Another Wireless Firewall Router

Security sells, and many small businesses get pushed by consultants and resellers to move up to a more "professional" router/firewall/VPN device. I've been testing the WatchGuard Firebox X Edge 50w, one of many candidates when moving upstream.

I can't give the Firebox more than two and a half of five stars, but some of my complaints apply to many of the competitors as well.

I've never understood why mid-priced router/firewalls provide less information and more complicated initial setup than the lower end units from market leaders Linksys and Netgear. I'm not picking on WatchGuard, because many of the suppliers - Adtran, SonicWall, ZyXel, CheckPoint, Xincom, Fortinet and others - forget that ease of use and user feedback helps midsize as well as small businesses.

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Security sells, and many small businesses get pushed by consultants and resellers to move up to a more "professional" router/firewall/VPN device. I've been testing the WatchGuard Firebox X Edge 50w, one of many candidates when moving upstream.

I can't give the Firebox more than two and a half of five stars, but some of my complaints apply to many of the competitors as well.

I've never understood why mid-priced router/firewalls provide less information and more complicated initial setup than the lower end units from market leaders Linksys and Netgear. I'm not picking on WatchGuard, because many of the suppliers - Adtran, SonicWall, ZyXel, CheckPoint, Xincom, Fortinet and others - forget that ease of use and user feedback helps midsize as well as small businesses.

Back to the Firebox. It has eight Ethernet ports, which is good. It labels them OPT (optional), then 0-6. That's dumb. I understand the technical reasons behind a port zero, but end users should never see such a thing because it makes no sense (A zero port? How can the first port be numbered zero?). You can connect the Firebox to a larger network by plugging a wiring switch or hub to port 0-6, but you must connect directly to the box for initial setup.

Oddly, for a security device, the Firebox demands you use a browser with popups enabled for configuration. Compromise your security to install a security device? Weird. Need help? In a reprise of the famous joke of VCR installation instructions shipped on a VCR tape, WatchGuard's help screens are on their own Web site. Fine once you're connected, but aggravating until then.

The Firebox demands a password with at least eight characters, which is good for any device visible on the Internet. When I reset the Firebox's internal-network IP address to match my network, it automatically reset the browser setup screen to the new address.  Most every other routers I’ve tested force you to reboot your computer to the new network address range and reconnect, so kudos to Firebox.

When I set the DHCP range to fit my network, I had to reboot the Firebox. This became a regular process: change anything, reboot the Firebox. No other router/firewall I remember requires so many reboots. Your network drops only for about 20 seconds, but it's still odd.

The DHCP feature, standard for every level of router/firewall, brings up another oddity: Firebox doesn't show you how many computers have received IP addresses. My low-end Linksys unit with Vonage phone support shows this, and it's a great way to make sure no outsider has logged in to your wireless network. And why not include a network activity readout like Windows has in it's Task Manager program? My six-year-old Linksys StackPro wiring hub shows traffic levels, so why don't more routers?

The wireless support (you can get non-wireless versions of each Firebox) works quite well. Using dual antennas gives the Firebox more range at higher throughput in my home lab test than any other standard router. From one corner downstairs to the diagonally opposite corner upstairs, I had 5.5M bit/sec throughput. Many wireless routers don't even reach upstairs, and the Firebox did so with the fastest speeds yet.