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FirebirdTN
join:2012-12-13
Brighton, TN

1 recommendation

FirebirdTN

Member

Newbie here; Question concerning USG and number of PCs

Hi everyone,

The short version: Would a USG50 work well in a home environment with about 20 devices?

The long version (and introduction): I've been a long time Linksys fan...well, until the last few years. Seems like Cisco is trying to kill off linksys. Anyway, I am no networking guru, but built our company network which today consist of about 125 devices (somewhere around 50 actual PCs). I actually started our network with a Win98 box using ICS, then graduated to a Linksys BEFSR41 I believe it was router. From that went to a watchguard. The watchguard started to fritz out somewhat recently, so I went shopping for a new router/firewall, and based on price and reviews picked up a USG100. WOW! Trying to keep this story short, I was so impressed, that I have found my new "go-to" brand! I also bought a 24 port rackmount gigabit switch to replace my 10/100 at home. I also just picked up a ZyXel media server to replace an aging Quantum Snap server. The next thing I want to get is a USG50 to replace my WRT54GL (and turn the GL into just an access point).

I'm a little confused by the recommended number of computers that each USG model supports. The USG100 (which I bought for work) is only recommended for 50 users (yikes!). The USG50, which is what I am eyeballing for home is only recommended for 10 users?!?!! Any issues with running more than that? At home I only have 3 PCs hooked up, but then there are my blue-ray players (I get my TV thru Netflix), Wii, Xbox360, the wife's ipad, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice or words of wisdom.

-Alan

Brano
I hate Vogons
MVM
join:2002-06-25
Burlington, ON

Brano

MVM

Short answer: Yes.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to FirebirdTN

Premium Member

to FirebirdTN
and the prices right now at newegg.com and amazon.com are ridiculous.
FirebirdTN
join:2012-12-13
Brighton, TN

FirebirdTN

Member

Thanks guys, and sorry for rambling...

I am really starting to LOVE ZyXel; can't believe I've never heard of them before.

Anyway, I am just kind of dumbfounded as to why they recommend so few users on the USG line (USG20-5 users, USG50-10, etc).

My WRT54GL works fine-its not giving me any trouble, but with my new internet service, its maxed out and is probably bottlenecking a little bit (25 down 5 up).

-Alan
polarisdb
join:2004-07-12
USA

polarisdb

Member

I've been using a USG50 in a dual WAN SOHO environment for a couple of years with quite a few devices (6 laptops, 4 desktops with many VMs, NAS, 2 printers, 7 iOS devices, Wii, Smart TV, Blu-Ray, WAP, 2 TiVos, Vonage VoIP, 24 port switch, etc.). It has worked very well and I only need to shutdown/reboot the thing for power outages and firmware upgrades.

mozerd
Light Will Pierce The Darkness
MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON

mozerd to FirebirdTN

MVM

to FirebirdTN
AS UTM device the USG200, USG100, USG50, USG20 are dramatically underpowered so do not use the UTM services with these models.

The USG300 does have the horsepower [as a UTM device] to adequately handle traffic loads for the number of users that ZyXEL claim can be safely managed.

So if you are using the USG50 and USG100 --- Firewall services is good for the number of users that ZyXEL claim can be safely managed --- however UTM services will bog the system down so I do not recommend UTM service for the models I have outlined in 1st paragraph.

For the USG[20, 50, 100 and 200] as a FIREWALL and not as a UTM device everything depends on Traffic loads and concurrent connections [because these units are IMO underpowered] --- so if traffic loads are light and specifically NON-CONCURRENT then these lower USG models can be adequate for slightly more user counts. If streaming anything is part of the equation and concurrent REAL-TIME-TRAFFIC like with VoIP is part of the equation --- then the load patterns will cause significant hiccups especially if that streaming traffic comes from multiple sources and where the mix is sequential with some measure of concurrency. Understanding traffic patterns and the loads they place is very important if you are trying to exploit user counts for devices like Firewalls and far more critical with UTM services.
FirebirdTN
join:2012-12-13
Brighton, TN

FirebirdTN

Member

Thank you mozerd;

That is kind of good news/bad news. UTM is a new term for me, but I suspect you basically mean any of the subscription based features? I was really hoping to get my work to purchase at least an AV subscription, but I may have selected to small of a model for our number of users. (We won't need content filtering, as it would hinder our mission). So far, I have never seen the CPU load get over 50%, and the max sessions I've seen has been less than 10,000-That is with it installed now for over a month.

At home, I will not be using any subscription services; I just want a faster router with some protection above and beyond the typical consumer grade.

Thanks,

-Alan

Brano
I hate Vogons
MVM
join:2002-06-25
Burlington, ON
(Software) OPNsense
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO
Ubiquiti NanoBeam M5 16

Brano

MVM

Some info here »USG series FW 3.00 Comparison
and here »USG200 speed tests #3

ZyXel says the UTM performs better on multiple session than on single session, but the performance sucks anyway.

Personally I use the device(s) as non-UTM and for the buck it's still great feature set / performance.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Concur with the above I sell zyxel as a hobby and I use them at home without UTM. In fact I prefer my AV on the PC and use opendns servers (for free) for content filtering. Works fine for home. All the fidelity I need (dual wan)
Kirby Smith
join:2001-01-26
Derry, NH

Kirby Smith to FirebirdTN

Member

to FirebirdTN
USG 50 running IDP and AV having two 30/15 fiber WAN connections (FiOS like) with generally only a single computer moving data via a Cisco switch:

It is possible on a good night to stream from Crunchyroll a 1020 feed without burps while simultaneously uploading several Mbps of traffic to mulitple destinations (USG 50 state table will be running at around 4000). Downloading data at up to 10 Mbps also works but may require Firefox reloading the streaming video so that the least used WAN is utilized.

The only reason this works, I'm guessing, is that the IDP & AV rules are only applied to certain message format types and this mix is not completely of those types.

However, when FairPoint's network or peering connection is significantly latent, Crunchyroll can become unwatchable even with no other data transmission either way.

If I had multiple users streaming video and whatnot, I'd certainly want a USG 300.

Using an external Gbyte switch can unload the USG from having to deal with local traffic.

kirby
FirebirdTN
join:2012-12-13
Brighton, TN

FirebirdTN

Member

Kind of ressurecting my own thread here, but I just wanted to post 2 things:

1) Above I mentioned my first experience with ZyXel was a USG100 I bought for work-Actually, we had bought a USG200, not 100.

2) I've had my USG50 at home for a while now, and I LOVE this thing.

I'm not using UTM, only firewall, and ADP, and I have it email me daily reports. I have never seen the CPU usage get over 10%. The USG200 at work gets up to about 50% at times, but again, I probably didn't buy enough router for work. I should have got the 300.

In any case, if anyone is considering one of these, GRAB one. Setup was a little new to me, but I got it figured out and got my port forwardings set up for FTP, web, and media server access, with everything else closed off. I love the logs-I had NO idea that people are constantly trying to hack into my internet connection!

GREAT box! GREAT company! I am a fan.

-Alan

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

Thanks for the feedback. My first experience was with the netgear RT314 made by zyxel and then found this forum and never looked back. Suffice to say the dollar value is quite good but like any other product there are pros and cons and understanding requirements is the first step. Mozerd pointed out that the 300 is probably the lowest model to get for a serious business load but for most other lessor needs even the 20 model is applicable.