DrayTek Vigor2600G Series ADSL Router review

DrayTek has always impressed with its enterprise networking, and we know it regularly updates its firmware. This is fortunate, because we found the Vigor2600G incapable of maintaining an 802.11b connection before we installed some beta firmware. Expect the firmware, and hence performance, to become more polished over coming months.

The Vigor2600G is an imposing beast, one sign that it's most comfortable in an office. Its price also reflects its additional enterprise-level features, the most obvious being VLAN. Using the Vigor2600G to set up a virtual network not only drastically enhances security but can improve network speeds too, as defective data packets won't be allowed to clutter the network. Bandwidth throttling limits the inbound and outbound bandwidth of each LAN port. There's also extensive port filtering and high-level DMZ options along with the usual 64-bit and 128-bit WEP and WPA. Broadband connection is via an RJ-11 telephone port, and a USB port allows the Vigor2600G to function as a print server.

Below-average times of 97 and 101 seconds respectively meant it bizarrely took less time in the medium-range test than in the close-range. But its 206 seconds for the 802.11b test wasn't too bad, along with its long-range effort of 151 seconds.

All in all, the Vigor2600G is an oddity this month. Once the firmware is corrected, though, it will make an excellent choice for enterprise.