Rating: 
Summary: Flawless, efficient and easy-to-use. Highly recommended.
Review: Here's the summary of my experience with this unit (3+ months). In these months, there' never been any need to touch the router AT ALL. This baby becomes INVISIBLE as far as your network hassles... After you've decided to get this router, make sure you upgrade the firmware to the latest available from netgear.1. Installation is very easy. The user interface is web-browser based and in five minutes you are set to go. The DHCP server in the router OS handles my ethernet cards from various vendors very well. I have used xircom, netgear, 3Com, Melco/Buffalo, and Dell (rebranded 3Com) cards, plus the Trendnet CompactFlash ethernet card (for my Ipaq PocketPC). All work smoothly with this unit. 2. The router is extremely fast. On my cable modem connection, I regularly get speeds of 1.5 Mbps which are limited by the cable provider's setup, NOT by the RO318 router. 3. It has EIGHT ethernet ports. You may quickly find that the four ports on the popular router models are quickly taken and you are left wishing you had more than four. 4. The ethernet LAN ports are SWITCHED, not hub-based which means FASTER connection speeds. 5. I don't know about you, but I like a well-designed box. This unit looks and feels very elegant, sturdy and solid. 6. For the more technically advanced user, there IS a telnet based command-line configuration interface.... You can read more about its security capabilities at the review.... I recommend this routher without any reservations whatsoever. It's the best bang for the buck. In closing I must say I am surprised by the other reviewer who seems to have missed all that's good and useful in this router, which is what 99.9% of users need (and the rest 0.1% can live with quite comfortably).
Rating:
Summary: Netgear RO318 DSL/Cable Internet Security Router
Review: I design Networks for a living, and so I have some pretty high expectations for any device I would have to spend my money on. The Netgear RO318 DSL/Cable Internet Security Router meets those and more. Since I was getting home broadband for the first time, I researched both DSL and Cable before deciding on cable. Higher speeds were a draw, the arguments about being a shared media are lame - all networks are eventually a shared media, and the security issues workable. Finally, the grief and agony of DSL installs are things of legend, as is their (lack of) reliability. Installing the router was a breeze, although it wouldn't fit the space available in my enclosure, so I mounted it to a plywood backpanel along with filtered power for the 'wall wart' power supply. A quick visit to the local RJ-45 store for a bag of premade 1M cables, to do cross connects to my cable plant, and we're ready to power up. All green. Even the crossover requirement for the modem is accomodated by using the "Internet" connector on the R0-318. Next, run the Cable modem software provided by AT&T broadband. Totally uneventful. Although I did have to reboot my system 4 times, my interaction was pretty much limited to operating the Enter key, and the IP config was done on my trusty Thinkpad. Finally, run the RO318 software. Since the AT&T software had already detected the router, all the basic settings were either done or DHCP'd and I was up and running. To date my slowest downloads have been ~75K (600KBPS) and I have seen almost 200K (that's T-1+!) on several occaisions. No crashes. Since I'm not a gamer, I can't comment on what in a game could possibly cause a router to crash (Layer 3 vs Layer 7 on the OSI model and all that), but having downloads at home that are faster than our very industrial, load balanced, Checkpointed, redundant T-3 internet access at work has certainly put a grin on my face. And, having experienced zero downtime in the two week I've been operating is pretty happening as well. HTTPing into the advance firewall setup is a pleasant surprise, although if you don't understand the impact of blocking or opening specific IP ports, be happy to look, and don't touch. Overall, this is a great device. I'm thinking about running one through our lab to really load it down and see how it handle s major stress, then having a CISSP review what the firewall and VPN passthrough (necessary for LargeCo teleworkers). Considering that it's commercial equivalent could easily cost $30 to $40 thousand, the Netgear RO318 is a screaming deal.
Rating:
Summary: Netgear RO318 DSL/Cable Internet Security Router
Review: I design Networks for a living, and so I have some pretty high expectations for any device I would have to spend my money on. The Netgear RO318 DSL/Cable Internet Security Router meets those and more. Since I was getting home broadband for the first time, I researched both DSL and Cable before deciding on cable. Higher speeds were a draw, the arguments about being a shared media are lame - all networks are eventually a shared media, and the security issues workable. Finally, the grief and agony of DSL installs are things of legend, as is their (lack of) reliability. Installing the router was a breeze, although it wouldn't fit the space available in my enclosure, so I mounted it to a plywood backpanel along with filtered power for the 'wall wart' power supply. A quick visit to the local RJ-45 store for a bag of premade 1M cables, to do cross connects to my cable plant, and we're ready to power up. All green. Even the crossover requirement for the modem is accomodated by using the "Internet" connector on the R0-318. Next, run the Cable modem software provided by AT&T broadband. Totally uneventful. Although I did have to reboot my system 4 times, my interaction was pretty much limited to operating the Enter key, and the IP config was done on my trusty Thinkpad. Finally, run the RO318 software. Since the AT&T software had already detected the router, all the basic settings were either done or DHCP'd and I was up and running. To date my slowest downloads have been ~75K (600KBPS) and I have seen almost 200K (that's T-1+!) on several occaisions. No crashes. Since I'm not a gamer, I can't comment on what in a game could possibly cause a router to crash (Layer 3 vs Layer 7 on the OSI model and all that), but having downloads at home that are faster than our very industrial, load balanced, Checkpointed, redundant T-3 internet access at work has certainly put a grin on my face. And, having experienced zero downtime in the two week I've been operating is pretty happening as well. HTTPing into the advance firewall setup is a pleasant surprise, although if you don't understand the impact of blocking or opening specific IP ports, be happy to look, and don't touch. Overall, this is a great device. I'm thinking about running one through our lab to really load it down and see how it handle s major stress, then having a CISSP review what the firewall and VPN passthrough (necessary for LargeCo teleworkers). Considering that it's commercial equivalent could easily cost $30 to $40 thousand, the Netgear RO318 is a screaming deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Product is pretty good, documentation falls short
Review: I purchased this device just a few days ago. Until yesterday it
was only operating as a 8-port switch. Today I found the
magic bullet. Now it is working great! My ISP uses my MAC address to limit my use of their bandwidth
to one machine. While setting up the RO318, I found there were
two MAC addresses printed on the back. This made sense because
there is one for local (LAN) traffic and another for internet
(WAN) traffic. I had my ISP change the MAC address for me to
the first address and fired everything up. I did everything but
stand on my head but I couldn't get my router to obtain an IP
address using DHCP from my ISP. -- I briefly tried doing the IP/MAC spoof, but with my network
configuration, it really would not have worked. -- It seems the documentation doesn't mention that the first MAC
address is for the LAN and the second is for the WAN. I just
thought it was the other order. Nothing in the documentation
mentions this minor detail and the support techs know nothing
about it. I discovered this after telneting to the router and
listing out the ARP table. It was very clear after doing this
step which MAC went where. Once I had my ISP change my MAC address again, the router got
the IP address from my ISP's DHCP server and everything worked
as it should have. One other sore point I'm looking to address. My ISP (wireless)
has connection checks that come from the towers in the form of
a "spoof" attempt according to the RO318. This triggers a
boatload of e-mail as this is considered a "Security Alert". I'm looking into the configuration commands available through
the telnet interface, I hope to resolve this soon.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Use
Review: I researched for some time before finally coming down between the Netgear RO318 and a similar Linksys. My home office had 5 PC's sharing a DSL connection with only a software firewall at the time (whose alarms went off frequently). Since purchasing the RO318 (and updating it to the latest firmware) it's been great. I'm much happier sitting behind a hardware firewall with every port stealth'd. Basically I set it & forgot it. I did have some odd issues before calling tech support and updating to the latest current firmware. Their tech support is good. If you haven't set one of these up, the browser-based administration and wizard almost (almost) don't require you check the manual. Bottom line: a good high-performance, low-cost firewall/switch to share a broadband connection with.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) Use
Review: I researched for some time before finally coming down between the Netgear RO318 and a similar Linksys. My home office had 5 PC's sharing a DSL connection with only a software firewall at the time (whose alarms went off frequently). Since purchasing the RO318 (and updating it to the latest firmware) it's been great. I'm much happier sitting behind a hardware firewall with every port stealth'd. Basically I set it & forgot it. I did have some odd issues before calling tech support and updating to the latest current firmware. Their tech support is good. If you haven't set one of these up, the browser-based administration and wizard almost (almost) don't require you check the manual. Bottom line: a good high-performance, low-cost firewall/switch to share a broadband connection with.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Firewall, Poor Support
Review: I tend to like NetGear products. I own several of their switches and earlier firewalls including the RT-311. However, the RO318 has been a mixed bag. Sure you get stateful packet inspection, web based management and e-mail alerts. However, you can not turn off content based alerts without also turning off security alerts. Worse, the code is buggy (particularly the static routes which do not work) and NetGear support seems helpless to fix the problems. I've been working with their top level technical support for several weeks on the static route bug. I get lots of assurances of immediate answers, but just as many ignored phone calls and messages. In truth, it appears that they have no solution to offer. Purchase with caution.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy the Linksys BEFSR41 instead.
Review: I wanted the added ports and Firewall capability of the RO318, to replace my Linksys BEFSR41, but found that heavy traffic crashes the router (requiring a reboot). As if that wasn't enough, I couldn't play any online games going through the router! I wasn't filtering any packets, so I don't see why it wouldn't work. This unit was useless, but luckily, I just plugged my Linksys unit back in, and everything was fine once again. By the way, I keep checking for a firmware update, hoping they would have fixes for these problems, but none yet. Don't buy this unit unless your needs are surfing and email ONLY...and even then, not alot of it at once.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the Linksys BEFSR41 instead.
Review: I wanted the added ports and Firewall capability of the RO318, to replace my Linksys BEFSR41, but found that heavy traffic crashes the router (requiring a reboot). As if that wasn't enough, I couldn't play any online games going through the router! I wasn't filtering any packets, so I don't see why it wouldn't work. This unit was useless, but luckily, I just plugged my Linksys unit back in, and everything was fine once again. By the way, I keep checking for a firmware update, hoping they would have fixes for these problems, but none yet. Don't buy this unit unless your needs are surfing and email ONLY...and even then, not alot of it at once.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Interface
Review: It seems like a good router with lots of features. BUT Netgear is the first to acknowledge that the GUI is only for basic setup (see their web site). The advanced features are setup using a nasty telnet command line interface. I put up with Windows based PCs because I WANT to use a GUI. When I buy a $... router for home I expect one too. This unit doen't even support Netgear's usual telnet menu interface, its command line all the way. So after 20 minutes of fighting the command line to setup a mac address (required by my ISP) I still can't get it to work. A simple text input GUI interface is all that is required ... but no I am swimming though text commands. The GUI can "spoof" a mac address from another PC. The problem is the hardware that my ISP got my mac address from is long gone. In conclusion, the market for this type of hardware is filling up quickly. I'd pass this one up for one with a reasonable way to setup all the features. After all, if all I wanted was a bottom of the line router, I'd have bought one (for $... less).
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