NETGEAR FVS318 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8 with 8-Port 10/100 Switch

I am the sole IT person for a company that has several branch offices and they are all equipped with one of these routers. They are updated to the latest firmware which may play a key role in my success with these routers, but so far I couldn't be happier. Not one has had a problem that couldn't be resolved with a power cycle. I am not doing anything too complex with these as their DHCP/DNS functions are being handled by a windows server and there is no need for VPN yet, but the expandability is good to have. Port forwarding is in use and working fine and the internet access policy, although not the most robust I've seen, it does the job. Internet access is quick and the setup is relatively easy. I am A+,NET+, and CCNA certified, however I don't think the setup requires a professional touch as the web access GUI is pretty intuitive. Lastly the body is good at keeping the unit cool, is easy to mount, and has a pretty small footprint. To combine all of this with a price tag that any power user or SOHO can afford makes it 5 stars to me.

This model is past "end of life" according to Netgear, so don't expect any technical support. Even the Netgear webpage is not much use; however, the router is totally intuitive to set up and configure and works very well. This model does NOT have Wi-Fi LAN. After configuring the FVS318, I connected my old Wi-Fi modem in pass-through mode on the LAN side behind the firewall, so wired and wireless devices are now all behind the wall and all on the same LAN. Easy. Does a great job at a super low price.EDIT-A few more days later. Did not notice at first, but ethernet traffic has slowed down. Most noticed when streaming (Amazon Prime, Netflix etc....) the buffering is annoying.

As a security consultant, I consult people everyday on the need for a solid defense-in-depth strategy to protecting their network resources from potential attacks. The same applies to your home networks! Most broadband/HSI providers do not provide much in terms of securing "your assets", but rather, are interested in protecting their own. Often times, the perimeter equipment that is recommended (such as a typical wireless AP/router) does not really provide much in terms of security, and does nothing in terms of providing remote connectivity to resources on your home network when away.In comes the FVS318 Firewall with built-in IP Security (IPSec) Virtual Private Networking (VPN) capabilities. The appearances of this appliance seemed to meet almost all of my basic requirements ... with one key exception: NetGear does NOT provide support for remote Mac OS X clients in any of their VPN solutions and corresponding documentation. Most client OS's support VPN's (Windows XP/7, Mac OS X, Linux/Ubuntu, Android, iOS, etc.) that require a "login mechanism" for user authentication, and they utilize a secure tunnel to maintain communications. The FVS318 is really meant for a site-to-site typeo of VPN which utilizes the IPSec tunnel without any user authentication. This would be the case when two branch offices are connected together.Enough of the heavy technical details ... the problem is "how can I connect my Mac OS X computer to the FVS318 remotely?".After researching this for some time, I found two products that both work exceptionally well for the Mac environment. The first is freeware called IPSecuritas from Lobotomo Software. This comes with a preconfigured template for the FVS318. The other, which is available for a free, is called VPN Tracker. Like IPSecuritas, it also has preconfigured templates for the FVS318.So, if you are considering a security appliance to use at your home, and are concerned about the lack of Mac client software, do not worry any longer ... a solution is available to make your FVS318 work seaminglessly in your local and remote network.

I purchased this router for the 8 ports and built in firewall. Unfortunatly it never works for more than 6hours. It came with firmware v1.3. After having to reboot 3 times within 24 hours I upgrade to v1.4. Unfortunatly I had the same lockup issues. I sent an email to tech support but never received a response. I then downgraded the firmware to v1.3 and the lockups remained. This is completely unacceptable.After a call to tech support (They answered within 5 min) and an explanation of my problem they suggested that I return the router as defective.I received a second router and had the same problem. I replaced my cable modem (SB4100) with an SB3100, this helped and I was able to stay conencted for about 1 week. Then the problem returned for 2 days of headaches. A call to my ISP (Road Runner) tech support and they came out to check my signals. All they could do was replace the modem with a SB4200. The problem was still rearing its ugly head.Netgear tech support returned my email (2 weeks after sending it) and said that the SB4100 modems have had voltage problems and may be the cause. Unfortunatly changing modems didn't help and my ISP and Netgear just seem to point the finger at each other.When the router was working it seemed to perform well. The features are excellent and the interface is very good.

When I bought this product three months ago, I did not realize it was limited in it's throughput. I have a cable modem that runs at 25Mbps, but this unit is limited to 5Mbps.This information was not clear in the product write up. After I called NetGear tech support, they recommended I purchase the FVS318G model which is rated at 25Mbps.I was able to configure port routing, multiple a wireless access points through this router. However, you do have to be a tech expert to configure this device.The logs on the device are mostly useless, because the device does not have an ability to set it's internal clock. So all the logs start 2000-01-01. Since I rarely look at the logs, this doesn't bother me so much.One feature that I miss from this router is the ability to limit access on a per mac address level based on a schedule.