Cen <remove_anti_spam@yahoo.com> wrote:
In addition to those items mentioned by Cen, a few others to
consider:
Consumer grade often seems to assume that routine rebooting or power
cycling is acceptable. I.e., you can't just install it and forget it.
Commercial grade typically provides better support for remote
monitoring and management. Consumer grade, for example, almost
never supports SNMP.
Consumer grade typically ships with a default configuration which
will provide functionality right out of the box, no effort required
(and typically no security provided either, but that is another
story). Commercial grade typically requires effort before it can
be used.
Commercial grade often tolerates a wider range of environment,
i.e., is specified to work at lower and higher temperatures than
consumer grade, which can assume use only in locations comfortable
to humans. But there are exceptions, so be careful. In particular,
some commercial grade HW are speced for data center environments.
RF emission limits are tighter on home products (FCC class B) than
they are on office/industrial products (FCC class A). Consumer
grade must meet the home limits while commercial grade may choose
to only meet the office/industrial limits.
As the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for." Although given
the scruples of many vendors, I'd be more inclined to rephrase it
in the negative: "You may not get what you pay for, but you never
get what you don't pay for!" As always, YMMV.
Good luck and have fun!
--
Vincent C Jones, Consultant Expert advice and a helping hand
Networking Unlimited, Inc. for those who want to manage and
Tenafly, NJ Phone: 201 568-7810 control their networking destiny
http://www.networkingunlimited.com
