(Please don't close this post, it's a serious post so... Be cool, no trolls please, I need an answer ;p)
Hello,
I am looking for an alternative to Cisco (too expensive for me !) for semi-pro utilization (at home but with advanced feature (I'm studying in IT)) and in small/medium enterprises.
I think I will choose between LinkSys (Including Cisco Small Business), Netgear and D-Link, but I've never really used these products, that what I need is a manufacturer that make "almost" all type of networking equipment (Like Cisco but cheaper..), here are my needs :
I need almost all my products to be rackable
I need a good warranty (Netgear lifetime waranty rulez!)
I need an "unified" network environment
I made a little comparison of the characteristics that interest me after hours of search on Internet (based on result found on many websites):
(Prices are based on the ldlc-pro.com french website)
Hotline/Support Quality:
Netgear : Not so bad
Linksys : Not so bad
D-Link : Poor!
Most common Warranty:
Netgear : Unlimited Lifetime Warranty!
Linksys : Limited 3 years warranty
D-Link : Limited 5 years warranty (Unlimited in US but I'm on France :(...)
VPN protocols compatibles with routers on endpoint mode:
Netgear : Only IPSEC :(
Linksys : IPSEC, PPTP, L2TP
D-Link : IPSEC, PPTP, L2TP
Cheaper 8 ports Gb switch :
Netgear : 30€
Linksys : 47€
D-Link : 30€
Cheaper 48 ports + 1Gb uplink(s) administrable switch :
Netgear : 263€
Linksys : 630€
D-Link : 600€
Cheaper VPN router :
Netgear : 100€
Linksys : 80€
D-Link : 60€
Cheaper rackable switch :
Netgear : 50€
Linksys : 87€
D-Link : 50€
Cheaper rackable and administrable switch :
Netgear : 120€
Linksys : 370€
D-Link : 171€
Netgear and D-Link are in the same range of price, where Linksys is more expensives.
I've searched for some other criteria ( the full comparison is here, in french with shop/source links: http://forums.jeuxonline.info/showthread.php?t=1072280 ) and made a final score for each manufacturer :
SCORE including IP camera sub-score:
Netgear : 6.2/10
Linksys : 7.3/10
D-Link : 7.0/10
SCORE excluding IP camera sub-score:
Netgear : 6.9/10
Linksys : 7.0/10
D-Link : 6.7/10
On both case, Linksys wins.
So here is my little comparison, but because I've never really used these stuffs, I need your help to make a decision on witch manufacturer choose for both my personnal and corporate use.
So here are the questions :
What manufacturer do you recommend me (Not cisco (except Small business)) ? Why ?
Have you called the call center of the customer support of one of these manufacturer ? How it was ?
Did you had problems or bad experiences with these equipments ?
Any other advices ? ;)
Thank you !