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Belkin F8T030 Bluetooth Access Point with USB Print Server | List Price: $174.87
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Platform: Windows
Brand: Belkin
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - Product Type - Wireless Access Point
- Warranty - 2 years
- Provides easy management with built-in web browser interface
- Works with all Bluetooth v1.1 devices
one tiny notch above junk [Posted on 2004-08-04]
The F8T030 is one tiny notch above junk. I got it working as a wireless laptop-to-printer cable, but no thanks to the instructions, as it doesn't work at all if they are followed. The network access point function and the web manager won't activate without a pairing PIN, the instructions say nothing about pairing, no reasonable guess works, and there is no hardware reset or bypass. Phone service doesn't connect to a person; it asks you to leave a voice message and promises to get back within 48 hours; it has been 5 days. Buy ANYTHING else!
This product is not ready for public sale [Posted on 2004-12-16]
The tech support was prompt and knowledgeable. The unit has good range which seems to be limitied more by the class of the PDA that is trying to acess it.
HOWEVER this product has a VERY serious design deficiency that makes it UNSUITABLE FOR USE at any price!!!! Belkin tech support has confirmed that there is no way to reset the unit to the original factory settings if you can not acess it via the built in web manager. Belkin tech support also confirmed that there is also a flaw in the unit that will cause some user passwords to not be accepted. Once this happens, this will essentially require returning the unit for complete replacement. I know of no other networking product that has such a serious design flaw (all other networking devices I am aware of have at least a reset button somewhere or a "power on" sequence to handle these inevitable situations). It also makes the unit unusable for any scenario where if you make a change to the settings, you can not afford to be without it for the time to swap it out.
An obvious problem for you, me and Amazon here!
Horrible Range! Don't buy! You'll be sorry! I was! [Posted on 2004-12-29]
The Belkin F8T030 has terrible range. It only worked at full speed when I held my Palm Zire 72 within 8 inches of the unit! It barely moved data at 5 feet and dropped out completely over 10 feet away.
I Returned it and bought an Anycom AP-2002 bluetooth access point. Both are supposed to be Class 1 radios but the Anycom is way better! It has 2 to 3 times the range of the Belkin. If you screw up the settings you can do a full factory reset with out having to establish a connection first. With the Belkin, you have to be able to connect to it to reset it.
Even though the Anycom is better, Bluetooth still has quite a limited range. The Anycom is Class 1, but the Palm is not, and it is the limiting factor. When they say 300 feet, that is only if both ends are a Class 1 radio. When they say 30 feet for a Palm device, you can still connect at 30 feet, but the throughput is very very slow.
Practical distances with the Anycom seem to be around 10 feet and that is still slower than when you are right next to the access point.
I read some of the other negative reviews on the Belkin and thought it cant be that bad, but it was! Stay away, really!
It works for me [Posted on 2005-08-26]
I actually liked this unit. I have a three story 2200 square foot home and I can access the internet/printer from anywhere in my house. I have to agree with the rest of the reviews dealing with the tech support (hope you do not need them). Luckily, the setup was a snap and my printer was easy to get working. If you are using an all in wonder printer (scan, print, fax) I would not suggest hooking it up to this print server. It works well with just a junk generic inkjet though. I currently interface with it using a palm tungsten t5, but have heard that other PDA's do not play as well.
Problems but authentication workarounds [Posted on 2006-04-17]
This unit does do the job but its set-up took a day of experimenting with Windows services before LAN and printer access was established. However, the real problem is when you set an authentication password on the web interface - once you reboot your access to Web Manager is gone forever - no hardware reboot! I thought I was going mad as my trusted administrator password and 100 variations failed. Finally I discovered through these reviews that the password set is not always properly recorded. However, there is a back route using telnet - put in your password at the ADMIN password prompt and you are given access the router internals via a unix command line interface. You need the following two commands to disable your password for Web Manager:
Belkin-F8T030>setpb authreq off
Belkin-F8T030>reboot
You will be disconnected as the reboot actualises but then you'll find you again have access to the Web Manager on http://1.2.3.4.
I only wish Belkin support could publish this on their support site as a FAQ but then then is more chance that Narnia is reality!
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