Belkin N600 DB wireless router review: Belkin N600 DB wireless router

Right from the outset, it's important to note that there's a Belkin N600 DB that's just a wireless router, and one that's a wireless modem/router. While they share many similarities, these are very different beasts performance-wise, so the results here should not be conflated with the other product. For this review, we're focusing on the plain wireless router version.

7.0

Belkin N600 DB wireless router

The Good

Finally allows spaces in SSIDs. Decent ranged wireless performance. Great warranty.

The Bad

100Mb Ethernet is stingy for the price. Close-range wireless performance is middling. Slow to apply settings. Doesn't detect net access if not hooked up through WAN.

The Bottom Line

The N600 DB is passable as a wireless router. While a lifetime warranty is incredibly appealing, the wireless performance is trounced by devices that are in the same price bracket.

It's an odd shape, this one. A vertically standing, convex wedge in piano black, with a rim of grey and an activity light on the top.

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Specs at a glance

Connections

The N600 DB takes the standard approach; four 100Mb Ethernet ports, and a USB port that can manage either printing or storage. A 100Mb WAN port sits at the top, which should suit most needs, unless you happen to be a rather lucky internet subscriber. Just like most routers that "detect" internet access, the N600 DB is a little stupid; if you've hooked up your net connection via LAN instead of WAN, rather than testing access, it just assumes that there's no net connection at all. This doesn't affect much — only online firmware checks — but it's such a simple thing, and many router manufacturers miss it.

Power jack, USB, 4x 100Mb Ethernet and 100Mb WAN port.
(Credit: Belkin)

UI and features

Belkin hasn't given its UI a once over for a very long time. It's still the same old grey, which works well enough, but it's certainly dull. Page level contextual help is given via a link at the top right. While a techy will be right at home, for a company that appears to pitch itself at less-educated users, the UI is nigh on hostile, hiding things like parental controls under "Firewall" and calling them "Access Control".

Same old same old, but it works.
(Screenshot by CBS Interactive)

A long-standing Belkin bugbear, not being able to put spaces in SSIDs, has been rectified with the N600 DB. It supports such features as guest wireless (on 2.4GHz only), QOS, outbound WAN stats, a media server and the standard glut of features that you'd expect on a standalone router.

In a disturbing trend, saving settings on the router is incredibly slow, which is a vastly frustrating experience for someone who is trying to set up their network just right.

Performance

After analysing the spectrum with InSSIDer, an empty channel of either 1, 6 or 11 is chosen for 2.4GHz wireless testing. Usually the router is restricted to the 20MHz band, if the option is available.

We use iperf to determine throughput, running eight streams with a TCP window size of 1MB and an interval of one second. The test was run for five minutes in three different locations on two separate occasions. The locations are in the same room as the router: one floor down around spiral stairs and with concrete walls and floors, and two floors down under the same conditions.

The wireless throughput is tested using three chipsets (the Atheros AR5008X, the Ralink RT2870 and the Intel Ultimate-N 6300), and then all results are averaged.

2.4GHz throughput (in Mbps)

• Belkin N600 DB (wireless modem/router)
• Belkin N600 DB (wireless router)
• Netgear WNDR4500
• Netgear DGND3700

• 139.00107.5387.7682.5Location one (same room, no obstructions)
• 114.3390.8083.7374.27Location two (one floor down, some obstructions)
• 53.8349.1744.9040.43Location three (two floors down, some obstructions)

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

5GHz throughput (in Mbps)

• Belkin N600 DB (wireless modem/router)
• Belkin N600 DB (wireless router)
• Netgear WNDR4500
• Netgear DGND3700

• 189.67151.3391.7091.20Location one (same room, no obstructions)
• 135.50100.9791.1766.40Location two (one floor down, some obstructions)
• 8.537.7300Location three (two floors down, some obstructions)

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

The N600 DBs aren't class leading, especially when it comes to close quarters. Interestingly, though, the N600 DB wireless router puts in a strong showing in the difficult-to-reach and distant third location for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Note that the N600 DB modem/router 5GHz results are averaged from only two adapters; the Ralink-based USB adapter would not see the router operating on this frequency. Even then, performance appears capped to some degree.

Warranty

Belkin covers the N600 DB with a "lifetime" warranty, considerably outstripping its competitors.

Conclusion

The N600 DB is passable as a wireless router. While a lifetime warranty is incredibly appealing, the wireless performance is trounced by devices that are in the same price bracket.