Help me to choose router

[davidkosir]

Hi,

I need to choose router for my network.

I don't have any special need, besides Internet connection and DHCP for some guest clients.

There are around 30 IP phones (static IP), 30 PCs (static IP), and 10 wireless APs (users get dynamic IP).

Maximum load is 5 phones, 5 PCs and 20 phones/laptops connected via wi-fi.

I guess I should go for Cisco 800 series. Would model 861 be good or I will need 881 or even 891?

Thanks

[Gregory Snipes]

The lower end 800 series routers have some pretty low limits on their PPS and throughput. So depending on the speed of your WAN/internet connection you can easily hit those. The 880s can push 50K PPS and 25Mbps, the 890s can push 100K PPS and 51Mbps. If you need more performance then that you would need to get into the 2900 series routers.

[davidkosir]

I suppose that there is no need to go below 880 because it is not such big price difference between 881 and 861.

So, I should calculate that by internet connection speed? Number of users is not important?

Could you share link or document in which you found that information about limits in PPS/bandwith?

Thanks

[Gregory Snipes · Accepted solution]

Sure, here is the document. Notice that the 860 and 870 routers only push 12 Mbps. It is pretty easy to get a connection better than 12 Mbps nowadays, even if you don't have one at the moment, so I would not recommend going that low. I used to run an 870 in my home but my Internet connection outpaced it and I had to upgrade.

If you are going to be doing any inter-VLAN routing you will need to take that into account. Otherwise I would just size the router to the size of your Internet connection plus a little bit of expansion room.

[Leo Laohoo]

One more thing about the 860, 880 and 890 routers is the number of VLANs supported.

How many VLANs are you planning to have?

[davidkosir]

I was planing to have one VLAN for all wireless devices, one for all PCs and one for phones. Eventualy there could be one more for couple of pcs. So 4 VLANs total.

I'm not network expert, could you tell me if there is need for bigger router if there are more VLANs, and why is that so?

Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

860 can support up to 2 VLANs.

880 can support up to 8 VLANs.

890 can support up to 14 VLANs.

[davidkosir]

Thanks for that information. Does number of VLANs effect performance and stability of router?

[Leo Laohoo]

No it should not, however, each router mention has a maximum WAN bandwidth.

So my recommendation is to know how far you're going to take your network to and for how long.

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