Customer Rating: 
Summary: Worst Netgear product I've ever owned
Comment: I read all of the reviews before I bought this and figured that surely Netgear would fix all the problems that were mentioned. I was incredibly wrong. The now two year old problem of constantly dropping WAN connection is still prevalent. I had an FWG114PV2 and I upgraded it to the latest firmware and had no problems at all for about 2 hours. Then I had to reboot the router every 5 minutes for an hour. Then it went up a bit more to 15-20 minutes each hour and then back to around 5. The longest it ever held connection was a full 18 hours which I thought was sheer magic. During the longest period of connectivity was my heaviest use as well. Both my girlfriend and I work from home and we simply pounded the router with data due to the nature of our jobs. I remember only have Pidgin. PuTTY, and Firefox with 3 tabs open during nearly 6 hours of random WAN drops. I wasn't doing anything special if I was doing anything at all. Most traffic was simple IMing and SSH traffic and nothing more.
After that debacle, I downgraded to firmware 1.2_04 (second newest, nearly a year old at this point) and it was no better. I did the same testing as before: Pidgin, PuTTY, Firefox. The connection drops were less frequent but still happened multiple times an hour. At that point, I was completely fed up and promptly filled out an Amazon return. In total, I had this piece of junk for 1 week including the UPS pick-up to my apartment. It was only in use for 2 days and I didn't even get to test out the print server functionality but I too figured that it wouldn't work worth what this thing costs.
As a replacement, I dusted off my old WRT54GL that FON sent me nearly three years ago and flashed it with dd-wrt. Since then, the router has been rebooted two times by me and only had a dropped WAN connection once...when my DHCP lease renewed itself.
I gave this piece of junk 2 stars simply because the case is made of metal and not cheap plastic like the rest of consumer-level networking products.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Works Perfectly
Comment: Having read the other reviews, I guess I've been really lucky. I almost didn't buy this unit, but since I owned a previous version that supported parallel printers, I thought I'd give it a try.
I don't use many features of the firewall, except I filter all incoming requests. But after finding out I needed to reboot the cable modem router, the FMG114P worked perfectly as a wireless router. The range is just sufficient to reach from 1 corner of the house on the 1st floor, to the extreme opposite corner on the 2nd floor. Probably about 60'. My old router was a B, this is a G. I haven't noticed it "feeling" much fast.
Connecting my Cannon iP4300 could not have been any easier. There was no software to install for Windows 2000. I just run a simple 3 step process to create a TCP/IP printer port and its worked perfectly. I do have a printer manager application that pops up saying the printer isn't responding, yet the printer starts up and does what it needs to do. I suspect its just a timeout since I'm not sure the drive knows that the printer isn't directly connected to the computer and isn't expecting a response immediately. Anyway, I ignore the message and it quickly goes away. (The router documentation warns that this may happen).
All in all. Its was a perfect replacement for its older sibling and luckily I didn't need tech support.
BTW, this was version 2.
Customer Rating:
Summary: My two cents
Comment: I have been using Netgear products for several years, and the FWG114P for over a year. I have about 20 of these in the field. They operate in extreme weather conditions (encased in polystyrene) as well as offices. It is currently my overall router of choice.
PROS
-Great all around router for the money
-Easy to configure with lots of options
-DHCP server is rock solid
-Rubber Ducky antenna is removable with standard SMA connector
-Supports VPN
-Supports WEP and WPA
-Works extremely well with wireless broadband internet
CONS
-Need to upgrade to latest version of software (1.07) if it's not already on there
-Versions 1.03 and earlier have internet disconnect problems
-Doesn't seem to play well with all versions of PPPoE (will drop internet connections even at latest version of software).
-Have had some compatibility problems when using site blocking
-Needs to be able to block by IP as well as site name/text strings
Overall I am very pleased with this router, although it doesn't seem to work in 100% of the situations. I'm not sure any of them do, actually.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Zero Support
Comment: Netgear is absolutely the WORST tech support/customer service I have ever had the misery of encountering. It doesn't exist. So if you think you'll ever need any tech support or customer service, don't buy this product!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great device but Don't count on India-Tech Support
Comment: This is going to be my second FWG114P I'll be purchasing. Netgear has package a great device... combination Print Server/FireWall solution. I found it simple to configure and maintian... Recommend to update to the latest software rev. immediately before configuration. Once you have configured your device to your liking... remember to back up your settings!
Now the review... It has been my experience with the Netgear wireless devices will only last between 2-3 years. I previously owned a FR114W with a wireless adapter.. this was good for almost 3 years (2004). I called support and after challenging their INDIA Tech Support for days/weeks and 3 RMA's later, I finally, got a new product not a Refurbished one after complaining! I decided to go with the FWG114P keeping the FR114W as a backup. Thank goodness for that else I wouldn't be able to write this review today... Great device until just recently... Again the Wireless component after 2 years went bad...challanged INDIA Tech Support to begin the RMA Merry-go-Round... After several blind action items including, rebooting the worksation, router, disconnecting the power from the wall and ISP connection and finally flashing to the latest software revision (This must be scripted the engineers I worked with were clueless) and 2 1/2 hours later they determined the device just went bad and the RMA was finally issued.
I really like the product but don't count on the India Support and don't count on the device to last more than 2-3 years. One clue... Once you finish playing with India support and if you have gotten no where... DEMAND! "ONSHORE Level 2 support". This will get routed to California... here you stand a better chance of resolution. I did...less than 30 min. and I got the RMA. If anyone knows of another Print server/FW all-n-one device like this one please respond I would recommend a change to a more reliable device.
Summary: Worst Netgear product I've ever owned
Comment: I read all of the reviews before I bought this and figured that surely Netgear would fix all the problems that were mentioned. I was incredibly wrong. The now two year old problem of constantly dropping WAN connection is still prevalent. I had an FWG114PV2 and I upgraded it to the latest firmware and had no problems at all for about 2 hours. Then I had to reboot the router every 5 minutes for an hour. Then it went up a bit more to 15-20 minutes each hour and then back to around 5. The longest it ever held connection was a full 18 hours which I thought was sheer magic. During the longest period of connectivity was my heaviest use as well. Both my girlfriend and I work from home and we simply pounded the router with data due to the nature of our jobs. I remember only have Pidgin. PuTTY, and Firefox with 3 tabs open during nearly 6 hours of random WAN drops. I wasn't doing anything special if I was doing anything at all. Most traffic was simple IMing and SSH traffic and nothing more.
After that debacle, I downgraded to firmware 1.2_04 (second newest, nearly a year old at this point) and it was no better. I did the same testing as before: Pidgin, PuTTY, Firefox. The connection drops were less frequent but still happened multiple times an hour. At that point, I was completely fed up and promptly filled out an Amazon return. In total, I had this piece of junk for 1 week including the UPS pick-up to my apartment. It was only in use for 2 days and I didn't even get to test out the print server functionality but I too figured that it wouldn't work worth what this thing costs.
As a replacement, I dusted off my old WRT54GL that FON sent me nearly three years ago and flashed it with dd-wrt. Since then, the router has been rebooted two times by me and only had a dropped WAN connection once...when my DHCP lease renewed itself.
I gave this piece of junk 2 stars simply because the case is made of metal and not cheap plastic like the rest of consumer-level networking products.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Works Perfectly
Comment: Having read the other reviews, I guess I've been really lucky. I almost didn't buy this unit, but since I owned a previous version that supported parallel printers, I thought I'd give it a try.
I don't use many features of the firewall, except I filter all incoming requests. But after finding out I needed to reboot the cable modem router, the FMG114P worked perfectly as a wireless router. The range is just sufficient to reach from 1 corner of the house on the 1st floor, to the extreme opposite corner on the 2nd floor. Probably about 60'. My old router was a B, this is a G. I haven't noticed it "feeling" much fast.
Connecting my Cannon iP4300 could not have been any easier. There was no software to install for Windows 2000. I just run a simple 3 step process to create a TCP/IP printer port and its worked perfectly. I do have a printer manager application that pops up saying the printer isn't responding, yet the printer starts up and does what it needs to do. I suspect its just a timeout since I'm not sure the drive knows that the printer isn't directly connected to the computer and isn't expecting a response immediately. Anyway, I ignore the message and it quickly goes away. (The router documentation warns that this may happen).
All in all. Its was a perfect replacement for its older sibling and luckily I didn't need tech support.
BTW, this was version 2.
Customer Rating:
Summary: My two cents
Comment: I have been using Netgear products for several years, and the FWG114P for over a year. I have about 20 of these in the field. They operate in extreme weather conditions (encased in polystyrene) as well as offices. It is currently my overall router of choice.
PROS
-Great all around router for the money
-Easy to configure with lots of options
-DHCP server is rock solid
-Rubber Ducky antenna is removable with standard SMA connector
-Supports VPN
-Supports WEP and WPA
-Works extremely well with wireless broadband internet
CONS
-Need to upgrade to latest version of software (1.07) if it's not already on there
-Versions 1.03 and earlier have internet disconnect problems
-Doesn't seem to play well with all versions of PPPoE (will drop internet connections even at latest version of software).
-Have had some compatibility problems when using site blocking
-Needs to be able to block by IP as well as site name/text strings
Overall I am very pleased with this router, although it doesn't seem to work in 100% of the situations. I'm not sure any of them do, actually.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Zero Support
Comment: Netgear is absolutely the WORST tech support/customer service I have ever had the misery of encountering. It doesn't exist. So if you think you'll ever need any tech support or customer service, don't buy this product!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great device but Don't count on India-Tech Support
Comment: This is going to be my second FWG114P I'll be purchasing. Netgear has package a great device... combination Print Server/FireWall solution. I found it simple to configure and maintian... Recommend to update to the latest software rev. immediately before configuration. Once you have configured your device to your liking... remember to back up your settings!
Now the review... It has been my experience with the Netgear wireless devices will only last between 2-3 years. I previously owned a FR114W with a wireless adapter.. this was good for almost 3 years (2004). I called support and after challenging their INDIA Tech Support for days/weeks and 3 RMA's later, I finally, got a new product not a Refurbished one after complaining! I decided to go with the FWG114P keeping the FR114W as a backup. Thank goodness for that else I wouldn't be able to write this review today... Great device until just recently... Again the Wireless component after 2 years went bad...challanged INDIA Tech Support to begin the RMA Merry-go-Round... After several blind action items including, rebooting the worksation, router, disconnecting the power from the wall and ISP connection and finally flashing to the latest software revision (This must be scripted the engineers I worked with were clueless) and 2 1/2 hours later they determined the device just went bad and the RMA was finally issued.
I really like the product but don't count on the India Support and don't count on the device to last more than 2-3 years. One clue... Once you finish playing with India support and if you have gotten no where... DEMAND! "ONSHORE Level 2 support". This will get routed to California... here you stand a better chance of resolution. I did...less than 30 min. and I got the RMA. If anyone knows of another Print server/FW all-n-one device like this one please respond I would recommend a change to a more reliable device.
NETGEAR FWG114P ProSafe 802.11g Wireless VPN Firewall 4-Port 10/100 Switch with USB Server Reviews: Page 2 of 3
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