Replacement for Actiontec router from Frontier/Verizon

[Clint O]

Hi:

I recently got my Frontier service swapped from coax over to Ethernet (to the ONT) so that I could change out router for a little more flexibility.

I'm looking for a router (not wireless) that supports at least some enterprise features w/o the Cisco price. Some have suggested something that supports DD-WRT or Tomato. I have to admit I've only done a little research.

A co-worker also suggested Ubiquiti or maybe Routerboard. I'm not sure if there are reviews for those products. I had never heard of these before.

The Actiontec specifically states that if you start doing fancy things like enabling parental controls that you can severely impact performance. Since I have an 11-year old son, I am interested in some flexibility in how I manage his access. Reliable DHCP and DNS from the router would be nice, too.

At any rate, your suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[Cloud200]

You are asking a bit of an open ended question here.
What enterprise features are you looking for?
Exactly how would you like to limit access?
How much is a "Cisco price" to you (aka. whats your budget?)
What type of throughput are you looking for in the router?

 

[azazel1024]

What kind of management interface or learning curve are you willing to put up with? The Ubiquity edge lite is cheap and extremely powerful, but not all of the config options are through the GUI web interface, some are command line only. For $99 though, I doubt you'd find a better router. It is what I am planning on switch over too sooner rather than later.

 

[Clint O]

Yes, I agree that my question was a bit open-ended. The answer about which enterprise features I might want: I'm not sure (yet).

My internet service is only 15/5, so I don't believe performance will be a big issue in the short term, but it would be nice to upgrade to 25 or even 50 megabit downloads some day. I do know the Actiontec supports 100 megabit now anyway.

In addition to traditional port forwarding, I know I'm going to want to (on occasion) to completely shut off access to particular devices that my son uses when putting him on Internet restriction. Rather than tracking down his tablet and hiding it, I can just shut off all access - easy peasy. When I attempted to turn this on for the Actiontec, it mentioned it would potentially have a negative impact on performance to the WAN for everything. That did not encourage me to turn that on...

I am pretty well versed at UNIX and Linux, so a command-line interface access to certain things is totally OK. I actually don't like the fact that most modern consumer routers only provide a web interface and you cannot login and see what's going on with much detail. Ssh access would be great.

 

[azazel1024]

A fair number of consumer routers have access controls. I know most of the newer TP-Link routers (WDR3500/3600/4300, etc IIRC) you can do MAC based ACLs with time windows. So, for example you could set a specific device to be allowed on the WLAN from 8am to 8pm or something.

More routers have guest and main networks with timers. You can always put your son on the guest network and then have the guest network shut down at 8pm or something. If he gets extra wifi time because of good grades or something, just log in and bump it to 10pm or something. Gets grounded, turn it off or only allow it till 3pm or something.

All routers that I know of can do port forwarding, though there are occasionally hiccups and wierdness.

Pretty much any router should handle 100Mbps service, let alone 15/5. You can run in to issues where a router does a crap job at juggling bandwidth allocation either on the WLAN or the WAN. My old Netgear 3500L handles routing duties just fine with 75/35 service and a bunch of devices. My sons aren't often both using their tablets, but occasionally we'll have an Apple TV streaming netflix or something else, my wife on her iPad streaming netflix or surfing the web, watching youtube, etc. I'll be web surfing, watching cat videos or something or gaming online, the boys will be gaming (possibly online) or streaming something, my computer(s) will be downloading something all at the same time.

Pretty much never have bad lag in games or hiccups in streaming (related to internet usage. Verizon and...well, Verizon hates Netflix) as a result.

My sons and wife generally are not hitting things hard, but it is a lot of devices all accessing the internet and often wifi all at the same time and it generally runs very smoothly. Now, if my service was a lot slower, it might have a harder time properly allocating pipes and pipe width, but it does fine.

I am NOT using any kind of access restrictions other than WPA2 password protection right now. Once my kids are a little older (6, 4 and 2. 2 Year old does not have a device), that will DEFFINITELY change.