Belkin F5D8053 N, Good Range

Overall Rating3.673.673.673.673.67

Good Range

First, let me say I’m no tech, so my comments are more observational than technical. I bought this unit and the matching Belkin N wireless router because of the range touted by N wireless. I installed the router in the basement of my home to service a desktop which is located on the second floor, at the opposite end of the house from the router. The Belkin N wireless adapter gives me a 4/5 signal strength and moves data at about 78 mbps, even though the signal passes through 3 floors and multiple walls. So, it lives up to the claim of excellent range.

On the downside, once installed, the Belkin program manager was unable to “see” the router, even though the Vista network manager could see it and reported the signal as good to strong. I could not connect to the router using the Vista network manager because of a conflict between the Belkin program manager and Vista. Every time I attempted to connect with the Vista network manager, I got the “blue screen of death” and the computer shutdown. Therefore, if you are using Vista with this product, you must go to the Belkin website and download the driver for Vista and install it. In attempting to resolve this problem, I called Belkin support. That effort proved fruitless as the Belkin support team was unaware that a Vista driver was necessary and that Belkin had such a driver available on the Belkin website. So, Belkin technical support was not helpful in resolving the issue. Thankfully, a call to Dell Support pointed me in the right direction.

Once I loaded the driver, however, the Belkin program manager would not recognize the router. The good news is that the driver removed the conflict and the Vista network manager now allows me to connect to the router and surf the internet.

Bottom line is that the hardware works well but the Belkin program manager was for me at best useless and at worst, a source of trouble.

Update (2/5/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen. I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter Electronics, was written by Hunt N. Peck.

The average rating for this item is 3.7 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

Related posts:

  1. Belkin F5D9050 Wireless, Excellent wirless..
  2. M9470LL/A Apple AirPort, For Windows people in..
  3. Linksys by Cisco WRT54G2, Open NAT for xbox 360!
  4. Cisco-Linksys WET54G, Linksys/Cisco:”NOT FOR..
  5. WDG1C5000N Western, Yes it works with power..

Reviews (3)

C. Hauptman

April 16th, 2010 at 3:30 am    


Overall Rating44444

Excellent Signal Strength, but disable the Belkin Software
I installed from a wireless G PCI card to USB device. I still have my wireless router G. My signal strength went from "poor" old adapter "excellent" with this device. I would rank this as a product 5 stars, but the Belkin software manager is not functional. It would / could not detect my network. I could not even change the settings in the Belkin program. All the default settings would be back after clicking on another field. Again, the deer BELKIN PROGRAM DO NOT WORK. Fortunately, it tells you how to use the window of Built-in Wireless Manager program instead of the Belkin. However, you need the Internet to read the instructions to help tip on microsoft.com. I guess the Belkin software disables the Wireless Manager window, it can replace its functionality. As I said, the product works very well once you re-enable the Wireless Manager window. [...]


Hunt N. Peck

April 19th, 2010 at 8:50 am    


Overall Rating44444

Good Range
Rated 4 stars.


S. Vaughan

April 30th, 2010 at 10:40 am    


Overall Rating33333

Lousy management program makes problem solving impossible.
I bought this adapter because a double-solid wall appears to make my PC location a black hole for signals. This item’s cable is over 4′ long, so I figured it could get me better reception in the middle of the room. And better reception it gets (mildly). However, the Belkin connection manager is beyond lousy.

1. When I jump onto my computer after it has been in hibernation, the connection is lost and the program itself appears buggy and unresponsive to my request to connect. The only way to fix this is to reboot, so now I’ve basically prohibited my computer from ever hibernating. This is a pain.
2. I’ve gone into the Belkin management settings and chosen only my home network as a default network connection. None of the unsecure neighborhood networks have been “okayed” by me. But the manager keeps going behind my back and choosing random networks as official connections that are “OK” to connect to.
3. When I have no connectivity problems, the manager sometimes says that I have a good signal to the router but the router has no internet connection. It’s clearly not in sync with reality.

So despite my hopes that this was the solution to my internet woes, it is only marginally better than the g-card I had installed before, and the lousy program is more of a hindrance than an aid.


Leave a reply

Overall Rating

Name *

Mail *

Website