Ethernet router recommendation

[mrapoc]

Hey all

The story is we are getting fibre installed shortly in a small office where I will be sharing with a guy I help out. I have chosen to provide our own fibre Ethernet router for quality sake.

Anyway the one side of its use is VoIP interviews which should be high quality for recording. So some kind of VoIP QoS would be good.

That's all he will be using it for. I'll be sharing with him whereby I will have my screen connect server hosted and will be using it as a base for operations. Remote support, my own VoIP line and fixing some things in the office.

None of these are that strenuous just looking for something that won't drop during an interview and should prioritise VoIP traffic.

Avoiding the likes of tplink as I think its tat but avoiding paying more than we should for quite a simple 2 man office setup

 

[SpaceSquad]

For an easy, all-in-one device, I'd check out Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite. They have bigger products too, but this is a great edge device.

Then maybe throw a Hp 1810G. Shown is the 24-port model I have, but you can get an 8-port one.

I personally use an x86 box I built using one of the new AM1 socket AMD Semprons, Gigabyte mobo, 4GB RAM stick I had laying around, extra Intel NIC (for 2 total), small HTPC case and PSU - all for around $150. Runs pfSense on a usb drive. Runs great and the possibilities are ENDLESS. For $50 more than the Edgerouter...I'd say this is your best bet.

 

[mrapoc]

I'm not too familiar with the whole fibre setup. Pfsense at first glance looks like firewall only. Are you saying it also doubles as the function of the edgerouter too. Being open source you can configure it how you like?

Got some HP procurves already but for interviews we will need almost a studio environment so noisey switches are a no no.

Great post. I love ubiquiti stuff so far

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

The Procurve 1810G-24 switch..they're passive cooling (no fan)...thus silent.

PFSense is a firewall distro...basic NAT/PAT router...so yes it's an edge appliance. Very fast. Some add-ons to sorta almost turn it into an UTM appliance...but not good at that.

Ubiquiti's...VERY fast. Solid. We run the big Pro model at our office connected to our 10 meg business fiber pipe (for some of the IPs...we have Untangle on other IPs). We have our Untangle running on a Dell 1U R200 server...RAID 1, etc etc.

 

[SpaceSquad]

Pfsense at first glance looks like firewall only. Are you saying it also doubles as the function of the edgerouter too. Being open source you can configure it how you like?

Got some HP procurves already but for interviews we will need almost a studio environment so noisey switches are a no no.

pfSense is like Untangle sorta...web-managed router/firewall/etc. Can be used as a simple router or install add-ins to make it an IDS/IPS, proxy, dns cache...endless things.

And the 1810g is silent...no fans, no noise.

 

[mrapoc]

Cheers guys. The solidness of the ubi sounds good. Will have to factor in a wireless ap as an additional cost I suppose. Is it overkill for a two man operation?

Also how easy will it be to setup? Never done one like this before

 

[tankman1989]

Some of those solutions could be over-kill depending upon the size of the network. How many PC's and devices are you supporting?

 

[mrapoc]

Well. One device for the VoIP interviews. Then whatever I decide to bring in to repair. The room isn't that big. I'd say a maximum of two VoIP devices and possibly three computers? So if its a question of stability with a great number of devices it won't benefit us.
Sorry for any confusion