router's frewall be set on or off?

[siberianwolf]

hi there,
when router's fw is on, ping tests taken @ pingtest.net gives a grade "F" result, because the router's fw blocks the incoming packets, so i get above 70% or sometimes above 90% packet loss.
but when the router'S fw is off, i get a grade "A" result @pingtest.net, and packet loss is 0%.
so, if i disable router's fw, my defense guard drops, but if i enable fw, i get that "F" result.
so, if i disable the router's fw, will i get a better internet performance, web surfing, etc? or the difference i would gain won't be worth the negative effect of dropping defense guard?
thanks

[NoIos]

It's natural to have a performance decrease using a firewall...but not the % you mention in your post. So, I guess there is something wrong with your router or this is a pingtest specific issue. Keep the firewall on in any case.

[moorgeist]

Router firewalls are normally set to block incoming traffic. I don't know what pingtest.net specifically tests, but I guess your firewall just drops the packets according to its rules and pingtest.net gives you a bad grade for that.
If you want to test any performance decrease due to your firewall, measure e.g. download speeds for a bigger file. Regardless of that don't disable your router firewall. You don't want your network to be open for the world.

[siberianwolf]

thank you. my dl/ul speed is as it supposed to be, so no problem there. i'll stick w/ the fw on, since i don't use a software firewall.

[mack_guy911]

routers are default set to replay pings but you can set rules to ping internaly there is no real harm if your router replay to ping expect that ping side knows that your router/system is alive (means on) so he might take advantage of that

there is option to disable ping but be cafeful and backup router because many router dont respond after that (ie dont connect on your lan even)

:)

[siberianwolf]

thanks for the extra info mack.