NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've applied the new flash upgrade, and performance is still quite good. Most of my comments from January still apply. Setup is quick, Citrix & terminal services work without modification, and I can connect to my main office via Cisco VPN client. Games are still working too.
As with most vendors, I suspect you'll have better compatibility if you use a Netgear WiFi NIC with this unit. I can get it to work with a Cisco Aironet NIC, but I cannot get WPA encryption to work. WEP (for what it's worth) works, but I'll probably have to spring for the corresponding Netgear NIC if I want to move to WPA.
The print server took a hit with the flash upgrade, however. Now it will only work as long as the PCs using it never reboot. If they do, you lose the connection to the print server until the firewall is rebooted. Tech support has been, um, less than helpful in resolving the issue. For that reason, my rating still stands at 4 stars. I strongly recommend you check the printer compatibility list on Netgear's site before you count on this as a print server.
A couple of other notes:
- The firewall is solid. I'm a networking guy, and I've tried to hack my way in a couple of times. Nothing's perfect, but this is a good solution in the home or very small business market. The worst I've been able to do against this unit is a denial of service, which disabled the Internet connection to my home network until I rebooted the unit.
- If you plan to use MSN Messenger 6.2 and/or Windows XP's Remote Assistance, you'll need to enable UPnP on this unit, which is a bit annoying, but more of a Microsoft issue.
- The e-mail logging is VASTLY improved over that of the previous flash. My logs are much more manageable, and the number of false-positive security alert messages is minimal.
- You can now create up to two remote access VPN tunnels with the new flash. I tried it and it works, although as a home user I can't imagine ever needing that feature. Difficult to set up, though, so unless you have a solid understanding of IPSEC VPN protocols, good luck.
Still, I believe this is a good unit for a home office. For me, combining the functions of print server, wireless access point, and hardware firewall into a single device make it worth the price.

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Netgear FR114P Firewall Cable/DSL Router with Print Server Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I read the other reviews here with some dismay before I bought this unit. I decided to go ahead with the purchase because I had spent a lot of time researching router/switch combos with print server capability and true SPI firewall capability. There are not a lot of reasonably priced options out there. In summary this unit has performed like a dream. I had two PC's, a NIC laserprinter, and a parallel port printer (via print server) all plugged in, configured with my DSL service, and all up and running in less than 30 minutes. Please note that BEFORE I purchased this unit I made 3 separate "pre-sales" calls to Netgear tech support and received what I considered to be good information in each instance (I even placed a call at 3am one morning to check if they really were 24/7). Read the installation guide from cover to cover BEFORE you actually DO anything and you will probably find (as I did) that this is a no-brainer deal.

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The Netgear FR11P ProSafe firewall/print server is a true, broadband-capable firewall that provides you with the utmost in business-class security--Denial of Service protection and intrusion detection using Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), URL access and content filtering, logging, reporting, and real-time alerts. VPN pass-through maximizes network security with access control and encryption. And a built-in print server removes the bottleneck of a dedicated PC print server and supports multiple print jobs simultaneously. With four auto sensing, switched LAN ports and Network Address Translation (NAT) routing, up to 253 users can access your broadband connection at the same time. There's even a 100 Mbps WAN port for future high-speed broadband services. Smart Wizard and Install Assistant get your network up and running in minutes, and a complete antivirus software bundle is included at no extra cost to shield your network with additional protection.

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