sundance-communications.com/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX Networking What seperates routers??

Curious as to what really seperates a router from another... I know with some of the higher end Cicscos it has to do with interfacing the data circuit.. but what would guys says is the differnce between say...

Netgear router costing $50..

Cisco SOHO router costing $100..

Cisco router costing $300 and up..

I know this is a general question, but just mainly looking for opinions here..

Maybe the processor/memory...after all they are just small computers.
The basic soho routers are limited in their functions as well. They don't all have firewall, vpn capability, etc.
Obviously with a Cisco you can get any manner of interface cards and configure it to your hearts desire.

most of the SOHO are GUI.. and the larger Cisco routers are more commmand line, correct?

Not necessarily as far as the GUI is concerned. One big difference is the data throughput of the backplane. A cisco 2900 series router for example is a completely different beast than a Linksys router. Typically your cheaper routers are fixed services routers that can only accept a certain type of connection. Typically ethernet for the cheapies whereas a higher end router may be modular and accept modules for many different WAN technologies. Another big difference is going to be the operating system software. With the smaller routers your going to have a fixed set of features where a higher end router will have different software options depending on what the requirements are.

This is a little off the main topic, but has anyone also ever reloaded a Firebox SOHO.. I have one that I would be curious if you could flash to another OS. I did a flash OS of an older Linksys WRT54 to a Linux OS. I don't think I gain much, but it was a good learning experience.

If you flashed a WRT54G to DD-WRT then you gained quite a bit! I run several version 3 54g routers and the first thing I do is flash DD on it.

This page will show you which routers are supported.

https://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

Firebox is not supported. Why would you want to mess with Watchguard's OS anyways? They make fairly robust routers.

It has some type of 10 user limit, but I can't quite figure out what it is. It seems to have good web filtering and all.

It has some type of 10 user limit, but I can't quite figure out what it is. It seems to have good web filtering and all.

Are you pretty well versed in this router then?

yes, there's a 10, 25, and 50 user limit depending on your firewall but their not supported anymore by Watchguard. Are you trying to use it in a production environment or just for testing?