I’ve just reviewed Belkin’s Play Max wireless router. It’s a Wireless N access point and router; it works, though I was disappointed with the range. That said, I’m increasingly impatient with this kind of product, good value in one sense but chucked out with technical deficiencies, inadequate documentation, and poor supporting software. It is not too bad if you are familiar with networking and follow the principle of never installing any software that comes with a router/modem; but if you do what it says on the packet you end up with a suite of software installed that you probably do not want – including a bit torrent client that comes in uninvited – and I would think a high chance that you will run into some issues with the configuration.

The Belkin unit is ambitious and promises you extra features including a DLNA music server, automatic tagging of your music files, and scheduled backup of your computers. It also claims to be “self-healing”, a feature which turns out to be a scheduled reboot just in case, you know, something has gone slightly wrong. None of this stuff works well, and Belkin would have been better off focusing on the core features for which you might buy a wireless N router.