Customer Reviews

NETGEAR FVS124G ProSafe Gigabit VPN Firewall 25

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

As of September 16, 2005, Users are experiencing great difficulty keeping this router up and running. No word from Netgear on when firmware fix will be forthcoming but problem appears to be present since at least August 3, 2005. Google "netgear fvs124G hangup" for NETGEAR user forum discussing problems. If you buy dual-DSL for extra reliability, you will be extra disappointed with firmware lockups. I was.

The FVS124G router has multiple problems and does not work well. It does not meet many of its advertised features and performance and crashes often. The situation has been known by Netgear for over six months with no solution. Negear is unresponsive in corporate customer support for this problem and it is unlikely to be resolved. I had to purchase a different similar router from a differnent company. Netgear is unresponsive to provide refunds for this defective product.

Purchased this recently and wanted support for it not updating to daylight savings time correctly. Was told by support that the product is End of Life and limited support.

"Hello my name is Herbert and the daylight saving time was changed last year is when it went into affect. Starting one month early. Unfortunately the FVG124G is now End Of Life and no new firmware updates will be made to the product. In fact the FVG124G has limited support available.

Regards,
Herbert 5038
NETGEAR PROSAFE SUPPORT"

This router has been a great one up until July 21, 2009 when Microsoft implemented something different on their Live Messenger servers. As of that date, if any machine on your network behind this router attempts to connect to Microsoft using Live Messenger or MSN Messenger, then the FVS124G will lock up. Any connectivity to the Internet will then halt for your entire network until the FVS124G is rebooted through a power recycle.

This is a documented, known issue by both Netgear and Microsoft. Both companies point at each other to solve the problem. Netgear washes its hands of the matter, saying the FVS124G is an End Of Life product that will have no firmware update forthcoming to fix the problem. If you have or buy this unit, your only options are to get the FVS336G newer model (at $299 by the way), or stop all network computers from using any variant of Microsoft's Messenger IM client.

Netgear responsiveness has been to stonewall, which is causing many formerly happy customers to move on elsewhere for being treated so poorly...

I bought 4 of them based on the feature set and didn't read any reviews - shame on me! Newest firmware 1.30 corrects some problems, but if you enable any advanced feature (QOS, keyword blocking, load balancing), router will soon be locked up and require a reboot. Run away from this dog.

The Firewall seems to perform well when only a single WAN port is used. However, when 2 WANs are used in Load-Balancing mode with proper protocol bindings, the VPN sporadically quits. This usually requires a factory reset to remedy.

If all you want are two Internet connections then this will work fine, even in "load balancing" mode where both connections are used at the same time, or dedicated mode, when one connection is not used unless the first one fails. However, if you need to use any protocol binding (assigning a computer or a program or a protocol like SMTP to go out one specific connection), it simply doesn't work. Research it on the Netgear forums. It's mind boggling how this product got in the market place as Netgear's "ProSafe" line.

Furthermore, as another user has already reported, as of mid-2009, if MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger try to connect to the internet, this router locks up (that was GREAT fun to figure out...especially since I don't use either program). I won't say this experience has ruined my Netgear impression, but it's definitely a blemish because this product has been abandoned after a very short life span. Last firmware is 1.1.48 and it doesn't fix the protocol binding issue.