Recommendation - small business ADSL Modem/Router

[ChipDeath]

Hey guys. We're a small software company, and we have ADSL. Some minor problems have come to light regarding our current setup (which is a two-tier solution with a basic single-port ADSL Modem/Router, plugged into a 4-port 3Com firewall/Router, which has all the port forwarding a VPN with one of our customers configured on it. We also have a separate wireless adsl router elsewhere in the building, which is basically used just as a wireless hub.

Now, amongst other little problems, our box only supports 2 VPNs, and we'll be needing more in the near future, plus of course it'd be nice to have everything in one box (ADSL modem, router, firewall, wireless and VPN setup stuff)

So, I need recommendations for a wireless Router/Firewall, which has a built-in ADSL modem, and supports plenty of VPNs.

Any ideas? I'll of course be doing some research myself, but you can't beat first-hand experience!

Thanks.

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<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."

 

[ChipDeath]

The Netgear DG834G looks lovely. 8 VPN tunnels, and all the other junk. I've actually had a fair bit of experience with this one myself, as a couple of our customers have one & I installed one for my brother.

Unless someone has a better suggestion at around the same price point (though we're quite flexible of course), or a particular reason to <i>not</i> get the netgear, that'll probably be the one...

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<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."

 

[folken]

In my opinion the only netgear stuff worth buying is the higher end business stuff (the blue metal stuff). The little home stuff is just to cheesy and does not hold up in a business environment. Even if it means buying a dsl modem I highly recomend going with the better stuff. Old speedstream modems are dirt cheap on ebay (probably $20 or less).

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[ChipDeath]

I really want to avoid the Modem Box -> Router Box thing. It's a pain to setup and troubleshoot. For instance, our port forwarding simply doesn't work for certain applications. I briefly replaced our setup with a 3COM ADSL Modem/Router/Wireless box as a test, and it solved our problems wonderfully, but doesn't support VPNs so we couldn't stick with it.

We don't mind spending a little more cash, so any suggestions for something else would be great.

We're quite small - only between 10 and 13 people will be using it. Maybe only a couple of wireless connections (that's more for testing purposes really), with most people wired all the time.

Sadly I'm under a fairly heavy workload here so not got enough time to check into it.

Do you know of any good review sites for this stuff? That would be a great help.

Thanks for the response.

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<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."

 

[folken]

That little Netgear DG834G will probably melt under the use of 10-13 users and several vpns.
I've always been a fan of staying away from a single point of failure situation. The only other devices I can think of that could have a built in dsl modem are cisco routers, those are probably out of price range
My recommendation for an inexpensive solution would be a Netgear FR114P and a SpeedStream 5360 modem (if you have pppoe dsl). If you are going to have the modem/router in a very cold place the DG834G "might" work but I still wouldn't recommend it.

Tomsnetworking reviews a good deal of networking equipment. I'm not sure of another good review site atm.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[arkus]

I've got a DG834GT at home running a 3 PC network inc. 1 wireless and it is a great one-box-for-all item... but... I had some significant issues with it originally in terms of it losing ADSL connection when I had a lot of simultaeneous connections for P2P stuff... eventually it 'seemed' to settle down. Last week though (about 5 months later) the ADSL connection just died totally. I hadn't even been doing any P2P of note for months either, due to low HD space. I've tested it at a friend's house, and my own ADSL works fine with a different modem, so I'm 100% certain it's shafted. The router aspect of it still works fine...

Other than that it's been sweet 😉 But seriously, it's a great device when working, but it's been damned unpredictable. And boy does it run hot.... If I thought there was an alternative product when I bought it I would have gone for it (I even posted a thread asking if anyone knew of a LinkSys alternative, but there didn't appear to be one).

Can't say if it's just me who's been unlucky (it's getting RMA'd as soon as I can live without a router or borrow one) or if it's an unstable product, but a lot of people did reccommend against Netgear in favour of Linksys.... just my 2c

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/punbb/viewtopic.php?pid=21597#p21597" target="_new">My Rigs</A>

 

[ChipDeath]

Hmm. I must admit to being somewhat put off the netgear by all the comments here.... This thing has to be as bulletproof as possible.

We've had a customer's IT people recommend a <A HREF="http://www.draytek.com/product/wlan_adsl/vigor2600g/vigor2600g.php" target="_new">Draytek vigor 2600G</A>, which looks quite decent. They're fairly large and have loads of VPNs going all the time, so they're obviously fairly robust. Also, one of the guys here says they had a draytek Router at his old place which never gave them any problems.

Obviously it costs quite a bit more than the Netgear, (a brief search reveals online prices of £140-170, Vs. ~£80 for the netgear), but the budget can stretch that far.

If I don't get any replies to this within 1/2 hour or so we'll probably get one of these - our current boxes are misbehaving so we need a solution ordered before the end of today.

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<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."