User Rating: 
8/10
Works well for meby noahf19 - August 24, 2005
Pros: Really easy to configure
Cons: Firmware updates have been uneven
Review:
I have used this tool for a few years now, and have been careful to update firmware as necessary. Over time the quality has improved with better firmware. At some point the vendor went with a larger CPU in the v3 product which created a disconnect in firmware support. I am seeing a 40% reduction in bandwidth before and after the firewall so I may consider a newer product soon.
User Rating: 8/10
Simple to configureby northcountry - August 1, 2005
Pros: Solid and Reliable
Cons: Not found any yet
Review:
Simply outstanding value. The router is very simple to configure with browser based config and a setup wizard that auto senses you DSL connection making life so much easier. The online support is good and I found all the information I needed from the netgear.com site
User Rating: 
2/10
Horrible Tech Supportby gatorback - June 8, 2005
Pros: VPN functionality and inexpensive
Cons: Horrible Tech Support $$$ grubbeers
Review:
While this does seem to provide VPN functionality. Their support is horrible and once in VPN mode, you use the web browser. They do not provide a client (more $$$). I should have bought the Linksys.
User Rating: 
3/10
Don't Buy This Productby sgrady - March 11, 2005
Pros: Price But You Pay With No Decent Customer Service
Cons: Customer Service Unit Crashes
Review:
For several months this worked without a problem but now it continues to crash on our small business network. There troubleshooting guide is confusing and don't try to call customer support unless you are prepared to wait for a long time. I am going back to linksys where customer service is excellent
User Rating: 
5/10
Think Twice!by - January 7, 2005
Pros: -Lots of good features. -Very easy to set up -8 ports simplifies cable management -VPN pass-through works well -Price not out of reach for hobbyist -Holds up against Sygate and Symantec portscan
Cons: - Tucks tail and reboots when put up against ShieldsUp portscan. THIS IS A SERIOUS SECURITY FLAW. Applies to Rev 2 hardware and firmware 2.4.
Review:
User Rating: 
1/10
Poor operation, and firmware upgrade kills itby - October 28, 2004
Pros: Looks pretty, installs fine.
Cons: Network connections kept blinking on on off so I upgraded the firmware to 2.4 from Netgear's Web site. Totally fried the unit, to the point that you couldn't logon to the firewall itself(e.g. to downgrade the firmware). Netgear tech support (with quite in
Review:
User Rating: 8/10
Works like a charm. No problems!by - September 10, 2004
Pros: Easy to install, easy to configure, no maintenance, inexpensive, works like a charm, passes every firewall scan with 100% rating.
Cons: Haven't found any for our application.
Review:
User Rating: 8/10
Got a bad oneby - December 30, 2003
Pros: When it worked for the first week it was great.
Cons: After that I had to do a hard boot every 4 hrs, then two hrs, then every hr. Updated the firmware and followed the knowledge base suggestions but it's just defective. I have not even had it for a month so we'll see what Zipzoomfly is going to do about it.
Review:
User Rating: 
9/10
It Does What It Is Suppose To....by - October 17, 2003
Pros: I know that a lot of people have complained about this product, but from my view this is unwarranted. This box has improved with subsequent firmware upgrades, but I have been please with its performance for over two years.
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Review:
User Rating: 8/10
This Unit works great - especially for the priceby - September 2, 2003
Pros: Netgear equipment has always proven very reliable - and I have found the same for this VPN router. I read all of the reviews and basically find that most people just didn't do the research on VPN's and/or don't read the manuals. This unit is great and wil
Cons: No trial VPN client software on the CD - but after searching the site, I found that they support SafeNet's SoftRemote vpn client. This client is VERY good and I recommend as well.
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User Rating: 
4/10
Hey, lets reboot ourselevesby - August 2, 2003
Pros: Decent features, good vpn with our checkpoint boxes, port scanning it with good tools proved the fw worked
Cons: with all that being said, the boxes rebooted themselves over, and over - every 10 -15 minutes - NG level 1, 2, & eng couldn't solve it - after denying it exsisted for far too long. Sent all 80 back - bye bye forever NG
Review:
User Rating: 1/10
Not 4 Gamers, 2 much packet lossby - April 17, 2003
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The router works but obviously was put to market before it was ready. The firmware upgrades v1.3 still doesn't fix it's issues with packet loss. If your a gamer and don't have a need for VPN or robust firewall I suggest the cheap Netgear RP614 Router.
User Rating: 3/10
NOT READY FOR PRIME TIMEby - March 23, 2003
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We have tried using two fvs318 firewalls as an intermediate firewalls (DMZ) for port routing between ISA servers and we have found that all three units exhibit different degrees of problems such as lost packets, VPN connections and decreased throughput. After extensive lab testing with all three fvs318s placed between two servers we have discovered all three lose many packets and even stop functioning for up to 15 seconds at a time. It almost appears that the unit?s processors may be locking-up or overloading or there is some very flakey firmware or hardware component in all three units.
User Rating: 8/10
Simple small solutionby - March 22, 2003
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Recently installed an FVS318 for a client, replacing a bad GNet IP0006. The FVS318 worked perfectly out of the box. Following the lengthy document for creating XP - FVS318 VPN worked without a hitch. It's a nice touch to see that they mention they support SafeNet. Remote admin is just fine for saving me time and money. The router's been on for some months now, and hasn't required rebooting at all, even though the site performs heavy uploads and downloads. Configurable Pro-Safe firewall is a breeze too. It all worked straight from the box, and hasn't gone down yet. I was actually under time configuring this router by 75% !! My client's also happy with it, especially with the NetGear design, which he feels is robust looking and instills confidence in him. I'm a staunch NetGear user/supplier and highly rate their products on average. Commenting on other comments here, the router supports VPN from desktops, you don't need another FVS318, and you don't need SSH, SafeNet or any similar products if you are using XP (2K too I presume). We've also received no problems on SSL sites either, and my client is a real estate lawyer, so they use plenty. I would like to see a little more, and user-friendly configuration for the firewall however. In general this is a top product with a good warranty. I highly recommend it, and all Pro/Safes.
User Rating: 5/10
DSL Support really bitesby - March 18, 2003
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For a small business, I recommended that they purchase one FVS318 per site to create a simple two-node VPN tunnel. When they arrived, I sent one out preconfigured for that location, and when it was setup, I setup the other FVS318 at my home and built a VPN tunnel between our two sites - we were both on cable modems. Happy that it was working, I sent the other router down to the other location preconfigured for their IP setup, and nothing. They were on DSL. When 1.3 firmware was released, I found to my dismay that all settings in the FVS318 had to be manualy reset (hold down the reset button and turn it on after a ROM flash). This makes remote support a B!TCH. I still can't get VPN tunnels to establish between a DSL and a Cable installation. Elsewhere on the internet today, I just read that it seems to help, for no explainable reason, to put an old ethernet hub between a DSL modem and the FVS318. This makes no sense to me or the posters, but several people seemed to confirm that it worked, so I'll try that. Netgear tech support bites big horse butt.
User Rating: 9/10
Not a Complete Solution!by - March 18, 2003
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This is a great product with excellent functionality. It is very easy to install and configure just like what Netgear is known for. However, the way the product is marketed is very misleading. It does not provide the complete VPN solution. You need to either purchase another FVS318 or purchase an IPSec compatible VPN client like SSH Sentinel. Either way, it is going to cost an additional $150. This was very frustrating to discover. In terms of the product itself, it is great and reliable.
User Rating: 8/10
Amazing capability in one unitby - March 6, 2003
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I replaced my aging RT311 and an FS108 with this unit and it worked first time, it's faster and the web interface is nice. Also with V1.3 firmware, I get auto logon to my cable provider.
User Rating: 8/10
Great Product - Deserves a better ratingby - February 20, 2003
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I've had this product up and running for a few months now and it's been fine. Set up was a snap, and it's been totally reliable. Don't worry about the comments regarding the failure to work with SSL, (check the note by kb on 12/7/2002) if you spend a little time with it and configure it correctly you should have no problems.
User Rating: 4/10
Never worked at SSL and Emailby - January 25, 2003
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As per another comment on this site, I never got this to work with certain SSL sites or email (earhtlink using a secure server). This is the second Netgear product that did not work. I have a 4 port hub that lasted about 1 year before losing one of its ports and having the uplink fail. So I am 1 of 3 on my Netgear. I even broke down and bought Microsoft hardware for fear that the Netgear equivalent would not work. I do not expect to purchase another Netgear product soon. But pehaps in this "high flying" technology boom we are experiencing (LOL) they just don't care. Oh BTW, my Netgear print server does not work either (it ignores most TCP/IP protocols and defaults to NETBUI. Only tech support could make it work (after going through a totally counter intuitive and against their reference materials instructions.
User Rating: 
10/10
excellent value, everything works great right out of the box!by - January 25, 2003
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This product provides everything you need in one unit. The firewall and VPN worked flawlessly right out of the box. I am not sure what the previous poster was talking about not being able to view SSL sites for email/banking. I do both at many sites with no problems on many different machines. I have a wireless access point behind the firewall, as well as Windows 2k, 98, and NT machines, and even a couple Linux servers. All were up and running in 20 minutes!
User Rating: 9/10
DOES WORK AS PROMISED -- GREAT FEATURESby - January 22, 2003
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Again another excellent product from the friendly helpful people at NetGear. This is not my first NetGear purchase and it most certainly won't be my last. I have other, more expensive toys at work, and the NetGear comes pretty close performance-wise given it's lower cost. With most products if you are unwilling or incapable of READING the directions you will likely have problems. Chalk up most of the negative reviews on this site to illiteracy or the ever present national trend to remain willfully ignorant. FVS318 setup is a snap. (A snap, for you illiterate types is a reference to a short duration of time) FVS318 plays well with others. FVS318 handles load well. FVS318 is EXCELLENT bang for your buck.
User Rating: 8/10
Great box for small VPNby - December 20, 2002
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The only problem I had was that I had to order five of these to get three good ones (the other two died within 24 hours). However, Netgear's 5-year hardware warranty should cover those situations, and the working ones have never even burped. You get more than you might expect with this box. SPI firewall, remote administration, flawless DHCP performance and very flexible configuration. Eight LAN ports don't care whether you use straight-thru or crossover cables. VPN works box to box (use the WAN MAC addresses for IPSec identifiers!), PC to box (Win2K IPSec, SSH Sentinel). Use PCAnywhere to get inside your LAN with 3DES encryption.
User Rating: 1/10
VPN Doesn't work unless you have another FVS318by - December 10, 2002
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VPN interoperability is almost non existant. I rang netscreen technical support and was told that VPN tunnels can only be established between FVS318 devices. Why even mention IPSEC on the box if your implementation of it is so unique that it works with nothing else ?
User Rating: 8/10
RTFFAQ peopleby - December 7, 2002
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2 seconds on netgears website garnered this info: Question: Why won?t I be able to access a secure web page (SSL) using the NETGEAR router FVS318? Answer: The firewall may block some SSL web page, if the default setting for ?Turn Keyword Blocking On? is on. This problem may arise even if you do not enter any keyword. Resolution: To resolve this issue follow the steps given below: 1. Log in to the FVS318 router using web browser. 2. Click on Blocked Sites listed under ?Security? at the left. 3. Uncheck the ?Turn Keyword Blocking On? box. 4. Click apply. 5. Log out from the router. You will now be able to access the secure web pages. Document ID: N100823.htm
User Rating: 3/10
Online Banking & E-mail problems.by - December 4, 2002
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This product does not support the SSL sockets on "certain web sites" like YAHOO MAIL!! or HOTMAIL!! Did I also mention BANKING ONLINE?!! Netgear?s fix to this problem is set up one machine on your network and open up SSL associated ports. Well it will work but only for one user. This means if you have several users on you network all your users will have physically go to that one machine to check their e-mail or do online banking. This is UNACCEPTABLE especially when other product like Linksys VPN DSL router, which I got after returning my Netgear VPN router works. The latest firmware to date 12/5/02 does not have a fix for this problem and according to customer support no fix is in sight. Beware, do your research on the web. Many users of this product have this problem. On a positive note, I do own a Netgear switch and is EXCELLENT!
User Rating: 4/10
Not exceptional, no supportby - November 25, 2002
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This seemed to be the answer to provide first line defense in connecting to the public internet while providing a protected tunnel into the home network. However the product has a couple of problems. The auto configure for WAN ports does not work if you happen to get an address into the setup screens, and the only way to clear the problem is to perform a hardware reset (which means completely reconfiguring the device). In addition, when I had problems with VPN, I was told I would have to pay ($28.00/call) to resolve any issues. There is very little useful information in the company knowlege base (web access), mostly answers to sales questions and very little technical info. It is likely there are products available which include support for a little more money.
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