Router prices

[roweder]

Why do routers cost so much? A Cisco 24 10/100 port router is like $2,000, but a super top of the line gaming motherboard is $350, and the motherboard does so much more, it makes an amazing gaming experience, whereas all that the router can do is link computers together, so why are routers so expensive?

I'm not looking to buy a router, I'm just curious if there is an explanation.

 

[Trotter]

Cisco is a top name and is usually a business class router, plus you are talking about a 24 port router. A router than one would use in the home or a small business wouldn't cost anywhere near that and would be in the sub-$100 range.

 

[KSoD]

Pretty much what Trotter said. Any home based router only has about 4 ports built into it. This one is made for businesses and has 24 ports. Which means 24 machines connected to it at once. That is not something you would be using in a home setting. I could see a possibility of like 10 devices, but not 24 in a home. That is a lot of devices to connect for any home.

 

[PP Mguire]

Actually, what hes speaking of is not a router but a switch and a managed one at that. Managed switches always cost the most. A router most likely never goes over 100 bucks unless its something fancy and unmanaged switches cost usually below 500 depending on how many ports are there. I have a 24 port switch thats 10/100 with a gigabit uplink and it cost me 40 bucks.

 

[roweder]

I understand that cisco is a top brand and that home routers/switches are usually under $100 and I'm not planning on buying a cisco router. I'm just confused as to why routers are so expensive? Their hardware seems so insignificant, they're processors are slower than the average phone's processor, they take around a minute to boot, and all they can do is link groups of computers together, so why should they be so expensive? their hardware could not possibly cost that much to make.

 

[KSoD]

They are more than just a tool to link multiple computers together. They also have built in firewalls, can merge with other routers to create a large LAN or WAN. They have so much more functionality than just joining PC's together. Especially in a business environment. Your looking for an answer that we cant possibly provide, cause we are not the ones buying or using such routers. Contact a bank and talk to their IT people and find out why they would rather pay $2000 for an item that has more security than a home router to protect your bank account than the one you spent sub-$100 for your home PC's.

Get the idea? These business have some highly valuble things to protect and these routers offer much more than a simplistic firewall and the ability to join multiple PC's or networks together. They also have some of the most sophisticated security built into them to protect their data from being mined, hacked or stolen from the outside world. Would you trust a bank to use a router purchased from Walmart to protect your bank account information or would you rather they spent the money on a more high end model? Exactly.

Add into that they just write them off as a business expense, they dont end up paying anything for them as they get that money back.

 

[Oreo]

Anyway good home routers do quite a lot.

They analyse the connection and can priorise latency-sensitive usage such as voip and gaming. They also have firewalls, and many tools to analyse and set up your network.

A hub however is simple, and really does very little.

 

[PP Mguire]

I understand that cisco is a top brand and that home routers/switches are usually under $100 and I'm not planning on buying a cisco router. I'm just confused as to why routers are so expensive? Their hardware seems so insignificant, they're processors are slower than the average phone's processor, they take around a minute to boot, and all they can do is link groups of computers together, so why should they be so expensive? their hardware could not possibly cost that much to make.

Its not about the processors or the hardware that physically make a switch. Emphases on switch btw, because you wont be finding a bottom of the todom pole home router costing 2 grand. A switch does alot more than people think like Mak explained and people dont realize exactly what grants this top end security......well that 2 grand pays for a managed switch with built in firewalls and encryption to grant you this security. Another thing, is enterprising companies are willing to pay top notch dollar to get this hardware to meet the demands of the average consumer who demands that top notch securty. A perfect example is this, Nvidia Quadro cards compared to regular desktop GTX cards. GTX580, 500 bucks, Quadro 6000 4 grand. They are based off the same tech but companies pay so much more because it does alot more in certain areas than the desktop variant. Its the same way for home routers vs enterprise managed switches. Not to mention they are willing to pay the price so the company jacks the price up.

 

[Kharn]

Why do routers cost so much? A Cisco 24 10/100 port router is like $2,000, but a super top of the line gaming motherboard is $350, and the motherboard does so much more, it makes an amazing gaming experience, whereas all that the router can do is link computers together, so why are routers so expensive?

I'm not looking to buy a router, I'm just curious if there is an explanation.

To be frank -
Build Quality.
Features.
Reliability.
Support.

And also Cisco IOS, is the best network OS out there hands down, it is tuned to run on the hardware it's made for nothing else so it has no need for overly powerful hardware specifications, and supports features that are VERY business orientated and support connections you are unlikely to find in your home.

 

[Apokalipse]

Mostly you're paying for the Cisco IOS

Home routers tend not to have the kind of software features Cisco's IOS has, unless you use one of the linux-based router firmwares, such as:
* OpenWRT
* DD-WRT
* Tomato

DD-WRT and Tomato include GUI web interfaces, which makes them as easy to use as your average router firmware - but then the GUI only controls a relatively limited selection of features.
If you use the command line (using telnet/ssh), you can do much more. Then it's pretty much limited to the hardware, and how much you know or can figure out.

Being a Linux OS, you can basically change whatever you want, install and run just about any kind of third party program (hardware capability withstanding). some routers have USB ports you can use for storage, running programs from, running a print server, web/ftp server, torrent, irc server....

There are many routers that support such firmware. Mine is an Asus RT-N16.