Netgear Releases Another Winner: The MR314 Wireless Router

When I speak with VARs about hardware, the one thing that we all agree about, and extremely early on in the discussion, is that when you find a company that makes good hardware, you stick with them. Netgear is one of those companies.

In March, I wrote about the Netgear RT314 ("SoHo Office? Here's an inexpensive solution for Cable or DSL"). The RT314 is "combination router/switch for DSL or cable modem users." I then went on to say: "It's inexpensive, fast, easy to set up, configurable and provides you not only with an ideal inexpensive solution from the client's perspective, but also from the VAR's perspective: It makes you look like a hero."

Well, for the MR314, it goes double. Here is a unit that took me three minutes to set up. I plugged the MR314 into my Internet connection and my FS116 (Netgear's 16 port switch). As of that moment, I duplicated all the same attributes as on the RT314.

It took another five minutes to set up my first notebook using the Netgear MA401 Wireless PC Card, and the rest, as they say, was history.

But I think I've put the horse before the cart. So here's the low down on the MR314. It's a Cable/DSL Wireless Router with a four-port switch/access point. New with the MR314 is Netgear's trademarked Auto Uplink, which promises the elimination of crossover cables.

So I tried it. The FS116 on port 16 has an uplink switch. It was in the 'uplink' position. I turned it off, and the Auto Uplink on the MR314 came to life. Quite impressive!

Using the IEEE 802.11b standards, the MR314 can support between 15 and 30 (based upon usage) wireless users and up to 253 Ethernet users. Your results will vary (and probably be 7 to 25 users combined) on both cabled and wireless portions of the MR314.

The MR314 provides all the same attributes of its smaller cousin (the RT314, although it is based on the RP114, Netgear's Cable/DSL Web Safe Router) plus enhanced NAT security, VPN pass-through (as well as PPPoE and IPSec) and 128-bit WEP (Wired Encryption Privacy) for wireless encryption and security (this standard has recently come under attack for its inefficiency in its encryption algorithms and key selections). The MR314 also supports the 40/64 Encryption Standard.

Additionally, this unit's Web interface makes it easy to upgrade, backup and restore configurations. Why the need for backup and restore? Because with the MR314, you can configure Dynamic DNS (DDNS), 64 or 128-bit WEP encryption, Port Forwarding for varied internet services, as well as a DMZ/server setup so that one computer can receive all non-forwarded inbound traffic. Rounding out the basic firewall capabilities is a static routing configuration screen.

For your clients who are afraid that employees will misuse the Internet, the MR314 provides a content filtering system that permits you to block Web sites based upon keywords, i.e. X-rated-site). All system traffic is logged and mailed to the administrator based on your requirements (hourly, daily, weekly, etc). I found the log buffer to be too small. After setting up the mailing requirements to "when full," I got five logs in the first 12 hours of usage--with seven of the those hours when no one was in the office. Between all the IM products and telnet sessions, the packet capturing filled up the log rather quickly.

In order to communicate with the MR314, Netgear sells several wireless Ethernet cards. The MA301 is their PCI Adapter card, the MA401 is their PCMIA version and finally the MA101 is a USB-to-wireless adapter, which we did not test. One wonders where companies get their numbering systems from. Anyway, non-Netgear wireless Ethernet cards subscribing to 802.3 and 802.11b are compatible.

In the final analysis (to quote an overused cliche), the MR314 is the perfect blend of router, firewall and wireless Ethernet for the small office setting. All that's missing is Stateful Packet Inspection (which is currently available on their FR314 Cable/DSL Firewall Router). Add to the mix good price points, and Netgear has another winner.