New router advice sought - Draytek or Zyxel?

Hi

I'm going to replace my Linksys WAG54G router, as I want to use VOIP via normal BT
phones using a router and also get better reporting of stuff like line noise etc.
VOIP is the main consideration however.

I've narrowed it down to 2 possibilities, either the DrayTek Vigor 2800VG, or the
ZyXEL Prestige 2602HW. Both give me VOIP, wireless, have firewall and built in
modem.

The Vigor has the advantage of a printer port, which would be useful for my inkjet
printer (I've got a laser too, but it is networkable) as it could then be used via
mine and my wife's laptops without the need to turn on my main machine. The Vigor
also supports 108 mbps.

The ZyXEL is cheaper though at around £132 inc VAT, while the Draytek is nearly £174
inc VAT at Broadbandbuyer.

The Vigor looks to be better, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money. I'd
very much appreciate opinions from anyone whose has experience of these routers, or
may know more about then than I do.

TIA

--

Andrew Sayers

Andrew Sayers <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I'm going to replace my Linksys WAG54G router, as I want to use VOIP via normal BT
> phones using a router and also get better reporting of stuff like line noise etc.
> VOIP is the main consideration however.
>
> I've narrowed it down to 2 possibilities, either the DrayTek Vigor 2800VG, or the
> ZyXEL Prestige 2602HW. Both give me VOIP, wireless, have firewall and built in
> modem.
>
> The Vigor has the advantage of a printer port, which would be useful for my inkjet
> printer (I've got a laser too, but it is networkable) as it could then be used via
> mine and my wife's laptops without the need to turn on my main machine. The Vigor
> also supports 108 mbps.
>
> The ZyXEL is cheaper though at around £132 inc VAT, while the Draytek is nearly £174
> inc VAT at Broadbandbuyer.
>
> The Vigor looks to be better, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money. I'd
> very much appreciate opinions from anyone whose has experience of these routers, or
> may know more about then than I do.
>
I have a recently bought 2602HW, it'll cost you much less than £132 if
you buy from www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk, £86.95.

The Media Bandwidth Management isn't implemented in the current
version of the firmware but will be in the next release.

There have been quite a few reports here of problems with the VOIP on
the 2800VG, take a look back using Google Groups. The VOIP worked
very easily for me (a VOIP newbie) on the 2602, we're not using it
very heavily at the moment though.

--
Chris Green

I have got 2600VGi and Zyxel 2602HWL.
The Draytek is excellent in every way, but the recently update VoIP firmware
is still not fully functional.
You can't control both lines from one phone and few other functions.
AFAIK nobody has yet managed to make it work with sipdicount :-(
The 2800 series is ADSL2+ compatible but AFAIK the VoIP part is unchanged.

The Zyxel hasn't got any of the above problems, the only minus point is just
10 speed dial No's ( Draytek has 60).
Had it since May, on good 2Mb/s line, had to re boot twice. One time both
VoIP wouldn't register for few days,
but it did sort itself out eventually. I rate is as very good, specially if
you get it at the right price:

At the moment the HW version is very cheap from broadbandbuyer 'cos they
have got the price wrong !
Compare it to the HWL which only adds the PSTN pass-trough facility.

Finally you should have look at Fritz! box (available from sipgate.co.uk)
which has got the best VoIP features.
Haven't heard any complaints about it.
Regards,
Martin

On 2006-01-27, Martin² <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Finally you should have look at Fritz! box (available from sipgate.co.uk)
> which has got the best VoIP features.
> Haven't heard any complaints about it.

But make sure you either want the existing version or wait for the new
7050 which adds an extra IP port and an ISDN port. The ISDN lets you use
ISDN phones internally even with an external analogue or VOIP line, so
you can add an ISDN cordless phone and have two lines active
simultaneously.

The UK versions appear to be one model behind the German ones, which is
unfortunate as the German one also has a printer/USB disk port.

--
Andy Repton

"Martin²" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have got 2600VGi and Zyxel 2602HWL.
>The Draytek is excellent in every way, but the recently update VoIP firmware
>is still not fully functional.
>You can't control both lines from one phone and few other functions.
>AFAIK nobody has yet managed to make it work with sipdicount :-(
>The 2800 series is ADSL2+ compatible but AFAIK the VoIP part is unchanged.
>
>The Zyxel hasn't got any of the above problems, the only minus point is just
>10 speed dial No's ( Draytek has 60).
>Had it since May, on good 2Mb/s line, had to re boot twice. One time both
>VoIP wouldn't register for few days,
>but it did sort itself out eventually. I rate is as very good, specially if
>you get it at the right price:
>
>At the moment the HW version is very cheap from broadbandbuyer 'cos they
>have got the price wrong !
>Compare it to the HWL which only adds the PSTN pass-trough facility.
>
>Finally you should have look at Fritz! box (available from sipgate.co.uk)
>which has got the best VoIP features.
>Haven't heard any complaints about it.

Thanks for the info guys. It looks like I'll go for the ZyXEL at the braodbandbuyers
price.

As a matter of interest who are you using for your VOIP service? I'm using Skype at
the moment but I don't know whether that service works over a VOIP router with a
standard phone so I may have to switch to one of the other providers such as Vonage.



--

Andrew Sayers

Andrew Sayers wrote:

> As a matter of interest who are you using for your VOIP service? I'm using
> Skype at the moment but I don't know whether that service works over a
> VOIP router with a standard phone so I may have to switch to one of the
> other providers such as Vonage.

Skype is proprietary, so you won't be able to plug a phone into your ZyXel
and expect it to work with Skype.

Vonage also fiddle with their protocols, so you have to pay for a
'softphone' line to get it to work with a standard SIP client like your
ZyXel. Using Vonage with your Zyxel will cost sixteen quid for 500 minutes
a month. Which [as you've probably guessed by now] is shit. Compare with
[these are assumptions based on just calling geo numbers]:

500 minutes/mo 16 quid/mo

Sipgate @1.2p/min £6 1300 minutes

voip.co.uk @1p/min £5 1600 minutes

Note that both these services are PAYG, ie there are no 'rental' fees due
every month, and both offer incoming geo numbers in pretty much all area
codes.

Of course if you sign up for Vonage and use their supplied kit, it'll be a
tenner a month all in, but to be honest, I'd have to be pretty sure I was
using >1000 minutes a month [more than half an hour every single day] of
outbound calls in order to justify it. Also there may be a minimum contract
period with Vonage - I can't tell without actually signing up.

--
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