NetGear FVS318 8-Port 10/100 Wired Router

I would highly recommend this gateway/router to anyone serious about their Home or Small Business network performing at its best. It's 8-port full gigabit integrated switch, enables you to connect up to 8 pc's (or 7 and a wireless AP or switch) to each other at gigabit speeds, and provides a low-latency path to the router.

Netgear's firewall setup, while somewhat unintuitive, is quite thorough and effective. Adding a port forward/'service' is a simple process once you've gotten over the learning curve.

The only 'issue' I could see with it is a lack of wireless support built-in. This, however, is by design. This is a business-class gateway, designed to do one job, exceptionally well.

Wireless standards change from time to time, making integrated AP/Router boxes obsolete. In an business-class network, if a new wireless standard comes out, you simply replace the AP.

With seperate wireless access points, you also gain reliability for two reasons:
1. When the AP fails, your wired lan remains up.
2. The circuitry for an AP generates a lot of heat. This could cause premature failure of integrated units, if not designed properly.

Wireless home routers costing the same, will not perform anywhere near as well, nor be as durable. It's just not possible to do that and make a profit.

I've long used the Netgear ProSafe line of gateways.
This unit replaced an older FVS124G, merely to simplify down from a 8-port gigabit switch and the FVS124G, and did not need dual wan support. The FVS124G has been sold to another company, and is still in use today.

Before you will buy please check hardware version. Version 3 has a faster processor and 10/100 Mbps WAN port (FVS318v3 with firmware v3.0 and later).

Per Netgear website:

"This describes versions of the FVS318 Cable/DSL ProSafe VPN Firewall with 8-Port Switch. They are distinguished by the serial number on the unit, and on the box next to the UPC code.

FVS318v3 starts with FVS9 or 14A
FVS318v2 starts with FVS1
FVS318v1 starts with FVS8
...
NETGEAR is not offering to replace older models with newer ones.
...
"

Please check NETGEAR support page for more information and updated serial numbers:


http://kbserver.netgear.c​om/products/FVS318.asp

I called up Netgear about purchasing their client software because I have systems at home running XP, Vista, and Windows 7. They wanted 70 dollars for their software. Just for a single license. And it doesn't even support Windows 7 yet. This isn't a review for Netgear support. If it was it would be rated poor. Their support is horrible and they wouldn't upgrade my licenses to the latest compatible version for Windows Vista (They just started supporting it in VPN software) and I bought the licenses when Vista was already out. Pretty shady....
But anyways so I found this VPN Router / Firewall device and it was less than a single client software license. I figured why not? I got the device and set it up. It was pretty straight forward if you are familiar with setting up VPN's. I use their highest level model at the office I connect to and everything went pretty smooth. The connection seems to remain pretty consistent. Speed is decent concidering I am using encryption between the offices. I wish there were more advanced firewall functionality. I would be upset if I paid full price for it because of the lack in firewall filters and logging features that I normally would prefer to use. But for the used price I can't beat it. And it beats a single client license and now all of my desktop systems can connect over the VPN without any problems. So I rate this product good.

The Netgear FVS318 is a reliable VPN/Firewall at an affordable price. It is compatible with various VPN client software and may be easily setup with other FVS318s to create your own virtual network. The 8 port auto-sensing switch makes setup a snap, especially with older devices operating at slower speeds.

I really like the price of this unit. Compared to other routers with a similar price tag, you get a lot of bang for the buck. I have not had any of the reliability issues that I have heard some people complain about, but I tend to keep my equipment cooler than most people do, (give it room to breath, don't ever block the cooling vents on the sides/top).
On the negative side, I hate the fact that when I updated the firmware I lost all of my settings, even though I backed them up. Apparently the backups from the old firmware are not compatible with the new firmware, dumb but not too big a deal.
I was also disappointed by the limit of only 35 blocked keywords. I wanted to feed it a MUCH longer list than that, but oh well. I also wish that the VPN was compatible with the windows XP VPN client. Instead you have to pay for the Netgear client (sigh).

You don't have to be an expert to configure it, but it helps if you know what you're doing.

Over all one gets what one pays for, and in this case you get a really decent not quite business class firewall for the same price as a lot of junky, buggy, all in one units that tend to be disappointing.

Just don't expect it to compete with a Cisco Pix or a Sonicwall.