Belkin Double N+ Wireless Router

Design

The Double N F6D6230au4 is housed in the same casing used for Belkin's previously reviewed N+ wireless router. That means you don't get the interesting visual display of theN1 Vision line of routers and instead get something that looks like it means business, full of flashing lights and severe black monolithic status. An embedded base on the router means there's only one way to mount the Double N, and that's vertically.

Features

As the name suggests, the Double N router operates in a dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) capacity, offering up two 802.11n networks at once. By default these are both entirely open and unsecured, but WPS is an option with security support up to WPA2.

The router supports the usual raft of QoS and NAT features you'd expect from a modern router, along with a few tweaks. A single USB port on the rear of the unit supports file sharing and UPnP, as well as opening up the router's simple BitTorrent capability. For those with an eye to mixed wired and wireless support, the four ports on the back are gigabit ready. The top blinking light set on the front acts as a download speed meter, although if you've got multiple clients using the router at once, the utility of this is questionable.

Performance

Setting up the Double N was simple enough, with very clearly marked sections within the router's web-based configuration utility for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Sensibly, the sharing/UPnP/BitTorrent facilities won't operate until a compatible USB drive is connected. Belkin's web interfaces are generally adequate without being hugely novice-friendly and the Double N is no exception.

It's no secret that 802.11n has so far failed to live up to its lofty marketing claims in our real-world tests. Still, our current speed champion just happens to be this unit's direct predecessor, the N+ Wireless Storage Router, so our hopes were high for this unit's performance credentials.