I would strongly disagree that Cisco products lack in reliability or quality. I have several "low-end" Cisco routers that have been up for years without a hitch or a single moment of down-time. There is a significant difference between the consumer routers sold by Linksys (part of Cisco), Netgear, and the other low-end vendors, and the commercial targeted routers sold by Cisco. Commercial routers require extreme robustness and uptime plus advanced features (firewall, security, etc.). If someone really wants a router for their home (and trading) that will be up ALL the time then they should pay the little bit extra and get a robust commercial grade router. Cisco 871 - $459.99 at CDW http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?edc=788536 - Greg
Agreed, when I talked about "other" firewalls and routers referred to I was talking about the Linksys's et.al. of this world. The netscreen firewall is another quality product with it's own advantages. The OP wanted to know what was the best. Perhaps he really wants to know what is most popular. Others though who need quality in a home environment might find some interesting food for thought. I mean if it's good enough for the US Military then it's good enough for me. When I'm ready to activate autotrading from home I'll purchase low-end Brick firewalls in hot standby mode and sit my trading rig on it's own network partition. The PCs will fail before the ALU Bricks will and I'll be able to challenge the world to hack my system or intercept my local comms. They'll fail 'cos it ain't been done yet (never say never though). Will just need to explain to my wife why I'm creating a machine room in the house!
So would I. The distinction I make is relative. The OP wanted to know what is best (and would meet his needs). I told him what is the best. You recommend a product that is merely good and more expensive than the particular product I have in mind. But I expect most will agree with you as this isn't a technology forum and so most will be swayed by the name. CSCO carry weight beyond their merit due to the power of their brand - they're a great company.
Ahhh, the fairer sex, they just don't get it do they? Clearly you'll need a SAN to back it all up and maybe a few Liebert's and a raised floor to keep it cool. Plus a diesel generator out back linked up to a stack of batteries inside in case the power goes out and don't forget the retina scanner on the door for physical security. Last but not least the disaster recovery site, better hide it in the basement of a beach house if you want to remain married. Good trading to you!
I believe that we agree on one thing. There is a level of difference between technology products targeting the consumer market, and those targeting the commercial/enterprise space in terms of reliability and quality. If user really wants solid service with no down time then they should pay the difference and understand the commercial level products will require solid technical knowledge to configure. The user can go with Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel/Lucent, and some other vendors to get this level of quality; which is very different then Linksys, Netgear, D-link, etc. Commercial router/FW/switch gear is available with many different features and pricing levels; the user should investigate what best meets their needs if they go in this direction. You have provided some sound advice and information about some of the available products & what they offer. - Greg
the hotbrick actually does not do the ordinary firewalling functions like SPI. It also does not have a hardware reset button. I found that out after it locked up on me during setup.... I had a cisco 800 series router that died on me and I then found that support costs more than the router... If this thread can tell me of a great router I'll get it, I've had trouble with about a half dozen of the popular ones. I started to suspect Yahoo-SBC Bell DSL so I switched to another provider, maybe I should cycle back through the bone pile and see if one of them might work for me now....
Do you have experience with the sonicwall TZ170 by chance? That is a dual wan security router, seems perfect low cost choice for just a couple of computers in a soho...
I have read somewhere this is essentially the same but it claims to have SPI, and they have telephone tech support in America. :eek: http://www.xincom.com/products/502/overview.php