Review on 📶 Enhanced Wireless Dual Band N+ Router - Belkin Play N600 HD Model by Gregory Castellanos

I read other reviews so I knew others had issues and were disappointed with the product. I have over 10 years of experience in IT. I first tried the product with the CD/DVD that came with it. This allowed the Belkin router software to take control of the wireless network on my Win7 laptop. This part of the process went well, found that the password was set on the router, etc. I had problems with the USB ports on the back of the router, the USB flash drive only appeared once on my wireless laptop. The green USB light on the router indicated that the device was working. I was able to see a 1 gig flash drive for the first and only time. After restarting the router and computer, the USB LED on the back of the router turned solid green, but the mass storage device disappeared in Win 7. I could never get the HP all-in-one printer to show up All the USB ports on the router never showed up green for the printer. After having problems with the router I decided to flash it with the latest Belkin firmware but to my surprise the latest version was released: 03/30/2011. I flashed the router anyway so it went back to factory settings. While flashing the write process got stuck, knowing I might block the router I rebooted the router anyway. Of course I had a brick. It took something close to 30/30/30 to get the router back to working order. Instead I used this process. With the router powered on, press the reset button for 10 seconds, then turn it off for 20 seconds while holding the reset button, then turn it back on while holding the reset button for another 15 seconds keep. This process requires the reset to be held throughout the process. Another way to access this router is to turn off the device, then press the WPS button when the device is on and hold the WPS button for 10 seconds. This should allow the router to ping the default 192.168.2.1 address for that Belkin router. After the connection is verified, you can view the router. In short, this router is an alpha version of the router product. If you just want a $40 router, it worked for the few days I've had it. Don't buy this router if you need to use an external USB drive or shared printer ports, this is a toy router designed just for gaming.