Cisco 851 Router

As a home user, after upgrading my broadband to 6.0mb/s from Comcast, both my netgear and linksys routers were overwhelmed and couldn't cope up with all the activities for the 5 computers, Xbox360 and Slingbox in the house. After researching all the business class routers, including Netgear, Linksys, Sonicwall and others. Finally, I've decided that Cisco is the best product that would solve my problem. Knowing that this is a sophiscated product, I ordered the most basic router without wireless access (hence less variables to configure). Amazon has the best price among all the websites though you certainly don't get any type of technical support from them. As expected, the router requires some professional knowledge to configure. Being a home user, I only changed very few settings through the SDM software that came with the router and it worked very well within my network. The performance of the router is impressive and I am getting the same download speed if I connect my PC...Read more

I am a software engineer who sometimes thinks he's a network engineer too. I run one commercial and one private system from home, with DNS, web, and e-mail service for each, and have a commercial broadband connection through Verizon Online DSL with 5 static IP addresses. After spending days reading specs and reviews of various pro-consumer routers, SOHO routers, and enterprise routers, and after having experienced downright horrible router software and performance from home/consumer routers, I decided on going with a Big Name and it's been a WONDERFUL investment.

I am comfortable working on all kinds of UNIX systems, so I am very comfortable with setting things up using a command line through telnet and ssh or by transferring files with scp. This router uses standard Cisco IOS software and there was a real wealth of documentation available on the web, and I was able to get up and running without purchasing any additional books. Once everything was set up, it never...Read more

The 851 router works rock solid after you get it initially configured. The web interface is poor. No brainer if you know Cisco IOS. Keep in mind, the internal switch is layer 2 so you can't build separate segments on each port. I've got a /29 CIDR address block from my ISP that I router through the 851. VPN and PPP work completely as expected. The firewall doesn't offer anything more than you would expect from a low cost SOHO solution. I've got a Check Point UTM-1 Edge firewall behind the router that provides much more flexibility. Best part about Cisco, the gear almost never breaks.

David Beidelman