Cisco Small Business RV110W-A-NA-K9 Wireless-N VPN Firewall 5000 Simultaneous Sessions NAT: 90 Mbps/VPN: 5 Mbps

Pros: Connects without a fuss, easy to setup Guest networks with login and time management. We connected two offices together, shared a server and was able to connect clients with ease.

Cons: Wireless is tricky and required some resetting to get get it right.

Pros: I did like how this is a firewall, so it is more secure than just a simple router (if you take the time to set it up). When we first got it just over a year ago I spent several hours configuring the router; giving i.e. Skype traffic higher priority, setting up two of the four SSID's, setting passwords, only allowing certain MACID's, etc.

Firmware can be upgraded, although the last release (as of this writing) was March 2012.

Configuration settings can be saved to a file, and the router even has an internal "backup" memory that you can use. I did both when I finished setting it up, I saved a version to the backup memory and saved the settings to a file. Then if I make changes that turn out to be a bad idea I can just restore from the internal backup memory.

Cons: Like every other wireless router we have owned in the past 10 years, IT ONLY LASTED FOR JUST OVER A YEAR. It is really amazing, we have a pile of eight dead routers. Every one of them lasted for just about a year. I think one of them lasted for 18 months, that was the record. These failures are not caused from power spikes; the entire house has a surge suppressor (in the circuit breaker panel) and the outlet strip itself has a suppressor.

Three of the eight were Cisco routers, the other five are all other brands.

Other Thoughts: So why 3/5 stars rather than a lower rating? I would have given it 5 stars had it not been for the poor quality. Had it lasted an entire TWO YEARS (wow) I may have even given it four stars, but the reality (from what I have witnessed) is that all routers have poor quality.

Faced with this fact (someone please prove me wrong) and the fact that I have all the settings saved to a config file and it does offer firewall protection we ordered the same $%&*#! router. It arrived a few days ago, I uploaded the old configuration and was up and running again in minutes.

Yes, the evil you know is better than the evil you don't know...

Pros: Awesome machine

Cons: none except it doesnt have enough flashing lights

Pros: Easy to config and use
Uses a Linux based IOS

Cons: Needs a to come with a Cisco IOS

Pros: The ability of the router was par for the course for a Business class unit with all of the bells and whistles.

Cons: The unit has to be rebooted at least twice per day, But I guess it was better then the Cisco unit we replaced it with because it could not handle the job and not only rebooted itself daily, but set itself back to it's default settings at least 3 times.

In my opinion, this unit is NOT BUSINESS CLASS! Thanks Cisco for sending us this unit to replace the other failing unit, but no thanks we just went to the DLINK DSR250N and now everything is running perfectly!

Other Thoughts: I am a current Cisco partner, but at this point I can no longer suggest any of their products for my customers.
Sorry but DLINK is better, cheaper and has fantastic tech support, adn when they suggest a product, theirs work!

Pros: Good, solid, easy to use. The VPN aspect very good and painless to set up.

Cons: My only complaint is the antennas are not detachable. In my location, I prefer to replace the antennas with better ones, but I can't with this unit so its range is compromised.

Pros: The interface is decent, it was easy to setup.

Cons: Unbelievably poor wireless range. In a free standing room, with clear line of sight to the router, the maximum range the network is visible is 20 feet. Yes.. 20 feet. At 15 feet the network shows 2 bars which is the same as my neighbors network coming through 2 interior and 2 exterior walls, and 30 yards of open space between the houses! Wireless is completely useless, luckily I ran drops to all my rooms and do not depend on it. VPN client is next, if that won't work reliably its going back to Newegg.

Pros: Low price, easy setup, functions the way it should, good throughput

Cons: none for the price and intended use

Other Thoughts: Typical speeds on 30/10 cable connection are 30 mbs wired and 22 mbs wireless. Setup was very straight forward. It played nicely with our home network from the start (4 desktops, 2 laptops, 2 iPhones, network printer). Firmware update was simple. I have not had to power cycle it yet (4 months). Excellent deal!

Pros: I have bought 2 of these units now. Just purchased a second for my hosting services. Set up was a breeze. I had it up and running within 20 minutes. One was for a client, the others for my home. I am running my home one on a 35/5 meg pipe and I have full speed. VPN works great along with the wireless. I can watch full HD movies and recorded TV shows from my media server over the wireless on my laptop. The wireless signal travels out to my shed 200' from the house with the router placed in the basement.

I would HIGHLY Reccomend this unit for home, or even in front of email and web servers as I run mine.

Cons: There are no cons that I can think of. Perhaps the wirless is a bit squirely to configure, but still intuitive enough.

Other Thoughts: This unit perhaps is a little more complex to configure than the average user. However, the instructions are sufficient enough that most non technical types should get it to run.

Pros: It looks nice. It has been running 4 days now and it seems to work as good as any $30 basic router. It is IPv6 Ready. But as a small business router...

Cons: ...it falls short. I'm a certified networking tech and I'm pretty disappointed in this Cisco brand router. Now I am using the latest release of the firmware v1.1.0.9. And I have found that there is no WDS Bridge mode...only a repeater mode which is very disappointing. I have also observed very poor WLAN performance. I typically get 1-3Mbps tops with this router. Location or connect speed has no effect. Qos might as well not even be there. Also, it doesn't report all the connected devices as it should. Also, the port forwarding functionality is a toss of the coin. But a workaround is possible by setting up a firewall access rule. Also, there is no router-to-router VPN support...only soft clients, and reliablity is fair to poor. There is apparently a beta version of the firmware that I haven't tried yet, but preliminary support forum reports are not promising at this point in time.

Other Thoughts: Hope I can get credit or a refund.

Manufacturer Response:

Hi James,

We’re sorry to hear about your issues with the RV110W router. WDS bridge mode issue is not a common feature request. As you mention, WDS repeater functionality is available, but the WDS bridging is not available currently. It may be offered in a future firmware release, so it’s advised to check back. To address your issue with poor WLAN performance, we recommend that you place the router as close to the middle of the desired wireless coverage area as possible to ensure an equal amount of wireless coverage. Also, it’s possible that surrounding offices or homes may have wireless routers or access points running, so it is very important to know which wireless channels those devices are using. The RV110W’s wireless channel selection should be configured to use either channel 1, 6, or 11 to ensure that users can connect using a non-congested wireless channel. One final thing to check is the wireless LAN adapter drivers that are installed on the device that is connecting to the RV110W. Most wireless chipset manufacturers update their drivers regularly to address this type of issue. Unfortunately, without knowing more about your specific environment and setup, it is hard to understand why the WLAN performance would be so low. This router typically has much faster speeds. You can also reach out to Cisco Small Business Support (http://www.cisco.com/go/smallbizhelp) or check in with the Small Business Support Community (http://www.cisco.com/go/smallbizsupport). Both are good resources for assistance. We hope this helps, thanks very much for your feedback.

Andrea
Cisco Small Business Team