Draytek Vigor2862

Gutsy modem, overkill for the home – I bought this modem from a decommissioned installation. I have had a good run with Draytek gear (Vigor 120, Vigor 130) so when I saw one of these going for cheap I grabbed it, as my Vigor 130 was water damaged (don't ask) and getting a bit temperamental in its old age. The Vigor 2862 GUI is classic Draytek, nothing fancy and all business. So… Read more

nothing unexpected to see here for the Draytek-initiated.

I use this at home so it's rather... under-worked. You can connect up to 4 WANs (xDSL, FTTP/FTTC and 2x USB 4G/5G fallback dongles) so I'm definitely not taxing that as I'm using VDSL2 only. On top of that the WAN2 input (FTTP/FTTC) can be repurposed as a LAN port, which is great. Doing that gives you a total of 5x LAN ports. So this is not only a gutsy modem but also a pretty versatile switch.

The vanilla 2862 doesn't have WiFi which I'm perfectly okay with, as that 5th LAN output feeds the WAN port on my wireless router anyway, and I've learned from 30 years of networking that combination wireless modem/routers are ALWAYS compromised as either a wireless router, or a modem, or bad at both. Always. No exceptions. Sorry, but mediocrity is the price you pay for a convenient box that does it all.

Speed is great, both in numbers and in use. I noticed an improvement in sync of ~5Mbit/s over my rather noisy VDSL line compared to the Vigor 130, which shows just how impressive the modem is. Admittedly, the Vigor 130 was a more home-centric product. I haven't compared the nitty gritty modem specs directly, but I suspect the Vigor 2862 would considerably outgun the poor old Vigor 130 in about every way... as it should for the asking price when new, and as it's a business-grade product.

I'd buy this modem again. It's a little bulky, but not really when you consider what it packs in. Another winner from Draytek, even though it's now discontinued and replaced.