Draytek VigorV2800VG

[Robert]

After reading about Draytek, I've decided that I may pick one up in september. Now, I have a 108MB netgear wireless router - but I'm looking at this to give me some experience with high end networking equipment (this is top kit right?). Also I'd like a more stable router - the netgear's fine but when it's loaded up (say for a mini-LAN) it dies if there's any load on it.

The router will have the following connections:

Cable modem
One wireless PC
One PC
NAS
Laptop (wireless)

Now I'm presuming this router will work with cable modems (or is there another type which is similar but WITHOUT the ADSL modem?). Another question, is this really a top end router (can't seem to find any results on it) and how will it compare to my Netgear (performance/stability/features). I don't want to stump up the cash to find it doesn't perform any better, or that it crashes under load

[nichomach]

Firstly, Draytek have a very good reputation for providing enterprise grade functionality at a good price. However, the external interface on this device is ADSL. It will NOT function with a cable modem. You need a device whose external interface is ethernet, like the Vigor2900VG.

[Robert]

I was just reading about that. The 2900VG looks similar to the 2800 anyway. So you would recommend this router for me to get to grips with an enterprise level of quality and functionality?

[peterb]

I have a 2800G - works impeccably with 8 computers (mix of Windows/Linux) and two Voip phones (I didn't bother with the V version of the router). In fact it is probably a bit of an overkill for my set-up - it is high end SOHO kit. Of course if you REALLY want high end kit - look at this. http://uk.insight.com/apps/productpr...03MVR&src=FRO1

[nichomach]

It supports things like QoS, multiple different types of VPN connection, VoIP, use of a DMZ, bandwidth management etc., so it'd be a good place to start. It also has a RADIUS client - you might want to check, but if you already have an *ahem* evaluation copy of Windows Server, say, you could possibly get to grips with RADIUS authenticated VPN connections and the like. That presumes that the 2900 will use Microsoft IAS as a RADIUS server (and before any clever clogs says "typo" I MEANT IAS, as in "Internet Authentication Server", not ISA).

[Robert]

The Cisco is a tad out of my price range

Basically the core functions I want are:

Good wireless range
Strong signal
Good transfer speeds (wireless)
Will not buckle when all ethernet sockets are used
Won't crash
Good wired transfer speed

And the bonus is I'll have some uber features to mess with haha.

How would the Cisco 857W compare to the Draytek 2900G?

[Robert]

This review of the V2900 isn't so flattering, although it was from 2004:

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2004/0...0g/page13.html

[nichomach]

Pardon me for saying so, but having read through quite a lot of that article, most of the criticisms seem to boil down to "the user interface isn't cuddly enough and I had to dig around in the documentation".

[Robert]

Yes. Having spoken to a good friend of mine he seems to think they are twice the price they should be and have half the features they say they have. I don't want to get one and fine no improvement over my netgear 624GT

[badass]

It supports things like QoS, multiple different types of VPN connection, VoIP, use of a DMZ, bandwidth management etc., so it'd be a good place to start. It also has a RADIUS client - you might want to check, but if you already have an *ahem* evaluation copy of Windows Server, say, you could possibly get to grips with RADIUS authenticated VPN connections and the like. That presumes that the 2900 will use Microsoft IAS as a RADIUS server (and before any clever clogs says "typo" I MEANT IAS, as in "Internet Authentication Server", not ISA).

I've setup a 2800Vg to do exactily that. It works well but to get it working in certain ways you have to telnet in and use the command prompt

[nichomach]

Good training for anyone who wants to use enterprise grade kit; we have layer 3 switches that need the same for certain aspects of setting up VLANs and routing. Same with one of our firewalls - there's stuff you simply can't do away from the CLI.

[badass]

Good training for anyone who wants to use enterprise grade kit; we have layer 3 switches that need the same for certain aspects of setting up VLANs and routing. Same with one of our firewalls - there's stuff you simply can't do away from the CLI.

IMHO, enterprise grade network kit should only work from a CLI.
It'll stop muppets playing with them