such sites, when sourcing the firmware, please ensure you are not redirected from the Belkin website, be very careful because unless you have a backup of the older firmware to replace the faulty one, you wont be able to get your modem working again, hope this helps those users out there contemplating on a firmware update, I am a computer technician of 22 years, so please trust me on this.

The Belkin F5D7633-4UK was a good choice because it was cheap. But now you can buy (much) better products with same money. Easy to set up; support PPTP vpn; cheap. Bad points are: Unstable. Buffer size seems not enough. You must reset it often (power off / wait 10 seconds / power on).

Doesn't support WPA2. Doesn't support dynamic dns services (obviously you can use a client on your pc)

Terrible firmware support and upgrade/downgrade functions.

Embedded firewall is useless (but who care?)

With new software there are no problems, it is reliable especially with Skype phones, never had a down day in 4 years, have now installed 6 units and all work well.

Excellent bit of kit but DO make sure you download and install latest updates otherwise it may not work with some phone systems. Using with Open DNS also seems to have benefits and attempted hacks seem reduced.

Since changing my isp to UK Online I wanted a modem router that would match the performance and speed of my connection, given that the Belkin F5d7633-4UK supports ADSL+2 and upto 125mbps it was the top of my list. I've used a conexant 4 port modem and a Dlink 2100 access point in the past and been satisfied with them but I wanted an all in one box solution ,given that the Belkin came bundled with the matching pci card for £75 from Dabs was a bonus. I live over 4km from my exchange and get a steady 1830kbps out of 2048kbps noise and attenuation are terrible on my line given the distance but my Belkin never lets me down

The Belkin F5D7633-4UK wireless router was very quick and easy to get connected to the internet, and has the firewall settings secure by default. It is a fairly cheap ADSL router from a large known manufacturer. (This doesn't always mean good support).

The firmware is very unstable, especially when the wireless system is active. The firewall logs only last for a few minutes, stopping you being able to check if you are under attack. You can view the configuration setup without having to enter a password (on the internal network), which is not very good for a system that is designed to protect you!

I chose Belkin because I have some of their other products. They also use the same wireless system manufacturer as my new laptop wireless, so should be better for compatibility. The supplier also included a free (usually £25) Belkin PC wireless board as part of the deal, which I would have had to buy anyway.

The Belkin F5D7633-4UK router has four ethernet ports, which I don't really need, apart from the initial setup, which is best done via an ethernet cable connection. There may be other models available with different ports.