Seeking advice: 1100 or 2100?
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I'm moving house, and rather than keep my 10+ year old netgate box in service, I'm going to set up a new one. I don't have many requirements - just want to keep up with the 1Gb fiber when multiple people are streaming, and handle incoming openVPN connections.
I'm a little confused by the specs. Reading simplistically, the 1100 will not handle as much data as could come into the house. Am I reading that right?
Thanks.
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@cak Get the 2100. The 1100 is weak, best used in a road warrior config. The 2100 has better throughput (what you were asking about), and more RAM for packages. Neither will saturate a 1Gbps link.
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@cak go big or go home ;)
My current 4860 is getting a bit long in the tooth - still holding on, and don't actually need upgrade or replacement. But if I had to buy today would be the 6100.
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@cak the 2100 will not transfer 1Gbit either. It will top out around 650Mbjt give or take.
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@cak Re: Seeking advice: 1100 or 2100?
Even with a less than 1gbps service I observed the 1100 was noticeably slower than the 4200 that replaced it. The 1100 and the not-that-different 2100 impede even Starlink and fixed wireless in the 200-600mbps range.
Get at least a 4200.
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@cak My advice is to avoid any model that uses eMMC storage. I have a perfectly good 1100 where the eMMC has failed.
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FWIW, I post this when it comes up:
ways to reduce disk writes: https://forum.netgate.com/topic/195879/netgate-2100-life-expectancy/8
YMMV of course. -
@cak The 1100 only has one NIC, and three switched ports of that NIC. This causes it to perform even worse than the 2100 (same CPU), which has 2 NICs.
The 2100 is a nice little box, but it’s slow in UI, and it will not handle more than about 600 - 640 mbit.
One other advice is: be weary of eMMC only boxes (non MAX editions of Netgate devices). You have to be a “tweaker” and spend time making sure you have a configuration that will not write much to disk (logging and such). Otherwise you will kill the device within a couple of years. MAX devices with an SSD have a MUCH MUCH higher write endurance on the built in flash.
For your setup I would go SG4200 MAX.
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The problem is that all of Netgate's devices are expensive for home use. People suggesting to use the 4200 or 4200MAX or 6100. Where I am, those 4200 units cost $850 which is a LOT of money for a home router, and the 6100 would be $1,400. $850 minimum for a single-purpose pfSense unit to handle 1 Gbps with a GUI that isn't snail-slow. Ok. Meanwhile, you can buy a mini-pc that will handle that link speed without flinching and a responsive GUI for significantly less.
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Thank you all so much! This is all super helpful. It's worth it to me to spend a little extra to not think about the box - that's been the main benefit (to me) of my current netgate box.
I'm not where I can read the label on the box, but it's a pretty low-end unit. The console tells me it's from 2014 and uses an atom processor... I've gotten my money's worth.
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@KOM i wholeheartedly agree!
The 1100/2100 are way underpowered for modern day fiber WAN - and is now effectively way way overpriced. The 1100 is a complete nogo!
They are in need of an modern day update, or a hefty pricereduction and a priceattractive 3xxx series introduction (current 2100 pricing) that handles 1Gbe without issues.
You also have to remember: the 4200 has more horsepower than the old 6100 - it’s just limited in it scale (x hundreds of users) because of only 4Gb RAM
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