Router Choice

[Rosco]

I was wondering which router would be better. Cisco Systems Gigabit VPN Router (RV320K9NA) or Linksys Business Dual WAN Gigabit VPN Router (LRT224) . The office is a small office 15 computers. It is a home health care business that also want to block a bunch of site with router. I am taking over from someone else. They have 2 12 port patch panels but only the router provided from comcast. So they are switching cords on the patch panel depending on who needs it(crazy i know). I have already picked up a switch for them. I had done some research on here about business grade routers/firewalls. That is how i stumbled on the options.

My question is which is better for a 15-20 seat office? I am open to other options in the 200 to 300 dollar range.

 

[Larry Mashburn]

Have you checked on Microtik/Routerboard?

 

[BlackLabTechs]

I would consider placing a UTM in there. Hard with the small budget but even use that for appliance and throw the free untangle version on there for now. Much more blocking capabilities / features than standard router I would say. Or small Sophos UTM. You can always crank up the level of protection later.

What do you mean they are swapping cords depending on who needs it? You mean swapping each of the 15 computers one at a time? So only one computer can use the internet at once? That's down right crazy stuff right there.

 

[Rosco]

What do you mean they are swapping cords depending on who needs it? You mean swapping each of the 15 computers one at a time? So only one computer can use the internet at once? That's down right crazy stuff right there.

No 4 can be online at once their comcast router has 4 ports. I know it is insane. But lots of billable hours for me. Plus they are ok with making things right.

 

[Rosco]

Or would this be a better choice Sonicwall 01-SSC-6942

 

[BlackLabTechs]

I would personally put in a SonicWall over the Linksys or Cisco. I've managed a few sonicwall's over the years but like the pricing on sophos and ease of configuration much better. I don't have much experience with Untangle as I'm not fond of their price structure but at the low end of users, I think you'd be ok. You'd be looking at the 11-50 block so room to grow to 50 devices (not counting printers, etc.) w/o having to shell out more money. Once you hit that 51st user, the price would double. That's what I dislike about Untangle.

 

[Markverhyden]

Double ditto on the UTM. That small of an office the actual routing needs are simple. So you can probably just use the UTM to handle the routing. Not a fan of SonicWall. Sophos is very popular. They even have a community edition you can play with to get an idea of the features. Since this site is in HC you do need to make sure other things are happening. Like FDE, everyone has their own logins, etc, etc.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

No 4 can be online at once their comcast router has 4 ports. I know it is insane. But lots of billable hours for me. Plus they are ok with making things right.

That's hilarious....that nobody told them they could just hang a switch off the Comcast gateway and get their whole network online...LOL.

Anyways, "healthcare"...it's an opportunity for you to make more money (including a recurring annual subscription renewal)...and get them behind a UTM firewall. Helps their compliance.

We're big fans of Untangle...have a lot of them out there at our clients. And that adds up to nice recurring revenue across the year.
But Sonicwall, Sophos, Watchguard, or even something more entry like Xyzel, push for something like that.

To answer your question for the baby Cisco RV (previously Linksys Small Business Series...not really a Cisco)...or the Linksys LRT...both fairly equal IMO. But they're just NAT routers. For a healthcare client a UTM is more proper.

 

[Digital Micro]

I only use Sonicwall or the Linksys LRT224 in my business clients offices. If you just need basic firewall features and a VPN the Linksys is a very good choice. I even have one in my house with a Linksys LAPN600 access point. I have never had a problem with them, fast and reliable. Knock on wood. I would go to the support section on Linksys's website and checkout the emulator for it.

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

My vote is for pfSense or Untangle.

 

[Markverhyden]

I only use Sonicwall or the Linksys LRT224 in my business clients offices. If you just need basic firewall features and a VPN the Linksys is a very good choice. I even have one in my house with a Linksys LAPN600 access point. I have never had a problem with them, fast and reliable. Knock on wood. I would go to the support section on Linksys's website and checkout the emulator for it.

Sweet. I was unaware of their emulators.

http://ui.linksys.com

 

[Digital Micro]

Sweet. I was unaware of their emulators.

http://ui.linksys.com

I was going to correct myself. The emulators were only on the partner site. I see you found them elsewhere.

 

[MDD1963]

A 16 port TP-Link Gbit unmanaged switch could be had for $79, plus $3 shipping? (Have one in our office, has about 10 computers in it, all with 1 GB ethernet-capable cards, but all previously crippled thru a 100 MB switch; the TP-Link has been on 24/7 for a year or so, never a glitch; if they have money, then by all means get a Cisco)

 

[Markverhyden]

I was going to correct myself. The emulators were only on the partner site. I see you found them elsewhere.

I just googled "Linksys LRT224 emulator" and that link was the first hit. Thanks again for mentioning that.

 

[Digital Micro]

A 16 port TP-Link Gbit unmanaged switch could be had for $79, plus $3 shipping? (Have one in our office, has about 10 computers in it, all with 1 GB ethernet-capable cards, but all previously crippled thru a 100 MB switch; the TP-Link has been on 24/7 for a year or so, never a glitch; if they have money, then by all means get a Cisco)

I haven't used a TP-Link managed switch, I did buy a SafeStream dual-wan VPN to test. I gave it two weeks and tossed it. I had to reboot it several times a day. I've heard the same stories with some of their home routers. I wanted to be happy with them because of their pricing.

 

[Rosco]

That's hilarious....that nobody told them they could just hang a switch off the Comcast gateway and get their whole network online...LOL.

i told them that. i am just floored that they are all ok with this.

 

[Frick]

UTM is the way to go. If you go with a general router I recommend the Ubiquiti Edge Router Lite or Edge Router X

 

[Rosco]

Thanks for all the suggestions. This has been helpful. I forgot to mention none of the pcs had NO antivirus. THat was a nice upsell already. The nice thing is they company is newish and very willing to make things right.

 

[brandonkick]

I just picked up a 24 port Cisco small business gigabit unmanaged switch
and a 8 port Cisco small business gigabit unmanaged switch to replace
an old 8 port "walmart" netgear switch and a 24 port dlink swith


Both of the older switches were "gigabit" but the network speed was terrible. I
know both were probably ten + years old, and weren't top of the line models.
I'm not sure a 24 port switch was really ever made for the home market, but
the 8 port netgear was a real 10 dollar crappo.

The network speeds went from an average of 200 mbps wired to wired on the
old equipment to 600-700 mbps wired on the new cisco stuff. Not only speeds,
but everything has improved on the network. Latency is much better, network
shares have much less trouble, connecting to network shares is much snappier.

Get them some good switches. A good UTM should also help, but others here
know a lot more about them then I do.

 

[BlackLabTechs]

I've always had good luck with the HP ProCurve switches as well. And yes, Ubiquiti routers rock! Running a 8 port pro and 9 ER-3's at one place (multi location). 8 port is handling a 190 Meg inet/wan connection to 10 locations total. not a hiccup in 2 years.

Funny thing is even on the slower locations (10 meg U/D), another inet provider was saying the $1200 cisco routers wouldn't be capable of handling the traffic. I said fine, I'll throw in a $100 ubiquiti router (planned on anyways) and we'll be fine. They laughed at me but it was I who was laughing in the end.