Belkin Play N600 Wireless Dual Band N Router Review

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(More customer reviews)We purchased this router to replace an old Linksys WRT54GS router in my parent's home. The Linksys is a wireless B/G router and I wanted to move them to wireless N since I had just purchased an Apple TV for them. My expectation was that I would establish a good connection at 5GHz for the Apple TV and avoid some interference problems that we had with the Linksys (firmware 4.71.4) and the kitchen microwave at 2.4GHz. I didn't expect the range to be particularly spectacular, but the distance was short enough between the router and the Apple TV that I didn't think it would cause a problem.
On the positive side, let me say that there is a decent feature set for this router. Not only does it have the capability to handle network traffic on the 2.4GHz and 5 GHz bands simultaneously, it has the ability offer a guest SSID (on the 2.4GHz band only) for when you have friends/kids over and you want to keep them off of your internal network while still providing them with Internet connectivity. It also has a USB port that provides you with DLNA compatible media sharing. From a technical specifications side of things, this router is not bad. Another plus (IMO) is that there is only 1 light to show you status. If it's solid green, you're good to go. Some people may like all those bright blue lights all the time, but I am thoroughly sick of them. Most home offices look like a disco these days.
Then there's the real world. The first issue is the so-so range on the Belkin N600. This is a tough one to detail, since every comparison is unique. Range is determined by where you place your router, the distance between the router and the client, as well as the number of obstacles and their composition (sheetrock, wood, metal, etc.). So let me compare it like this. The Linksys WRT54GS consistently gave us 4 out of 5 bars on 2.4GHz from the office (router) to the kitchen/dining room (laptop client). The N600 gave us 3-4 bars (4 more often than 3) at 2.4GHz and 1-2 bars (1 more often than 2) at 5GHz. Plus the microwave interference was still there at 2.4GHz even after I switched from channel 6 to channel 11.
But the killer was the Apple TV. That was in the living room and connected on 5GHz with the Belkin N600 at 4 out of 5 bars. "Cool" I thought. But that was as good as it got. Why? Because for some reason, this Belkin router does not route Bonjour traffic. I have not yet seen a resolution to this problem. Ironically, when I did the initial research on this router, I checked for Amazon reviews and there were none. One day later, Michael Norton's review shows up on Amazon. If I had know what he said, I would never have purchased the device. There are discussion threads concerning this issue on Apple's website with no real resolution. People who say that it works don't realize that they are using the N600 HD which is a different device. Other's suggest updating the firmware. There is no updated firmware for the N600 as of the date of this review. The only firmware available is the firmware that ships with the unit (1.00.27). On the off chance that there was an update that was mislabeled, I downloaded the firmware on the Belkin website and re-flashed the router. The version was identical and the results were identical.
So, it went back. If you never need to use Apple's Bonjour protocol, then maybe this will be the device for you (my 2010 Macbook Pro worked fine on the Internet). But if you're looking to use an Apple TV, don't bother. Not unless Belkin resolves this issue in a firmware update.
But there is a silver lining (for me at least). While I was waiting for the Apple TV to arrive, I flashed the firmware on the Linksys WRT54GS with DD-WRT that I have used successfully in the past on numerous other routers. I didn't need to. I planned on selling the router. But since we now needed it again, I reconnected it and programmed it. Lo and behold, that little old router, re-flashed with a free 3rd-party firmware, no longer has interference from the microwave at 2.4GHz ( at channel 11) and the connection quality is 4-5 out of 5 bars to both the laptop in the kitchen and the Apple TV in the living room. I never would have thought that the solution to all our problems was right in front of us all along. But it was. I would still like to upgrade them from WiFi-G to WiFi-N at some point. But with Apple TV only streaming 720P, WiFi-G can handle it with a reasonably strong signal.
So guess what? Out with the new and in with the old!! HUH?!?! Happy New Year!

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Belkin Play N600 Wireless Dual Band N Router

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