Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery
Like any standard internet router, the Play Max includes a DHCP server to allocate IP addresses to connected machines. Equally standard is the port-forwarding arrangement - Belkin calls it “virtual servers” - that allows individual machines on your LAN to behave in certain respects as if they’re directly connected to the internet.
Gamers, torrent downloaders - in fact many users except the complete neophyte - come to depend on port-forwarding.
This list is the your official source of information about the IP addresses the Play Max has allocated across your LAN. Sadly only a few of the connections are usually present, even after hitting the Refresh button several times. Four wired LAN devices are missing from this list. although they may turn up at some random time later.
But here’s the catch: port-forwarding depends on the client machines always having known IP addresses. To guarantee this, the DHCP protocol includes a feature called “DHCP reservation”. But the Play Max doesn’t offer DHCP reservation. When the router is power-cycled, it can’t guarantee to deliver those same IP addresses back to its LAN clients. This messes up the port forwarding, and so stuff stops working.
Access to the complete DHCP Client list is actually possible - if you dig deep into the Access Control menu. The missing machines do appear here, but without their assigned names the Play Max can't resolve their IP addresses.
Although Belkin’s own software loses track of the Play Max in AP Mode, Vuze’s “offline download” feature does suss out its IP address
COMMENTS
Belkin...just walk away.
Ah yes firmwares and Belkin routers. If only.
I bought a Belkin wireless router last year as I needed an emergency replacement that day.
I get the router home and set it up. Oh dear performance is terrible. Dropped connections, slow speeds, just awful.
I send a support note into Belkin (in India...I think you can see where this is going) and waited.
The first note came back saying no issues and pointed me to a firmware patch...for another router and it was a beta patch at best. Typical.
I wrote back asking to speak to someone not working from a script. I then got a response back that was highly refreshing...for a change. The person in India responded that yes they had found issues with the router and it was due to the firewall. If you switched it off it worked a treat. A new firmware was promised etc. etc.
Two years later no such firmware has materialised and the router sits gathering dust at the bottom of my tech junk cupboard.
So dont buy Belkin...even if you are desperate.
Good timing......
I'm glad you've published this, I'm on the lookout for a ADSL router with gigabit ports and I had a choice of three, the Linksys WAG320N, Netgear DGN3500 and the ADSL version of this Belkin. I guess I've ruled the latter out now. Any plans on reviewing the Linksys or the Netgear (hint - send them here, I'll do the review!!!)
similar story here
an ADSL router that kept dropping the connection every 5-10 mins, causing downloads to drop out. I went through all sorts trying to get it to keep a connection, before getting it replaced with a linksys which still serves me well 8 years later.
I have avoided them like the plague ever since, even the shop staff's attitude on the phone changed the moment i mentioned it was a belkin. "Oh, you'd better ring belkin directly, we can't help you with getting that working"
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