Is there an off-the-shelf "router" that offers all this?

JonJ678

JonJ678

JonJ678

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I'm in the market for a new router/switch/firewall box and would appreciate the forum's advice. I've used the search button and familiarised myself with tomato / openwrt which look like excellent choices. Finding suitable hardware is more trying.

A diy approach based around an alix board and a couple of boxes is viable for approximately £150, but if there's a ready made version within this budget I'd be mad to ignore it. I can't find one though (is there a comparison website I'm missing?)

Requires:
Consistently stable under 8mbit adsl
DHCP server
USB print server
Sufficiently advanced QOS to stop iplayer and bittorrent killing web browsing
100/10 wired
Fanless operation
Firewall

Preferred:
Wireless access point (alix will do this iff I'm competent enough)
4 port switch
ADSL modem (alix requires a usb or ethernet modem)

An alix board will do everything listed under required, but isn't so good at the preferred list. It's also fairly expensive, both in time and in capital. The missus is unimpressed that I'm considering over 100 on something that comes free with the internet. She may have a point.

Cheers
 
If you don't want to self-build, an Asus RT-N16 hooked up to an external ADSL2+ modem (eg Linksys AM200) would tick all your boxes, and then some.
 
Cheers. I hadnt even considered second hand cisco gear. Thats likely to work significantly better than a homebrew bsd system.

More reading for me i think
 
Well the 877w will do everything bar the USB, even everything from your "preferred" list.

It's certainly what I'd be looking at.
 
It does look good certainly. I'm trying to find a source for one at present, shouldn't prove too tricky. Cheers
 
Have you looked at Mikrotik hardware? You can build just about anything using their Routerboards.

The config interface is similar to Linux (RouterOS that controls the hardware is built on Linux). They even do MPLS / BGP / OSPF and you can get small integrated solutions for ~£50!

Look them up if you haven't already.
 
I would recommend the Draytek 2820n/Vn series of routers.

Rock solid, can be had around £120-£150 and does everything in one box.

There is a USB port present which can be used to host files from a USB disk. Not sure if you can use a printer in there though. Might be worth asking Draytek CS before deciding.

According to the web management, my 2820Vn has been up for 1562:8:11. That's about 65 days. Last reboot was due to firmware update.

edit

Local users can be connected via a built-in 4-port network switch, with Gigabit support on one port for a server or backbone network uplink. The USB port can also be used to connect a printer (if you're not using it with a mobile wireless adapter).
Click to expand...

Source
 
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I've looked into the routerboards, but not enough to find one as cheap as £50. Actually I thought the license cost more than that. I shall look again, though I'd probably end up running debian/bsd much like I would on an alix system anyway.

I'm going to look into Draytek, it's not a brand I'm familiar with. Thanks for the recommendation, and especially for digging out a link saying it'll work with printers. Nice one :)
 
Let me know if you have any questions regarding the Draytek :)

Covers everything on your list and I can honestly say its the most configurable router I have owned.
 
and faff around with all those commands and terminal windows? :p

Funnily enough, I wanted a 1800 series originally but got put off by the installer.

edit

I think it was a 1800 series, cant seem to find the model that was proposed :confused:
 
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Put off by the installer?

And "those commands and terminal windows" are the better way of doing things. I prefer finer grained control.
 
Yeah the firm that did the wiring.

I agree that using the telnet interface allows you a far greater degree of control and the ability to go into much finer detail than using a simple point n click web interface.

Cheapest I have found the 877w is £159.99 so it is definitely a option for the OP.
 
Draytek have a habit of either including features that are broken or promising features that don't exist then never fixing either.
If you want to buy new, they're somewhere between consumer kit and something like an 877 but they're by no means particularly good for the money.
 
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