Pre-Purchasing Questions - 1841 or 871 for Main office.

Hello all!

I've come to value the input of the forum users here and would greatly appreciate your opinions on which Router I should purchase for this Small Office.

Here's what I'm looking to accomplish:

Main office:
20-25 users though only 3/4 are there at one time
Need 5 - VPN Site-to-Site connections using Easy VPN
VPN remote access for 2-4 users
QoS

Main Office Network usage:
T1 Connection
Currenlty at the main office users are only using the network for downloading POP email, uploading pictures to websites, and utilizing online applications for real estate.

Remote Site(s):
T1 Connections
13-20 users only 3/4 are there at one time
VPN tunnels back to main office
QoS
VPN remote access for 1-2 users
Same situation as main office, users only use the network for Internet, POP Email, and web based applications.


With the above information which model router would you go with at the main site? 1841 or 871
Which model at the remote site? 1841 or 871

I'm torn is the 871 powerfull enough for the main site based on those statitics?
I'm thinking the 871 will be fine at the remote offices?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jwhiteuwc,

Without question, the 1841 is your answer for the main office. The 870 series routers are wonderful equipment but are not made to host multiple VPN connections as you wish to do so.

The 1841 has enough horse power to do your job without problem, where as the 870 will certainly be brought down to its knees during peak traffic.

Cheers,

What if I took the VPN's out of the scenrio, then would the 871 be able to handle the traffic and just do outbound QoS?

Thanks!