891 for home/office environment

[amrogers3]

Anyone have experience with the 891? I would like to purchase one for my home/office but I need a quiet device and I'm not sure how quiet the 891 is. Looked up specs and it produces 32 dba, however, I would like to hear from some with "hands on" experience with the device that can provide feedback.

[Leo Laohoo]

As far as I know, the 890 series routers don't have a fan so it's fairly quiet.

[amrogers3]

Hi leolaohoo, thanks for reply. I believe you may be thinking about the lower 800 versions. I believe the 871 doesn't have a fan but the 891 does. Not 100% sure though.

[amrogers3]

Happy Holidays  bump

[elliott callaway]

I have an 891 the device makes some noise on boot up. But after boot its whisper quiet.

PS. yes it does have a fan.

[amrogers3]

e-callaway wrote:
I have an 891 the device makes some noise on boot up. But after boot its whisper quiet.
PS. yes it does have a fan.

Hi EC, thanks for the reply. Would you recommend the 891 for a library quiet room. I need a router that is extremely quiet.

[elliott callaway]

with the amount of features packed into the package i would have expected it to be louder.

ive had it on sitting next to me in my office for roughly a week and to hear it, i have to put my head down next to it. my office is generally fairly loud though so my experiences may vary from what you would expect.

like i said though, the loudest moments are during boot up, but once you get the thing configured you would not have to boot or reset it.

running operations are veryquiet, but if your worried about the noise you may want to find a device without a fan. honestly though i dont even hear it and it sits maybe 2 feet from me.

[amrogers3]

Thanks EC, I have researched a fanless option but there isn't a device that offers the functionality I am looking for. If the 891 is indeed that quiet, shouldn't be a problem. The problem is that I have to be 100% sure before I order. CDW doesn't offer any refunds

e-callaway wrote:
with the amount of features packed into the package i would have expected it to be louder.
ive had it on sitting next to me in my office for roughly a week and to hear it, i have to put my head down next to it. my office is generally fairly loud though so my experiences may vary from what you would expect.
like i said though, the loudest moments are during boot up, but once you get the thing configured you would not have to boot or reset it.
running operations are veryquiet, but if your worried about the noise you may want to find a device without a fan. honestly though i dont even hear it and it sits maybe 2 feet from me.

[Leo Laohoo]

Ok you need some whisper quiet router/switches.  Just what are you trying to do.

The fans, if kept clean, tend to be quiet.  It's only noisy if it accumulates a significant amount of dirt and these dirts "stick" to the blade's edges.  This cause the airflow to be "un-clean".  The "weight" of the dusts plus the un-clean airflow causes the noise.  It is further agravated when the bearing of the fans deteriorate, due to the both factors, adding more noise.

[amrogers3]

HI Leolaohoo. Well, I have been researching a fanless option but can't find the functionality I am looking for in a fanless L3 device. I was looking for

1. 4+ VLANs
2. ability to apply ACLs to VLANs
3. RADIUS capability
4. port mirroring aka SPAN (to attached a network sniffer aka SNORT box)
5. zone based firewall policy

The 891 seems to be the only device I can find with the above functionality that has good throughput speed and is < $1000.

It's going in a quiet room so I was concerned about noise and the fact that if I purchase it, it is not returnable (CDW return policy)

leolaohoo wrote:
Ok you need some whisper quiet router/switches.  Just what are you trying to do.
The fans, if kept clean, tend to be quiet.  It's only noisy if it accumulates a significant amount of dirt and these dirts "stick" to the blade's edges.  This cause the airflow to be "un-clean".  The "weight" of the dusts plus the un-clean airflow causes the noise.  It is further agravated when the bearing of the fans deteriorate, due to the both factors, adding more noise.

[elliott callaway]

how quiet do you want it to be is the question?  I hear the fans on desktop pcs which are 15+ feet away over the router sitting

less than 2 ft from me. The fans are very small and they dont produce a lot of noise. In my office I dont hear it at all, Ive been testing it for over a week now so it sits roughly 1-2 feet away so I have quick acces to its rear panel.

With the feature set and the price point you probably wont find something better. I picked it up primarily for the multiple vlans and 8 fast ethernet switch ports on the back.

When I say its whisper quiet I dont even hear it beyond 5 feet. And the pitch tends to be midrange so its not so bad at all. The tough thing when purchasing Cisco business class routers is you can not see one up and running unless you know someone who has one. The specs say 32 db and that is about right. Again as I mentoined before it does make noise during boot up but its not a device you need to reboot anyways.

It is a pretty hefty chunk of change to toss out when your unsure about it.

Id recomend the device for its feature set.

[amrogers3]

e-callaway wrote:
how quiet do you want it to be is the question?  I hear the fans on desktop pcs which are 15+ feet away over the router sitting
less than 2 ft from me. The fans are very small and they dont produce a lot of noise. In my office I dont hear it at all, Ive been testing it for over a week now so it sits roughly 1-2 feet away so I have quick acces to its rear panel.
With the feature set and the price point you probably wont find something better. I picked it up primarily for the multiple vlans and 8 fast ethernet switch ports on the back.
When I say its whisper quiet I dont even hear it beyond 5 feet. And the pitch tends to be midrange so its not so bad at all. The tough thing when purchasing Cisco business class routers is you can not see one up and running unless you know someone who has one. The specs say 32 db and that is about right. Again as I mentoined before it does make noise during boot up but its not a device you need to reboot anyways.
It is a pretty hefty chunk of change to toss out when your unsure about it.
Id recomend the device for its feature set.

Thanks for reply EC. To answer your question. I am looking for something that is not noticeable at all. It will be in a space that needs to be near silent. The problem is that I don't think there is another device that will meet the requirements that would be any quieter.

I agree with you that it is a hefty chunk of change to throw down for a device that I'm unsure about. I am looking at buying the 891 on CDW and they do not have a return policy. That is why I am asking all these questions before I buy it.

From what you describe it doesn't sound like the 891 would make much noise at all.

[Leo Laohoo]

890 is your answer.

FYI:  I've been progressively upgrading our 2950 fleet with 2960/2960S inside teacher/staff rooms.  So far, no complaints about the noise.

[amrogers3]

leolaohoo wrote:
890 is your answer.
FYI:  I've been progressively upgrading our 2950 fleet with 2960/2960S inside teacher/staff rooms.  So far, no complaints about the noise.

Leo, from what you and EC describe, it doesn't sound like noise will be an issue. Although teacher/staff rooms probably aren't the quietest I am putting the device in probably what would be classified as a 20-25 dB room.

[jeffmgaff]

I have one on my desk right now, literally 18" from my ear and I almost cannot hear it. It is very very quiet. If you put in a cabinet or in a closet you won't hear it at all. However, it is so quiet it could go on your desktop and it would not be an issue.