Provides: Shares your Internet connection with networked computers

Developer: Belkin International, Inc.

Minimum Requirements: Broadband Internet connection such as a cable or DSL modem with RJ45 (Ethernet) connection, at least one computer with an installed network interface adapter, TCP/IP networking protocol installed on each computer, RJ45 Ethernet networking cable, Internet browser

Retail Price: $149.99

Availability: Out now

Man, networking has become easy. Or, at least it has on the Macintosh. At my office, the boss has to bring in tech support every time he wants to hook a new PC up to the network, and he calls the guy in every time the network goes down. I use a Mac, and connecting is rarely anything more than finding the workgroup in the Network System Preference and saying hello. Oh, sure, I need to hop onto the PC to tell it to let me in, but that's where most of the work is. We've done that a dozen times and can still never remember where exactly to go. Maybe Microsoft made that more intuitive in Vista. Here's hoping.

But, that's the office network. What about home? Due to the popularity of online console gaming and portable computing with myriad devices (not just the computer, anymore), wireless is the way to handle this, these days, and I landed at Belkin and their N1 Wireless Router.

The N1 is based on the 802.11n draft, which uses smart-antenna technology to enable multiple receivers and transmitters to send and receive data wirelessly. This is meant to increase speed and range beyond the 802.11g standard, achieving transmission rates of up to 300Mbps (actual data throughput will be lower). In my experience, the speed increase is nominal, but the range increase is significant. More on that in a bit. First...

Unfortunately, the set-up process may not run as smoothly as Belkin claims. For your sake, I hope that's not the case, as their Macintosh support falls just shy of dreadful.

The good news is that even if you can't get your wireless network running, your DSL/cable modem will still pass its signal through the router to your computer, so you'll have Internet access throughout the process. You'll need it, obviously, as you'll first want to download a firmware update for the router, if necessary. You're given the option to check this early, and you should. It can make the difference regarding whether you can connect.

Depending upon your ISP, the N1 will hopefully be able to automatically get things running for you automatically. If so, great. I had some trouble with that, though, as my DSL provider was originally Ameritech, which became SBC Yahoo, and which is now AT&T. All three of those providers were presented as options, and each had me connect differently. Ultimately, it didn't matter which I selected, as none of them worked. If you luck out in the automatic setup, though, your network is now complete. Enjoy.

My N1 didn't ship with a Macintosh installer, so I tried to set it up manually using the instructions provided in the PDF manual. If you do this, you'll need to know all your Internet settings as given by your ISP. They should already be in your Network System Prefs, but be prepared to play around with your settings to get everything right. I still couldn't get the router to see the Internet, so I contacted Belkin. One new install CD (which is probably now included in the box, and may, like mine, claim that it only has Windows 2000 and XP software when it is, in fact, Mac OS X ready) and firmware update later, however, and the software was able to make the connection...kind of. After successfully running through the procedure, I still wasn't getting wireless Internet despite having all other connections/communications in place (indicated by solid blue lights on the router's display). As I was on hold waiting for Belkin's tech support again, I decided to reset the router. When it came back up, all connections were working. Maybe that's Belkin's tech support policy...put people on hold and the problem will heal itself.

Once connected, Belkin allows you tinker with the controls via your web browser (I noticed no Safari compatibility problems). Your LAN setup, Internet WAN, security, MAC address, Firewall and more are all controlled this way in a relatively simple manner. Most of the options are explained within the browser, so you usually won't need to consult your manual during this process.

Once you've got everything set up as you want, the N1 is pretty solid. I have the router sitting on the first floor at the back of my house, and was able to easily get a signal throughout the home, including the attic two floors up. I would've tested it from outside, but it's been below 10 degrees in Ohio for a while now, and I'm only willing to go so far for my art. I guess I'll know if it reaches out there when a group of geeky teenagers congregates on my front lawn with their laptops and coffee.

Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks, my N1 lost its Internet connection. The status in its browser controls read that it's connected, and I could see the router from my wireless devices, but I couldn't connect any of them to the Internet. No changes I made in the browser controls would work. Indeed, most couldn't be saved without my browser telling me the connection was lost before the router reset itself (most changes made in this fashion time-out in the browser, but have been made when you reconnect). And speaking of that, resetting the router wouldn't work, either. Only restoring the factory settings and running through the entire set-up process again would get things running. Comically in a severely frustrating way, the manual suggested at one point that I log on to a specific page at Belkin's website and search for ISP as a way to get proper settings for this issue. Doing this, I received the following message: "Your search - ISP - did not match any Belkin products." The good folks at Belkin need to improve their communication, it seems.

After this happened the second time, I found that simply turning off my modem and the router, then turning them back on in that same order, would restore the connection. After having a solid connection for a couple weeks, it went down again. All lights would show solid blue except for Internet, which would flash orange as if trying to make a connection. I turned the devices off and on a couple times, and even reset the router, but I couldn't get a solid connection for more than a few minutes...or so I thought. Fact of the matter is that my connection never actually went down, the lights on the router just indicated it had. I could still connect a laptop and my Nintendo Wii, even though the router was telling me it couldn't find the Internet. Since then, the Internet light has gone out permanently, as has the Wired and Wireless lights, and yet my connection has been rock solid.

And so, it's tricky giving this router a rating. When it's connected, it's great. It's speedy, it has great range, it's easy for wireless devices to find it, and it has a great display that shows you important status information (when it bothers to be even remotely accurate). I thought the design was too PC-like and dated, and my wife found it flat out ugly, but that doesn't affect this review. Unfortunately, stability and support do. The N1 isn't great in either respect, and although that can be frustrating, the router did work very well...even if it wanted me to think otherwise.

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