Small Business Router [30] PCs

m99887158 · ‎04-10-2012

Hello,

I'm the owner of small business [gaming LAN cafe], so far I've been running Cisco's Wireless N ADSL+2. Because of the high traffic and the fact that the cafe never shuts down, we are experiencing high latency problems and frequent disconnection problems, which really hurts my business because the internet service is not up to high standard compared to the other competitors.

I'm thinking of switching routers, I do realize that this router is for home usage and I want small enterprise router that will sustain and perform well under these conditions. My network runs on two switches with 15 PCs on each.

I prefer cable over wireless since I won't be using WiFi and I also have no need for VPN.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

blwright · ‎04-10-2012

Mohammad,

because you stated that wireless is not necessary, I would suggest getting an RVS4000 as this is a gigabit router that will also allow you to setup VLANs so that you can segment the guest traffic from your office network. The only concern is that the traffic will bottleneck if your switches are not gigabit switches. You also have the option of adding an access point if see that wireless is an option that you want to add in the future.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps9923/ps9928/data_sheet_c78-496735.html

Blake Wright

Cisco SBSC Network Engineer

doug_counsil · ‎04-10-2012

I suggest you get a Cisco RV220W. It has wicked fast gigabit throughput. This router is around a year old and will be supported for quite awhile (3-5 years).

There is a major firmware release in Beta right now. It shouldn't be long and it will be out to fix some of the minor quirks the unit has right now.

Also, make sure your switches are gigabit as well. After that, if they support Jumbo frames, turn on Jumbo Frames on all of your equipment (RV220W, switches, and workstations) and test. Jumbo Frames has the potential to make your network that much faster.

If your switches are unmanaged, then you can go cheap and get some D-Link 8 port switches for $35-40 each off of Amazon and daisy chain them. They are wicked fast and EXTREMELY reliable. Don't be scared of the price or consumer label.

If you have managed switches (which you should if you expect to have multiple VLANs) then let us know and we'll go from there.

We have an RV220W that we currently aren't using, just because we like the VPN capabilities of the SA540 better. If it weren't for that we would still be using the RV220W.

Joergen Thomsen · ‎04-13-2012

Curtis Counsil wrote:

I suggest you get a Cisco RV220W...... This router is around a year old and will be supported for quite awhile (3-5 years).

There is a major firmware release in Beta right now. It shouldn't be long...

From which reliable source do you have this information ?

My problem with Cisco and the RV220W is, that every time I use a new feature in this unit I encounter a bug in addition to the 40+ known bugs since Aug 2011.

Cisco jumped on the fashion of releasing units with immature and buggy software, but did not realize, that this is requiring a fast turnaround with frequent new firmware releases fixing the found bugs. It has now been 8 months since the latest major firmware release, which in its own release description mentioned several bugs.

This is far too slow.

My latest router is a much cheaper one from Zyxel, which may have less features, but is doing its job quite well with extensive IPv6 support.

It would have been from Cisco, but Cisco really has done a good job in deteriorating the value of its brand.

doug_counsil · ‎04-13-2012

From which reliable source do you have this information ?

There has already been two versions of Beta firmware discussed in the past few weeks here on the forums. 1.4.0.6 and 1.4.0.11 I believe.

I don't want to spend the time searching for the posts, but I know the following has been addressed/fixed/added:

1. uPnP not always working

2. Inter-vlan ACLs

That's all that I can remember off the top of my head.

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-13-2012

Just want to begin by saying that I'm no expert about the different products of the Linksys/Cisco Small Business portfoloio. I'm more of an "enterprise" guy.

You said you have latency. I would like to clarify which one? Wired or Wireless?

How many clients (clients is not customers but clients = PC/laptops, Smartphones, etc) do you get to your wireless? Lowest, average, highest?

And lastly, what is your ISP bandwidth?