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Belkin Play Max 802.11n Wireless Router

30.04.2010
The Play Max is positioned at the top of Belkin's recently refreshed line. It costs twice as much as the entry-level Surf ($50), but the package supplies you with a dual-band router plus Belkin's full assortment of wireless networking apps for getting the most out of your wireless network.

The set of apps includes Bit Boost, which lets you set rules to prioritize network traffic, and Torrent Genie, which lets you continue BitTorrent transfers when your PC isn't on. You also get three apps designed to help you manage and share your music libraries across your network: Music Labeler automatically tags your music, Music Mover shares your music libraries across your network, and Daily DJ sets up customized playlists by analyzing your music libraries and pick songs that cater to a certain "mood." Finally, Print Genie and Memory Safe let you share printers and schedule backups to devices connected to one of the Play Max's two USB ports, and Self Healing claims to automatically correct networking flaws.

Setting up the Play Max is fairly easy: Plug the router into the modem and power outlet; pop the driver CD into your PC; then install Belkin's router management app, and set it up through the Belkin Setup wizard. The router has encryption turned on by default (with a password printed on an included card as well as on the bottom of the router itself), so you don't need to worry about someone creeping onto your network the moment you plug it in.

Gaining access to the Play Max's more advanced features, such as Bit Boost and Torrent Genie, requires a little bit more digging. Unlike the software that comes with the , the Belkin Setup app doesn't let you alter the router's configuration from the Advanced Tools section (which just gives you links to the appropriate page in the Web-based GUI setup system).

A Windows utility called the Belkin Router Monitor, which runs in your taskbar, handles the apps. From there, you can change your Bit Boost Quality of Service profile to various presets (Voice over IP, Online Gaming, and so on), launch --the included BitTorrent client, which can combine with the Torrent Genie app to continue file transfers when your PC is off, if you have a USB drive plugged into the Play Max--and access Belkin's suite of music-related apps.

Belkin Router Monitor got annoying fairly quickly. It stays open in your system tray and pops up occasionally to warn you if you're not on your router's Wi-Fi network--and I couldn't find a way to shut it up. Worse, this warning kept coming back when I was on the router's own 5GHz network (instead of on the 2.4GHz network), and there's no obvious way to stop it short of closing it.