Best Router

[rf5000]

Hey guys,

I'm getting down to buying the final items for my home system and need to decide on what I should do for a router. My local cable internet provider has a router that they sell that I think is capable of VPN. At one time, someone had mentioned Ruckus as an option? Also, do I implement a firewall? I don't need something over the top or top of the line security. I just need something easy to setup, capable of VPN, that will be super fast, will be able to provide stable internet to my (2) data switches for Control4, and provide fast stable wireless internet for the entire household. Can you guys recommend items that would work great?

[diamonddesign]

Can you wait about 3 weeks to 4 weeks?

[rf5000]

Why?

[CFUG]

^What else, a product debut (he's a dealer).

[rf5000]

Okay. What product are you referring to?

[Cyknight]

Or just get a Netgear SRXN3205 or Luxul XBR-2300 or Watchguard XTM-21 or one of many others...

Just be sure not to use whatever you ISP is providing...

[alanchow]

Draytek Vigor 2830Vn Tri-Wan router. ADSL / Gigabit Wan / 3G. Can do load sharing, backup wan, VPN, 802.11n, 2 x VoIP, 4 x Vlans, QOS, USB for filesharing, print sharing or 3g modem, traffic monitoring, web content filtering and inbuilt firewall.

Best bang for buck and if you change internet providers to DSL later it will work

[cashmoney]

WatchGuard® XTM 330 and FortiGate-60C great stuff, though expensive

[wappinghigh]

Draytek.

[pstuart]

Pfsense on an atom proc with dual nics

[cdepaola]

Doing a complete upgrade of my network and looking at the routers currently, any thoughts on the Draytek 2960. Other recommendations?

[wappinghigh]

Recluse put a Draytek 2830 into my place a month or so back (replaced an Airport Extreme) and it has been nothing short of a miraculous success...

Having said that. Yes. Apparently DD is releasing something in this space shortly. But I find it hard to believe a company like DD could release a product that can compete with a company that does Routers specifically. I mean that is Draytek's thing. That is why they do it so well...

Then again anything is possible with DD. They sure are releasing some very interesting products shortly. James must be very busy. What a guy!

[wappinghigh]

What I really like about the Draytek is it's total configurability (for want of a better word)

Also it has the ability to input three internet streams. And switch or load share between the three! Mine has 100mb/sec cable, ADSL and wireless USB

This is fantastic for those who have an unreliable cable or fixed wired internet service and rely on internet access into the house for security and other control and monitoring

[pstuart]

I have never been a fan of all in one access points/ wifi and firewall. Seems like you are always sacrificing one for the other... As well as, a single point of failure, so if the wifi stops working, you have to reboot the whole firewall, so any other outbound wired connection has to be reset as well.

I highly recommend a firewall with full management options, like a DHCP server, IPSec VPN, and other cool features and have wifi access points in optimized areas.

Just my two cents...

[LSDave]

I have never been a fan of all in one access points/ wifi and firewall. Seems like you are always sacrificing one for the other... As well as, a single point of failure, so if the wifi stops working, you have to reboot the whole firewall, so any other outbound wired connection has to be reset as well.

I highly recommend a firewall with full management options, like a DHCP server, IPSec VPN, and other cool features and have wifi access points in optimized areas.

Just my two cents...

Can you recommend something then? I'm about at wit's end with my Cisco RV220W. Im ready to throw out this $250 piece of junk. I was thinking of doing a luxul router and a basic Trendnet wifi access point.

[cdepaola]

The Draytek 2960 I was/am looking at isn't an all in one. It's a gigabit VPN router

[pstuart]

Like James said, if you can wait a bit, or reach out to him... Something is coming soon...

[cdepaola]

I have never been a fan of all in one access points/ wifi and firewall. Seems like you are always sacrificing one for the other... As well as' date=' a single point of failure, so if the wifi stops working, you have to reboot the whole firewall, so any other outbound wired connection has to be reset as well.

I highly recommend a firewall with full management options, like a DHCP server, IPSec VPN, and other cool features and have wifi access points in optimized areas.

Just my two cents...[/quote']

Can you recommend something then? I'm about at wit's end with my Cisco RV220W. Im ready to throw out this $250 piece of junk. I was thinking of doing a luxul router and a basic Trendnet wifi access point.

I've got the Luxul router and have had good luck with it, but I'm looking for something more robust and with Gigabit ports. I'm currently playing with WAP's from Luxul, Meraki, Ubiquiti, Cisco, and Netgear. May also possibly tryout a Ruckus unit if I get around to it.

[Bud]

Can you recommend something then? I'm about at wit's end with my Cisco RV220W. Im ready to throw out this $250 piece of junk. I was thinking of doing a luxul router and a basic Trendnet wifi access point.

Out of curiosity, what are you having problems with on the RV220W. (I am using the same one.)

[cdepaola]

I've been offered a Cisco ASA 5505, anyone have experience with this router?

[Cyknight]

What I really like about the Draytek is it's total configurability (for want of a better word)

Also it has the ability to input three internet streams. And switch or load share between the three! Mine has 100mb/sec cable, ADSL and wireless USB

This is fantastic for those who have an unreliable cable or fixed wired internet service and rely on internet access into the house for security and other control and monitoring

Still prefer Watchguards XTM. Want 5 WANS and one gigabit trunk to you network? No problem Or ANY combination of 6 ports. 3WAN plus 3 seperate ip range networks blocked off from each other (unless you bridge/vlan etc).

Also has USB port as extra WAN input and has the ability to use one of three WiFi antennas (if you have the WiFi version) as an INBOUND connection as well.

But yes, it's expensive.

[Cyknight]

I've got the Luxul router and have had good luck with it, but I'm looking for something more robust and with Gigabit ports.

Unless you're doing some fancy set-up, keep in mind that all you need is one port (ok maybe two if you want to physically separate home and system networks). ONE port to a switch, no more.

As well, while I certainly would never advise against using Gb, keep in mind that the best way to use a router is as an internet gateway - and ONLY as that.

Depending on your internet speed, it's likely that 100mb/s isn't what will create the bottleneck in that scenario. On top of that is the extremely low likelihood of the only other connection that should go to your router is not likely going to be Gb either - which is your modem.

Put everything into a single large - good quality - network switch (and yes Gb is definitely not a luxury there) and let all the traffic go through there. Should you for wiring reasons be stuck with multiple switches in multiple locations, I'd STILL advise to run these to a central switch first, before going to a router. Again, a router should be a gateway, providing a connections to internet (and perhaps act as firewall etc), handout IP addresses

and beyond that should not be involved with trafficking your local network.

As far as the Luxul goes, while I'm on the fence to start using these myself, it's a pretty solid piece overall (at least as of the last firmware - don't get me started on the older ones).

If you want to stabilize a buggy network, look to properly routing all your traffic through a network switch first, worry about the router later - especially if what you currently have isn't exactly junk.

[cdepaola]

Thanks for the replies so far, always appreciated.

I do indeed have a modem that supports gigabyte which runs to my Luxul router then into a netgear GS724t switch, I was running a Meraki MR12 WAP but will be switching to Ubiquiti UniFi Pro. The Meraki was a great WAP but to cover my home well I would need two and the hardware cost plus the cloud management cost is too much to justify in my home.

[Cyknight]

If you're one of the few (yet) to actually have a Gb modem (and not a Gb router/modem combo as often the internal modem still is not Gb) then I'd suggest either the XTM watchguard (not all port are Gb, but the Gb ports can be set to do WAN) or the Netgear SRX5308.

That Netgear is a Gb port to WAN with a 900+ Mbs LAN to WAN. the XTMs are 240 Mbs and 540 Mbs for the 25 an 26 respectively. All are most likely considerably more than you ISP can provide.

If this is all way over budget, and your ISP speed isn't higher than the router can handle at 60Mbs, look at the netgear SXRN3205. Still a Gb port to prevent bottlenecks there and a good router overall. Not sure how much that one would boost you over the Luxul though. Note that this Netgear is single WAN.

[C4Programmer]

I have probably 50 homes running on Airports mostly extremes, some time capsules for homes with Mac Computers and 1 home has an express. My dealer demo system runs on an Time Capsule for 5 years now.

I NEVER had a problem and they always just work. They are easy to configure and handle small and medium sized networks. My opinion large networks are over 100 clients.

I ALWAYS set the wifi channel to 1 and the Zigbee to 25.

If you ever need to extend the network either for extra range with the same SSID or you have an area that cannot get a hard line network connection I have reliably used with no problems a Airport Express setup to extend the wifi network, which gives me a hardwired connection from a WIFI signal.

On a couple of jobs I used the Netgear SRXN 3205 for clients with iOS devices that wnated remote access, but I can say I am a huge fan of the setup, and I expect a better non-router remote access solution soon.