Buying Advice - Dual WAN Router

[Oso]

Hello.

I 'm trying to find a new dual WAN VPN router for our network. We currently have Linksys RV082 and it worked great for the first few years we had it, but now it will randomly reboot itself. I've contacted tech support and they couldn't offer any help other than update the firmware, which I did already. Any suggestions as to what to look for and/or personal experience on a certain model would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[System Error Message]

how much VPN speed do you need? Consumer routers have limited VPN speed even though they are fast at NAT.

I use a mikrotik CCR because it does things at wirespeed but that may be overkill for even your requirements. Many new routers support dual WAN and VPN. The main question is which model is reliable, your budget, your skill, required features and the speed you need.

 

[Trip]

As SME said, suggestions depend a lot on your skill level, throughput/feature requirements and budget. As a general starter, if your skill level is high and you don't need much in the way of support, Mikrotik stuff is killer for the price. Ubiquiti also plays that game. For something more "turn-key", check out Peplink. A pre-built and supported pfSense box from a vendor like Netgate might also work. Or, if integrated security is of interest and you don't mind going more proprietary, there's always Zyxel, SonicWall, Fortinet, etc. But again, much depends on the answers to SME's questions.

 

[Oso]

Thanks so much for the replies. It's a small office and we don't have an IT staff so pretty much turnkey would be best and lots of tech support. It'd be great it I could just set it up by copying all the info from old router to new router and not ever have to worry about it again for the next few years. Ah, if that was only possible... Generally, how reliable are the brands that you mentioned? Thanks!

 

[Cloud200]

The Cisco RV320 (4 LAN ports)
or
Cisco RV325 (14 LAN ports)

Both are drop in replacements for the RV082.

You should be able to copy and past pretty much any setting from one to the other.

 

[vpnman]

I'm in a similar situation. We have the venerable RV042 (v1). It's a great VPN router back then and still works today but Cisco stopped releasing firmware updates awhile back thus I'm looking for a good VPN router replacement. I'm currently evaluating the RV320/RV325. I find certain features made good leap forward but certain areas took a step back.

I'm also considering the recently released Netgear Prosafe FVS336Gv3 (FVS336G-300). I recall when RV042 (v1) was new, the FVS336Gv1 is the direct competitor. I wish the SNB staff review the new FVS336Gv3 or update the review from 7 years ago (of v1 version).

 

[chadster766]

I'm in a similar situation. We have the venerable RV042 (v1). It's a great VPN router back then and still works today but Cisco stopped releasing firmware updates awhile back thus I'm looking for a good VPN router replacement. I'm currently evaluating the RV320/RV325. I find certain features made good leap forward but certain areas took a step back.

I'm also considering the recently released Netgear Prosafe FVS336Gv3 (FVS336G-300). I recall when RV042 (v1) was new, the FVS336Gv1 is the direct competitor. I wish the SNB staff review the new FVS336Gv3 or update the review from 7 years ago (of v1 version).

The Linksys LRT224 is a good low cost Dual WAN (VPN\VLAN) router. LRT214 doesn't have dual WAN but implements the second WAN as a DMZ port.

Unfortunately IMO the LRT series has an issue with IPv6 which Linksys is currently investigating.

 

[Trip]

My exposure to several RV-series models was a bit middling. Not bad, but definitely room for improvement. I would venture the LRTs are somewhat similar, since they share the same lineage, but I can't confirm yet. If you're still after a more "turn-key" option and you don't need more than 100mbps throughput for the foreseeable future, a Peplink Balance 20 might be worth a look. CradlePoint as well; they're especially good when wireless broadband is being used for WAN.

 

[System Error Message]

You could try straying from turn-key and try different ones.

peplinks cost more than an equivalent routerboard. PFsense looks really good if you want to scavenge a PC or laptop. I think pfsense would be the easiest for dual WAN and cheapest if you reuse a PC while mikrotik routerboards are also a good choice if you basically want reliability. The x86, PPC and TILE are all good CPUs for throughput, firewall and VPN.

Cisco RV series seem like they are for consumers and they have the same quality as other consumer routers instead of industrial grade.

 

[Trip]

Very true, SEM, but I got the sense the OP was looking for more of a user-friendly option. Granted, with simple enough needs Mikrotik is usable by almost anyone who is technically inclined; it's when things get even slightly complex that in my opinion you really need to know what you're doing. Pfsense again is something that requires a technical bit of know-how, at least for the installation part. I'd be interested to get Oso's opinion on whether any of any of that stuff would be appropriate for his ability level... I'd bet a good bulk of the SNB community probably couldn't just jump into a Mikrotik box and get it up and running on a whim. Something to remember.

 

[System Error Message]

Thats why mikrotik has a setup wizard just like consumer routers.

The interface for pfsense is as easy as a consumer router but with a lot of options. There are pfsense ready boxes.

 

[messerchmidt]

build a pfsense box, see their forum for more info.

an old athlon 64 or core 2 pc will do, you may just need to add some intel lan cards for the various interfaces.

 

[Samir]

What has changed on your network that is causing the rv082 to reboot all of a sudden? Either a configuration change or an ISP change has caused this. I don't think there's anything wrong with the rv082 per se.

Case in point was when after over 5 years in operation, many times in 100+ degree heat, my rv016 started rebooting on its own, barely remaining stable. It was at this exact same time that my ISP changed to the Arris C4 for their carrier-side equipment. Guess what? The Arris was actually sending 100 packets/sec to the rv016 making it think it was under attack.

After numerous logs sent to both Cisco and my ISP, no one fixed the problem. I got two cheapie routers for $5/each and put them in between the rv016 and the cable modems. The problem stopped.

But what I did find is that dns stopped working after about 24hrs. So I had to reboot it every day. I wrote a script to do that it and it auto-reboots every day now, and runs perfectly. Your solution could be this simple.

I still have that rv016 from 2004 in operation today, over 10 years later. I just recently tested the 2009 one I bought to replace it (since Cisco said that my original one was bad) against a brand new Netgear FVS318N for IPsec VPN throughput, and the rv016 was over 2x as fast as the Netgear.

The Cisco rv series work really well when it does. And I know this series inside and out, so feel free to ask questions.