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Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

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Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#51

Post by chrissnell »

fro0116 wrote: post #31
walrus01 wrote: post #16

The only good Belkin product I have ever seen is their 12 outlet power strip. As a network engineer everything they make with an Ethernet/wifi interface is complete shit. But this is not really news, D-Link, Netgear, many of their competitors are also junk.

Do you have any recommendations for alternatives?

Netgate router board with a mSATA drive and PFSense for the router. Ubiquiti APs for wireless. Run the Ubiquiti unifi software from a Docker image on your workstation or home server. Cisco SG-nnn series switches.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#52

Post by chrissnell »

chx wrote: post #37
fro0116 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any recommendations for alternatives?

Open source to the rescue. https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864_ac-wifi

Problem with OpenWRT is that most people run it on garbage consumer-grade hardware.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#53

Post by walrus01 »

chrissnell wrote: post #52
chx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open source to the rescue. https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864_ac-wifi

Problem with OpenWRT is that most people run it on garbage consumer-grade hardware.

The intentions of the developers are good, but just try getting full kernel level documentation out of a company like Broadcom.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#54

Post by janekm »

chx wrote: post #36
walrus01 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of these: https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-12-Outlet-Protector-Protection... My theory is that they are good because electrical safety is something that is actually regulated. UL and CE certification to sell as a consumer device. Whereas there is no penalty or regulation for shitty routers with shit firmware.

> UL and CE certification to sell as a consumer device. Reminder: > CE marking does not provide any specific information to the consumer. It is not a quality assurance declaration, it does not show evidence of third-party testing, and it should not be confused with any independent certification mark of the type issued by international or European notified test bodies.

That’s not entirely correct. The CE Mark is a representation by the manufacturer / authorised representative that the device conforms to all relevant European directives, including the electrical safety ones (which typically require additional marks and third party verification).

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#55

Post by ww520 »

duxup wrote: post #21
luhn wrote: post #3

> You probably know Belkin for its various lines of accessories, peripherals, and assorted consumer electronics; Linksys, surely the most recognizable router brand, is a subsidiary. Apparently Cisco sold Linksys to Belkin in 2013. That's news to me.

Cisco had money burning a hole in their pocket and bought a some consumer stuff and then had no idea what to do with it ... so they sold most of it off, or simply discontinued it (like flip video).

That's Cisco's R&D model. Buy smaller companies with interesting tech and see if their products stick. If they do, great. If not, spit them out via sale or shut them down.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#57

Post by praneshp »

walrus01 wrote: post #29
canthonytucci wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

last belkin items I had were: * an outlet multipler/usb charging thing - died * lighting cables of various lengths - all died maybe I have bad luck, but it seems to me like they are still making garbage.

If you want good quality third party chargers and USB cables - buy Anker

Can second this. They're well reviewed, do well and last long.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#59

Post by VectorLock »

duxup wrote: post #34
gonzo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the first time they entered and then abandoned the consumer space. Once upon a time, they made NICs.

Yup, they took their corporate video conferencing products and tried to make a consumer version (Umi I think it was) that while cheaper than the cooperate product were still absurdly expensive. This was all while Skype pretty well established .... it was pure insanity.

And now we have WebEx and they're trying to make a Slack competitor.

Re: Foxconn buys Belkin for $866M

#60

Post by wiseleo »

fro0116 wrote: post #31
walrus01 wrote: post #16

The only good Belkin product I have ever seen is their 12 outlet power strip. As a network engineer everything they make with an Ethernet/wifi interface is complete shit. But this is not really news, D-Link, Netgear, many of their competitors are also junk.

Do you have any recommendations for alternatives?

I love Asus networking products.

The N generation like the RT-N12 is dirt cheap now. I deploy them in client offices and they have uptime measured in years.

It's not WiFi Ac and I don't care. It stays stable, has guest WiFi networks, and usable firmware.

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