SmallNetBuilder

Basic Features

The 318 comes in NETGEAR's standard blue metal stackable cabinet. All indicators are on the front panel of the cabinet and include Link/Activity, and 100Mbps for each of the eight LAN ports, Link and Activity for the WAN, and Power and Test. All eight switched 10/100 LAN ports are on the rear, along with the 10BaseT WAN port, power socket, Power switch and Reset button.

All of the LAN ports are auto MDI/MDI-X (NETGEAR calls this "AutoUplink "), which means that you can connect any 10/100BaseT Ethernet device with either a normal or crossover cable, and the port will configure itself so that you get a connection. This eliminates the need for a dedicated or switchable "uplink" port, and is a feature that I'd like to see all consumer routers and switches have. Note that the 318 doesn't support UPnP.

NETGEAR includes a printed Installation Guide, and Resource CD, and throws in a normal CAT5 patch cable to sweeten the pot. The CD contains:

• PDF versions of the Installation guide and Reference Manual,
• some helpful info on setting up port forwarding, including a list of ports used by popular applications
• setup information for major broadband ISPs
• a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader installer
• a copy of NETGEAR's Installation Assist (more on this later)
• a copy of zer0knowledge's Freedom Anti-Virus program (Version 3.2)