Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I decided to try purchasing this product even with all the negative reviews (since they were a little old) and needless to say the reviews have made me quite cautious about looking for performance and connectivity problems, but so far, other than initial setup problems it's been working well (only going on two days).
My first impression is that the device is pretty well-built (heavy) however it does get a little hot... I'm using the router with an Adelphia cable modem on WAN port 1 and BellSouth DSL on WAN port 2. The product mostly works right out of the box although you'll have to find where to set the password and change it from the defaults (I don't know why router manufacturers don't make this the first thing you have to do).
I attached my cable modem and was able to successfully connect through the router. I then attached my DSL modem and changed the internal WAN MODE setting to "Load Balance". Everything seemed to work well except WAN 2 kept being reported as DOWN... very frustrated and nervous about the reviews that I had seen I decided to call Netgear tech support... after registering the product I was quickly connected to a technician who walked me through the proper setup... turns out that I needed to change the default IP address of the router as it was conflicting with the DSL modem... I also ended up changing the IP address on my wireless router and disabling DHCP (on the wireless)...
So far so good...
I downloaded a torrent of CentOS4DVD to test the performance and sure enough I was able to realize the combined download bandwidth of both broadband connections... I also checked my remote web server access logs and saw requests for a page coming from both my Adelphia and BellSouth IP addresses... so I know load balancing is working properly... I attempted some SSL transactions and they seemed to work ok... I'm still not 100% certain how things will work with sites that use IP address verification to control sessions... so I'll have to wait and see.
I don't use VoIP and don't run a server from home but so far I can say that I am quite pleased... I hope this review helps somebody else.
******************* FOLLOW-UP TWO MONTHS LATER *****************
I've had enough time with the Netgear FVS124G to discover its warts... simply put... protocol binding does NOT work, at least when you're trying to bind a service to a specific wan port and destination network... so far I've been elevated to Level 3 support with no resolution... I'm sure that "level 3" just means the guy in the next cubicle but it sounds impressive... FYI, for anyone in a similar situation I'm using firmware 1.33... I would still recommend the Netgear as long as your routing needs don't get *too* sophisticated... and if the Netgear ironed out the bugs in its firmware it would be perfect... the only other device I've found that performs the same features and more is the PepLink Balance 200... but it costs four times as much!
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The NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall offers enterprise-level protection, performance, and reliability to remote workers. With dual 10/100 WAN ports, you can connect a second network connection thereby providing failover protection.
Fast Gigabit Performance The FVS124G has four auto-sensing 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN ports for gigabit speeds, allowing for speedy connections between servers and workstations, and also for use as a backbone for switches.
High-class Security For businesses that require more than just a simple NAT router, the FVS124G offers significantly more protection. It provides: a Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall to prevent Denial of Service attacks, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), the ability to block Java/URL/ActiveX based on extension, and FTP/SMTP/RPC program filtering.
The FVS124G is VPNC tested and features 25 dedicated VPN tunnels for secure data transmission over the Internet. IPSec-based 256-bit (AES) encryption is also supported.
Easy Setup NETGEAR's Smart Wizard makes installation a breeze. A VPN wizard lets you create rules that allow up to 253 remote PCs or sites to connect from locations with IP addresses that are not known in advance. Additionally, SNMP support provides complete remote administration and monitoring. DHCP and PPPoE support makes widespread deployment simple.
The NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall is backed by a 3-year warranty.
What's in the Box FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall, ethernet cable, installation guide, resource CD, warranty/support information card.
Click here for more information about NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25
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