Belkin Starts The Trend

Well here’s a novel concept:

Uh Clem. a former Belkin wireless router user, was perplexed to find machines on his network redirected to an ad for Belkin’s new parental control system, following a software update.

Clem initially thought that the browser setting on the machine he downloaded the updated software had been changed. But when other machines displayed the same behaviour he realised his router was to blame.

The router would grab a random HTTP connection every eight hours and redirect it to Belkin’s (push) advertised web page.

Not content to inundate prospective customers with pop-up ads and automatically enroll existing ones in “opt-out” newsletters and updates, companies are now inserting advertising that actually impedes the function of their products.

As for me, I’ll never buy another Belkin product again. And you’d do well to steer clear of Belkin too if you expect your routers to, you know, route data.

This entry was posted in Technology. Bookmark the permalink.

One Response to Belkin Starts The Trend

  1. John says:

    There is a solution!

    1. Get a new router (not Belkin) and place it “in front” of the Belkin router so that the Belkin router route’s through it.

    2. Tell the new router to block all outbound requests to the Belkin website popup crap (use ethereal/tcpdump to do your investigation).

    3. Enjoy for the next 9 hours (so you will be able to see the new router blocking the traffic) and then pour your undrunk cold coffee over the Belkin router slowly while still plugged in.

    4. Now reconfigure all your machines to use the new router.

    —-
    As for giving up Belkin products I can’t do it unless a different KVM switch / cables are purchased :(

Comments are closed.