looking for cheap 5-port switch

[kylef]

Ladies and gents,

Got booted to a basement office and lost my direct patch into a Catalyst...

So I want to replace this old Allied Telesyn 8-port 10BT hub in the "new" office, which is taking the single ethernet feed from the networking closet and sharing it with 5 computers in the office.

Since I have to foot the bill (it's not seen as a "necessary" office upgrade :| ), I need a cheap 5-port switch.

I found a the following at very reasonable prices at Buy.com:

D-link
Netgear
Linksys
Hawking Technologies

and I also found an 8-port switch made by Compex for roughly the same price as the others:
Compex

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[hatboy]

I think I'd go with the Compex 8-port, simply because you're not going to be able to share your ethernet feed among 5 computers with a 5 port switch. You'll need at least 6 ports (5 computers + uplink). Of course, you could use your old hub to share one port between two computers, but then those two will be limited to 10mb.

 

[Quickfingerz]

Here's the Hawking 8-port switch which is cheaper than the 5-port because it comes with a $10 rebate:

Hawking 8-port with $10 rebate

"uplink" can be used as "normal" ports if you use a crossover cable to connect to it. so some are actually 9 ports.

 

[hatboy]

<< &quot;uplink&quot; can be used as &quot;normal&quot; ports if you use a crossover cable to connect to it. so some are actually 9 ports. >>



Yes, that's true, but on many hubs and switches, the uplink is shared with a normal port so that only one can be used at a time.

 

[Russ]

hatboy,

You are correct, including in this case. The Hawking's uplink port is shared.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Quickfingerz]

darn, i was thinking of getting one of these. Does Linksys use a shared uplink/normal port?

 

[Russ]

Quickfingerz,

Yes, it is also shared on the Linksys. Matter of fact, I've never seen a consumer/SOHO level switch that wasn't shared.

Russ, NCNE

 

[kylef]

Actually, I think the Hawking model uses a separate uplink port, in addition to 5 &quot;normal&quot; ports.

Kyle

 

[Russ]

kylef,

Most all of them have a seperate uplink port. But, you can't use the uplink at the same time as port 1.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Quickfingerz]

cool, thanks, ima try it tonight on my linksys 4-port router. That wouldn't make sense if you couldn't use the uplink and the normal ports at the same time. what if you wanted to daisy chain?

 

[Crisis]

My recomendation is to get a new job if they wont even buy a 5 port switch ;-P

 

[Eug]

Quickfingerz,

You can't use the uplink port and port 5 at the same time on the Linksys switch. The Linksys 4-port router is a bit different because it has both an uplink port and a WAN port so there are actually 6 ports but you can't use the Uplink and Port 1 at the same time.

 

[Quickfingerz]

some of us college students are broke as heck though... risked lots to get my linksys 4 port and SMC barricade.

 

[TungFree]

I may get either Cable or satelite wireless service I will know in less than a months they are bothe coming to my section of Hawaii Island.

I think that the equipment receivers and transmitters come with the satelite and a modem will not be needed but if I get T Road Runner cable hook up I will need a modem.

My question is about the router like linky's that seems to say it is also a modem and a switch, and since I may need to create more IPs than they willissue me I am pretty sure I will need a router and I do want a switch instead of a hub, since I will have 4-5 computers one will not need to work all the time and can be exchanged with the 5th one so 4 will be running, what do i need for either cable or the wireless that I can decide and purchase and will still work and be functional in either setup?
Whew... that was winded

 

[Russ]

<< My question is about the router like linky's that seems to say it is also a modem and a switch >>



It is a router and a switch, but NOT a modem. It will work fine with cable modem, but I have no idea whether or not it will work with wireless as it's not something I've dealt with.

Perhaps we have another member who has experience with that.

Russ, NCNE

 

[BigDady92]

I bought a slew of 8port DLINK switches for my office(got 2 huge cats2924XLM's that i route everyone to). Those puppies will not die and were reliable as hell for all the transactions that a .com company did on a daily basis.

My suggestion: Spend the extra $$$ and get a nice lil Dlink 8port switch. You will be happy you did. I got 2 at home now

 

[hjai]

No one really gave a clear answer on what is the best quality cheapest witch to get?

 

[Quickfingerz]

oh the cheapest 8 port will be the Hawking technology one.

 

[Russ]

<< No one really gave a clear answer on what is the best quality cheapest witch to get? >>



If you ever get a clear answer, tell only me and I'll split the profits with you. There is NO clear answer on any of this stuff.

BigDady92 mentions the D-Link. He's right, it's a great little switch. I have some. But I also have some Linksys, Asound, Hawking, Wisecom, etc., etc. They all do what they're supposed to do.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Mday]

yeah, performance is so close, i suppose you should get whichever is cheaper, unless you have brand preference.

 

[BigDady92]

Price for Performance and reliabilty i'll go with DLINK in the low end. Good cheap quality merchandise that works like it is supposed to. Linksys is cheap garbage and I have no luv for them as their NIC's and Hub's have a wonderful tendancy to flake out at the worst time. They cost under $70-100 depending where you go