The specs for the 2820 series says that the LAN switch side has one gigabit port and three megabit ports.

It would have been nice to have all four ports at gigabit speed, but what is the point of only having one at that speed?

Is it intended for servers? My LAN is all gigabit, so only one LAN port on the 2820 would be useful to me, and the gigabit port no more useful than the others (okay, I have a couple of lower speed things, like a server remote management card and UPS network card that I could use them for, but still...).

Well, on the webpage, I noticed it says "Gigabit Ethernet LAN Port for LAN Server connectivity", so I guessed right.

I would make more sense for me to connect a gigabit switch to this port, and the servers to the switch. Low speed things can go on the other LAN ports on the router.

Jason404 wrote: I would make more sense for me to connect a gigabit switch to this port, and the servers to the switch. Low speed things can go on the other LAN ports on the router.

That's exactly what I'm doing. The other 3 ports are completely unused.

Hi gcp

Could you please give me your experiences with the 2820Vn, in this thread?

http://www.forum.draytek.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=12950

Cheers

Experiences - well I've had Draytek routers for a good 5 years. Usually upgrade every couple of years. Always apply the latest firmware updates and I've done a couple of beta tests.

I use the 2820v for permanent VPN connections to my partners office, and also for VoIP calls via DrayTel. I have Dynamic DNS, UPNP, Bind-IP-MAC, firewall and remote access enabled and all work fine.

It is connecting directly to a BT Business 8MB Line (soon to be 20MB line next week with BT Gen2 Upgrade).

The router is connected to a 16 port Dell Gigabit switch via the gigabit port as already discussed. All the rest of my network is then connected to the switch. Mainly 1000Mbps connections, but also a few 100Mpbs devices.

I also use the wireless connectivity for iPhones, MacBooks, PC laptops etc. via 802.11g+n with WPA2. I've got an additional external aerial for the router to extend the range of the unit as its inside a cabinet. Coverage is good all around my house.

Everything works well now with the latest firmware v3.1.2 but prior to this there have been a few problems for me, mainly with wireless DHCP and with the router locking up when accessing it via the web admin screens.

However, as it stands now my network with the Draytek 2820v is operating perfectly and I have no plans to change anything. Hopefully the BT Gen2 upgrade to 20MB won't require me to change any settings.

There are some reports about DNS caching not working in other threads, this doesn't seem to affect me as I tend to use OpenDNS anyway.

As far as I am concerned I would recommend this router now it has become more stable.

Ah, thanks very much for your reply, gcp.

I forgot to put the link to the thread that I was referring to at first, and I must have edited it while you were typing your reply.

What you have said sounds encouraging, and I think I will go ahead and buy a 2820Vn (I use OpenDNS too).

Cheers