Advice sought: ADSL router / VPN support etc.

We have a small office LAN (<10 clients) with MS Small Business Server
2000 and a single ADSL line coming in to an Alcatel/Thomson 530
Speedtouch "Multi-user ADSL Gateway" which is plugged into a switch.

We sometimes have people working from home and they are able to make
an incoming VPN connection. We also need to provide software

support to our customers and to do this we make outgoing VPN
connections and sometimes use terminal services client (AKA Remote
Desktop). We would also like to use XP's Remote Assistance in some
cases.

The problem is that if we have an outgoing connection open, people
working from home cannot VPN in. We assume that this is a shortcoming
of our router's capabilities rather than the configuration of it
(unless anyone knows otherwise!) and so we are looking to upgrade our
router.

Our requirements are as follows: -

1. Support for multiple, concurrent incoming and outgoing VPN/remote
desktop connections.
2. Configurable, user-friendly SPI firewall.
3. We seem to have a fairly poor ADSL signal as we are some distance
from the exchange - some modems are happy with it but some do not seem
to work - we need a device that is fairly tolerant in this area.
4. Our current router has a built-in ADSL modem - is it better to have
this type or is it better to buy a seperate modem and router?
5. We are a small company so our budget is also small - perhaps up to
£200 max (<£100 if possible!)

If anyone can suggest any models or just provide general advice on
what things I need to be looking for when shopping around I would be
very grateful - as you can probably tell, I'm not a network expert!


Ian

If your incoming VPN connections could be terminated at the router you could
look at a Vigor they can terminate a VPN, this would avoid the need to do
pass-through to the company network for incoming connections.
http://www.draytek.co.uk/support/vpn_setup2.html
Apparently the Vigor 2600plus can support 16 simultaneous VPN terminations.
http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2600plus.html

I have no affiliation with Draytek by the way, just a home ADSL user working
in this field.

Graham

"Ian" <ian__@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) m...
> We have a small office LAN (<10 clients) with MS Small Business Server
> 2000 and a single ADSL line coming in to an Alcatel/Thomson 530
> Speedtouch "Multi-user ADSL Gateway" which is plugged into a switch.
>
> We sometimes have people working from home and they are able to make
> an incoming VPN connection. We also need to provide software
>
> support to our customers and to do this we make outgoing VPN
> connections and sometimes use terminal services client (AKA Remote
> Desktop). We would also like to use XP's Remote Assistance in some
> cases.
>
> The problem is that if we have an outgoing connection open, people
> working from home cannot VPN in. We assume that this is a shortcoming
> of our router's capabilities rather than the configuration of it
> (unless anyone knows otherwise!) and so we are looking to upgrade our
> router.
>
> Our requirements are as follows: -
>
> 1. Support for multiple, concurrent incoming and outgoing VPN/remote
> desktop connections.
> 2. Configurable, user-friendly SPI firewall.
> 3. We seem to have a fairly poor ADSL signal as we are some distance
> from the exchange - some modems are happy with it but some do not seem
> to work - we need a device that is fairly tolerant in this area.
> 4. Our current router has a built-in ADSL modem - is it better to have
> this type or is it better to buy a seperate modem and router?
> 5. We are a small company so our budget is also small - perhaps up to
> £200 max (<£100 if possible!)
>
> If anyone can suggest any models or just provide general advice on
> what things I need to be looking for when shopping around I would be
> very grateful - as you can probably tell, I'm not a network expert!
>
>
> Ian

Graham,

Thanks for your advice - someone else also pointed me toward the exact
same model (vigor 2600+) which I have since purchased.

It does exactly what I need and I found it pretty easy to set up too -
I'd recommend it to others.

Thanks again - and apologies for the delayed reply!

Ian