Which router manufacturer has the best warranty/support?

I'm looking to extend my network via Fibre Optic and was researching various switches with SFP capability (Netgear, TP Link, Zyxel) but wasn't sure what to go for. Ubiquiti products are certainly out of the question - they only offer 1 year warranty which is quite pathetic.

Which hardware manufacturer is deemed to be the most reliable and with the best UK customer support/warranty service?

In all honesty the second part of your question is completely subjective. There is no single manufacturer that could possibly claim or be awarded 'the most reliable' or for that matter the best UK based support - software support is typically centred from the HQ country of origin or for hardware faults, from the company that sold it to you.

The differentiation is usually between commercial and residential products, even then many manufacturers now offer a mixture of both.

Saying that most network hardware is usually very reliable from a hardware perspective in my opinion. What is equally if not more important is how well software and firmware support is given and faults and weaknesses are patched and updated.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In all honesty the second part of your question is completely subjective. There is no single manufacturer that could possibly claim or be awarded 'the most reliable' or for that matter the best UK based support - software support is typically centred from the HQ country of origin or for hardware faults, from the company that sold it to you.

The differentiation is usually between commercial and residential products, even then many manufacturers now offer a mixture of both.

Saying that most network hardware is usually very reliable from a hardware perspective in my opinion. What is equally if not more important is how well software and firmware support is given and faults and weaknesses are patched and updated.

I see.

Are there any manufacturers that stand out in that regard?

In reply to a post by RAY21:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In all honesty the second part of your question is completely subjective. There is no single manufacturer that could possibly claim or be awarded 'the most reliable' or for that matter the best UK based support - software support is typically centred from the HQ country of origin or for hardware faults, from the company that sold it to you.

The differentiation is usually between commercial and residential products, even then many manufacturers now offer a mixture of both.

Saying that most network hardware is usually very reliable from a hardware perspective in my opinion. What is equally if not more important is how well software and firmware support is given and faults and weaknesses are patched and updated.

I see.

Are there any manufacturers that stand out in that regard?

I'd recommend Asus and Netgear kit. Not so much for the warranty and direct support aspects, but more for the fact that they make decent performing hardware and are fairly quick to patch any router vulnerabilities with updated firmware.

On smallnetbuilder.com forum section (probably the best place on the web to discuss all things about routers and internet hardware) you have quite a lot of router guru's there and there's a couple of users on there who create third party firmware for Asus (Merlin) and Netgear (Voxel) hardware.

In reply to a post by RAY21:

Are there any manufacturers that stand out in that regard?

PC Pro magazine does an annual service & reliability survey across many products in the IT industry, might be worth looking for a back issue.

In reply to a post by RAY21:

I'm looking to extend my network via Fibre Optic and was researching various switches with SFP capability (Netgear, TP Link, Zyxel) but wasn't sure what to go for. Ubiquiti products are certainly out of the question - they only offer 1 year warranty which is quite pathetic.

Which hardware manufacturer is deemed to be the most reliable and with the best UK customer support/warranty service?

Go HP / Aruba. Lifetime warrenty on a lot of their switches.

See https://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/support/warrant...

This is assuming you actually want a switch, not a router as there routers have fairly low warrenty.

If you actually want a router then Cisco Meraki as think they all have lifetime warranty, but one with SFP capability will cost you a fortune to buy. Honestly if its just for home use and you need redundancy you are better off buying 2 Mikrotik's and keeping one as backup.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RAY21:

Are there any manufacturers that stand out in that regard?

PC Pro magazine does an annual service & reliability survey across many products in the IT industry, might be worth looking for a back issue.

Draytek and Asus seem to top the PC Pro reliability polls

In reply to a post by joconnell:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RAY21:

Are there any manufacturers that stand out in that regard?

PC Pro magazine does an annual service & reliability survey across many products in the IT industry, might be worth looking for a back issue.

Draytek and Asus seem to top the PC Pro reliability polls

Trouble is my experience of Asus is they have terrible support, at least for their motherboards.