DrayTek has earned a reputation for supplying advanced and highly configurable business router hardware - and is increasingly crossing over into the smaller business and prosumer space. An example of this is the DrayTek Vigor 2710Vn, a high-tech wolf in more domesticated sheep's clothing.
Where the all-singing DrayTek Vigor 2820 we reviewed last year wears its complex connectivity options across its front panel, with banks of ports and LEDs to entertain the local sysadmin, the DrayTek 2710Vn keeps most of its gubbins out of sight.
The DrayTek 2710Vn unit is designed to be sited upright, with three detachable antennae on top, and incoming ADSL disappearing into its underside. Also underneath on the Vn-suffix model (where ‘V' stands for VoIP) you'll find socketry for connecting two telephone handsets.
Arranged up one side of the DrayTek Vigor 2710Vn are four ethernet ports for local wired connections, while the opposite edge has a row of 12 bright green LEDs which flicker to denote activity on, for example, the wireless LAN, DSL line, ethernet ports or telephone lines.
Like the 2820, the DrayTek 2710Vn is a sophisticated unit boasting, beyond the ADSL /ADSL2+ modem, up-to-date 802.11n wireless, object-based firewall, a multi-purpose USB port, and twin VoIP ports. A standard telephone can be connected to these for calls over the standard BT line, or directed to use
Missing from the specification, and surprising given the high-end spec everywhere else, is gigabit ethernet. The Vigor's wireless is only single-band 2.4GHz, although you can configure up to four discrete SSID networks, each with their own security settings - useful in an office to give sales and admin teams different network privileges, for example.
The USB port is multi-function. It can be used to connect a printer, which will then be available to any computer on the local network; or you can connect a USB flash or hard drive for basic NAS functionality over FTP or SMB; or you can utilise it as a back-up internet connection, with either a 3G wireless dongle or even an old-school dial-up USB modem inserted.
We did find NAS connectivity in OS X limited to FTP access, and was read-only through the Finder. To write to files you'll need FTP client software, while SMB connection issues are currently being investigated by DrayTek. The ability to turn your router into a FTP server accessible from anywhere on the internet is a real boon.
In general use, the DrayTek Vigor 2710Vn worked splendidly. Wireless range was excellent while our only other issue was with a remote access service relying on UPnP, but resolved easily enough: Apple's Back To My Mac service was coinciding with ports already reserved internally for VPN access. By deselecting PPTP, IPsec and L2TP services, BTMM remote access worked very well.
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