Buying a Cisco router for home use

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 14:48

Hey everyone,

So I am currently studying towards Cisco qualifications etc, so have learned a lot about Cisco IOS. I want to put some of this into practise and be able to have a router that I can configure at home for our home network.

At the moment we have ADSL2+ but we will be changing to VDSL soon. One router I was looking at was the Cisco 887VA which can be used with either ADSL2+ or fibre. It is sold for about £400 but I think I could probably get for £250 - £300. This is the router:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11063/index.html

I understand its expensive but I think this would benefit both me and our network. What is everyones thoughts? Ridiculous or not?

Thanks

ChrisD. · 8 Mar 2012 at 14:53

I personally wouldn't, but I know people that do... it is very rewarding if you get it all in and working though.

Bear in mind the cost of a wireless card (if that router supports one) and the fact the ports are only 10/100Mbit.

Laser402 · 8 Mar 2012 at 14:54

I doubt just the 1 router is going to give you any benefit to your cert (CCNA?)

Id save the money, if you still want real hardware buy cheap 2600 routers for a lab.

Packet tracer would be a much cheaper and more beneficial tool for yourself. I found it very useful.

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 14:57

Thanks for the responses. Was planning on just using an access point to broadcast wireless. If that would work?

It's not particularly to learn for CCNA, it's more because I would just like to. But I guess it wouldn't hurt!

Thanks

paradigm · 8 Mar 2012 at 14:58

I used to run an 877m on my ADSL2+ connection with an Aironet Series 1200 Access point, and then a 2651XM on my 50Mb virgin line for a while (with the same Aironet AP).

I'm currently not using Cisco kit (I have a lab for study, but not using it in production as it's mainly configured for VoIP stuff), but as soon as I can afford a decent 5510 with IDS/IPS I'll run one of those as my leading edge.

Laser402 · 8 Mar 2012 at 15:02

I fully understand the 'Just because' attitude. I do it a lot myself it is rewarding when you can configure something from scratch and it works

On the other hand it is expensive for home use and consider that your ISP will probably give you a VDSL/ADSL2+ modem/router anyway.

Still if you do it, just get a ~£30 WiFi AP and plug it in for wireless connectivity

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 15:03

paradigm said:
I used to run an 877m on my ADSL2+ connection with an Aironet Series 1200 Access point, and then a 2651XM on my 50Mb virgin line for a while (with the same Aironet AP).

I'm currently not using Cisco kit (I have a lab for study, but not using it in production as it's mainly configured for VoIP stuff), but as soon as I can afford a decent 5510 with IDS/IPS I'll run one of those as my leading edge.

Sounds pretty neat! What is the access point like? Do you think the router I mentioned would be suitable? I assume the ones you used were older than this one.

5510 looks nice as well

Thanks

Yamahahahahaha · 8 Mar 2012 at 16:39

I like the 887VA a lot, although the way they've implemented the VDSL controller is a fair bit different to previous ADSL interfaces.

It's a good little router which will do a lot of things (VPNs, basic routing etc), but may not be suitable for 80mbit/s VDSL2+ services which are coming this year.

derfderfley · 8 Mar 2012 at 19:00

Yamahahahahaha said:
I like the 887VA a lot, although the way they've implemented the VDSL controller is a fair bit different to previous ADSL interfaces.

It's a good little router which will do a lot of things (VPNs, basic routing etc), but may not be suitable for 80mbit/s VDSL2+ services which are coming this year.

I've seen a 887 VA train up at over 100Mbps on the VDSL interface in testing

I would suggest that the OP look at the 867VAE as it does come with both a GE and adsl/2/2+/VDSL WAN interfaces. Should be available by the middle of the month and for a lower cost than a 887!

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 19:03

Thanks for the responses.

derfderfley said:
I've seen a 887 VA train up at over 100Mbps on the VDSL interface in testing

I would suggest that the OP look at the 867VAE as it does come with both a GE and adsl/2/2+/VDSL WAN interfaces. Should be available by the middle of the month and for a lower cost than a 887!

I will have to have a look then. Thanks very much

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 19:08

Also just to add, I have been thinking. If these routers connect to the standard telephone service. Does fibre optic like BT Infinity still use POTS?

Thanks!

wildest_jjk · 8 Mar 2012 at 21:57

Anybody?

Thanks

RSR · 9 Mar 2012 at 10:27

paradigm said:
I used to run an 877m on my ADSL2+ connection with an Aironet Series 1200 Access point, and then a 2651XM on my 50Mb virgin line for a while (with the same Aironet AP).

How does the 2651XM perform on a 50Mb connection? As I have a 1841 which I am a bit sceptical if can achieve the through put.

Mr.Stu · 9 Mar 2012 at 10:29

I know the idea sounds cool and appealing, but really just stick a £30 cheap box on there and forget about it.

Then invest your time in to setting up GNS3 and having a proper topology to play with.

RSR · 9 Mar 2012 at 10:46

wildest_jjk said:
Also just to add, I have been thinking. If these routers connect to the standard telephone service. Does fibre optic like BT Infinity still use POTS?

Thanks!

Your best method would be to use PPPOE modem for the ADSL / VDSL to connect to the router IMO. The old Cisco HWICs / WICs can be very problematic due to the chipset used.

However, the new VDSL HWIC cards are based around a Broadcom chip-set which is far better than the old Alcatel chip-set but these only work with the newer 1900 + models.

bigredshark · 9 Mar 2012 at 10:47

[RXP]Andy;21435809 said:
How does the 2651XM perform on a 50Mb connection? As I have a 1841 which I am a bit sceptical if can achieve the through put.

Both will do it marginally, when I evaluated them for CPE purposes a few years back I didn't trust the 1841 for anything over 30Mbit (we went to 2821's next). In testing I could get up to 70-80 Mbit of 'favourable' traffic through one and generally 40-50 Mbit of unfavourable traffic. Obviously this varies with your config and feature set (I mean really varies, how optimal your access lists and such are can be worth a surprising amount).

My 30Mbit judgement was based on having a requirement for it to absolutely work, we'd have looked stupid if we'd supplied a router which wasn't up to the job so for minimal cost it made sense to err on the side of caution.

For home use a 1841 will be fine for 50Mbit, I'm unsure how it'll feel about 80Mbit VDSL though...

bigredshark · 9 Mar 2012 at 10:57

[RXP]Andy;21435957 said:
You best method would be to use PPPOE modem for the ADSL / VDSL to connect to the router. The old Cisco HWICs / WICs can be very problematic due to the chipset used.

I think that's overblown, there are ten, possibly hundreds, of thousands of connections out there using those modules. They are prone to sync a little slower than some consumer gear and there have been a few isolated issues but they're well proven.

We had about 3400 DSL connections, of which maybe 45% would have been Cisco CPE - I did not hear of a single issue with incompatibility.

Single box is almost always better in my book, if it really doesn't work then try a modem instead but there's not anything fundamentally wrong with Cisco interfaces. Though, as said, the new VDSL interfaces are 'interestingly' implemented.

Personally I'm acquiring a Juniper SRX110 for VDSL, it's a lovely little bit of kit, if it wasn't £600 to buy it'd be an obvious recommendation.

RSR · 9 Mar 2012 at 11:19

bigredshark said:
Single box is almost always better in my book, if it really doesn't work then try a modem instead but there's not anything fundamentally wrong with Cisco interfaces. Though, as said, the new VDSL interfaces are 'interestingly' implemented.

Personally I'm acquiring a Juniper SRX110 for VDSL, it's a lovely little bit of kit, if it wasn't £600 to buy it'd be an obvious recommendation.

I'd agree a single box is the better solution, but I was also thinking about the cost aspect as well as Cisco add-on's can be massively expensive.

I have had experiences SnR with the old Cisco HWIC-1ADSL cards showing minus figures which is interesting. However, it was a combination of firmware and chipset. That said, I have not had any problems with the old Cisco WIC-1ADSL which just seem to work.

wildest_jjk · 9 Mar 2012 at 12:38

Thanks for everybodys responses, so would you guys recommend the 1841 instead of an 800 series?

Would that be right?

I just need it to work for ADSL2+ and then VDSL when I change to BT infinity. I am not sure if they will work with this.

Thanks everyone.

RSR · 9 Mar 2012 at 12:49

wildest_jjk said:
Thanks for everybodys responses, so would you guys recommend the 1841 instead of an 800 series?

Would that be right?

I just need it to work for ADSL2+ and then VDSL when I change to BT infinity. I am not sure if they will work with this.

Thanks everyone.

What 800 series where you thinking about? 887VA? The Cisco 887V or VA works with both ADSL2+ and VDSL.

If you where set on using Cisco equipment for home use, id personally go with the 887VA over a 1841, it also a better all in one solution. However, I believe the 1841 doesn't support the new HWIC cards for VDSL so it would require you to use a VDSL modem.