NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25

by Netgear

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0009RH7E6
• Item model number: FVS124G
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall offers: Four auto-sensing gigabit ports for extreme speed. Two WAN ports for failover protection. 25 dedicated VPN tunnels for secure data transmission. Stateful Packet Inspection firewall and NAT for security.

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.

Two WAN ports offers network continuity in case one connection fails. View larger.

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.

Product Description

"Extend enterprise class protection, performance, and reliability to remote office workers. The ProSafe Dual WAN Gigabit Firewall Router provides powerful yet economical security for businesses coping with the increasing performance demands and complexities of intra-LAN network protection. Dual 10/100 WAN ports let you connect a second link to your ISP or headquarters office, providing failover protection. A Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, 3DES and 256-bit AES encryption, IPSec support, anti-virus options, and up to 25 IPSec VPN tunnels assures safe network computing. High Reliability: Featuring two 10/100 Mbps WAN ports and four Gigabit LAN ports, advanced networking features like QoS and dynamic routing, the ProSafe Dual WAN Gigabit Firewall Router is ideal for your growing network. Management capabilities through SNMP or web browser minimize on-site support requirements. NETGEAR’s timesaving VPN Wizard and SmartWizard™ simplify setup and VPN administration. Big company features at small company prices–that’s NETGEAR value! Gigabit power for mission critical networks requiring high bandwidth availability. Dual WAN ports for maximum Internet connectivity. You can use both ports at the same time, and let the router balance your office’s requirements between them for maximum bandwidth efficiency. Fast Performance: Get high-speed performance. Four auto-sensing 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN ports offer gigabit connectivity, creating high-speed links for servers and workstations—or, use it as a backbone for high-speed switches. Hardware-based encryption offloads the router CPU, accelerating your VPN connections.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works pretty well for me..., June 30, 2006

By 

C. Helsel (South Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25 (Personal Computers)

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!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Firmware not up to snuff, September 21, 2005

By 

J. Domingue - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25 (Personal Computers)

I purchased this router as an upgrade to a Linksys RV042 because I needed the QoS feature for VoIP.

Unfortunately it seems that there are significant problems with the firmware which cause the router to lockup for unknown reasons in a variety of configurations.

There is a long thread on this issue in the public Netgear support forums, and while Netgear is aware of the issue there seems to be no ETA for a fix. As of the time of this writing, the latest firmware is 1.1.21 (beta) and it does not fix this issue.

I am hoping that Netgear can clear this problem up. When the router was up and running it seemed to work just fine. If you don't need QoS, I'd recommend the Linksys RV042. If you do need QoS, hold off on this one until the firmware issues have been fixed. Make sure to check out the Netgear support forums first. If you can't wait, have a look at the Xincom Dual-Wan routers.. the DPG503 is the most similar in features.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This product is not worth the hassle, December 14, 2005

By 

David Burger - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25 (Personal Computers)

As a reseller of Netgear products I thought I would try this out, its definitely NOT worth the money, I purchased this product back in August and have had various problems with it ever since I got it. They finally have the firmware up to par but now I'm having issues with it saving the static IP addressing I use. Forget about tech support they are worthless it takes 3 to 4 days or longer in some cases to get a response. I do not recommend this product, it seems that NETGEAR was in too big a hurry to get this product out on the market and really didn't do a good job of testing it. Buyer beware!!!! Spend a few extra bucks and get something better like 3com.