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Draytek routers have always taken a business-first approach, prioritising features and security over raw speed, and the Vigor 2760Vn is no exception. It might be limited to 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi when the majority of the competition has already made the jump to 5GHz 802.11ac, but VoIP support, a robust firewall and highly configurable QoS settings mean it can’t be ruled out if you need reliable hardware.
Out of the box, the 2760Vn can be used as a modem/router for ADSL and VDSL connections, meaning BT Infinity customers can ditch their BT-supplied fibre modem and use the Vigor instead – a useful addition for anyone who doesn’t want to use two devices. You’ll need your BT username, which can be found in the Advanced Settings page on the Homehub web interface, and will have to enable a few settings on the 2760Vn to get up and running. Annoyingly you’ll need to create an account to read Draytek’s instructions, which are available from http://tinyurl.com/vigor2760vn.
The 2760Vn can also act as a cable router, although you’ll still need a cable modem in order to get online. Switching one of the Ethernet ports to a WAN port was a time consuming process, as the router has to reboot multiple times while you disable some settings and enable others.
As well as four Gigabit Ethernet ports, the 2760Vn also has two USB ports on the rear for attaching external storage, a network printer share, or compatible 3G or 4G modems to automatically provide internet access in the event your broadband connection fails. Not all dongles are supported, but the setup page has a comprehensive list of the ones that are. USB storage setup is slightly convoluted; your device must be formatted as FAT32, and even then you can only access your files through an FTP server. While this is fairly standard for an office environment, it’s a pain that home users can’t mount their disks as network drives.
You’ll also find two RJ11 phone sockets on the side of the device, which can be used for making VoIP calls. Setting up a SIP client isn’t anywhere near as straightforward as signing up for Skype, using Facetime or Google Hangouts, but once you have an account (we used www.getonsip.com) and have plugged in a regular landline telephone, you can make free calls over the internet to other SIP users. You can also call other computers using a free client such as Jitsi or to tablets and phones with various other apps.
WIRELESS SPEED
As we expected, wireless performance was rather disappointing. With no 802.11ac, or even 5GHz wireless N, we were limited to 802.11n on the 2.4GHz frequency. At 10m we only managed 11.8MB/s, and this dropped to a very low 5.3MB/s at 25m. There was no improvement by disabling channel bonding, and it can’t auto-detect the best wireless channel to use, meaning you’ll need to use a third party wireless signal strength tester to check for interference.
Moving as close to the router as possible, we achieved a more respectable 52MB/s, meaning you should be able to work in the same room at reasonable speeds. Of course, our testing environment is a worst case scenario, so speeds will likely improve in areas with less interference from other wireless networks and devices.
The 2760Vn can run up to four separate wireless networks, with one designated as a guest network by default. You can isolate each network from the others and direct them to separate VPNs. The web interface also has a variety of port forwarding and static IP options, optional content filters to prevent access to specific content, although it’s still a convoluted process and the UI doesn’t provide much in the way of assistance. The whole interface is rather basic, with the only helpful diagram replicating the lights on the front of the router for diagnosing issues. Unless you’re familiar with IP Object Profiles and Trusted CA Certificates, you’ll need to frequently refer to the manual to truly make use of all the 2760Vn’s features. It’s also rarely obvious when additional menus are buried within links or shortcuts, meaning you’ll spend a lot of time searching for a particular setting.
CONCLUSION
Speed was never going to be the 2760n’s defining feature, but we were still disappointed by wireless performance. However, it makes up for this in other ways, particularly if you’re looking for an all-in-one router to manage VOIP accounts or control multiple virtual networks for a small office. That being said, home users will be better off with the much faster, much friendlier ZyXEL NBG6716.
