Draytek vs. Linksys

Hi Everyone,

I am currently in the process of setting up a wireless network (home) and,
from what I read in the internet, the best way of ensuring wireless security
in the long run is by having either WPA2 or VPN enabled equipment.

I found a couple of ADSL modem/routers which I think would do, but I am not
sure about the cost. The two devices are the Draytek Vigor 2800G and the
Linksys WAG54GX2, both capable of running WPA2 and VPN networks.

The VPN seems to be better than WPA2, but do I really need both facilities
in my router? Is there anything cheaper and equally (or sufficiently) good
for home networking purposes? If I could choose between the two, which one
would be better and easier to run?

Do these devices need NICs capable of WPA2 and VPN (with specific chipset),
or can I simply use a 802.11g NIC and encrypt via some application in my
computer?

Thank you for your help.

You seem to have your wires crossed ;-)
VPN is for secure communication over the net to a specific node e.g. your
employer. - nothing to do with WiFi.
Yes, you would need network adapters capable of WPA2.
Actually most people hardly bother with securing their WiFi link, yes it can
be eavesdropped, but unlikely to get the hacker anything of much value.
Remember, anything entered on secured website e.g. credit cards No's are
encrypted already.
Finally Draytek is an 'office class' kit, well featured, very reliable, but
not cheap.
You may want to get the VG version with VoIP ports, may save your some money
over period of time.
Regards,
Martin
2600VGi - never missed a bit in 30 months

Martin² wrote:

> You seem to have your wires crossed ;-)
> VPN is for secure communication over the net to a specific node e.g. your
> employer. - nothing to do with WiFi.

Not necessarily. At least one regular here has a VPN server between his
wireless router (or possibly in it) and his internet connection - so all
wireless connections are secured by VPN. It's doable - not certain it's
worthwhile.
--
derek

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:43a21cfd$0$1486$(E-Mail Removed)...

> You seem to have your wires crossed ;-)

Er... not really: it rather seems to be a "decryption" problem :-)

> VPN is for secure communication over the net to a specific node e.g. your
> employer. - nothing to do with WiFi.

Ok. Only my laptop connects via a VPN, but this is already taken care of by
a programme running on it, and therefore I don't think the VPN will be
needed in my wireless router (actually, now that I think about it I connect
the VPN only via a cable connected to the router).

> Yes, you would need network adapters capable of WPA2.

Ok. So, if I have, say, one WPA2 capable router and two PCs, one equipped
with a WPA2 card and one with a Netgear WG311 v2 (I think it can do WEP),
can I connect the router with both? In other words, can the router (I
noticed that the DrayTek 2800G supports both) deal with two different
standards at the same time?

> Actually most people hardly bother with securing their WiFi link, yes it
> can be eavesdropped, but unlikely to get the hacker anything of much
> value. Remember, anything entered on secured website e.g. credit cards
> No's are encrypted already.

Thanks for clarifying this. I was already aware about it, the "problem" is
actually to prevent others from easily connect to my network.

> Finally Draytek is an 'office class' kit, well featured, very reliable,
> but not cheap.

How does it compare with the cheaper (though still expensive) Linksys
WAG54GX2?

> You may want to get the VG version with VoIP ports, may save your some
> money over period of time.

That's another thing, but I'll need a VoIP adapter that connects to more
than one VoIP provider at the same time... I'd rather prefer to wait and buy
a separate box , which I could also use with any other routers if I happen
to be abroad for example.

Plus, I have another question: what is the maximum upstream speed of the
Draytek? They mention in their website that downstream is up to 8Mbps (ok
with me), but what about the upstream?

Thank you for your help.