Wireless Router

The ! typically means you are connected but failed to obtain an IP address from the router, preventing you from using the network. That could mean the router is using MAC (Media Access Control) address filtering, in which case you either need to turn filtering off, or you need to add the MAC addresses of your MBPs airport cards (every network interface has such an address). If not, then something else in the router's setup is preventing your MBPs from getting an IP address.

 

get a new router. my belkin networking products never worked right.

 

Assuming you can't connect to it at all, plug your laptop into the router using an Ethernet cable, and connect to the control panel. To do this, enter in the IP address of the router (normally 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) and sign in. I'd lookup the model of your router for more detailed information such as the default login and password to sign in. From their, you can access the controls of the router, such as turning off MAC filtering.

 

Several years ago Belkin routers had a reputation for overheating and crashing under heavy use. So if your twenty minutes of usage included lots of streaming video or torrent downloads, that might be your problem.

It's hard to understand how you could have a ! and still be able to access the Internet, though.

 

download the manual.
set it up properly.

 

Um...

I'm pretty sure that if MAC address filtering was already enabled, they wouldn't be able to log onto the wireless network in the first place. Just sayin...

 

Belkin makes some of the worst networking products. Plus I happen to have an opinion that most router softwares are not so good at all.

DD-WRT gives a much better performance on supported routers than any of the proprietory software that came with router.

OP: you posted success using wired, but have you checked wifi again?