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View Full Version : Any good and cheap Hardware Firewall?


Kasteo
08-03-2003, 12:38 PM
Any good and cheap Hardware Firewall?

I'm looking to buy a hardware firewall for my home network (5 comp). I choose to go with hardware firewall because you won't loose any system resouce and performace like the software firewall do. And the speed of your connection will not drop as much as the software one.
I've been looking around eBay for a couple days... There are 2 models that I'm interested in, WatchGuard Firebox SOHO Firewall and 3COM Office Connect Internet Firewall. Both sell on the net around $450 each, but I can find a good deal on eBay around $100 which is a really good price.
Now I still can't decide which one is better? Any idea?
Thanks,

beakmyn
08-03-2003, 12:42 PM
an old 486/pentium with a hub, NIC and Smoothwall.

JeffL
08-03-2003, 01:32 PM
All Nat based routers have firewalls whether it is a "feature" or not, it is how NAT works, and that shouldn't change anytime in the near future. So if you have a router, you already have a hardware firewall.

Kasteo
08-03-2003, 02:03 PM
Yeah, I've heard Smoothwall is one of the best, but I don't have any old machine left to run it.
Yes, any router have a built-in firewall, but those firewall is just a really basic one. It's nothing when you compare to a Software firewall or real Hardware firewall.

gr8gatzby
08-03-2003, 02:36 PM
i use an SMC Barricade 802.11b with 4 ports and NAT/Firewall. i also ZoneAlarm Pro on top of the hardware. i found the SMC for $60 on ebay, new.

beakmyn
08-03-2003, 03:03 PM
And I just recently got rid of two old 120mhz laptops that would have worked well. You can pick up a VP575 (digital laptop) on ebay pretty cheap. Maxed out it's 166Mhz with 80Mb RAM and 2GB harddrive. There's no fans to deal with and they've got a 32bit PCCard slot so you could turn it into a wireless AP firewall if you wanted.