NETGEAR FM114P ProSafe 4-Port Wireless Firewall

Average customer rating: 3.5

So far, so good.
Look elsewhere first...
Print Server doesn't work
broke down the 3rd time. I give up (although under warranty
Not a bad product, but...

Listmania:

Home Networking

NETGEAR FM114P ProSafe 4-Port Wireless Firewall

Manufacturer: Netgear
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B00006B9HR

Related Categories:

Routers

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Wireless Networks

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Other Networks

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802.11b Standard

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Routers

Print Servers

Routers

Print Servers

Product Description

Could there possibly be a more complete office tool than this? NETGEAR's ProSafe 802.11b Firewall delivers everything you could want in one mega-capable unit: router, switch, print server, Wi-Fi certified wireless access point, and firewall. This fully equipped, broadband-capable firewall is a true firewall and provides you with the utmost in business class security - Denial of Service (Dos) 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. And a built-in print server allows you to share a printer on your network without leaving your PC on. With 4 auto-sensing, switched LAN ports and Network Address Translation (NAT) routing, up to 253 users can access your broadband connection at the same time - including as many as 32 wireless users, which avoids the hassle of running additional cabling. Smart Wizard and Install Assistant get your network up and running in minutes.

Amazon.com Product Description

Netgear's ProSafe 802.11b firewall delivers everything you could want in one mega-capable unit: router, switch, print server, Wi-Fi certified wireless access point, and firewall. This fully equipped, broadband-capable firewall is a true firewall and 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. And a built-in print server lets you share a printer on your network without leaving your PC on. 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--including as many as 32 wireless users, which avoids the hassle of running additional cabling. Smart Wizard and Install Assistant get your network up and running in minutes. There's also a complete antivirus software bundle included at no extra cost to shield your network with additional protection.

Customer Reviews:

So far, so good........2004-11-05

Just bought from EBAY a re-furbished unit, but came in a complete new package. When I saw the 2002 date code I was worried. But once its set up, its working better than my older Linksys. I bought the FM114P for the wireless printer server. I loaded the Printer server software from CD and load the HP officejet, then up it worked. I am amazed. Also got on Netgear.com and downloaded Version 1.5 firmware, it took a while to come up, its also working.
So I would rated a solid 5 star. Check out the Ebay prices. I got it for $35. Can not beat this price for wirelss, router and printer server.

Bob

Look elsewhere first..........2004-09-10

I am currently on my second FM114P, the first one just stopped working with TEST and ALERT LEDs on. The offshore call center support was not great. 4 of the 5 people I spoke with were rude and abrupt -- one person was very nice but, unfortunately, that phone connection was interrupted and lost, the person did call back within the hour to apologize, which was very considerate. The FM114P product has great features but is unacceptably unreliable. It has a great 5 year warranty -- you'll need it! My first failed after about a year, but it never really stayed up for long, requiring the too occasional reboot. The wireless portion is extremely finicky and often would not work even when no problems were experienced with the hard wired LAN connections. The replacement sent to me by NETGEAR remains problematic in the same manner -- I still have 3.5 years left on the warranty but will probably search for a better solution. As one of the reviewers mentioned previously the FM1144P does run very hot, which is a concern. You are best to seek a different option when shopping for a wireless, for now I would steer clear of NETGEAR until they get their act together.

Print Server doesn't work.......2004-09-09

I've had a Netgear FM114P for over a year. It works great as a wireless access point & firewall. But the print server function is so unreliable that we've given up on it.

I have the print server driving a garden-variety HP printer. I have one old Win95 desktop and 3 recent Windows-XP laptops using the print server. I got them all printing fine through the print server, but I found that the server hangs up quite often. Symptom: all PCs say that the printer is not available, but nothing comes out on the printer. Fix: clear the print queues on all machines, then reboot the FM114P. Gets very old after the first half-dozen times. Basically, the print server function is not useable.

I also had one total machine failure -- the unit failed to complete power-on, with an error indication in the LEDs. Netgear replaced it on warranty without much fuss, but did charge $10 or so for shipping.

My net: if/when I need to replace the FM114P I'll look around for something else with the same combination of function on the hope that I'll get a working print server.

broke down the 3rd time. I give up (although under warranty.......2004-06-11

I have mine broke down 3 times. Twice before Netgear replaced it for "free", since it still under warranty. But each time they charge $10-12 for shipping. At this rate I could have bought a new one instead of putting up with the inconvenience. I think this box is very sensitive to power on/off cycles. It broke first time during the east coast power outage.

Not a bad product, but..........2004-06-08

Netgear has some issues with this product's reliability. The first one, I had for about 6 months. One night it just died. All the lights were on, and it wouldn't talk to any of the ports.

Calling Netgear's support line was an adventure within itself. The call center is located in India. Don't call this place if you're on a noisy phone or don't have lots of time to waste. The first person I reached could barely speak english. He was obviously reading from a script, because when I explained that the router did not work, I had followed the troubleshooting guides and this was the result, etc, etc, he still started reading questions and asking me to connect it to a network and do silly tests. That's hard to do at work on your lunch break. He hung up very abruptly with the classic "Thank you for calling bye bye now. <CLICK>" Call #2. Another person, who could speak marginally better english. I went through his troubleshooting script, connecting my "router" to an "air" network. He decided that it was indeed not working (duh!) and gave me an RMA number. Ok. What, exactly, is a doofulfife? Well, it's 55 (double five.) He did explain to me that the dash (in the RMA number) is the little line on the keyboard, you may find it beside your number 0. O-kay!

Got the RMA (I think.) Returned it and received a refurb unit and stuck it aside. In the meantime, router #2 was in use. It died one day, about 3 months after purchase. Started forgetting IP addresses and not communicating with the printer. It got returned to the store it was purchased from, and Router #3 went into service. So far, it's worked for about 9 months. Router #4 is waiting, and will be the last one.

This is really a good piece of technology, it has just about everything you'd need to set up and protect a home or small office network. It runs extremely hot, which may be the reason it dies so quickly. Now, if only it was more reliable.

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