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Gbit switch for home use

T

taq8ojh

Golden Member
I will be doing something about the mess of a "network" in the house within a few months, and since I am pretty far from network expert (and especially the hardware), I could use some help.
I have to add a switch, because standard four LAN ports on most routers are not enough.

So, could someone recommend something under €190/$250 please? No idea about prices, but this is absolutely the most I am willing to pay.
The cheaper the better, but I also don't want to buy crap.
The only other (that I can think of) requirement is at least six ports, so I am probably looking for eight port devices.
 
Not sure about pricing there, but if you visit the American Newegg.com site as a reference, anything under $40 would probably be sufficient. Just regular household network tasks (shuffle large files around, some video viewing)?

I have a couple of Dlink green Gb switches and they work fine. Paying anything more would likely be overkill, and yet not enough for reliability purposes.
 
Hmm... There are lots of brands to choose from, but most don't look very trustworthy.
I mean, Belkin switch? We used to buy notebook locks from them. WD switch? I will stick with HDDs there. I could go on like that. On the other hand, stuff with this price tag will probably have the same or very similar hardware inside... or not?
 
I think you'd be fine with a typical Netgear or Linksys (Cisco consumer) switch, but if you want to spend a few extra bucks for a "trustworthy" brand then check out Cisco's small business products. I've use a few of these unmanaged switches before for PoE applications. Never had a problem with them and they've been running for a year or more.

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solu...uters_switches/100_series_switches/index.html

Click on models to find one with the number of ports you need

Newegg has the 16 port gb model for $144

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150154
 
JackMDS said:
If you can get it to Czech republic this is the Best EndUser for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833156251
Click to expand...
This is how I'd like it to look (like looks should matter, lol). Simple square box, preferrably metallic-like, just LEDs in the front. It's sold here just like pretty much anything else, but it cost $40-50. Damn ripoff country.

Is there any reason why I'd want managed switch in a home network, btw? One of those with web interface (do they call them smart switches or something?). I generally like to mess around with things, possibly learning something - but I do not buy completely useless things either. Of course, if the price of such devices is significantly higher, forget I asked 😛
 
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I use Zyxel switches.

I'm sure in Czech, sales taxes are included, here in the US they aren't, so you need to account for that.
 
Octopuss said:
Is there any reason why I'd want managed switch in a home network, 😛
Click to expand...

Manged Switch has a specific purpose of professional Networks and I doubt that you need one.

If you want to try there is virtual Demos on the Internet that demonstrate the concepts of Networking Hardware/Software there is No reason to spend hundreds $$ for something that you think you like to know.

Example - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/video_nexus_1000v_demo.html


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I got myself the Cisco SG-200 8 port managed switch. Very happy with it so far. It's more expensive in the EU than the US. You won't need a managed switch per say, but if you don't want to manage it it pretty much works out of the box.
 
JackMDS said:
Manged Switch has a specific purpose of professional Networks and I doubt that you need one.

If you want to try there is virtual Demos on the Internet that demonstrate the concepts of Networking Hardware/Software there is No reason to spend hundreds $$ for something that you think you like to know.

Example - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/video_nexus_1000v_demo.html


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Click to expand...

I agree with Jack on this one, most folks do not need a managed switch for a home LAN. It can introduce problems that you weren't expecting to encounter. I have a managed switch (Dell PowerConnect 5324) that I purchased so that I could create a few VLANs for some lab enviroments that I have setup along with a few other things. Well since I have everything else in the household hooked up (including my XBox 360) I have already found at least one thing that would give you a headache if you didn't know about it. Namely that the XBox 360 (and some other consumer devices) do not like being on switches that support STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) and will sometimes fail to acquire a DHCP address if you do have them hooked up. Simple fix since I can turn on & off that particular feature on a port level so I simply turned it off for the 360 and now its happy. If you want to learn about managed switches feel free to get one but be prepared to learn things you weren't expecting to learn about in the first place since most consumer electronics don't expect to be hooked up to one.
 
Allright.
To extend my question, which router would you recommend? I originally planned to get rather expensive Asus RT-N66U, but now that I want to have all the computers and devices connected through a switch, I might not need extremely powerful router, if I understand how it all works right.
I am not sure what I'd want from it other than the obvious purpose, I guess dual band in case some older notebook or weird device comes along, directional antenna or two because current router is a cripple unable to cover even half the house, and either decent interface or compatibility with Openwrt. What else should I care about in a router?
 
The differences Between Wireless Routers is Not due to the Switch.

The advandage of the Asus RT-N66U is its excellent Dual Band Wireless capabilities.

If Wireless is Not so of utmost importance to you (small apartment in Prague 😉), then you can get this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833162069

Running DD-WRT, it is a very good Wireless Router.


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Well the biggest difference between cheaper and expensive routers I noticed was mostly CPU and RAM+flash size. Oh, and assorted useless media features 😀
Do the radios differ so much as well? Or in other words, is that what makes routers so different?
 
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