Belkin ME1004-R Wireless Cable/DSL Router

I had never set up a router (or anything really) before.. and found this to be fairly simple. I didn't read the directions as thoroughly as I should have, so it took me more time then it should have. The reason I got a wireless router was because my Mac's Ethernet port is broken.. I was glad that my friend left his computer there because there is some "port" action that goes into this set up. It has been working fantastically for me though.

mobility within the house and outside also!
Great bargain! able to go where the action is.
terrific range throughout the house including
the basement and back deck. Haven't tried it
at the neighbors yet (just joking!) it just might work.

I have owned several routers in the past and needed a new one to replace my old Linksys I had pounded for years. I thought I would try this since Belkin has a reasonable reputation for reasonable prices.
The setup was easy and it worked for any laptop or desktop computer I used it with. I had no issues in Windows, Linux or Mac OS X.
The wireless signal was stable for the most part and I was thinking I made the right purchase....


HOWEVER!!!!
When the day arrived 6 months after purchase that it did DIE, I had a horrendous time with Belkin support.
They wanted to charge me $40 to get a replacement before I returned the dead one (more than I paid!)

OR

I could send my router in and wait weeks to get another refurbished one as a replacement


They also were trying to get me to go to the original place of purchase for a replacement at first, but I said; "I do not think Amazon will do that". The whole thing with Belkin was such a hassle.

They do not send any labels or boxes for return products, so you get to print and supply all of that, so save your box if you buy this piece of junk, you will be needing it!!!

I read a lot of the reviews on this site and took my chances with this inexpensive router. I found the set up to be a little frustrating and not quite as easy and some reviews made it sound. I eventually called tech support to get some help with getting it operational. Tech support was helpful.

So I got the router connected to my desktop computer successfully and was able to connect wirelessly on my laptop, but I could only stay connected wirelessly if sat about 10 - 12 feet from the router. I had no sources of interference nearby like a cordless phone, and I had basically a straight line of sight from the router to the laptop, but still from 10 - 12 feet away I could only get a signal strength of "very low" (or one bar out of five). Every time I tried to walk the laptop over to the coffee table about 25 - 30 feet from the router, I'd loose my wireless connection. And again, it was basically a straight line of sight with no sources of interference.

I called tech support on a couple occassions and tried to diagnose the poor signal strength. They ran me through different procedures like changing the channel on the router, or resetting the router, updating the firmware, resetting the factory default settings. None of these things improved the performance. Finally in my last call with them after trying all of these things they said the problem is that I need to update the driver for my wireless adapter...and that the problem is not with the router. I'm pretty confident my wireless adapter is fine. It's worked fine on other wireless networks. And when I was trying to connect at home using this router and I clicked "view available wireless networks" I could see a couple of my neighbors' networks with stronger signal strengths than my own! Also in speaking with tech support I asked two different support agents what's the maximum distance from the router at which I should be able to work wirelessly. One told me 30 feet. The other told me 8 meters. If I had known this I probably would've purchased a more expensive router with better reviews.

I'll probably buy a router from a different manufacturer next time.

Having wifi in the house has given new life to our electronics! We have been able to take advantage of all the features available on the Wii, our DSIs and my iPod. Soon we'll be able to stream movies from Netflix to our television instead of having to watch them on computer. It's so useful!! Easy to install and apparantly more powerful than others I've seen that have been purchased locally. I highly recommend!

I'm sure this would work great, but it turned out not to be what I needed, so I have returned it for a refund. Sorry I can't be of more help.

I hesitated before I bought this Belkin ME1004-R router because I was not sure if this little thing will work in my 2330 square foot house. We have a desktop and 3 laptops scattered in three different rooms at 3 different floor levels. After I read many reviews on different models, I bought this one. Now I have used it for a month. My experience was that setup was very easy, signal was strong in every corner of the house. You can't beat the price with this quality product. During the whole month, there were only three occasions when I have to turn off and on the device because of connection glitch. Overall its the best bong for the buck. Highly recommended.

I bought this very router basically based on price, using it almost solely to connect our Nintendo Wii to the internet. With the software and the unit with cables, my 10 year old son was able to do the entire hook up while I watched. This literally took longer to get out of the packaging than it did to get it operational. It simply cannot get any easier than that. We have solid signal to the Wii, which is only 45 feet away from the computer desk, but I pull tremendous signal onto my laptop and BlackBerry (which now can run off this signal rather than their own vices) all the way to the front of the house thru 2 stories and outside. For a solid unit at a great price, you cannot get any better or easier than this. The only reason I gave it a full 5 stars while only having it for a week was the ease of set up and the price. I was setting myself up for getting a "so-so" item, looking at the price, and what we got was a great deal. Long story longer...I'm extremely pleased with this purchase.

For the record, I have Windows Vista HE running on an HP Pavillion and had no issues whatsoever.

The router works great, easy to set up...just follow the manual inside. No regrets, it works!

It's a great little wireless router - quite compact, but as powerful as any other router out there. And although it's less expensive than Linksys, Netgear, etc., it works just as well. Took less than 5 minutes to set it up between my laptop and cable internet. Surprised people spend upwards of $100 for the same type of product.

I cannot believe all these good reviews i saw on here. i have been using this router for a month and i cant figure out why the Range on it is soooo short. I am 10 feet away and i get 1 bar. Poor signal. i dont understand that. ny previous router ws much stringer in the same posistion. I've even moved the router to different places and still the range sucks. VERY DISSAPOINTED. (read pissed).

So I read everyone's review about how great this router was so I bought it. Unfortunately, the router I got was malfunctioning. It took 2.5 hours talking to tech support before they realized that that was the problem (and it was hard understanding the tech people w/ Indian accents). So I had to mail back the router (paying another $10 in shipping added to the $30 for the router). I got the second router about a week and half later and it works perfectly. Setup took about 5 min and the Internet works great.. its fast & works everywhere in my house. After a few speedbumps, I'm now a very happy customer!

I made a mistake when i bought this router. I previously had a Wireless Cable Modem and thought I was buying a Wireless DSL Modem. I guess I didn't read closely enough. Setup was a bit confusing since it appears that some steps in the installation guide are skipped if unnecessary. But, this setup was infinitely easier than getting AT&T to setup my DSL. It took a few attempts before I encrypted my network, but have no issues since.

No resets have been required and the connection has been strong and reliable in my apartment. My router is setup against a wall. My desk is setup in the opposite corner of the apartment with a wall in between (about 30 feet away) and I get a great connection. I have been streaming online video onto my LCD to watch TV shows and don't have any buffer issues.

I went through several routers before I finally found this one. The other ones I tried either dropped signals constantly or just plain didn't work. This one has, once I got it set up, worked flawlessly, without any drops. Not only is this the only one I got to work, it's also the cheapest one I tried!

I did have some issues setting it up, however, and it took the assistance of a more tech-savvy friend to get it going. There is an amazingly helpful review of the Belkin Wireless-G Router DSL/Cable Gateway (which is I beleive the older version of this one) by [...] that addresses many of the issues I had with set-up, and I would strongly recommend reading it to anyone having problems with the set-up of this model as well.

The Belkin ME1004-R works well and delivers WiFi fairly effortlessly and easily. It was easy to setup and it continues to perform.

I am almost computer illiterit, but the directions with this were so easy I could do it.

I was disappointed with the signal strength. I could only get a signal in one room in my house. It is also time consuming to set this up with Windows Vista. I guess if you pay for a cheap router, that is what you get.

Very very easy to set up out of the box. Not the weakness of this unit. I seem to have alot of trouble though with 2 things+ on wifi at the same time. If you put an iPhone and a laptop on wifi at the same time, it seems slow. Maybe I need to restart frequently, like once a week. Wired is fine. I'd give it 3.5 if I could.

I got this router from AMZ over a year ago and it has been really reliable. It's just as fast as a Linksys router with speedboost and is about 40% cheaper. This router is on the first floor of my house and I get a good signal in my attic or in my backyard.

I had trouble setting the router up so I called the 800 number and the customer service person was very helpful. The item has worked great since I set it up.

Bought this router since my old dell 2300 was not getting good range. I replaced it with this and now I have no problems.. goos signal thoughout my house... Easy to install and setup..( I am a computer geek so it would be easy for me anyway.. you might want to depend on a Novices review for the ease of setup). Over all great product, I have been using it for 1 month now and not a single complaint

I've had little trouble with this router so far and it's been 2 months. It was incredibly easy to install, the instructions were clear, and it worked right away. The only problem is that if I haven't shut down my computer in a long time (i.e. I put it on hibernate instead) it sometimes has trouble reconnecting to the router or the connection goes in and out, so I have to restart the computer instead.

It is a very easy product to use. All you have to do is follow the simple directions. So easy a child can do it..

I followed the quick start guide to the letter, but ran into a wall. The customer support guy I reached was great, and very patient. Fireworks were going off outside (this was on July 3rd), and I had to keep asking him to repeat himself.

Finally he determined the issue was with my computer, and advised me to check with the computer maker's tech support. Before we hung up though, we checked my other computer (the laptop) and determined that the wireless network was up and running -- it was just the main computer that couldn't detect it. The laptop got online just fine.

After a few minutes with my computer's manual, I spotted the problem, pushed a couple of buttons, and voila! Wireless network for all computers in the house. Yay!

Since then it's been working great, and is tiny and unobtrusive. I have it hidden behind the TV set, and have noticed no interference from running it so close to the TV. Did not drop a connection all weekend, and we were online quite a bit. Now that we've got it working, am very pleased with the router -- just bummed that the price went down a couple of bucks since I bought it!

Free support number was helpful seeing as it didn't work after following the instructions in the package.

Easy setup and trouble free after 1 month of use. One small negative, during setup make sure you don't skip the secure password screen when it asks you to setup secure password or do it later, if you skip you must call customer service tech support and they will help with the process, so don't skip or you'll be calling customer service support. This will saveyou time.

I followed the set-up instructions precisely, loaded the software as told and have had no real problems with this router. The only quirk I have noticed is that, at times, I have to re-boot my desktop computer before getting online first thing in the morning. If that's the only problem anyone has with a good, inexpensive router like this, that tells me it's a pretty good piece of equipment.

I purchased this product because of the strong customer reviews and compact size. I did not realize that the easy install software is NOT compatible with Windows Vista so you are supposed to manually install rhe hardware and software. After having to flip through practically the entire user manual, you get to page 78, where it walks you through the manual installation instructions that are still not geared towards Vista. I ran the entire installation process and my computer still couldn't read the wireless router. This router is a completed waste of time and energy if you have Windows Vista. Do not BUY!

I love this product. Very easy getting our network set up- only hinderance was that I wasn't able to set it up on my Mac. I'm sure if I spent more time with it I could have, but after 20 min of messing with the set up process, I quit. Luckily I have a PC as well, and although the disc is for Macs and PCs, it was far easier to install on the PC. Once I had it set up, which only took about 15 min, it worked on all 3 of our computers (the Mac included!) And it has a very long range. We set it up downstairs in our living room, and it works upstairs in both bedrooms (we live in a 2-level condo) with just as strong a signal strength! I've had it for about a month now with no problems, down time or interuptions! IT's GREAT & AFORDABLE!!!

Works great. Slight glitch when first hooking it up. My internet provider resolved the issue. Great price.

When I received a request from Amazon to review a recent purchase, I couldn't remember what it was. That's good, because it was for the wireless router that was being used for the laptop I was on at that moment. I haven't had to think about it, or reboot it, or do anything with it. It has just been sitting there working just fine for the past four weeks. Installation was simple and I have excellent signal strength throughout the house.( Single story house with the router in the basement office.)It seems to be as fast as my hardwired (Verizon) computer, even with streaming video. I've only had it for a month, but it seems to be a great router for the money.

I just bought this as a replacement of another wireless router. I have used several brands in the past, this is by far the easiest setup, it took less than 5 minutes, literally! Instructions were very simple, the setup disk really took care of the whole thing for me. I will definitely stick with this brand in the future, very very happy!!!!

I have had this product for a month now and have come to the realization that several days a week the router needs to be restarted due to lockups and slowdowns. I don't know why, tho I have noted that it has almost no ventilation in its design.

I have had this product for about a month and it has worked just as it was advertised. Very happy with it. Also, very good price for it too.

I ordered the product and paid for it, but it could not be shipped to me, and my money was refunded. No explanation why this happened.

easy to hook up!!!!! Had things up and going in less that 15 minutes. no drops and great speed.

The router was very easy to set up. I have not had any dropped signals. I use it between my desktop and laptop in different parts of my house. Works great. Very happy with the purchase.

The router was easy to set up and works great, as long as we don't have a cordless phone plugged in. When the phone is plugged in you can hear interference when on the phone and the wireless connection drops. I have tried this with two phones and both have the issue. I assume it is because they are on the same frequency.

Very easy to install on a Mac! Just install the software and you are good to go!

the speed of set up, the effective range and ease of use of this product are exceptional. I am very pleased and would highly recommend this product. It is an excellent value for the money.

The automatic configuration failed, and tech support could not help me, so I was forced to configure it to "Dynamic Method" on my own. Also, after one week I found that our cordless phone would sometimes overpower my laptop and cause me to loose my wireless connection, so I set the Belkin Wireless Router to always use "channel 6" and the problem has not returned. Bottom line... if you are willing to do some manual configuring this is a good little unit. I would definitely purchase this router again.

even smaller than it looked on the page works great very simple, works with xbox live, i dont really use the wireless but the signal is very clear

I needed a wireless router to use "once-in-awhile" at my mother's old farmhouse. Lots of thick plaster walls. Cable modem is located upstairs. This device worked well. A few dead spots in the house, but overall, a good solution. Set up was quite simple and the device has worked well and has not required re-booting. I probably would not have bought this as my primary router for my house, but would is an ideal solution for an apartment or condo. One downside for the product is that you cannot attach an external antenna. The antenna on the unit cannot be removed.

Since this was my first time installing a wireless router, I was somewhat nervous if I could do it correctly and easily. Being a computer literate person that I am, I knew that installing the hardware was the easy part. But I was also pleasantly surprised to find out how easy it was setting it up wirelessly with my laptop.

I definitely could have used this right out of the box wirelessly with my laptop, but I prefer to have certain security features turned on/off while I am online. And if you don't know what features to turn on/off, you can use the included CD to walk you through it.

The size of this wireless router is very small. Its range is also very good for my small apartment. And so far, I haven't experienced any slowdown or loss of connection yet. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for an inexpensive wireless router with standard features.

It works pretty well now, but originally I had to keep re-installing it using the start-up CD.

THIS ROUTER WORKS GREAT IF YOU ARE RUNNING WINDOWS VISTA LIKE ME AND DON'T WON'T TO PAY A HIGH PRICE FOR GREAT ROUTER IT ALSO WORKS WITH CABLE/DSL GET THIS ONE OR PAY A HIGHER PRICE IT'S UP TO YOU

This product did not stream live internet radio music properly. Music would play for a few minutes. Stop. It would start again. And, keep repeating the same song over and over again. I thought it was the modem but in fact it was the wireless box. I called Belkin two times. The second time the technical person had me do a firmware update. This did not help. So, I gave up and sent the product back to Amazon. The return was easy. They even paid for the return shipping. And after, I bought a Cisco Linksys Wireless router product instead from Amazon. Now, I can listen to live internet radio again. And, actually my web pages load faster with the Cisco Linksys router instead of the Belkin router. I guess sometimes it is better to spend a little more and get a better product and better customer service too.

This router is the smallest I have ever seen, yet it allows me to have wireless access from any point in my house, including the porch. Walls and distance are no problem for this router. It was just about self installing. There was one thing that I didn't quite understand, but a quick call to a very friendly and well informed customer service rep answered my questions. I would definitely recommend this product.

Piece of cake!!! After my nightmare hookup with Road Runner, I was squeamish about how a router might open up another can of worms. I did a little homework, including reading the reviews here....and I couldn't recommend this little puppy more! I'm an apartment dweller and running on RR Lite (which is dynamite, BTW). The installation from the CD was so easy. I was up and running wireless in approx. 15 mins. The unit is small and basic, but that's all I need with my Gateway laptop. Sometimes more is not necessarily better.

The set up was very easy. It is full featured, including firewall, DMZ, time-based access control, etc. So far it has been solid as a rock.