[plug] LinuxWA's ADSL (and a cheaper router for iiNet ADSL)

[Ben Jensz]

> This is the equivalent of the Cisco router that iiNet will try to sell you
for
> circa $1100 if you want more than one IP address from them. I guess the
extra
> $$$ for the Cisco are to cover vendor financing, palm greasing and other
> overheads... so if for some reason you have to use iiNet for real servers,
at
> least you can save yourself half a grand up front.

$1100 is a cheap price for a Cisco 827.  So by no means think that iiNet are
sticking a huge markup on what they would be paying for them.

The cheapest retail price I have seen for an 827 is approximately $1200.
Whether you should get a Cisco or another alternative brand that might do
the same job is an entirely different argument :).  Maybe some people want
some of the features and service contract options that a Cisco might offer
that other cheaper brands don't.  A Cisco 827 is a good option and iiNet
probably recommend it because of Cisco's reputation and how reliable a lot
of Cisco's equipment is.

Rather than going for a cheaper brand such as something like D-Link or
Netgear that has had some products that have been of dubious quality, some
people would prefer a Cisco.  If we can get ADSL at work, I'll be going the
Cisco 827 option for that.  Partly based on that I've got some Cisco
training and partly because we've got a Cisco 1003 for our ISDN connection
currently that I think is about 5-6 years old now (well its been here longer
than I have been anyway :P) and it has never missed a beat the whole time
that I've been here.


/ Ben