Hello, i Have recently purchased a belkin router( 802.11g), set it up and hey presto....... BUT ever since i set it up it seems to be up and down slower than dialup!! Then another day it is superquick!! Are these routers renown for being up and down or is it perhaps my broadband/network?? Keep repairing connection etc but am just a little out of my depth!
New to this all!

I vowed long ago never ever to buy a belkin product.

Have you got your own direct adsl ar are u on a network. Have you a true bband sconnection ie at least 1meg? Are you downloading big files eg torrents whilst trying to do other internet things?

go over your router settings carefully ie double check them,try borrowing a different router to see if you get better results.

That's an interesting comment. Would you like to elaborate?

I will probably be taking this route in the not too distant future and have been looking at Belkin products but as I have no idea what I'm doing at the moment any helpful feedback would be greatly appreciated. So what's your preference then and why?

I've always found Belkin to be top notch.

When I had a problem years ago with a parallel to USB adapter they went to great trouble to guide me through the problem whilst supplying another free one just in case it was hardware related.

years ago I bought a belkin switchbox and a usb adaptor both of which didn't work properly and I later found out were vastly overpriced.
Their products are still overpriced, they tend to depend on selling them through PCworld who are also overpriced. The bkn products, furthermore, are always very nasty to look at and being a designer I like to have things that are nice to look at - or at least cheap ;-)

Well I struggled to set up a home network with Belkin PCI wireless cards and then the router.

I have no great allegiance to the manufacturer and have at times been thoroughly p!$$3d off with both xp network wizards and the belkin hardware.

however,.....

once I worked out how it all fitted together and how to manage the network settings all has worked perfectly. One thing to bear in mind is that cordless telephones transmit on the same frequencies as the "wireless" network. This will slow down connectivity, as will insulated brick/block walls, distance from the router of remote laptops/PCs etc.

things get in the way of radio waves that dilute the "power" - remember that. Wired connection will always be better (IMHO) but doesn't provide the convenience of wireless.

Belkin uses its own software management for the wireless bits (which has a tendency to conflict with the Windows OS in built mechanism).

I agree with Johnny that Belkin products might be overpriced if you don't get them in a "sale" as I did, and I only went for Belkin as no other manufacturer had all the bits I needed in stock at my local PC World when i had my vouchers to spend (and I wouldn't normally spend my own money in PC World because I was disappointed with their service and back up a few years ago (7 or 8??)when I was still using Win 95).
I believe PC World have improved greatly in the last year or so, but I tend to use the local independent boffin if matters get beyond my capabilities now....