Staples.com

Special Buy $19.94!
Reg. $69.98.
Valid 1/23/05 – 1/29/05.

Apply $10 off on $40 Coupon Code: 8654940477079397

Staples easy rebate $40

$10 Manufacture MIR

So finally you are making $.06 cents, not including tax.

Widest working range-up to 1800 feet-and greater interoperability in mixed networking environments

The Belkin 54g Wireless Cable/DSL Gateway Router lets users share files and a broadband Internet connection among their computers-without using networking cables.

Creates a network in your home or office without cables
Offers backward-compatibility with all 802.11b devices
Sets up easily with Belkin Easy Install Wizard-automatically detects Internet settings and self-adjusts Router to get you online in under 3 minutes
Nearly five times faster than the current Wi-Fi (802.11b) standard.

this was posted on FW a few days ago... OOS for me =(

The site I saw this on didn't say anything about it being OOS

Great deal but slim pickins after the FW lion pack has had their fill. (and the vultures)

the manufacture rebate on the router is $20 not $10. it is model F5D7230-4, and as per the rebate:

$20.00 Rebate applies to the following Belkin products: F5D7231-4, F5D7230-4, F1UP0001, F5D7130, F5D6231-4, F5D6130, F5D5231-4.

so the deal would actually be -$10 AR AC (YMMV on the coupon).

i picked up the router and the pci card and got a few other things to get the 10% back through Discover and i also used a $15 coupon i had. so there will be:

$40 staples router rebate
$30 staples pci rebate
$20 MFG router rebate
$10 MFG pci rebate

$100 in rebates for a $103 purchase, so I should get the router, the pci card, and some other stuff for free basically, plus the 10% discover cashback. not bad!

Isn't the $10 of $40 instore only?

No, some people got lucky and got mailed one-time-use 16 digit codes (unfortunately I didn't get one)

Thanks Katrinka for the post/heads up! Excellent find!!

I bought this during the last CC deal and I'm not happy with the router.
I want my Netgear back (gave it away)

why no happy?

If you can afford to spend a little more (or spend at all, for the -$$ crowd ), get the Linksys WRT54G for about $30-40 during a good deal these days. Excellent router, can boost power for enhanced range, and there is custom firmware available that can make it do weird and wonderful things...

One of the main reasons the Belkin has issues is because it has issues with heat dissipation - remember routers are essentially mini PCs serving as firewalls.

If you're OK with it, pop the cover and try getting some fresh air to the router, or make sure it is in an area with some ventilation. Don't put it in an area where heat becomes a problem (like on top of a huge 21" CRT hehe).

I have 3 of these routers myself and all three stoped losing connection once I addressed the heat issues.

Of course taking off the cover voids the warranty - but what good is a warranty on a useless item

Interesting...I noticed that my Netgear router gets really hot at times.

I wonder if heat could be causing the issues I'm having with it.

THe only way I can think heat might cause problems is if the CPU inside the router overheats and throttles its speed, causing it to drop connections and what not....sounds quite plausible.

I just got off the phone with Belkin Tech Support 877-736-5771. They told me that in order to use the belkin 54g wireless router, I had to disable my Firewall software whether it be ZoneAlarm, Norton, or McAfee. They said that I would have to probably turn off my Windows XP Firewall also. Apparently the Belkin internal firewall doesn't play well with others and you can't turn it off without adversely affecting the Router. I believe they said that this issue involved their other routers as well but I didn't pursue that line of questioning. They claim that they are working on the issue but they have ben aware of it for over a year.
Caveat Emptor y'all.
Their Customer Service number is 800-223-5506 setect 1, 1, 1.
In case you have trouble returning it after stripping the package for the rebates.

That's complete BS...the specs for this router show only a "NAT" (haha) and SPI firewalls. Both of these should work seamlessly with any software firewall if implementd correctly. See if there is an option to turn off SPI (there should be), and if the router works better after that. Otherwise return this PoCrap....go Linksys!

I have used this router for a few months and never had a problem, works great. Only weird thing is it goes down to 11mbps frequently for no reason, and I have no b connections. Use xp firewall with no problems, works with xbox live great too.

Unfortunately it seems to be sold out at staples.com

As stated above, you've been told B.S. I have several of these running with their 'firewall' turned off.


My standard heads-up on the 7230-4 and 7231-4: Belkin's 4.xx.xx firmware has a packet loss bug that will cause some equipment (ReplayTV) to get horrible performance over the wireless link. Only older firmware (which can only run on older hardware) works correctly.

Hi All,

I'm sorry but i'm a complete newbie when it comes to this site. Can someone inform me what the "FW" acronym means? Thanks

Item removed.

yes it stands for a competing site-where most of us originated but hated the nastiness of the place so we left and set up a sunny nice home here. I am not sure if I am allowed to actually say the name of the other forum here but I can tell you that the F stands for fat.

Trying to load the OP's link leading to the item now leads to a long stall on the Staples page, followed by an error. I'm not able to successfully search by the item number either (504004).

Is this the aftermath of FW?

All belkin products which are on sale are removed from website. You can call 8003staple or use live chat to order. They are still instock.

I have this Belkin router and am running Norton on three computers with no problem what so all.. One is wireless and the other two are wired.

Unfortunately, I have the representative "Don" on live chat support right now, and about the Belkin wireless-G router, SKU 504004, he says:

---
Don: Unfortunately it is out of stock nation wide.
---

He said it should be back in no more than 10 days, but of course that puts it outside the deal timeframe.

Also, here's a better link for the rebateshq rebate - this one specifies the F5D7230-4:

Link to F5D7230-4 specific rebate

Bad Bad router! Never gets overheated, kept in a very cool space in a cool room. Still drops connections/speed like crazy. This one forces me to keep my upload speed 5-6kb/s slower than any normal router and reboot a couple times a month. If you can, avoid it!

I am using NetGear router now ... and quite impressed with it ...

from my laptop, the connection speed I usually get is 48-54Mbps .....

Yes, it too needs to be reset ... but only about once a month ....

On some other forum, people are reporting that Stapl3s is substituting a Linksys Wireless-G card for the advertised Belkin card and LinkSys Router for Belkin router. Some store are allowing it, others don't. So YMMV.

BTW, Linksys routers are much better than Belkin.

Any ideas how the rebate would work on these? Would they promo the $40 off instore as well? I'd love to do this, especially since I bought the last 2 Belkins in my store.

Normally, when subs are offered they offer at after rebate price.

That's correct. And, if you don't get the after-rebate price instantly, then tell them that it is a sub for belkin and they can check with corporate. They will give manual discount (reason code 07) to give instant off.

Check out the DSLreports discussion on loading the high-speed 802.11g firmware (125mbps) in the stock 7230 router here. I can confirm that my 7230 now thinks that it is a 7231 with speed boost, but I don't use it for wireless.
It's an easy hack, you just change the first 4 bytes of the 7231's firmware from Belkin's site (v4.03.04) to the string 'LOAD' with a hex editor, then use the firmware upgrade option on the router's admin page to load it up. Works fine so far, I wonder if it also fixes the streaming prob with replayTV's.

Note that this won't work with a pre-v1444 version of the router - those do not have the speed boost hardware. The 7231 is apparently just a v1444 7230 with speed boost enabled in the firmware. Also looks like this only works with the v1444, not the later v2000 version of the 7230.

ARgh... so close to getting the substitution, the asst. manager called corporate and everything but seemed scared to do the sub, even when they were walking through it. One of the sales people meanwhile spent 30 minutes in the back, and actually found one of the belkins. DAMMIT. Oh well... if only the asst mgr was faster.
I've had bad experience with the Belkin routers (at least the B ones)... can't run a Citrix ICA client or a PC-Xware client through it, the Belkin just barfs (I've tried 3 of 'em)... I'm sticking with Netgear for now, until I can get a cheap Linksys.

I'm running Terminal Services over a Cisco VPN through this belkin router with no problems.

BTW I did this deal this morning on the phone, used a $15 off 75, and got it free AR plus $15 worth of free stuff!

The router and my labels came today. Tonight I called and pricematched to J&R who has the router for $52 before rebate. They did not have to (due to shipping) but they gave me a $9.40 pricematch so I made some money on this one.

IF YOU TRY THE PRICEMATCH BE REALLY REALLY NICE!

Planning to figure out how to put it into bridge mode tonight to extend the range of my matching router!
http://search.belkin.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe...rd=f5d72304%2A+
http://web.belkin.com/support/download/fil...ss%20Bridge.pdf

I tried the number posted above and it does not go to Belkin. The phone number for Belkin Customer Service is 800-223-5546.

and only 4 and a half years later =)

From the Belkin customer support webpage:
1 800 2BELKIN (223-5546) x2263

LOL! Talk about waking the dead.