Cisco 831 vs 1721

[Gungnir]

I need help choosing between the 831 and the 1721. I can get either one very cheaply through cisco donation but I am not sure which one would be easier to manage. They seem to have the same features but the 831 seems a little easier to manage for someone who is not a networking person. Any advice?

 

[spidey07]

well they both run the same software, so management should be the same on them.

I'm not familiar with those models however.

 

[Garion]

How much bandwidth do you plan on pumping through it, and what kind of features do you want to run?

To do simple routing on a T1, both will do. If you want to enable any kind of advanced features (firewall, etc.), the 1700 would be a much better choice - It's got a lot more horsepower.

- G

 

[Gungnir]

I am just using a 1.5 meg dsl connection. I know the 831 uses a happy little gui rather than command line. Does 1700 require command line? I am willing to trade ease of use for horsepower.

Tom

 

[Gungnir]

I forgot to mention that I am mainly interested in using it for voip and I need the qos capabilities. Firewall is nice. Everything else is extra.

Tom

 

[Tazanator]

well I personnally use imagestream gear .. out performed cisco in tests at network weekly magazine, besides with cisco you rent the IOS with imagestream it's lifetime upgrades .... the 1700 would have power for firewalling /nat and other professional monitoring tools ....

 

[Garion]

Yep, definitely the 1700. Adding QOS and firewalling would definitely need the extra CPU of the 1700.

- G

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

I picked up the 831 because of the student discount of the cisco academy program. its a nice router and im happy with it. I am partially familiar with the CLI as well. The firewall/acl functions work nice however the IOS features on default do not include QoS. I'm not sure about getting the IOS with it.

The only reason I got this model was because it was only $250 on discount and I wanted something to play with.

Good luck,
Matt Enderle

 

[Gungnir]

Thanks everyone. I bought both (the 831 was only 40 bucks). I will let you know how it goes.

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

dang must be nice.. lol i paid $250+$10ship