Remote Worker Solution

[Khosher]

Hi all,

I am hunting for a small router/firewall to deploy for remote workers. Ideally I would like one simple little unit that will offer a 4P switch/WLAN and POE

There are an endless amount of products that cover everything except POE.

Has anyone ever come across one with POE ?

Thanks.

 

[Sympology]

Why POE?

PoE was designed to run small single devices, are you aiming to attach a SIP phone or something to the box?

If so and they are remote, what about using Softphones?

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[Khosher]

Hi Symology,

POE will be to power an IP phone. We don't want to use softphones. I am not a fan of them. If someone is travelling or on the road alot they are ok. But I would like a to deploy IP phone to home offices.

Basically what I was hoping for was one device that could be installed in the home office that would provide POE to the IP phone, WLAN/LAN access for their PC/Laptop and VPN connectivity to HQ.

I know we can do this with most devices but I am just trying to simplify , into one device, with one power outlet required.

 

[Sympology]

Cisco do some, but not cheap.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/routers/ps380/ps6200/prod_brochure0900aecd8028a99f.pdf

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[Sympology]

Actually not sure on those.

External PoE adapter option for connecting IP phones or access points

Not sure what that actually means... If it's just an inline job they are easy to get hold of.

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[Sympology]

Mmmmm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000B55LVW?m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=idealocouk-21

*Note to self. Find product, research, then post!

Robert Wilensky:
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

 

[paterson]

I would not worry too much about the POE portion of the solution because POE is very easy to deliver with separate power supplies that are pretty reasonably priced. First, make sure that the solution you find best fits with your corporate networking structure. If one does have POE, all the better.

Sympology's suggestion is not to bad and pretty much what I am suggesting. The only issue I see with it is the 4 ports. For single user applications, it may be too costly.

_______________________________________________________________

If you did not take enough time to get it right the first time...

What makes you think that you have time to fix it?

 

[Khosher]

Yeah, that looks ok. A little on the pricey side to be honest. I was kina hoping the likes of 3com or zyxel would of had a little product with kust 1 or 2 POE ports in around the $250 mark.

I think this is something that would sell quite well. As the remote worker market is growing alot.

 

[lcs226]

I use Cisco RVS4000 routers. The configure easily and setup stable VPN tunnels between sites. You can have one at the main office and 4 remotes. They are priced around $150.00

 

[kwbMitel]

As Paterson suggested, I also would go with POE injectors.

Typically you would only need 1 POE port, why pay for more.

injectors go for about $50 US.

Decent 4 port switches go for about the same.

Combined $100 dollar solution.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.

 

[Khosher]

Thank for the input. Power injectors or external PSUs for the phone may be the only way to go. I was just trying to limit the solution to, 1 phone, 1 box and 1 plug top.

Doesn't seem like there anything on the market that I had in mind though.

 

[kwbMitel]

You can have it work
You can have it fast
You can have it cheap

Pick any two of the above.

*******************************************************
Occam's Razor - All things being equal, the simplest solution is the right one.