Reliable router for a hotel

[dan121]

I'm looking for a reliable wired (not wireless) router for a hotel operation ... around 150 rooms.

They've been using cheap Netgear routers that continually lock up and requiring power-cycling, or eventually die completely.

Does any one have a recommendation for a reliable router? I don't need anything fancy like VPN or gigabit capability, just something that can serve out DHCP addresses for 100 or so people with out locking up every couple of days (or hours).

I've been looking at Linksys and D-link ... any one have specific make/model they recommend?

 

[calyn]

For about 100 clients accessing the internet I'd not use any home-products. A Cisco 800-series router will do fine though, and is also fairly easy to set up. New, they cost around $300-$400.

 

[dan121]

Thanks for the recommendation ... I've been looking at Cisco products too. Of course, 100 or so rooms doesn't mean that 100 people will be online at once. Most of the time it will be far, far fewer users. But whatever I get needs to be able to handle moderate to heavy use, which I assume the Cisco will.

 

[calyn]

That is correct, you probably won't go much above 20 users simultaneously excepting occassional peaks. But what you don't want is for the router to bog down due to the amount of connections, or in extreme cases restart.

If you know IOS, there's a lot you can do with the 800-series to secure the customer's network without an additional firewall (although it doesn't completely replace it).

I'd recommend buying the version with pre-installed IOS for Advanced IP services, as the other two versions have 28 Meg flash cards, and the adv IP has a 32 MB flash card. You can always download the adv security from Cisco and install it.

 

[Guest]

Check out Netopia.

Grumpy

 

[calyn]

Check out Netopia.

Grumpy

Tbh, I'd avoid anything Motorola. In my experience motorola still has a long way to go concerning routing software, and I can say that with a certain confidence as my employer (unfortunately) has bought a lot of Motorola equipment. Which only works thanks to extensive work-arounds.

The Cisco 800-series are proven routers and are extensively used is like environments.

 

[Guest]

Motorola just acquired Netopia so I don't think your fears of Motorola apply. I've used Netopia in commercial applications and never had a problem.

Grumpy