Well it should work - I have almost exactly the same setup, except mine is all Linksys, rahter than NetGear.

I also have the DSL running from a firewall on the main switch.

As for help: Try plugging something directly into the ME102 and see if it works. I had the same problem with a cheap (<£20) switch where it would drop packets for minutes at a time, and then it would work sporadically. I just switched out the switch for a different hub and it was fine.

Paul.