Draytek Vigor 2750Vn review

The Vigor’s features don’t end there. Its integrated VoIP capabilities might not be up to those of a dedicated VoIP server, but it’s easy to configure up to six SIP accounts which you can route to two standard telephones connected to a pair of RJ-11 ports at the base of the router. Once again, Draytek provides detailed documentation and clear menu options to help you configure your VoIP service to work with your router and phones.

The router also supports inbound VPN connections, allowing remote staff to access your local network. There are two USB ports. You can use these to connect USB storage drives, which you can then share over your network via FTP or SMB as you would a NAS drive. The NAS can act as a network server for a USB printer and you can set up a 3G dongle or even an analogue modem connection that will come online if your main internet connection fails, making your business more able to stay online no matter what.

In addition to these more uncommon features, you’ll find the usual support for web content filtering by domain, keyword or category – the latter option is only available if you subscribe to Draytek’s filtering service – as well as tools to help you block specific protocols and applications including streaming media services, Peer-to-Peer file sharing, instant messaging and more.

As well as two USB ports and a pair of connections for phones, the Vigor has four Gigabit Ethernet ports, allowing for the best possible speeds across your network. When it comes to its performance in WAN speed tests, the router’s built-in VDSL2 modem didn’t provide a significant improvement over the modem from our ISP. Using the modem and a standard Ethernet router, our VDSL2 connection from Zen Internet gave us a download speed of 74Mbit/s and an upload speed of 17Mbit/s. With the Vigor, we got 76Mbit/s down and 14Mbit/s up. These figures were measured within an hour of each other – there’s a required time delay before you can switch from one modem to another on BT’s network – and are all within the usual range of speeds we see from our connection.

The 2750Vn provides a comprehensive range of tools for the small business user, wrapping everything up in a single device with excellent documentation and an easy-to-use – if not always particularly attractive – interface. It’s a little more expensive than comparable ADSL or Ethernet routers designed for SMB users, which is mostly down to the cost of the VDSL modem. If you’re going to get good use out of several of the features here – such as the basic VoIP support, VPN and 3G modem backup – then the 2750Vn’s convenience easily justifies its £150 cost, particularly in light of its top-notch wireless performance. However, if you just need a fast but basic internet connection or even if you want to upgrade your Wi-Fi, we recommend sticking with the modem provided by your ISP and connecting an Ethernet router such as the Belkin N600 DB Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router.