My love affair with Draytek is.... waning

[Zak33]

about 3 years ago I purchased a Draytek 2920 as a replacement for my 2820n.

the 2820 had been good as gold but it had dropped a connection a few times and I fancied a treat.

Turned out the BT engineer at the end of the road was fannying about with my connection by accident over those two days and the router was fine but by then I'd got thr 2920.

1 month ago the 2920 lost wifi... it broke. Properly died. Draytek suggested a firmware reinstall which I did and it reignited ... but then died again. This time the software was all ok but wifi was dead. I ebayed it for a fiver as a non wifi router, which effectively it was....

because... I had a backup plan. The 2820n came out and worked... for about 3 weeks until it too is not failing on wifi.

Bit gutted really. They'e aways been superb, but two wifi fails on two domestic use routers, is a painful cost.

So......

do I swap brands? or trust Draytek again?

[Bluecube]

I’ve never understood the bigging up of Draytek. I’ve used two ASUS routers over the past few years and I’ve never had any issues despite numerous Wi-fi and wired connections going through them. Currently using the AC56U with Merlin firmware. I’d like a new one “just because” but am struggling to find a reason why I should get one!

[jimborae]

So I have an old Draytek wi-fi router (2830n?? maybe) that I dont use anymore. Sold it and it was returned as the it was causing the new owner issues although it never did with me. But by that time I'd replaced it with an Asus RT-AC 66u, it never missed a beat even though it ran hot. I then sold that to a colleague and replaced it with an Asus RT-AC87u. Both of which have run Merlin firmware from day one and both of which have been the utter definition of reliable. For me the biggest gain over the Draytek have been the ease of use, the interface is very good, fast and easy to understand. I have no issues recommending Asus over Draytek for home use, they are much better value for money and easily as reliable, if not more so.

[Andy14]

My first Wireless router solutions for home in the early days of UK Broadband were Draytek. I purchased their routers for about 3 generations and really liked them, but eventually they became very hard to justify the extra cost as brands such as Netgear offered much more competitive products.

[peterb]

I've used/had experience with 6 Draytek routers over the past 10 years.. All have been fine with the exception of one that was left on a sunny windowsill in France and the lan ports eventually died, one by one - almost certainly due to overheating. The others have been fine, as have various access points. It's still my recommendation for home/SOHO applications.

[MrJim]

I’ve never understood the bigging up of Draytek. I’ve used two ASUS routers over the past few years and I’ve never had any issues despite numerous Wi-fi and wired connections going through them. Currently using the AC56U with Merlin firmware. I’d like a new one “just because” but am struggling to find a reason why I should get one!

I'm using an Asus N66U, also on Merlin firmware. It's been absolutely stable over the past few years, which is always my priority in a router. I can't see myself buying any other router unless this one dies.

[Zak33]

I have ordered an Asus from Amazon today.

RT-AC66U

We shall see

[jimborae]

I have ordered an Asus from Amazon today.

RT-AC66U

We shall see

Be aware that they tend to run hot, but it's nothing to worry about and before you do anything update it to Merlin firmware it will run much, much better.

https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/
https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/download

[AGTDenton]

We use the 2860 series routers with our customers. A mixture of Wifi & non Wifi models.
As yet we've not had a full failure. Occasionally we have to get a customer to reboot it and that sorts out whatever the problem was.
Dont even think we've updated any firmware yet.

For home use I'm certainly tempted by the ASUS, Netgear have been slowly dumbing down their routers that make them a pain to configure or unconfigurable for more advanced uses.

[dave87]

I've been very happy with my TP Link Archer C7 - far better than some of the previous home routers that have all died after a couple of years.

[Guy]

I moved over to the Synology offerings a while ago, haven't looked back. (Well until the suite of Meraki products from various webinars was sat gathering dust after being tested at work, so now that's up and running in the house.)

Had a few Draytek units deployed over the years, those which had wi-fi enabled I wasn't massively impressed with.

[Lil-Diabo]

I've always heard great things about Draytek, so finally managed to get hold of one 2830Vn Plus a few weeks back
Completely excessive for my needs but it was a bargain.

In the end I had to replace it as I just couldn't get the port opening forwarding working. (Even upgrading the firmware and re-flashing didn't help)
Got a Zyxel one and had it updated and set up within minutes

[Dareos]

Been hearing great things about Asus for a few years now and I think this will be my next one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...f_rd_i=desktop

[spacein_vader]

I have to say that I'm losing faith with consumer routers, to the extent that I'm leaning towards getting a wireless AP from someone like Ubiquiti and then just using the router for wired functionality as that's harder for them to cock up.

[Zak33]

I've always heard great things about Draytek, so finally managed to get hold of one 2830Vn Plus a few weeks back
Completely excessive for my needs but it was a bargain.

In the end I had to replace it as I just couldn't get the port opening forwarding working. (Even upgrading the firmware and re-flashing didn't help)
Got a Zyxel one and had it updated and set up within minutes

I love the software, and the port forwarding didn't cause me issues, as there are great FAQ's on their website.

i truly wish they hadn't both died on me but... Asus inbound today