OT: Reliable ADSL VPN routers with 3G fallback?
Any recommendations? Draytek 2830 (about £140+VAT) seems to be popular, although you need a 3G USB dongle as well. I'm going to be installing a small Linux box (see, almost on topic really!) at a remote site; it's job will be to collect data and send it to us via ADSL or (if ADSL unavailable) via 3G; VPN access required to allow us to reliably get back into the unit remotely if we need to. Not going to see all that much data traffic and never more than 1 or 2 people connected via VPN (usually nobody), so the Draytek may be overkill. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER
Hi On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Mark Rogers <mark@quarella.co.uk> wrote:
Any recommendations? Draytek 2830 (about £140+VAT) seems to be popular, although you need a 3G USB dongle as well.
I'm going to be installing a small Linux box (see, almost on topic really!) at a remote site; it's job will be to collect data and send it to us via ADSL or (if ADSL unavailable) via 3G; VPN access required to allow us to reliably get back into the unit remotely if we need to.
Not going to see all that much data traffic and never more than 1 or 2 people connected via VPN (usually nobody), so the Draytek may be overkill.
I have a draytek and can't fault it. The VPN works very will and it's a great little unit. I never tried the 3G integration though. -- Thanks Paul Paul Grenyer e: paul.grenyer@gmail.com b: paulgrenyer.blogspot.com t: pjgrenyer
On Thu, Mar 08, 2012 at 03:47:04PM +0000, Mark Rogers wrote:
Any recommendations? Draytek 2830 (about £140+VAT) seems to be popular, although you need a 3G USB dongle as well.
I'm going to be installing a small Linux box (see, almost on topic really!) at a remote site; it's job will be to collect data and send it to us via ADSL or (if ADSL unavailable) via 3G; VPN access required to allow us to reliably get back into the unit remotely if we need to.
Not going to see all that much data traffic and never more than 1 or 2 people connected via VPN (usually nobody), so the Draytek may be overkill.
Solwise have a couple of possibles, or maybe not, you're after an ADSL router with 3G backup are you? I think that may well almost lock you into Draytek for anything at a sane price. I know I spent a very long time looking for a router that would handle failover (in my case from one ADSL connection to another) and I've ended up with a Draytek 2820n. -- Chris Green
On 08/03/12 18:17, Chris Green wrote:
Solwise have a couple of possibles, or maybe not, you're after an ADSL router with 3G backup are you? I think that may well almost lock you into Draytek for anything at a sane price. I know I spent a very long time looking for a router that would handle failover (in my case from one ADSL connection to another) and I've ended up with a Draytek 2820n.
We're a Solwise reseller (from years back when we used to sell direct to consumer, we're just project work these days), so I checked Solwise and was surprised how little there was of relevance. Once upon a time I could have relied on them giving me some options. I have seen various 3G routers which support fallback from a WAN connection, so in theory an ADSL router with a 3G router behind it would work - but in terms of simplicity and reliability it's very hard not to go Draytek on this one. Thanks for the advice. If anyone's actually used the 3G feature I'd be interested to know how straightforward that was? Mark -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) 21 Drakes Mews, Milton Keynes, MK8 0ER
On Fri, Mar 09, 2012 at 09:06:50AM +0000, Mark Rogers wrote:
I have seen various 3G routers which support fallback from a WAN connection, so in theory an ADSL router with a 3G router behind it would work - but in terms of simplicity and reliability it's very hard not to go Draytek on this one.
Yes, it seems fairly common on 3G routers to support failover but very few (almost none) have the ADSL in the same box. I have two ADSL connections and could find *nothing* at a sane price that would handle both connections, I've ended up with the Draytek 2820n which provides failover/sharing to a 'WAN' (i.e. ethernet) connection and on the second connection I have a BT 'business hub' (i.e. a 2-wire ADSL router). So essentially I'm doing similar to "in theory an ADSL router with a 3G router behind it" but with the sharing/failover ability in the ADSL router.
Thanks for the advice.
If anyone's actually used the 3G feature I'd be interested to know how straightforward that was?
Setting up the 2820n to *share* the two ADSL connection needed some help from their support people, the web setup is extensive and complex and I think has quite a lot of redundant stuff in it (i.e. several ways of doing the same thing). It does work pretty reliably though. It *looks* as if setting up failover is more straightforward, I assume the 3G/ADSL failover setup would be similar. -- Chris Green
On 09 Mar 09:06, Mark Rogers wrote:
On 08/03/12 18:17, Chris Green wrote:
Solwise have a couple of possibles, or maybe not, you're after an ADSL router with 3G backup are you? I think that may well almost lock you into Draytek for anything at a sane price. I know I spent a very long time looking for a router that would handle failover (in my case from one ADSL connection to another) and I've ended up with a Draytek 2820n.
We're a Solwise reseller (from years back when we used to sell direct to consumer, we're just project work these days), so I checked Solwise and was surprised how little there was of relevance. Once upon a time I could have relied on them giving me some options.
I have seen various 3G routers which support fallback from a WAN connection, so in theory an ADSL router with a 3G router behind it would work - but in terms of simplicity and reliability it's very hard not to go Draytek on this one.
Thanks for the advice.
If anyone's actually used the 3G feature I'd be interested to know how straightforward that was?
Yup, we did. For a while. Because the ADSL line wasn't enabled in our office at the time... After a week of sometimes on/sometimes off unpredicatable results using the Draytek 2820, I gave up on that and just used a USB modem attached to a linux box for the 3G instead, it proved a hell of a lot more reliable. -- Brett Parker
participants (4)
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Brett Parker -
Chris Green -
Mark Rogers -
Paul Grenyer