What Router Do You Like?

[Paragon]

I've been studying routers for the last few weeks and want to buy a good one that has an SPI Firewall, VPN tunnel, and other up to date security features. I'm looking for something a bit better than the $50 Linksys or Netgear but not as extreme as the Sonic Wall which is in the $450 range.

I've looked so far at 3COM, Zyxel, Cyberguard, Watchguard, and Cisco. I don't want a wireless router just a good solid middle of the road wired router. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[pointreyes]

My 3Com 855 (now discontinued) has been a great router for me. PCB will be recommending the netgear to ya due to having SPI (hehe, had to beat PCB to it :p ) . 3com has something like SPI. I have been using this router for close to two years now.

[Paragon]

Yeah I've been looking very closely at the 3Com 860 and 870 which are both still available and in the right price range.

[Paragon]

Well PR I took your advice and bought the 3COM, it should be here tomorrow:thumbs:

[Hawk]

Let us know how you like it.. . . . . .

[sodface]

Which model 3COM did you go with? I'd like to hear more about what a higher end router can provide over the entry level ones. I've been fairly happy with my netgear MR814 which can be had for around $50 now (if they even make it anymore) but I just upgraded my DSL (just like you ;) ) and would like to start serving up some content if just for family and friends, is there a compelling reason for upgrading my Netgear?

[Paragon]

Hi Carl :wave:

Hopefully I'll have some good news for you by the weekend...The main feature I wanted that some of the cheaper routers didn't have was Stateful Packet Inspection for security. The 3COM was only slightly more than I paid for my Linksys 3 years ago ($120). I've done a good bit of research into "our ISP" over the last week or so and it seems the reason we can't send mail from any other source besides BS is that they have port 25 blocked.

They do this for 2 stated reasons: 1) To keep down SPAM; and 2) To prevent home subscribers from running a server (port 25 is SMNP). The router won't obviously help this but it will make me feel much more secure in the coming months...I've heard they're some really nasty shi$ coming our way! :hide:

[dbwillis]

I like the Netgear wireless routers...but I like the Linksys regular routers as well

[Paragon]

Guys I truly have to praise this 3Com router, the 3CR860-95 :rock: It is a much faster router than anyting I every had before (which was the Linksys BEFSR41). It has all the features of the much more expensive products including: DMZ, Stateful Packet Inspection, NAT, Port forwarding (either single or grouped ports); and much much more!

I also got a new model ADSL modem (Westell 6100) from Bell South and the combo are extremely fast together. I'm getting actual speeds of 2.8 Mbs down (as opposed to 2.4 Mbs) before the change and 367 Kbs up (as opposed to 320 Kbs)...The router is also guaranteed for life by 3Com :thumbs:

[Keri]

I also got a new model ADSL modem (Westell 6100) from Bell South and the combo are extremely fast together. I'm getting actual speeds of 2.8 Mbs down (as opposed to 2.4 Mbs) before the change and 367 Kbs up (as opposed to 320 Kbs)...The router is also guaranteed for life by 3Com :thumbs:

Ah.....I see you found our little secret weapon....The 6100. Just got them in stock a little over a week ago. They were chosen because they handle the speeds of DSL Extreme better than the 2200 series did. Older Alcatels are not supported for DSL extreme at all.

[sodface]

@Paragon- Miles what did you have to do to get the new modem?

@Kerri- Do you work for BellSouth? I have the Westell 2100 series and Extreme DSL - So Bellsouth knows the 2100 doesn't work that well with Extreme but goes ahead and let's me buy Extreme anyway? Nice. :rolleyes:

[Paragon]

Carl,

I called BS and spoke with one of their technical folks and told them my Alcatel Home modem was occasionally (maybe I said often :hide: ) dropping connection. The at first wanted to cahrge me $149.95 for the new modem. I just convinced them that I was a good customer and wanted to stay with BS, but Charter Cable also had a great deal with "FREE" equipment :cool: and that's all it took.

I'm supposed to send my Alcatel back, sorta like an RMA with prepaid shipping back to BS. The tech on the phone told me that the Westell 2200 was better for Extreme than the 6100 and that's what I would get. I even asked for the 6100 because of favorable reviews I read at Broadband Reports...IMagins my surprise when I opened the box and found they had sent me a 6100.

[Keri]

The 2100 theoretically should have handled up to 10Mbps just as the Alcatel's should but there was alot of problems with even the 2200 & DSL extreme. There are some that are working fine and if yours is....Keep it. There were several 2100-2200's that we were told to document if we found the issues with them and replace them with the 6100. Currently the 6100 is the only consumer modem we carry besides Home Networking products.

Oh, And yes.....I am the Supervisor for the Installation group in North Florida.

Keri

[Keri]

Carl,

I called BS and spoke with one of their technical folks and told them my Alcatel Home modem was occasionally (maybe I said often :hide: ) dropping connection. The at first wanted to cahrge me $149.95 for the new modem. I just convinced them that I was a good customer and wanted to stay with BS, but Charter Cable also had a great deal with "FREE" equipment :cool: and that's all it took.

I'm supposed to send my Alcatel back, sorta like an RMA with prepaid shipping back to BS. The tech on the phone told me that the Westell 2200 was better for Extreme than the 6100 and that's what I would get. I even asked for the 6100 because of favorable reviews I read at Broadband Reports...IMagins my surprise when I opened the box and found they had sent me a 6100.

I don't understand why they would want your Alcatel Speed Touch Home back. I was told at least 3-4 months ago not to return any my group had picked up and that we did not need to pick them up when we replaced them any longer. All told, I threw at least 300 of them in a dumpster after that came down to me.

[Paragon]

Me either Keri...think I'll send them my first modem which was an Alcatel USB...One less of those POS for them to worry about:thumbs:

[Watcher95]

Using the Netgear DG824M combined Router/DSL Modem/Wireless Access Point myself, Has a full hardware firewall built in including stateful packet inspecting, Full UPNP, and DOS protection. Sure it is only 802.11b, but I only use the wireless to connect my PDA and the kid's Xbox and PC to the net. No large file xfers take place over the wireless.