BelkinF5D7633UK4A or Netgear DG834G?

Messiah Khan · 14 May 2006 at 19:22

Im about to buy a new router, as my current BT Voyager105 is giving me grief. Ive done a bit of reseach, and ive narrowed my selection down to these two models;

Belkin 125Mbps Wireless ADSL2+ Modem/Router (F5D7633UK4A) (NW-022-BE)

Netgear DG834G 54Mbps Wireless ADSL Modem/Router/Switch/Firewall (NW-017-NG)

I was about to click on the buy button on the Netgear, but I see comments about the Belkin being better for weak lines. My line specs are currently these horrible numbers;

Attenuation:
Local; 62.5
Remote; 31.5

SNR:
Local; 7
Remote; 9

Thats on a 1mb line. So which router do you all recommend? Is the Belkin worth the extra little bit of money?

ANDARIAL · 14 May 2006 at 21:04

i have got a netgear DG834g wireless jobbie on a 5.25 k line
atm i have a 3meg line(ADSLmax) that said i am having a bit of trouble getting dl speeds above 100k most of the time,but that might be the isp traffic shaping

no problem with the router,have had it rock solid on a fixed 1meg line for about 18 months constant use

the router setup/interface is very easy to use i found

wellibob · 14 May 2006 at 21:52

I`d plum for the Netgear tbh, i had a belkin, and it kept dropping the line, mine you this way over 2 years ago. Ive a DG834GT (108 mbs) , and its rock solid.

RichieUK · 14 May 2006 at 22:11

Yep, i had a Belkin router and it was terrible. Constantly dropping connections and reseting. Go for Netgear

Messiah Khan · 14 May 2006 at 22:44

Ive now placed the order for the Netgear one

This is the way im going to have the network set up. I don't want to get rid of the hub, as that would mean some quite major rewiring etc. Ive also ordered a gigabit NIC for the server so that I can connect it directly to my main machine(PC1) using a twisted pair network cable. One thing that I wondered about though, is what decides which route a packet takes to and from my main machine, now that it has two options to get to the internet(Through the hub then through the router, or through the server then through the router)? Also, would this cause any problems?

Edit: RichieUK, so your another one from the Darlo vicinity.. hello

Gman · 14 May 2006 at 22:54

Got the belkin here and not had any problems what so ever both on connected and wireless. Have a look over at ADSLGuide for more info as a lot of people will give the Belkin high marks.

But by the looks of it you've made your choice now

but saying that you've still got till the morning to cancel

ste_bla · 14 May 2006 at 22:54

messiah khan said:
Attenuation:
Local; 62.5
Remote; 31.5

SNR:
Local; 7
Remote; 9

Thats on a 1mb line. So which router do you all recommend? Is the Belkin worth the extra little bit of money?

Who have you got your line through? Is it on ADSL Max or a normal package?

I ask as im sitting on 61db according to my router but only allowed 512k

Messiah Khan · 14 May 2006 at 23:00

Its with Freedom2Surf. Its just a normal ADSL connection, not max. When they did a line test sometime ago, the guy on the helpdesk sounded quite suprised that I had been allowed a 1mb line as its just on the limit.

smids · 14 May 2006 at 23:38

Should have gone for the Belkin - that particular one - over the Netgear. I own both and on a max enabled line the Belkin is far more stable and got me 1.5 Mbit higher than the Netgear. Even for normal operation it didn't fluctuate the SNR much at all (1dB) but the Netgear fluctuated a lot (14dB range). It is reported a lot on ADSLGuide the problems that router has with longer lines.

Still, I hope you have some luck with it.

FunkyT · 15 May 2006 at 09:20

smids said:
Should have gone for the Belkin - that particular one - over the Netgear. I own both and on a max enabled line the Belkin is far more stable and got me 1.5 Mbit higher than the Netgear. Even for normal operation it didn't fluctuate the SNR much at all (1dB) but the Netgear fluctuated a lot (14dB range). It is reported a lot on ADSLGuide the problems that router has with longer lines.

Still, I hope you have some luck with it.

Are you using the latest firmware on your NETGEAR?

Messiah Khan · 15 May 2006 at 09:43

Well i'll see how it goes. If it comes to it, and the Netgears SNR wanders too much for my line, I suppose I could use the Distance selling act. Although fingers crossed it will all work fine. It can't be much worse than what I have now.

So does anyone haave any comment on my above diagram? Will it work, and how does a packet choose which way to go?

smids · 15 May 2006 at 09:58

FunkyT said:
Are you using the latest firmware on your NETGEAR?

Yes of course - I'm an update junkie - I flash to the latest and greatest - even if only in beta

. Blame DFI for that.

The Netgear cannot hold a connection well below a 10dB SNR - my Belkin held on all the way to 3.1dB where it finaly gave up the ghost. Despite the Belkin's of old, the 7633UK4A is actually a very good router and is heartily recommended over at ADSLGuide.

ballistic · 16 May 2006 at 14:47

the BelkinF5D7633UK4A is the better router (around 2 years older too) I installed one for a friend and he has no problems, but the netgear DG834G is also very reliable but not near as fast or in getting a good signal from long distances.

smids · 16 May 2006 at 14:52

Watch out though with the new version of this router with the 1.00.17 firmware - it disables telnet (which houses the SNR tweak) but this doesn't affect anything else though. People will moan about this I'm sure but unless you'd use telnet, it's not much of a loss especially as I'm sure a new firmware will re-enable it.

v.1001uk - has the 1.00.09 firmware
v.1144uk - has the 1.00.17 firmware

There will be a sticker on the base of the box indicating this so buy accordingly if you need telnet and want to use the very stable 1.00.11 firmware (despite broken MAC filtering).