ideal router settings for gaming
SPI should be "On"
NAT should be "Secured"
Respond to PING
DoS protection ON
Also -
Make your home phone & modem wiring as best as it can possibly be, so that your broadband runs at maximum speed.
If possible try and get INTERLEAVING switched OFF, so your broadband connection has minimum latency.
Avoid using WiFI to connect your gaming devices, a wired connection will always be better.
Set your router UPnP to "OFF", instead open/forward the required ports manually and understand what they do.
Check on the Netgear website that you are running the latest revision of firmware.
Check the settings of the Plusnet Broadband Firewall, set it to the highest level which doesn't block the TCP/UDP ports that you will be using.
For game hosting, you probably want to get yourself a STATIC IP IPv4 WAN address from Plusnet for a one off cost of £5.
For "Xbox One" hosting and playing, ideally you should setup an IPv6 tunnel on your router, so other player can reach you as Microsoft intended.
With both your new static IPv4 and IPv6 WAN addresses, setup a ThinkBroadband ping quality monitor for each, so you can monitor the difference between your own broadband latency and the latency to the game server that you connect to.
Avoid using a SamKnows broadband monitor whilst gaming, as you will get a 30 second burst of very high latency (once an hour) when the SamKnows router performs it's upload and download bandwidth tests.
Consider adding a caching proxy server to your network, to manage your broadband traffic and minimise latency.
Consider adding an IP filtering connection manager to your network, so you can choose to only accept connections from UK gamers, but block those from China, Russia, India, and other unwanted countries.
If you are on ADSL, then read a guide on how to optimize your router MTU, as it is possible to achieve better throughput than with the default setting of 1500, by reducing the unused 'packing' bit and minimizing packet fragmentation.
NAT should be "Secured"
Respond to PING
DoS protection ON
Also -
Make your home phone & modem wiring as best as it can possibly be, so that your broadband runs at maximum speed.
If possible try and get INTERLEAVING switched OFF, so your broadband connection has minimum latency.
Avoid using WiFI to connect your gaming devices, a wired connection will always be better.
Set your router UPnP to "OFF", instead open/forward the required ports manually and understand what they do.
Check on the Netgear website that you are running the latest revision of firmware.
Check the settings of the Plusnet Broadband Firewall, set it to the highest level which doesn't block the TCP/UDP ports that you will be using.
For game hosting, you probably want to get yourself a STATIC IP IPv4 WAN address from Plusnet for a one off cost of £5.
For "Xbox One" hosting and playing, ideally you should setup an IPv6 tunnel on your router, so other player can reach you as Microsoft intended.
With both your new static IPv4 and IPv6 WAN addresses, setup a ThinkBroadband ping quality monitor for each, so you can monitor the difference between your own broadband latency and the latency to the game server that you connect to.
Avoid using a SamKnows broadband monitor whilst gaming, as you will get a 30 second burst of very high latency (once an hour) when the SamKnows router performs it's upload and download bandwidth tests.
Consider adding a caching proxy server to your network, to manage your broadband traffic and minimise latency.
Consider adding an IP filtering connection manager to your network, so you can choose to only accept connections from UK gamers, but block those from China, Russia, India, and other unwanted countries.
If you are on ADSL, then read a guide on how to optimize your router MTU, as it is possible to achieve better throughput than with the default setting of 1500, by reducing the unused 'packing' bit and minimizing packet fragmentation.
console gaming nat filter open because with secured it will block incoming connections so no chance of hosting.cant beleive you said secured 
spi off dos off respond to ping on filter open.gaming heaven 
Quote from: ghos7em1 console gaming nat filter open because with secured it will block incoming connections so no chance of hosting.cant beleive you said secured
I run secured NAT and SPI enabled without any problems with an Xbox + Playstation + PC gaming !
Admittedly you need to open and forward the correct ports for your specific game, but that is what you should always do for best security.
To do anything less is lazy and a security hazzard.
Thanks everyone for your advice.
I'm thinking of doing a mixture of what's been said but think the Nat open option will be best to avoid mapping port triggers and forwards, etc.
Ghos7em1 - sounds like you have your console in the dmz, i guess you get to host every time!
Purleigh - I'm grateful for the advice but because I'm to lazy to map ports I'm thinking all that protection I will not be able to connect let alone host!
Does SPI interrupt things as it sounds like an additional firewall?
Is it better to just put the console in the dmz ?
I'm thinking of doing a mixture of what's been said but think the Nat open option will be best to avoid mapping port triggers and forwards, etc.
Ghos7em1 - sounds like you have your console in the dmz, i guess you get to host every time!
Purleigh - I'm grateful for the advice but because I'm to lazy to map ports I'm thinking all that protection I will not be able to connect let alone host!
Does SPI interrupt things as it sounds like an additional firewall?
Is it better to just put the console in the dmz ?
@'Justin7' -
I'm not sure why you asked these questions, if you have already made your mind up to choose the least secure configuration just because that's the easiest way to get online. That's a bit like taking the front door off your house because it will be easier for you and your friends to get in and out - but at the same time choosing to ignore the fact that you are allowing anyone passing to just walk into your house and steal your possessions.
Perhaps you should buy a book on networking, and discover for yourself what all your router options are for and why they exist.
As for DMZ, I can't answer that because that will depend on how your router implements DMZ.
The functionality and security of DMZ on a good quality router can be OK,
but in many implementations is a security risk if the device in DMZ is permitted to access to your LAN subnet.
If you don't understand how your router DMZ works, then don't !
As for port forwarding and being too lazy to do it, on my Xbox 360 setup I only needed to forward one port to allow full access to "Xbox Live" without any NAT limitations (on the most secure setting) - despite the Xbox online help stating that you need to open/forward four port numbers.
I'm not sure why you asked these questions, if you have already made your mind up to choose the least secure configuration just because that's the easiest way to get online. That's a bit like taking the front door off your house because it will be easier for you and your friends to get in and out - but at the same time choosing to ignore the fact that you are allowing anyone passing to just walk into your house and steal your possessions.
Perhaps you should buy a book on networking, and discover for yourself what all your router options are for and why they exist.
As for DMZ, I can't answer that because that will depend on how your router implements DMZ.
The functionality and security of DMZ on a good quality router can be OK,
but in many implementations is a security risk if the device in DMZ is permitted to access to your LAN subnet.
If you don't understand how your router DMZ works, then don't !
As for port forwarding and being too lazy to do it, on my Xbox 360 setup I only needed to forward one port to allow full access to "Xbox Live" without any NAT limitations (on the most secure setting) - despite the Xbox online help stating that you need to open/forward four port numbers.
@speedy001. to set up static ip on netgear routers go to lan setup then address reservation.make your your console is on,press add ip and your console will be already on detected list.then add it.put that ip in dmz.if you lag then traffic management is to blame and not firewall.if you have other port forwards on disable them.qos? i have it turned off because games run smoother. @justin7 you can have firewall on just not 3 or 4 firewalls running.+net firewall.pc firewall.router firewall.you will lag like crazy.console in dmz 
probably security measure
Ste it will make no difference to you , on Fibre , mine is ON .
but it helps on adsl lines
but it helps on adsl lines