Cisco CISCO1921/K9 C1921 Modular Router

I was in need of a home router that did not crash every 5 minutes like typical consumer routers do. I run 10+ services from within my home network, and I needed stability.This router has been running flawlessly since the day I got it - as it should considering it is enterprise cisco gear. I have not yet had the time to touch QoS or any advanced routing features yet, but it handles multiple vlans perfectly with my juniper switch.The only flaw in the router from a consumer perspective is the lack of NAT hairpinning which ironically is present on all $30 consumer routers but not enterprise cisco gear. I got around this by running an internal DNS server.All in all I am very satisfied, this was without a doubt the best router at the pricepoint and was a great investment.

This is an excellent price. We bought a couple and are using them for remote branch offices. Also for anyone who might have concerns, I verified that I could add SmartNet maintenance to the units I bought.

If your like me and have a high comfort level with computers and networks, you probably have wanted to get a Cisco Business class router at some point. How hard can it be? If you think you are going to go to a Web GUI and just set it up, think again. I have no doubt it is fantastic hardware, but you actually have to get it to work at some point. The connection is through your computers serial port (the one they stopped putting on your computer 10 years ago, so you will have to buy a USB to Serial adapter) and the software wont work on anything but XP (no compatibility mode does not work). Cisco clearly does not believe in customer friendly products.In short if you have a Cisco certified helper, go for it, I am sure you will love it, but if you don't, then get a refill on that antidepressant prescription before ordering.UPDATE: I had a Cisco Certified tech come out to the office in order to get this unit working. It took him an afternoon with Cisco on the phone in order to get it working (Ouch on the bill!). Once it came online, Cisco disconnected access to the GUI before hanging up and the router even reached out to the two Cisco switches, that I could access prior, and locked out their GUI as well.The network engineer described Cisco routers as a Ferrari locked in a garage they don't give you the keys to. I think that sums it up. Strong recommendation against. Will never buy another.UPDATE 2: I am seeing some Cisco heads who are flaming me for not knowing how to use the product. I think that was in fact my point. The difficulty and learning curve is very high, even for people who are used to building their own computers and networking. However, this did give me an opportunity to add some additional info I have since learned.My company is in the process of setting up a rack of servers at a co-location facility, and when I mentioned my experience with this router to the owner he just laughed and said that only idiots buy into the marketing of Cisco and that they were inferior products. He said that Cisco does this on purpose to make you dependent on them and their certified techs (which I suspect is who is doing the complaining here). He then took me around to other rack systems of all sizes and sophistication levels and NO ONE was using a Cisco router. The most common router was the Dell Sonic Wall NSA. I have since purchased a unit, for not much more than this Cisco, and it is soooooo much better! Learn from my mistake and don't buy the marketing name brand, buy what experienced people use: Sonic Wall. I set it up and had it online in nothing flat.Update 3: After 4 months of using this item I have downgraded it to a 1 star. We have had all kinds of lag and bandwidth issues with it at the office (VOIP phone disconnects, sputtering, gotomeeting choppy) and given that we had no access, decided to get rid of it. I opted for an enterprise class sonicwall similar to what we use on our production server at the datacenter (setup was a breeze), and low and behold the problems went away. I had given it a higher rating figuring that the unit was still a Ferrari that was exceedingly difficult to configure and use, but it turns out it is dog poop as well. The only reason it has 1 star is that you cant give it a 0. Buy it if you like, the people complaining about my review will be happy to help you configure it, again and again and again ($$$). You've been warned.

Obviously was not new, since it shipped with a config file already installed. Other than that, it works pretty good.

Recommended

My customer love it!

Good