I am looking for recommendations to buy a firewall that is worth the money to use in my home.

[Silencix]

Hi all, I am looking for recommendations on what firewall to buy for my home where there are several devices connected. It has to be easy to configure as I don't have any knowledge on this firewall topic or there has to be tutorials on installation and set up. Since at the moment you can't buy video boards I decided to invest my money in the network security of my house. My budget is 48 thousand Argentinean pesos. The online store where I can buy is the following:


https://www.mercadolibre.com.ar/

Well, thank you very much in advance for your suggestions and recommendations.
Best regards.

[Pixel5]

you dont really need any kind of stand alone firewall, any router has that functionality build in.

[Silencix]

1 minute ago, Pixel5 said:

you dont really need any kind of stand alone firewall, any router has that functionality build in.

yes but I have a tp link ax11000 and a mikrotik hap lite and my home modem and none of these firewalls convince me, that's why I created this topic. Thank you very much anyway. Best regards.

[jaslion]

Why do you even need a firewall in the first place? A firewall isn't a magic protects you from viruses and stuff solution.

[Silencix]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Why do you even need a firewall in the first place? A firewall isn't a magic protects you from viruses and stuff solution.

because it's something I've always wanted to have, simply for that and for the benefits of an utm.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, Silencix said:

because it's something I've always wanted to have, simply for that and for the benefits of an utm.

If it's just because you want to have on for the sake of having one and the built in ones don't do it for you then just get a generic sonicwall or something.

[Silencix]

23 minutes ago, jaslion said:

generic sonicwall or something.

which one? One that is worth spending money on because I want to spend it and I can't buy a video card because of its disproportionate prices.

https://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/firewall#D[A:firewall,L:undefined]

 

 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Silencix said:

which one? One that is worth spending money on because I want to spend it and I can't buy a video card because of its disproportionate prices.

https://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/firewall#D[A:firewall,L:undefined]

 

 

Again a firewall is useless for a normal home user. There is not a single need for you to buy it and dedicated firewalls that actually do something ARE NOT CHEAP. Basically all the affordable ones on the site are just generic routers with a firewall in them. Aka EXACTLY what you have right now.

[Silencix]

15 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Again a firewall is useless for a normal home user. There is not a single need for you to buy it and dedicated firewalls that actually do something ARE NOT CHEAP. Basically all the affordable ones on the site are just generic routers with a firewall in them. Aka EXACTLY what you have right now.

https://computacion.mercadolibre.com.ar/conectividad-redes/usado/firewall#applied_filter_id%3DITEM_CONDITION%26applied_filter_name%3DCondición%26applied_filter_order%3D10%26applied_value_id%3D2230581%26applied_value_name%3DUsado%26applied_value_order%3D2%26applied_value_results%3D874

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, Silencix said:

https://computacion.mercadolibre.com.ar/conectividad-redes/usado/firewall#applied_filter_id%3DITEM_CONDITION%26applied_filter_name%3DCondición%26applied_filter_order%3D10%26applied_value_id%3D2230581%26applied_value_name%3DUsado%26applied_value_order%3D2%26applied_value_results%3D874

Fortinet is EXTREMELY well known for terrible Quality control and poor software management. In general avoid. Again what do you need a firewall for? I can't recomend anything here.

 

For a generic home user the built in ones are plenty. What is the problem with the current solution you have part from you simply not being convinced by them? What do they need to do to convince you?

[Silencix]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

What is the problem with the current solution you have part from you simply not being convinced by them? What do they need to do to convince you?

more firewall configuration options, content control although I can do that via dns, more control over network packet traffic filtering, Anti-Spoofing, Intrusion Prevention System.

[jaslion]

Just now, Silencix said:

more firewall configuration options, content control although I can do that via dns, more control over network packet traffic filtering, Anti-Spoofing, Intrusion Prevention System.

That is literally in your current firewall integrations. Nobody is going to go break in to your network as a home user. If you really want a firewall I cannot stop you but for the actual good ones you will pay a lot of money.

[Silencix]

Just now, jaslion said:

That is literally in your current firewall integrations. Nobody is going to go break in to your network as a home user. If you really want a firewall I cannot stop you but for the actual good ones you will pay a lot of money.

I was told some time ago to build one with pfsense, to look for an old pc and buy it and with that I built the firewall, but I never found a used pc at a reasonable price to build the pfsense.

[Alex Atkin UK]

8 hours ago, Silencix said:

I was told some time ago to build one with pfsense, to look for an old pc and buy it and with that I built the firewall, but I never found a used pc at a reasonable price to build the pfsense.

So let me get this straight, you want to buy an expensive hardware firewall because a PC is "too expensive"?

 

People literally choose pfSense because for the functionality it offers its the cheapest way to get an advanced router/firewall.

We don't even know how fast your broadband is which is rather important to how powerful a firewall you would need.

[Silencix]

32 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

So let me get this straight, you want to buy an expensive hardware firewall because a PC is "too expensive"?

 

People literally choose pfSense because for the functionality it offers its the cheapest way to get an advanced router/firewall.

We don't even know how fast your broadband is which is rather important to how powerful a firewall you would need.

Thank you very much. The bandwidth I have contracted is 50 megas and a pc with monitor of the Lenovo Thinkcentre M78 sff type is at 29 thousand Argentinean pesos without the two network cards, so I thought that for a few more Argentinean pesos I can buy specific hardware for that. Thank you very much. Best regards.

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, Silencix said:

Thank you very much. The bandwidth I have contracted is 50 megas and a pc with monitor of the Lenovo Thinkcentre M78 sff type is at 29 thousand Argentinean pesos without the two network cards, so I thought that for a few more Argentinean pesos I can buy specific hardware for that. Thank you very much. Best regards.

Wwll, you don't need a monitor after initial set up, and the point of pfsense is that you get vastly more manageability vs a similarly priced retail box like a low end SonicWall or fortinet. 

 

But listen to everyone else. Unless you have out facing servers or the like, the average home user doesn't need anything special. 

[Falcon1986]

@Silencix

 

Check out the firewall appliances from Netgate. Their SG-1100 is quite sufficient for home use and will allow you to get your feet wet with pfSense.

[LAwLz]

On 5/12/2021 at 12:43 PM, Silencix said:

It has to be easy to configure as I don't have any knowledge on this firewall topic or there has to be tutorials on installation and set up.

The thing about firewalls is that they are only as good as the configuration.

If you don't know how to configure a firewall or even how it works, it will be useless to you. Chances are it will just cause you a bunch of problems. Especially since most of them aren't just plug and play like your typical consumer oriented equipment. 

 

It's like asking for advice on which sports car to buy and then say "It has to be easy to drive because I don't know how to drive yet".

[Silencix]

55 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

The thing about firewalls is that they are only as good as the configuration.

If you don't know how to configure a firewall or even how it works, it will be useless to you. Chances are it will just cause you a bunch of problems. Especially since most of them aren't just plug and play like your typical consumer oriented equipment. 

 

It's like asking for advice on which sports car to buy and then say "It has to be easy to drive because I don't know how to drive yet".

I have some basic notion of how they work, but none of them recommended any of the list where I can buy.Thanks anyway.

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, Silencix said:

I have some basic notion of how they work, but none of them recommended any of the list where I can buy.Thanks anyway.

I am not sure if it's just Argentinean prices, but 48K pesos won't get you very far on that site.

Even the Fortigate 40F is over 3 times your budget, and that's a low end firewall from a brand known for being cheaper than the competition (like Cisco and Palo Alto).

 

You are not only asking for a sports car you don't know how to drive. You want it to be cheaper than a Fiat Panda as well.

[Silencix]

6 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I am not sure if it's just Argentinean prices, but 48K pesos won't get you very far on that site.

Even the Fortigate 40F is over 3 times your budget, and that's a low end firewall from a brand known for being cheaper than the competition (like Cisco and Palo Alto).

 

You are not only asking for a sports car you don't know how to drive. You want it to be cheaper than a Fiat Panda as well.

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-816017051-sophos-red-15-routers-utm-firewall-oficinas-remotas-_JM?searchVariation=62237893820#searchVariation=62237893820&position=37&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-823675308-firewall-fortinet-fortigate-60-_JM#position=38&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-909506095-firewall-fortigate-80c-_JM#position=40&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-805468202-sonicwall-nsa220-utm-firewall-router-seguridad-_JM#position=45&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-805468263-dell-sonicwall-tz300w-utm-firewall-router-seguridad-tz300-_JM#position=29&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-909589674-router-ubiquity-usg-pro-4-_JM?searchVariation=76987953688#searchVariation=76987953688&position=30&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

 

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, Silencix said:

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-816017051-sophos-red-15-routers-utm-firewall-oficinas-remotas-_JM?searchVariation=62237893820#searchVariation=62237893820&position=37&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-823675308-firewall-fortinet-fortigate-60-_JM#position=38&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-909506095-firewall-fortigate-80c-_JM#position=40&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-805468202-sonicwall-nsa220-utm-firewall-router-seguridad-_JM#position=45&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-805468263-dell-sonicwall-tz300w-utm-firewall-router-seguridad-tz300-_JM#position=29&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-909589674-router-ubiquity-usg-pro-4-_JM?searchVariation=76987953688#searchVariation=76987953688&position=30&search_layout=grid&type=item&tracking_id=302f0ecb-95d8-4751-8fee-78f39de70504

 

The two Fortigates you linked are crap.

 

The FortiGate 80 you linked for example is from 2004. It went EoL in 2013 and it doesn't even have gigabit ethernet ports.

A firewall that hasn't gotten any security patches in almost 8 years is not a good investment.

The Fortigate 80c is a lot better, and is still supported (until 2023), but it still only has 100Mbps ports for the switched ports. Not something you want to add to your network if you want speed. Only a year and a half left of software updates as well.

 

 

The SonicWall NSA220 is no longer supported.

 

The SonicWall TZ300 seems to still be supported, and has gigabit ports. I have no experience with SonicWall though so I can't say if they are good or not.

 

The Sophos RED 15 is alright I guess. I don't have much experience with this brand either but at least it still gets updates (until August 2023). According to Sophos documentation its maximum throughput (not sure what they measured) is 90Mbps though. If that's the stateful throughput then that's very, very bad.

 

I guess the Ubiquiti USG Pro 4 is alright. I personally don't recommend Ubiquity but in this case I think it might actually suit your needs.

 

Also, all the devices you are looking at are second hand. Just something to keep in mind. 

 

 

I still think you would be better off not getting a firewall. Like I said before, just buying a firewall does not provide any more security than a 20 dollar router from Amazon. Especially not for a home network that's typically very flat design wise.