Netgear FVS318 10/100 Mbps 8-Port VPN/Firewall Router

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Tried using this to put together an Ubuntu based cluster, would not communicate. Not enough support for linux based systems. Might work on Windows based systems, but did not try.

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I bought the router expecting to use it as a local area network LAN to share files between 4 PC without the need to access the internet. I am not sure if I needed the CD that came with it. I used the CD to read the installation instructions because the manual was not detail enough. All I did was skip the instructions that refer to the DSL cable modem, I do not have one, and plug in Ethernet cables into 2 computers and the router and follow network wizard for setting up home office network on all computers. I played with it awhile by shutting down and restarting until the icons for 2 computers were listed in My Network Places. It worked without having to buy the other product $50 ? I am happy it worked for what I wanted to do. I will worry later when I buy DSL modem for the internet and VPN setup.

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RIP OFF!! You can only use the VPN if you have the netgear client software which is not included and is an additional $55 US (per computer) through netgears website. Due to the VPN setup, you cannot use the built-in Windows/Mac VPNN client (what a scam). Also the support at Netgear is probably the worst I've dealt with as an IT professional.

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Have used this router for 5 years and had very good performance. Netgear service also helped me when I had a problem with Windows XP networking. One down side is that the throughput is limited to about 7mb. I just upgraded to 12mb service, and the router is the bottleneck.

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I purchased two of these to use between my office and home. Netgear is my favorite vendor and makes quality hardware. The FVS318 is just to slow. Do yourself a favor and step up to the FVS336G. Lightning fast, rock solid and totally quiet. Cons: Biggest DRAWBACK is the LIMITED WAN to LAN thruput. Netgear does not specifically list this specification like some other Netgear routers but in my case I could not get more than 5.5MB either up or down. This would seem to KILL any recommendation for this router as it is left in the past as cheap faster rates are offered. Other Thoughts: Comcast could not find a problem for lower speeds so I bypassed Router completely and my rates shot up to over 20MB down and 10MB up. Router has been problem all along.

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This is a follow up on my rather negative review dated Sep 14, 2006. I now give this router a five. But I do so hesitantly as it took them 3 years to come up with a firmware upgrade to finally fix the visible port 113 problem. This issue is now fixed by this belated firware update.------------------------------------------------ Now I can concentrate on the positive. I only used the router as a plain wired ethernet device and didn't try VPN or any other feature; but I really like the strictly business design of this and other Netgear routers. This firewall now is completely stealthy to the internet and does a fantastic job of blocking unwarranted incoming traffic. I am now using wireless, and have consigned this router to my friend, who is clueless about computers and the internet, and he has already figured out how to set it up, and is now surfing along famously! Great product!! Too bad it took so long to update!

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Good: Low cost. Metal housing. Small brick. Power switch on back. Good indicators on front. Bad: Has severe compatibility issues with same units with different firmware and hardware revs. This has been a severe problem for us as we have deployed this unit in many remote locations over time resulting in a mix of product revisions in the field. Does not play well with other Netgear VPN routers such as the prior model, FVS328, which actually had more features and seemed to work better. Seems unable to perform ''keep alive'' (dead peer detection) reliably. Many of our connections, some on fixed IP T1 lines just will not stay up and will not handle keep alive. Tunnels often take a long time to come up or restore. Fails to create VPN tunnels completely on some home internet connections having nothing to do with line quality. Limited to 8 tunnels. Interface is very clumsy and painfully slow over a remote administration connection. We will likely have to replace them all.

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I upgraded to this router from the RT311. The 311 served me just fine for many years, but it was beginning to show it's age. The Netgear website listed this as the replacement for the 311 and also claimed increased performance. Replacing the 311 with this router was simple and quick but I saw no performance improvement at all. Straight out of the network I could get 29mbits but through the 318 I would see only about 5~6. With another PC sharing the port, throughput fell to below 3m bits. I returned it for the Linksys RV042

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WILL NOT WORK WITH AOL, NETGEAR COSTOMER SERVICE NOT NICE OR HELPFULL.

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I have bought several of these over the years, and used most of them. 1 of them wigged out after a couple of years, but it was easy enough to go pick one up at the store while waiting for the RMA. They're great and easy setup for low grade vpn wan links. I'd like to see faster than 350-400 vpn thruput but that's what you get for this price range. For this price, it's a great buy, easy to configure, does what it says, and doesn't have to be reset very often. It gets a 5 for value, lower for performance.

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I bought the FVS318 v1 for my Radio Station CAYA Radio. All the port forward features worked great and were easy to set up following the directions at www.portforward.com. The only problem / thing I get that I don't like, is about every 24 hours, it drops a UDP packet and my audio streams drop for about 2 seconds and have to reconnect. Otherwise, Great router and easy to use

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This might make a good door stop--I doubt it. Just try to do port Forwarding on this. At best the directions are arcane. I just spent all day and it still does not work. I had D-Link previously and had no problems with this. Just try to get any help from Netgear--right. I think that I will throw this in the trash and go buy a D-link.

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I have been using FVS318V2 for years, and it was very good. However, recently we upgraded to FVS318V3 (firmware 3.0.24), and just after running for several days, all computers on the LAN got disconnected for no reasons and I couldn't ping the router. Without reset the modem, I rebooted the FVS318V3 router and everything is back to normal. This happens AGAIN after several days. I posted the problem on NetGear forum, and no solution. They only solution is to go back to my FVS318V2. Read the label on the box if you buy.

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I have been running two of these routers (v.3) 24/7 with my web-server on it, and all kinds of wired and wireless stuff connected to it, and one more I had installed at work 3 years ago (v. 1) with over 50 wired computers on the network and many more wireless through access-points, File servers, VPN and putting all kinds of loads on it and never had a problem with any of them. Once the one at work died after 2 and half years due to a huge power surge and Netgear replaced it with v.3. I love this router so much that I have all mine on UPS now along with the servers (My UPS had some headroom)!!! The very best router for the price! Very robust and reliable, and you set the settings and rules for everything and then you almost never have to do it again!!!

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This is my first hardware firewall router, I've only used it for a couple of weeks but it's been working great. I wanted to add some additional security to my software firewall on the server. I was worried that it would not work with Vonage using the linksys PAP2, but I connected it up and it worked fine right after configuring the router. Great unit so far, I intend to buy another. DHCP & NAT works great too!

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For what its worth, I have the original FVS318 model bought and installed back in Oct 2002. Have upgraded firmware twice with no trouble following their instructions. Online support fantastic and was just browsing to upgrade to a 10-port model if available. Very reliable, but as other reviewer said, confirm version number - mine only allows firmware update to V2.4. I'd suspect this has to be a Version 2 or 3. Version 1 is EOL.

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I bought one of these locally to replace a Watchguard X1000 that died. I was able to configure the Netgear in about 30 minutes to support two VPN's we use to connect remote sites. I'm going to buy one for my home office network. Be sure to buy version 3 hardware.

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Great unit, great price. I am back to purchase 3 more. Love it Love it Love it. So easy to use. Replacing Cisco PIX 501 which are a BEAR to setup.

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I just purchased this for a customer of mine and works great. The only thing you have to watch out for is the version of firmware as this one has ver 2.4 and is not upgradable to ver 3.0 Be aware of the version on the box before you buy!

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Bought this to replace my old Linksys Router which didn't offer SPI protection. The FVS318 is far superior thanks to its easy setup and advanced features such as its firewall and port filtering capabilities. Most importantly, I noticed no performance degradation in using this router with its firewall turned on. As the other reviewer noted, you can't go wrong at this price.