New ADSL router for office

Tydmors

Tydmors

New member
Hi guys and gals,

I've got a question for the tech savvy people here.

What would be the best adsl router below (R3000)?

We need it to replace our current ADSL router so if it can be a bit future proof (perhaps vdsl capable) it would be nice.

Another requirement we need is that it should have good Wifi range, we would like to get rid of all our old wifi routers and just replace them (currently 3) with one that would cater the entire office's wifi needs.

any suggestions?

i've looked at the following so far:
D-Link Wi-Fi 802.11Ac 1750 Cloud Router 4X Gb
AC1900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem Router
Unfortunately they are only for ADSL not VDSL

Or should be perhaps go for a cheap adsl router without wifi(TP-Link ADSL2+ Ethernet USB Modem Router) and then just one good wifi router that will broadcast our wifi network? this way if we ever get vdsl we can just replace the adsl router and it will not effect our wifi network.

thank you in advance.
 
How big is the company / how many ppl?

Is everything running on wifi or cables as well?

Do you need to access a server or just get internet?

Running any kind of office off ADSL is a touch dodgy unless its a very small office...so you'd need to match the gear to the needs pretty closely (hence the questions).

To answer some questions though...you can't replace 3 wifi routers with 1. Its not gonna happen no matter how expensive. So I'd be leaning towards keeping the wifi infrastructure in place if its working OK. So that would suggest going to the cheap router, but its 100M only & as you say doesn't do vdsl which might be an issue (affects Q1-3 above)

Also...no point in getting ac gear if the laptops you've got don't support it. The dual band might be interesting though...if all the laptops support it then you can dodge some interference from nearby wifi networks by using 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz
 
HavocXphere said:
How big is the company / how many ppl?

Is everything running on wifi or cables as well?

Do you need to access a server or just get internet?

Running any kind of office off ADSL is a touch dodgy unless its a very small office...so you'd need to match the gear to the needs pretty closely (hence the questions).

To answer some questions though...you can't replace 3 wifi routers with 1. Its not gonna happen no matter how expensive. So I'd be leaning towards keeping the wifi infrastructure in place if its working OK. So that would suggest going to the cheap router, but its 100M only & as you say doesn't do vdsl which might be an issue (affects Q1-3 above)

Also...no point in getting ac gear if the laptops you've got don't support it. The dual band might be interesting though...if all the laptops support it then you can dodge some interference from nearby wifi networks by using 5ghz instead of 2.4ghz
Click to expand...

Hi HavocXphere,

1. We are just over 20 people in the office.
2. It is a mix, most are on cable but some are on wifi and almost everyone connects to the company wifi with their phones as well. (70% of phones)
3. We just need connection to internet as well as the router needs DHCP enabled.

Most of the time our 10mbps line is enough when our connection is running fine, but for a while now we've had poor speed. perhaps we've outgrown our 10mbps line.

All the laptops in the office is atleast 1 to 2 years old already, not sure if they will support it.
 
Look at a Cisco ISR with DSL, it's relatively cheap and won't break in 5 years like the off the shelf stuff. Will give you really solid performance and relatively simple management with little to no overhead. It's really configure and forget.

Cisco 880 3G Integrated Services Router http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/routers/880-3g-integrated-services-router-isr/index.html

The Cisco 880G Integrated Services Router provides:

Multiple types of DSL
4-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet managed switch with VLAN support
802.11n WLAN capability
Firewall
Intrusion prevention
Content filtering
Encryption for VPNs
Quality of service (QoS) features for optimizing voice and video applications
 
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20 people...damn. I was expecting an answer of 5.

Well OK. Personally I think you should seriously consider upgrading the ADSL to 40meg VDSL (if available). Two reason...
1) The upload on 40meg is 3 meg, compared to 1meg on a 10 line. With 20 ppl you'll need the 3 meg. (Saturated upload will make the entire line feel slow, incl downloads)
2) While a 10meg line has been OK thus far, I'll bet you 10 interweb points you're losing valuable productivity. 3 seconds waiting here, 5 seconds there...but times 20 people times 8 hours a day, times 7 days etc...you get the drift

>for a while now we've had poor speed.

oh snap...might want to check that out first before making a move here...no point in getting new gear if the line itself is sht. Depends on if "poor" speed you mean the line is slow or just the experience is slow w/ 20 ppl.

You should also get a router that allows automatic fail-over to prepaid 3G. Its not going to be pretty but at least the office isn't dead in the water if the ADSL line goes down. Telkom sells routers & sticks that can do this to their residential clients so its not a crazy expensive thing. Just need to keep the prepaid active / reload occasionally. I'm inclined to say this plus VDSL upgrade (if available) would be my main must-have points.

Keep the current wifi tech as is.

I'd grab one of the Telkom VDSL routers + 3g stick combos. Should cost you something round the 1.5k mark I think but not sure on pricing.

Consider sticking the router on a UPS as well...that'll get you internet access during loadshedding & again prevent lost productivity.
 
PsychoFish said:
Look at a Cisco ISR with DSL, it's relatively cheap and won't break in 5 years like the off the shelf stuff. Will give you really solid performance and relatively simple management with little to no overhead. It's really configure and forget.

Cisco 880 3G Integrated Services Router http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/routers/880-3g-integrated-services-router-isr/index.html

The Cisco 880G Integrated Services Router provides:

Multiple types of DSL
4-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet managed switch with VLAN support
802.11n WLAN capability
Firewall
Intrusion prevention
Content filtering
Encryption for VPNs
Quality of service (QoS) features for optimizing voice and video applications
Click to expand...

Thanks PsychoFish, i told my boss about this router and he really liked the idea or using a managed switch again.
i will just check for a router that has VDSL and perhaps 3G support as well or we'll just keep our current for 3G backup.

HavocXphere said:
20 people...damn. I was expecting an answer of 5.

Well OK. Personally I think you should seriously consider upgrading the ADSL to 40meg VDSL (if available). Two reason...
1) The upload on 40meg is 3 meg, compared to 1meg on a 10 line. With 20 ppl you'll need the 3 meg. (Saturated upload will make the entire line feel slow, incl downloads)
2) While a 10meg line has been OK thus far, I'll bet you 10 interweb points you're losing valuable productivity. 3 seconds waiting here, 5 seconds there...but times 20 people times 8 hours a day, times 7 days etc...you get the drift

>for a while now we've had poor speed.

oh snap...might want to check that out first before making a move here...no point in getting new gear if the line itself is sht. Depends on if "poor" speed you mean the line is slow or just the experience is slow w/ 20 ppl.

You should also get a router that allows automatic fail-over to prepaid 3G. Its not going to be pretty but at least the office isn't dead in the water if the ADSL line goes down. Telkom sells routers & sticks that can do this to their residential clients so its not a crazy expensive thing. Just need to keep the prepaid active / reload occasionally. I'm inclined to say this plus VDSL upgrade (if available) would be my main must-have points.

Keep the current wifi tech as is.

I'd grab one of the Telkom VDSL routers + 3g stick combos. Should cost you something round the 1.5k mark I think but not sure on pricing.

Consider sticking the router on a UPS as well...that'll get you internet access during loadshedding & again prevent lost productivity.
Click to expand...

HavocXphere,
thanks for the info, currently our exchange does not allow us to get VDSL so untill we can persuade telkom to move us to the new exhange almost across the street from us we will need to wait for them to upgrade the old one. i've been calling and emailing telkom reps in regards to this. no luck so far.

I also tested our internet yesterday with my router and it seemed to have been a bit more stable so it seems that the router might have something to do with the issue. I was told by an Axxess tech that it looks like our router might have an issue as it was constantly dropping signal on their side.
 
Tydmors said:
Thanks PsychoFish, i told my boss about this router and he really liked the idea or using a managed switch again.
i will just check for a router that has VDSL and perhaps 3G support as well or we'll just keep our current for 3G backup.
Click to expand...

Thats the beauty of the Cisco 800 series routers, you want ISDN you can have it, you want DSL done, 3G done, etc etc etc...very good for SOHO use. Many of the smaller branches I have set up around Africa uses these simply because it never breaks and it has auto failover.
 
PsychoFish said:
Thats the beauty of the Cisco 800 series routers, you want ISDN you can have it, you want DSL done, 3G done, etc etc etc...very good for SOHO use. Many of the smaller branches I have set up around Africa uses these simply because it never breaks and it has auto failover.
Click to expand...

Hi PsychoFish, so just to make sure, will the Cisco 880 3G ISR have - ADSL, VDSL and 3G capabilities?
The site only says - Multiple types of DSL
thanks again for your help
 
If I recall correctly it supports VDSL2, ADSL2+, ADSL2 & ADSL1 on the DSL side and 3.5G/3.7G HSPA+ / 3G EVDO on the cellular failover

Dual-band concurrent 2.4/5.0 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi (supports up to 20 users)

Just one thing...content filtering and VPN for this is a separate licence
 
PsychoFish said:
If I recall correctly it supports VDSL2, ADSL2+, ADSL2 & ADSL1 on the DSL side and 3.5G/3.7G HSPA+ / 3G EVDO on the cellular failover

Dual-band concurrent 2.4/5.0 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi (supports up to 20 users)

Just one thing...content filtering and VPN for this is a separate licence
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for all the info. i think this will work great for us.
Now to just convince the higher-ups.
 
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