Cisco 2600 Series Routers

Are you looking for where to buy a 2600 series router?  Click on the link.

The Cisco 2600 series routers are no longer being produced by Cisco.  The 2600 Series stopped production in 2003 with the exception of those with the model numbers ending in "XM" which were stopped latter.  This series of routers are fine for training routers, or occasionally a special purpose router if it doesn’t have any real load demand.  However these Cisco devices have grown somewhat obsolete for the branch office it was originally intended for.  If you intend to buy one for training, try to get one with XM at the end of it.  For example the 2651XM is much newer than the 2651 router.  Keep in mind that the version of the IOS software on the router is slightly dated, although it may be possible to upgrade it if you have access to the Cisco IOS downloads on the Cisco website.

The 2600 line of routers come with different expansion options depending on the model.  Fortunately the router is designed modularly so you can put in what you want and take out what you don’t.  All come with the standard pair of console interfaces.   

2600 Series Router model	Number of network module slots (NM)	Advanced Integration Module (AIM) slots for a co-processor expansion card	Wan Interface Cards (WIC) slots for the typical card with the interface(s) of your choice	Permanent ports (copper)	Maximum number of routable packets per second
2610XM 2611XM	1	1	2	1 or 2 100 Mbs ports	20,000
2612	1	1	2	1 Token Ring or 1 10 Mbs	15,000
2620XM 2621XM	1	1	2	1 or 2 100 Mbs ports	30,000
2650XM 2651XM	1	1	2	1 or 2 100 Mbs ports	40,000
2691	1	2	3	2	70,000

The 2600 series routers support QoS and voice if you install a VWIC.  Considering how fast voice doesn’t change you could probably still do fine with using an -XM 2600 router for voice routing.  Even though it is at the end of life you could still use it in place of a PIX at a SOHO location or at a residence.  The extra network module gives it some extra flexibility.  While this was one of the main workhorses of corporate networking not long ago, today it is mostly gone.  They are available fairly inexpensively compared to other Cisco products.  The devices support access Control lists (ACL), NAT, and QoS which means it would make a fine firewall for a small network as long as there can be a static IP address and a static route to the internet.  These Cisco routers will still easily outperform any current LinkSys device.

If you are looking to buy a 2600 series router you will find they still usually go for over $100 depending on the model you pick.  We stock the lower grades of routers (also obsolete) with lower version numbers but these were made for smaller offices.  The Cisco 2600 line is really a low-end enterprise class router.   You can pick up a Cisco 2600 router here.

If you need new routers you can see comparable new models here. 

For a router still being produced I strongly recommend buying anything in the 2800 line of Cisco routers .  The 1800 line could also be an option if you are willing to take a step down from the role the Cisco 2600 was originally intended for to hardware intended for a very small office.  You can find 1800 routers in both our store under: 1800 Cisco routers”

The next review is of the Cisco 1721 router.

• Like this post?
  
  • Subscribe
  • Bloglines
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati