is this a good price?

7255carl

hi guys,
i am just about the start studying ccna and i have been offered a set of lab equipment and would like to know if the price i have been quoted is a good one or not, the equipment is:

2x cisco 2501 routers
1x cisco 2924-xl-en switch
2x ethernet transcievers
1x serial db60-db60 crossover cable
2x cat 5e crossover cables
2x cat 5e straight through cables
1x rj45/db9 console cable

the price i have been quoted is £155 i think that works out about $310

thanks in advance for any advice

carl

networker050184

Not too bad. I think that is a pretty fair deal. I'd say try to get some newer equipment, especialy if you plan on moving on to your CCNP. Maybe some 2600s and 2950s or some 3600 routers. They will be a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

7255carl

thanks for the advice i will look into it

bighornsheep

Is that with shipping & insurance to the UK? Where is the seller shipping from?

I think it's a little on the high side depending on the config of the routers..

2501 is worth no more than 40, the switch is probably another 50, the cables all together is probably around 30 (if you make your own cat5, it's not even that much)

Research your equipment PROPERLY, otherwise you might have a few too many paypal transactions down your way...

2500 Series

2900XL Series

2600 Series

networker050184

2501 for $40? I've never seen them that low. Usually right around $60 - $80 on ebay (some more). Same with the switches. So add that up it figures to about right around that with all the cables. I wouldn't pay for the CAT5, but if you don't have access to it at work you will have to get it some where I guess. I'd still suggest the 2600 and 2950s though. Hence the you get what you pay for statement.

7255carl

bighornsheep wrote:

Is that with shipping & insurance to the UK? Where is the seller shipping from?

I think it's a little on the high side depending on the config of the routers..

2501 is worth no more than 40, the switch is probably another 50, the cables all together is probably around 30 (if you make your own cat5, it's not even that much)

Research your equipment PROPERLY, otherwise you might have a few too many paypal transactions down your way...

2500 Series

2900XL Series

2600 Series

thanks for the advice and the links i will have a good look after work, by the way the items were being sold as bundle and there were being shipped from within the uk at a fee of £15 about $30

bighornsheep

I've found that with purchasing lab equipment, you have to be really really careful if you don't want to waste money. No finger pointing is needed, but do a simple search on ebay and you can see the crazy price range for a 2501 or 2924.

The first router I bought was a 2514, which cost me around $150 with 2 transceivers, I didn't do my shopping around, and simply bought the 1st one with buy-it-now. After doing some research and reading about the different models and configs, waited for the deals, my next purchase was two 2503 with transceivers and back-to-back cables for a little more than $100.

Shortly after, I picked up a 2521 for about 60, a 2924XL-EN for 20, and a 2924XL-A for 30.

For the switches (2900XL series) you have to be particularly careful because there're two dozen variants, a slight change in the letter can make the different between using it for today's CCNA, or leaving it at your grandma's because it's basically an unmanaged switch.

Something else that I've notice is, if you're willing to spend time on "fixing" the equipment, you can get good equipment for lower prices, my 2924XL-EN was so cheap because it was supposedly "corrupt"....when the guy told me, I was thinking...what did the switch do? take your money to let you out of jail or something? It turns out all it needed was an IOS (mind you, Xmodem transfer was painfully slow), and issuing the boot system command.

Good luck gents~ Let me know if I can help with some suggestions.

redgren

Hey Bighorn,

You seem to know a lot about hardware configurations so I thought I'd ask you a question. I can get a 2610 router chassis real cheap (like $20), the problem is it has no memory and no network modules. I've looked around on ebay and there are network modules and memory available, is it possible and worth it to put this chassis back together? Thanks.

bighornsheep

redgren wrote:

I can get a 2610 router chassis real cheap (like $20), the problem is it has no memory and no network modules.

Yeah the 2610 is a good choice, it's what they call a modular router, it has 2 WIC ports and 1 NM port, so there is lots of flexibility to run NAT, PPP, FR or even have dot1q trunk working on it with its built-in 10Mb ethernet port (you will need to get specific IOS for this to work, but its possible)

The 2600 series differ from 2500 mostly for memory architecture, it loads the IOS into RAM when it is operating for faster operation, but requires more DRAM as a result. Generally, you should have 64D/32F.

Depending on what you want to make out of this router, and what you already have (or plan to get in addition), you have to choose your memory and WIC/NM modules carefully. Like I said, the 2610 can be your FR switch, inter-vlan router, edge routers, or core router if you get a a NM with 4 or 8 serial ports.

Honestly though, the extra costs for memory module + NM/WIC is not worth it in my opinion, a typical serial WIC card will cost around $50 unless if you get a counterfeit, ethernet card will be another 40-60...the cost definitely isn't lower.

You should double check mgeorge's IOS guide, but of the top of my head, 2500 with the right IOS will support all the features a 2600 can EXCEPT for inter-vlan routing, which is where a cheap 1721 comes into play.

See if you can get good prices for the modules you want, and compare a similar model in the 2500 and its price point, that will help you decide.

Cheers.