The Cisco 800 Series Routers provide a solution for high speed, secure and above all reliable Internet connection. The 857 model is specifically designed for connecting small office / home office (Soho) networks to the Internet via ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) or "Broadband" technologies. For those of you who know little of Broadband (ADSL), it is a new technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines at higher download rates.
Typically home users connect to the Internet via a Modem, often supplied by there internet service provider. However, this solution of internet connectivity is far from ideal in a mission critical environment. If you don't know what a router is, it is unlikely you need one. However, if you wish to connect to the internet in a fast and secure manner a router is the only way to go.

Upon receiving your router in its posh Cisco systems box you will receive;

The unit itself is aesthetically pleasing. On the front you have various lights indicating various states the router is in - such as whether the router has completed its boot cycle, if there is a stable ADSL line, and weather or not a PPP session has been established to your Internet Service provider. If this light is on, you know your connection to the internet is up and you are ready to start communicating with the outside world!
On the back of the unit you have an inbuilt 4 port Switch which is a really nice feature for networking your home pc's together. Other ports include the ADSL dialler port - this I where you connect your router directly in the phone socket (with filters of course). A console port - this enables you to connect via a special cable to configure your router if you cannot access it via other means.
At the heart of the unit, a Motorola CPU is providing the processing power, with 64 megs of RAM, and 20 megs of flash memory holding the IOS (operating system).

All Cisco Routers run there own operating system - this is called IOS. As this is a product review I will not go into the wonderful world of IP routing concepts. However it is useful for a first time buyer to know that Cisco's IOS provides vast functionality such as a resilient Firewall and secure Virtual Private network capabilities for remote access to your private network. The 857 unit is extremely flexible when it comes to growing with your business. You could go out and purchase a cheaper, lower quality router that would get the job done, but may not enable you to expand in the future. You may wish to host a Web server, or email server in which case you will need a Router that can handle large volumes of traffic whilst maintaining security. Or perhaps you wish to allow remote office users access to your internal resources? Whatever you need, the Cisco operating system is extremely flexible in its ability to adapt to user requirements. Security is the buzzword of the moment, and the Cisco IOS software is designed to be exceptionally secure.
Finally, more often than not I have seen engineers install slightly cheaper kit only to find they constantly drop Internet and VPN connectivity. For a few extra bucks it is worth installing the right kit and cut down support time.

If you are a non-technical user, Cisco provides an excellent and easy to use Web based GUI (Graphical User Interface) setup featured called SDM (Security Device manager). This will enable you do run a simple wizard to connect you directly to the internet with the details provided via your ISP. This will also let you setup the CBAC Firewall and various other options such as DHCP. However, more advanced features such as IPSEC VPN and NAT are only configurable via the CLI (command line interface). You will need a greater level of expertise to set up these more advanced technologies, in which case you have 2 options. You can either learn from the vast library of Cisco press books, or pay an expert a one time fee to set this up for you.