Which router to buy?

We have a T1, and we're adding a second from the same provider to bond with the first. It's possible that, at some point, we might want to add a third. We have a PIX firewall on the inside that handles VPNs, NAT, etc. I don't think the router needs to do anything but handle raw connectivity.

I'm having a tough time finding out what's the difference between 1800 series vs. 2800 series, or 2801 vs. 2810 vs. 2811 And then the 2600 series seems to still be sold... I thought they'd be pretty ancient, but if they'll do the job...

Reply to
John Oliver
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1800 series:
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the lack of T1 support on the WAN, with the exception of the 1841 which supports WICS and HWIC 2800 series:
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the smallest supports HWIC/VWIC/WIC/VIC

Have a close look at Table 8 of

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locate the kind of T1 modules you want to support. At a quick glance, if you want your T1 channelized you would need an NM- series, which would require a 2811 or upwards -- the 1800 series and the 2801 do not support NM modules. If you do not need your T1 channelized then one of the many WIC or VWICs might be appropriate; find the type you need, count the ports, count the slots you would need to support your target of 3 T1s, and that will tell you the minimum device to use.

You need an upper end 2600 in order to support 3 T1. The 1800 and 2800 series are much faster, but even so are only aimed at about 3 T1 (2821) or about 5 T1 (2851), if I recall the marketting literature. The router line rate performances would seem to suggest that they would support noticably more T1's, but the third party test report suggests the marketted target is about right.

Reply to
Walter Roberson

Hi John,

You may also wish to investigate the Cisco Router Port Matrix:

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Sincerely,

Brad Reese Cisco Tools

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Reply to
www.BradReese.Com

Unless it was MUCH cheaper I would not consider a 2600.

Reply to
Bod43

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to locate the kind of T1 modules you want to support. At a quick glance,

Thanks, but... all of that info is part of my problem :-) There are

30,000,000 different things that these routers do or support, and I don't know what the heck most of them are :-)

We're just using it for data T1s. 1.544 Mb/s Voice is on a separate T1, so no channelization.

Looking at all that info is just overloading me... it doesn't come out and say "This router will let you install X WICs, and this one will let you install Y WICs" That should be all I need to know... we just want to buy it with two WICs and be able to add at least one more at some point in the future. We need one Ethernet coming out to go to the PIX and that's it. I don't care how much RAM, CPU, which IOS, etc. it has as long as two or three T1s can be connected and it can handle "converting" them to Ethernet. that's it... no fancy ACLs, no bizarro networking, no Token Ring or proprietary interfaces.

Can I put three WICs in a 2801? Or do I need a 2811 or something else? I just can't tell from the mountains of information Cisco provides about these things :-)

Reply to
John Oliver

Yes. One of the four slots does not support WIC, but the other three do.

You would probably need the WIC-1DSU-T1-V2 for plain T1.

But the 2801 is only recommended for 1 T1, the 2811 for 2 T1, the

2821 for 4 T1. However, since you do not plan to use any of the other features, the 2801 -might- be enough for you, especially if those T1 lines are not fully loaded. If your reason for thinking of the third T1 is due to line load rather than due to needing distinct point-to-point connections, then you would be safer with the 2821.
Reply to
Walter Roberson

John,

You may wish to investigate the Cisco Small Business Network Designer:

http://64.224.10.185/sbnd/child/1.0/index.asp as well as the Cisco Solution Designer:

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Finally, you may also want to "test" the Cisco Solution Finder for Modular Routers:

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Sincerely,

Brad Reese

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Reply to
www.BradReese.Com

Hi,

We are in the process of setting up a small back office operation mainly in the email support vertical. Would like to know which router will be best for the setup.

Process Type : Email answering through a java based web application. No. of PCs: 3 (P4 2.6 Ghz, 1 GB DDR Ram, 80 GB HDD) Broadband : Wireless RF 5.725 - 5.825 Ghz 64kbps dedicated lease line. Router suggested by ISP : Cisco 871 Future Plans : After 6 mnths - Additional Voice support through soft phone. (2 more PCs)

Your take on the setup mentioned above as well as any other router which would fit the objective besides the already suggested cisco 871.

Would any idea how reliable is the RF (fixed wireless) when it come to weather or packet loss especially when we move to voice support.

thanks n cheers!

Reply to
supernova

If you're not wedded to Cisco, take a look at the new Juniper J4350 router. The model it replaces, the J4300, could easily handle four T1s, and the J4350 is supposed to be 400% faster, so it should handle upwards of eight or more T1s. The J4350 has six module slots.

Cost is comparable to a Cisco 2821.

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Reply to
sodaant

Personally, I would get a 2851 due to the fact that it has a much faster processor than the other 2800 series, and about can pass traffic at wire rate up to 8 T1's. Also, if you ever added a 2nd ISP (which you should think about), then you'd need to run BGP, which this router can do with a RAM upgrade. I've met with a CCIE Sales Engineer at Cisco, and he says that the 2811 can handle up to 4 T1's at line rate with all services turned on, but the processor get's overwhelmed with BGP and full tables (if you ever needed them).

Brian

Walter Robers> > >>

Reply to
response3

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