what to choose: SOHO97 or 827H ADSL router?

Hello,

I am thinking about swapping my SOHO77 router for a router with a bit
extended feature set (want to experiment a bit with VPN and to fiddle
with a firewall) and been doing some looking around and have found two
possible options:

The Cisco 827H router with IP/ Firewall Plus IPSec 3DES

or

The SOHO97 with the IP Firewall/IPSec 3DES (standard) option

I can get the SOHO97 unopened, new in box for less than a used 827H.

It seems like the 827H probably has more Firewall options, but I wonder
how much of those I will ever use.
Judging from the specs the SOHO97 seems to have a more powerful
processor, does this help with the performance of the VPN/Firewall?

Are there any important differences technically or featurewise that
would make either a deal breaker?

thanks for any answers,

Arnoud

 

:The Cisco 827H router with IP/ Firewall Plus IPSec 3DES
r
:The SOHO97 with the IP Firewall/IPSec 3DES (standard) option

:I can get the SOHO97 unopened, new in box for less than a used 827H.

IOS licenses aren't normally transferable without payment of an
extra fee [but there are some vendors authorized to sell used
cisco equipment complete with license.]

The 827H is end of sale (EOS), replaced by the 837 at the same price
point (for new equipment.) The 837 has hardware encryption and
has an auxillary port that can be used to automatically dial a modem
to connect if the main connection fails. The 837 also supports VOIP
phones. The 837 is aimed at the "small office". Performance is
stated as 9 mbps. The 837 is also available with PLUS features.

The SOHO97 does software encryption only and is aimed at very small
offices (5 outgoing hosts, but I'm not sure if that is enforced or
merely the limit of acceptable performance.) No aux port, no VOIP
phone support. I can't see any performance figures. The SOHO97
does not have the option of PLUS features.

If you have a "high speed" ADSL connection, say 4 mbps or higher,
then the 837 would probably be more appropriate. If, though, you
have a regular 768 kbps - 2 mbps ADSL then unless you are going to
use the device for interior routing, your ADSL connection would be
your limiting factor and the SOHO97 would probably do pretty much
as well.

Neither the 837 nor the SOHO97 can handle routing at even 10 megabits
per second, but I -believe- that the 837 is the faster of the two.
That might be important if you want to use the 837 to route between
internal subnets (e.g., as part of your experimentation.)

 

Thanks for your answers.

The price of a new 837 is more than I am willing to spend here though. I
will probably be a refurb 827H or a new SOHO97.

I have an 8Mb/1Mb ADSL connection, and since there are only three
workstations, and max 1 user using the VPN at a time. The network I will
be connecting to has a 2Mb/2Mb SDSL connection, and the other one an 1/1
SDSL connection.

Does the 827H also have hardware encryption or does it use software? How
does an 827H stand up to a SOHO97 performance-wise?

Thanks again,

Arnoud

 

oes the 827H also have hardware encryption or does it use software?

Software. The 83x series has hardware encryption, but 82x series
is software encryption.

:How
:does an 827H stand up to a SOHO97 performance-wise?

The 827H was marketed as being suitable for up to 20 ADSL routers,
whereas the SOHO97 is marketed as being suitable for up to 5 users.

I cannot find any hard numbers on the performance of the 827H or
the SOHO97. The 837 is "40% faster" than the 827H, if that helps.