Belkin AC 1200 DB review

We tested the router using both our Centrino 2 laptop’s integrated wireless chipset and Belkin’s own 802.11ac F9L1106v1 USB wireless adaptor, which costs around £20. Our laptop supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, but only up to 802.11n speeds. The router uses the AC1200 standard, which has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 867Mbit/s.

Using our laptop’s wireless chipset at 2.4GHz, we got transfer speeds of 35.6Mbit/s at 1m, 34Mbit/s at 10m and 11.3Mbit/s at 20m. This compares to the Belkin adaptor’s performance of 41Mbit/s at 1m, 52.7Mbit/s at 10m and a conspicuously poor 4.9Mbit/s at 20m. On the 5GHz band, our laptop achieved 87Mbit/s at 1m and 32.9Mbit/s at 10m, but failed to complete the test or maintain a connection when we took it into the next room for the 20m test. Using the own-brand adaptor, we got 101Mbit/s at 1m, 76.3Mbit/s at 10m and 26.3Mbit/s at 20m. These are decent, but not amazing results.

If it were cheaper, this capable ADSL router would have earned four stars easily, despite its unconventional non-integrated modem. However, the BT Home Hub 5 performs better, costs less and is a little easier to use.