Advice on Brand of Router for a new business setup.

A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
necessary.
Much thanks in advance,
--
Derrick Fawsitt

> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
> necessary.


Hi there... you should check out the reviews of various routers on
ADSLGuide:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/reviews/

For what it's worth I use the Draytek Vigor 2600 in a business setup and it
works very well. Most combined ADSL routers/modems generally provide similar
functions... The more pricey ones may include a built in firewall and can be
used to initiate VPN (instead of just passthrough).

Regards,
James

"Derrick Fawsitt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
> with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
> usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
> considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
> line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
> purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
> but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
> necessary.
> Much thanks in advance,

It all depends on what features he needs the equipment to support

Popular brands of ADSL equipment (i.e. Modems/Routers) include:

- Belkin
- Buffalo
- D-Link
- Draytek
- Linksys
- Netgear

You will find individual models from different manufacturers may have extra
features that your friend may want..

Regards
Sunil

Hi Derek

I would give a bit of advice that goes a bit against the grain.

Buy a separate ADSL modem and router for the following reason. Most, if not
all, ADSL 'modems' come with a network connection that is Ethernet based
and some incorporate a NATs/firewall, DHCP server and switch. Since your
friend is starting a business, he will require some flexibility in the way
he does his work and how he needs to expand his internal network. Further,
if he needs to use some other communication method later, buying an all in
one device means he will have to ditch the whole thing and start again.
Whereas, separating the access device and the routing device will allow him
to change one part of the configuration without affecting the other. I use
this set up on a Plusnet 2M Homeworker service and get consistant 1.96Mbit
throughput. Incidentally, I think the choice of Plus is a good one, I did
some extensive research on choosing a new ISP after BT and Plus come out
consistently good with regards to quality of service and customer help.
However, I would, personally, not use the router they supply.

There are various modems available from Dlink and my experience with them
has been very good. The most popular for cable-based networks being the 300
and the 504. (I use the 504). On the router side, I use a Linksys BEFSR81,
which has a 8 port switch built in as well as the firewall and other
goodies, the main reason for this is that it allows me to prioritise the
traffic in and out of the ADSL link using Quality of Service rules. The
configuration is as secure as one can get for domestic/business as it has
two firewalls in series, but an option of putting some form of server into a
DMZ if wanted.

Hope this helps and you can pass my mail id on to your friend if he wants
further information (remove the spam trap though)

Kind regards, Mike



"Derrick Fawsitt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
> with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
> usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
> considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
> line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
> purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
> but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
> necessary.
> Much thanks in advance,
> --
> Derrick Fawsitt

Derrick Fawsitt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
> with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
> usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
> considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
> line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
> purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
> but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
> necessary.

I hate to always recommend the same things - I really do only recommend
things because they are good for the purpose and not just because I use
them.

Whilst other routers will probably be fine the Draytek Vigor 2600 range are
very good for this sort of use. They provide VPN (remote networking in a
secure tunnel over the internet) should your friend want to link multiple
sites, firewall capabilities and it seems some filtering and bandwith
control in the recent releases.

In the range there are also some interesting developments, obviously a
wireless 11g version is availible along with the normal ISDN backup
soloution vigors have always had (as an option i might add, mine doesn't
have that) but there are also some with built in USB print servers and even
better a Voice over ip facility allowing a standard phone in one router to
automatically join the PBX at the other end with an extention wired into the
other end, there are three different modes with simple phone system as an
option and the ability to VOIP any IP phone (not just interface with a
remote vigor)..... all very impressive, they certainly seem to react well to
market demand building on the already good product, just need an excuse to
buy one of the new models.

www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk is cheap to buy from
www.vigor.co.uk and www.seg.co.uk are the official suppliers / websites but
seg is not the cheapest source.

Just to add that plusnet are an excellent choice of ISP and perform well on
ADSL forums as well as having a good reputation on here for their range of
services, value and high levels of customer support.

HTH

Sam

> Much thanks in advance,
> --
> Derrick Fawsitt


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In message <oHfRb.19201$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Albrow, Sam J"
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Derrick Fawsitt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
>> with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
>> usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
>> considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
>> line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
>> purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
>> but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
>> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
>> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
>> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
>> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
>> necessary.
>
>I hate to always recommend the same things - I really do only recommend
>things because they are good for the purpose and not just because I use
>them.
>
>Whilst other routers will probably be fine the Draytek Vigor 2600 range are
>very good for this sort of use. They provide VPN (remote networking in a
>secure tunnel over the internet) should your friend want to link multiple
>sites, firewall capabilities and it seems some filtering and bandwith
>control in the recent releases.
>
>In the range there are also some interesting developments, obviously a
>wireless 11g version is availible along with the normal ISDN backup
>soloution vigors have always had (as an option i might add, mine doesn't
>have that) but there are also some with built in USB print servers and even
>better a Voice over ip facility allowing a standard phone in one router to
>automatically join the PBX at the other end with an extention wired into the
>other end, there are three different modes with simple phone system as an
>option and the ability to VOIP any IP phone (not just interface with a
>remote vigor)..... all very impressive, they certainly seem to react well to
>market demand building on the already good product, just need an excuse to
>buy one of the new models.
>
>www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk is cheap to buy from
>www.vigor.co.uk and www.seg.co.uk are the official suppliers / websites but
>seg is not the cheapest source.
>
>Just to add that plusnet are an excellent choice of ISP and perform well on
>ADSL forums as well as having a good reputation on here for their range of
>services, value and high levels of customer support.
>
>HTH
>
>Sam

Sam.

Thank you so very much for the detail above and indeed for all the
trouble you and the other posters have gone to in relation to my
friend's problem. I have forwarded all to him and he is now busy sorting
out all the excellent advice, much thanks.
As to PlusNet's support, I have to differ slightly from my own
experience and I have posted my views elsewhere in this NG in reply to
the query "PlusNet, ADSL Home, 1MB, views_?" if you wish to read them.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

In message <4+(E-Mail Removed)>, Derrick Fawsitt
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>In message <oHfRb.19201$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Albrow, Sam J"
><(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>Derrick Fawsitt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> A friend of mine here in the UK is setting up a new Broadband service
>>> with PlusNet and obviously is going for a business package. He is
>>> usually very knowledgeable about IT matters and has helped me
>>> considerably in the past but is now briefing himself about ADSL. His
>>> line has been approved and as he has a small network of PC's he will be
>>> purchasing a Router for them. He has been told about the D-Link brand
>>> but is wondering whether he should consider any other version.
>>> He would appreciate any advice on this or some general advice before he
>>> sets out to configure his system and purchase his hardware. I am sure he
>>> will much appreciate anybody who would give me some advice to pass on to
>>> him. He would also contact any helpful person directly in the future in
>>> necessary.
My friend wants to thank all who advised in the matter as I passed all
posters advice on to him. His current choice is a D-Link DSL-604+, which
I believe IS a one-box solution, which will network the 4 business
machines in his office and take a wireless signal from the other machine
at the other end of the house (about 20m away), which will be fitted
with D-Link DWL-520+ PCI wireless card. He will then need the line
filter and four RJ45-to-RJ45 straight cables to connect the
aforementioned 4 machines to the magic box.

He has sent me this information with the comment that it seems to be a
"minefield" of different experts and opinions and he has decided on the
above after a lot of head scratching etc. He wanted me to pass on the
above to all in this NG for your perusal and as he is about to place an
order today or tomorrow he has asked me for your comments on his
proposed choice is case he is about to make a mistake. Even if its only
a quick reply of a line or two I would be so grateful for a quick
comment from anyone on his proposed purchase. I have asked him to hold
off for the greater part of today so that you could comment.
--
Derrick Fawsitt