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looking for cheap 5-port switch

K

kylef

Golden Member
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!
 
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.
 


<< &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.
 
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

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

Kyle
 
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
 
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?
 
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.
 
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 🙂

 


<< 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
 
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 🙂
 


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