I am considering purchasing a Z100G for its advanced firewall protection, and am wondering if using the Web Rules function degrades the performance of the internet connection. (I have a similar Netgear device that, when using "Keyword Blocking" causes about a 90% reduction in speed, based on user perception and running speed tests via dslreports.)

I currently have a home network of 4 PC's and a Windows Home Server that are always connected. 3-4 laptops are also used wirelessly occasionally. (I understand that this device limits the number of "concurrent" connections to the Internet. Can I prioritize them such that a laptop will gain access and remove access from the WHS, restoring connectivity to the WHS when the laptop shuts down?)

Alan here is the good and the bad.

Good: I have been very successful using the Z100G with minimal issues. Bandwith has been extremely robust, but email scanning and too many rules can slow down it down some.

I don't know what the keyword blocking does on the NetGear, but i can tell you the latest version of the WebRules is very flexible and I find it just fine for my blocking needs.

The bad: Z100G is firewall first and a router and wifi device second. Therefore, good security and caution supersedes the need for speed in some instances. That said, I have never had an issue with bandwith and I have 10 devices.

The other bad: I had issues with the 5-user level settings and upgraded to the 15-user version. It was only a onetime upgrade and my annual subscription is the same going forward as the 5-user.

Hope this helps.

Hello Alan,

I don't use Web Rules, but I can say based on my experience that using the Web Filtering functions (on the Services menu; blocks sites by category) seems to have very little impact on performance. Smart Defense, on the other hand, can really slow performance if you try to enable everything. The default configuration works fine though.

Rocket,

Like many others have already posted - I sure wish they had an additional 5 user license!! 5 is not enough, but 15 is excess!!

Anyway, my next question is - I didn't see any option to purchase the license upgrade while purchasing the Z100G. Is that something you have to do later, once you've obtained the unit? (From what I've read that can take a few days, and I'd rather not start having Internet access issues right away ... so I'd prefer to just have the licenses from "Day 1")

The answer as far as I know is "YES" since I don't remember seeing the option to buy them separate from ZoneAlarm where you have to purchase the unit.

Sofaware, base in Israel, manages the support and is slow to respond. That could be because of the time difference or maybe the priority level given Z100G users. Either case, it is the biggest deterrent to customer satisfaction. What I have found is that if you catch them online, they will take care of things fairly quickly. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

That said, I have searched and searched, read and read, and even asked some Security experts at CERT, and I still can't find a better product for the money than the Z100G.

Lastly, you are supposed to be able to have five simultaneous connections, even if new devices add on later. What I had experienced is that this can become disruptive if more than 5 at a time try to access the WAN. For example, if you have 5 users and 1 is turned off or not running trying to access email or the web, then a sixth person can operate just fine. But, if all six try to access then interruptions happen in a sort of round robin way. Not good if you are actively doing something and get cut off.

Rocket:

Yeah, what you said on hitting the ceiling on the user count....

One of my suggestions to Sofaware was to allow a "license priority" setting for each object (standard or elevated - as in kick off someone else if I want to get on...), so that at least us Z100G admins would not get kicked off the internet ;-)

Well, I am quite pleased with my new Z100G.

I do see a slight impact to the internet speed, perhaps a 10% reduction based on a few before & after speed tests. But, that is perfectly acceptable given the flexibility I now have with much more granular control over managing the internet access. (For instance I've opened up Facebook access for my college daughter, but not for the younger one. I've also turned off internet access to my wireless printer and storage device.)

I've also upgraded my license count as I didn't want to have to fight with the timeout process. That upgrade process was actually completed in a few days and a few emails. All-in-all a satisfactory process.

Thank you all for your input on this forum.