Decent consumer gigabit switch

[Hellfire]

Hi guys, looking for some recommendations for switches, I'll explain the setup first just so I give the best sense of how the network will work.

Just had Cat 6 installed through the house and we have gigabit fibre as well. The design layout goes as follows. simple install.


Any suggestions for a 6+ port gigabit unmanaged switch? doesn't need to be anything special but something reliable would be good, Probably looking at either a 10/12/16 Port but could fit a small 24port if necessary but it's overkill. main priority is being Gigabit. I am not running any servers of this at present so not worried about a 10Gbit switch just yet due to costs.

 

[phill]

When I first moved into my home, I had a 16 port Netgear switch which about 10 years ago I think cost me about £80... I used all those ports up as I had networked the house, but I'd definitely say to go for more ports than you need, so if you need 8, get 16, as for Gigabit, the prices aren't too bad. As you say, 10Gb, its a little different...

Currently I've a layer 3 24 and 48 port HP switch at home, I sold on my 16 Netgear (I believe the model was GS116 I think!) switch about 4 years or so ago, haven't looked back as the HP as been brilliant. Also Gigabit and believe me, that'll get old quickly if your transferring large files about the network. As you have Cat 6 cabling that will help with the upgradability as Cat 5 will run 10Gb in short runs I believe (30m if my memory serves??) so if you do ever switch them out, you'll be in a good way

All I can really suggest is make sure the core of the network, cabling I'd say, can do more than what you wish as to when you wish to upgrade that it'll be a bloody nightmare having to rip everything up. Do it right the first time, then when you do upgrade, it'll be very easy for you

I can grab out the models of the HP switches I have if you'd like, I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment

 

[Hellfire]

When I first moved into my home, I had a 16 port Netgear switch which about 10 years ago I think cost me about £80... I used all those ports up as I had networked the house, but I'd definitely say to go for more ports than you need, so if you need 8, get 16, as for Gigabit, the prices aren't too bad. As you say, 10Gb, its a little different...

Currently I've a layer 3 24 and 48 port HP switch at home, I sold on my 16 Netgear (I believe the model was GS116 I think!) switch about 4 years or so ago, haven't looked back as the HP as been brilliant. Also Gigabit and believe me, that'll get old quickly if your transferring large files about the network. As you have Cat 6 cabling that will help with the upgradability as Cat 5 will run 10Gb in short runs I believe (30m if my memory serves??) so if you do ever switch them out, you'll be in a good way

All I can really suggest is make sure the core of the network, cabling I'd say, can do more than what you wish as to when you wish to upgrade that it'll be a bloody nightmare having to rip everything up. Do it right the first time, then when you do upgrade, it'll be very easy for you

I can grab out the models of the HP switches I have if you'd like, I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment

Go for it, we use HP or Cisco at work but they're big managed switches which is not what I need.

And exactly that, when I got the network cabling installed I went for CAT6 for upgradability, it was £10 more in materials than the CAT5 so more than happy.

HP is my go to brand so throw me some models, 16 is more than enough for us, even with adding more in the future. It's only one each to my kids room and two runs to my office for my work benches with a fifth run to my personal PC. Rest is on WiFi which is fine.

 

[PLAfiller]

I recently got my first ever switch ZyXEL GS1005-HP with 5 ports only, but I needed the PoE (I didn't know this existed) to power surveilance cameras around the house. So simple just one cable that carries power and internet. But my needs are humble. Don't know about that port capacity advice from @phill , but he has tons of experience, so I would pay attention.

 

[Hellfire]

I recently got my first ever switch ZyXEL GS1005-HP with 5 ports only, but I needed the PoE (I didn't know this existed) to power surveilance cameras around the house. So simple just one cable that carries power and internet. But my needs are humble. Don't know about that port capacity advice from @phill , but he has tons of experience, so I would pay attention.

Hmmmm I do have a spare HPE Aruba at work... Wonder if they notice a £500 switch going missing.

Techwise I'm pretty savy in, I work in IT, it's more of finding good budget stuff that isn't £300+400 a switch.

 

[kayjay010101]

Hmmmm I do have a spare HPE Aruba at work... Wonder if they notice a £500 switch going missing.

Techwise I'm pretty savy in, I work in IT, it's more of finding good budget stuff that isn't £300+400 a switch.

£300-400 for a gigabit switch is quite overpriced... I've got a HP Aruba switch that's 24x1GbE+4x10GbE that cost me 2500 NOK - roughly £200. Brand new.

 

[Chrispy_]

2.5G and 5G are too expensive and there are limited options available at the moment, so just get something cheap that serves your needs now.

Gigabit won't cut it for too much longer, with many boards now including cheap 2.5G Realtek LAN, so a budget D-Link/Netgear/Zyxel/TP-Link will do the job for just a few more years and then you can go and research a proper 2.5G/5G switch once they have better market penetration and there are more mature options out there.

Unmanaged Switches | Desktop & Gigabit | Plug & Play Switches | Ebuyer.com

Unmanaged switches from the all the leading brands in networking, including TP-Link, Netgear and Cisco. Desktop & Gigabit unmanaged switches at low prices from Ebuyer, with fast UK delivery!

www.ebuyer.com

Gigabit switching is really old tech at this point. It's very mature and it's almost impossible to buy an inadequate switch as long as you're sticking to simple, unmanaged, non-PoE switches.

 

[Hellfire]

£300-400 for a gigabit switch is quite overpriced... I've got a HP Aruba switch that's 24x1GbE+4x10GbE that cost me 2500 NOK - roughly £200. Brand new.

Some of the switches I've worked with run into thousands lol. Heck Cisco prices make me wince when I see them.

2.5G and 5G are too expensive and there are limited options available at the moment, so just get something cheap that serves your needs now.

Gigabit won't cut it for too much longer, with many boards now including cheap 2.5G Realtek LAN, so a budget D-Link/Netgear/Zyxel/TP-Link will do the job for sure.

Unmanaged Switches | Desktop & Gigabit | Plug & Play Switches | Ebuyer.com

Unmanaged switches from the all the leading brands in networking, including TP-Link, Netgear and Cisco. Desktop & Gigabit unmanaged switches at low prices from Ebuyer, with fast UK delivery!

www.ebuyer.com

View attachment 213416

Gigabit switching is really old tech at this point. It's very mature and it's almost impossible to buy an inadequate switch as long as you're sticking to simple, unmanaged, non-PoE switches.

That's what I am thinking. Budget switch till I make the jump to a decent 10G one and the prices of those come down. I get Gigabit is old hat but like you say, even 2.5 isn't cheap yet.

Was looking at the 16port TP link on that preview, it'll probably do for now

 

[kayjay010101]

Some of the switches I've worked with run into thousands lol. Heck Cisco prices make me wince when I see them.

Yeah Cisco and other enterprise vendors are experts at charging their customers 10-100x what the product is actually worth. Though with those you do get pretty sophisticated management, and often on-site service within a very reasonable timeframe.

 

[Hellfire]

Yeah Cisco and other enterprise vendors are experts at charging their customers 10-100x what the product is actually worth. Though with those you do get pretty sophisticated management, and often on-site service within a very reasonable timeframe.

Our Merakis are 24*7*4 on the service agreement, but we pay a lot for that.

 

[Chrispy_]

Some of the switches I've worked with run into thousands lol. Heck Cisco prices make me wince when I see them.



That's what I am thinking. Budget switch till I make the jump to a decent 10G one and the prices of those come down. I get Gigabit is old hat but like you say, even 2.5 isn't cheap yet.

Was looking at the 16port TP link on that preview, it'll probably do for now

I have used TP-Link for temporary branch offices at construction sites. Never had one fail, never had one screw up. Sample size is too small to be relevant really but these are commodity, super-simple items - no need to go crazy!

Our Merakis are 24*7*4 on the service agreement, but we pay a lot for that.

I always upvote Meraki but the 20 I have are all pre-802.11ac so I'm about to have a very large bill to pay to upgrade those old access points

 

[Hellfire]

I have used TP-Link for temporary branch offices at construction sites. Never had one fail, never had one screw up. Sample size is too small to be relevant really but these are commodity, super-simple items - no need to go crazy!

Yeah think it's worth giving it a shot, especially at £45 can't go wrong.

Ouch, have fun with that. We're lucky we did ours very recently.

 

[phill]

Go for it, we use HP or Cisco at work but they're big managed switches which is not what I need.

And exactly that, when I got the network cabling installed I went for CAT6 for upgradability, it was £10 more in materials than the CAT5 so more than happy.

HP is my go to brand so throw me some models, 16 is more than enough for us, even with adding more in the future. It's only one each to my kids room and two runs to my office for my work benches with a fifth run to my personal PC. Rest is on WiFi which is fine.

I find even with the managed switches, you don't need to use the managed stuff to get it to work, its just there if you fancy doing anything with it, which is why mine are pretty much bog standard No point making it over complicated unless you want to learn and such so it's not a bad thing to have. I mean, I had these free from work as well, so I wasn't going to turn it down

The only real draw back with the 48 port switch is the damn fan and the fact it chewed 80w of power lol The 24 port was very much a better choice at that point but I don't have any spare sockets now lol

I think personally with any decent brand switch, you really won't go wrong with. Netgear, TP Link - they are all switches I've heard off. I've pretty much stuck with Netgear for home until I got given the switches from work, they are monsters and doing something with them your not sure on could take out the network but you soon learn fast

I believe we are moving over to Cisco at work for some reason, think its mental personally but we currently use Avaya at the moment, I believe some of those switches are 10's of thousands.. I know we have a few 10Gb switches which I'd love to buy from work since they are all getting replaced..... But we'll see...

Either ways, as I said, I don't think you'd go wrong with any of the ones above, £50 even if you do, I wouldn't stress to much and since it'll only be yourself using it, it won't really make a massive difference if you do decide to swap change and upgrade I don't use WiFi at home, as I have to use cable.. The speeds just drive me nuts and so does the signal. Our home broadband will be changing to full fibre at some point, so I'm not going to spending cash on a change of route now I long for full fibre..... It seriously can't come fast enough!

Please do let us know when you get the kit and such, the networking sections are a little light with threads, feel free to make a few

EDIT - Found the links I mentioned

http://imgur.com/Z34gdbn

http://imgur.com/48eMWYy

I'll find the model for the 24 port, I thought I'd got it in those pics....

 

[Bill_Bright]

haven't looked back as the HP as been brilliant

Never been a fan of HP computers, but I agree, their network gear is top notch.

 

[newtekie1]

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B076642YPN/?coliid=I3C70A7P21QP4B

Maybe something like that just to future proof a little. It's a bit more than a standard 1Gb switch, but you have two 10Gb ports for a server in the future if you need.

 

[dogwitch]

enterprise switch
get them dirt cheap everywhere

 

[eidairaman1]

When I first moved into my home, I had a 16 port Netgear switch which about 10 years ago I think cost me about £80... I used all those ports up as I had networked the house, but I'd definitely say to go for more ports than you need, so if you need 8, get 16, as for Gigabit, the prices aren't too bad. As you say, 10Gb, its a little different...

Currently I've a layer 3 24 and 48 port HP switch at home, I sold on my 16 Netgear (I believe the model was GS116 I think!) switch about 4 years or so ago, haven't looked back as the HP as been brilliant. Also Gigabit and believe me, that'll get old quickly if your transferring large files about the network. As you have Cat 6 cabling that will help with the upgradability as Cat 5 will run 10Gb in short runs I believe (30m if my memory serves??) so if you do ever switch them out, you'll be in a good way

All I can really suggest is make sure the core of the network, cabling I'd say, can do more than what you wish as to when you wish to upgrade that it'll be a bloody nightmare having to rip everything up. Do it right the first time, then when you do upgrade, it'll be very easy for you

I can grab out the models of the HP switches I have if you'd like, I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment

Id get a netgear pro switch and a cooling fan mod or water cooling.

 

[Chrispy_]

enterprise switch
get them dirt cheap everywhere

This is for a home. I'm not sure I'd want a large, noisy Cisco/HP rackmount switch with some screaming 40mm 7000RPM fans in the middle of the house I'm trying to sleep in.
I know they're not that noisy all the time, but they sure as hell aren't what anyone can call quiet.

"Dirt cheap" is also pretty subjective, even on ebay they're 5x the cost of cheap consumer gigabit switches, right, and since you're buying used hardware there's no warranty.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Tp-Link launched a cheap eight port, unmanaged 2.5Gbps switch a couple of months ago.
Sure, it's a lot more than a 1Gbps switch still, but with more or less any half decent motherboard featuring 2.5Gbps Ethernet these days, it's a future proofing move.

TP-Link Unmanaged 8-Port 2.5G Multi-Gigabit Desktop Switch, 802.3X Flow Control, 802.1p/DSCP QoS, Ideal for Small and Home Office with fanless design, Metal Casing, Plug and Play (TL-SG108-M2) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

Trendnet has one too, but it's apparently not on sale in the UK.

Personally I have the "managed" version of this, but it's a very basic managed model. It's been rock solid for years now, but maybe you're not interested in the 10Gbps ports and then it's just a waste of money. Netgear has some nice unmanaged "business light" switches too, up to 24 ports in a half size 1U form factor.

NETGEAR 10-Port Gigabit/10G Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS110MX) - with 8 x 1G, 2 x 10G/Multi-gig, Desktop, Wall or Rackmount, and Limited Lifetime Protection : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

QNAP also has this, which might be an interesting longer term solution, but it's pricey.

QNAP QSW-M2108-2C - 2 x 10GbE SFP+/RJ45 Combo Ports & 8 x 2.5GbE (RJ45) Ports - Entry-level 10GbE and 2.5GbE Layer 2 Web Managed Switch : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

QNAP QSW-M2108-2C - 2 x 10GbE SFP+/RJ45 Combo Ports & 8 x 2.5GbE (RJ45) Ports - Entry-level 10GbE and 2.5GbE Layer 2 Web Managed Switch : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[Chrispy_]

QNAP also has this, which might be an interesting longer term solution, but it's pricey.

QNAP QSW-M2108-2C - 2 x 10GbE SFP+/RJ45 Combo Ports & 8 x 2.5GbE (RJ45) Ports - Entry-level 10GbE and 2.5GbE Layer 2 Web Managed Switch : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

QNAP QSW-M2108-2C - 2 x 10GbE SFP+/RJ45 Combo Ports & 8 x 2.5GbE (RJ45) Ports - Entry-level 10GbE and 2.5GbE Layer 2 Web Managed Switch : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.co.uk

One of the reasons I suggested holding off on 2.5G for now is that the choices are both overpriced and limited. £200 for 8 ports is a lot when £60 gets you 24 gigabit ports, but if you only need a few 2.5G ports there's nothing stopping you from chaining a 1G switch off a 2.5G ports...

QNAP 2.5G switches have some very iffy reviews at the moment. Here's just one example:

QNAP QSW-1105-5T, 5 port 2.5Gbps auto negotiation (2.5G/1G/100M), unmanaged switch, Broadcom Chipset Embedded : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

Seriously, dropping connections and crashing isn't something I've seen in a switch for upwards of 20 years. How did QNAP get something so fundamentally wrong?!

 

[TheLostSwede]

One of the reasons I suggested holding off on 2.5G for now is that the choices are both overpriced and limited. £200 for 8 ports is a lot when £60 gets you 24 gigabit ports, but if you only need a few 2.5G ports there's nothing stopping you from chaining a 1G switch off a 2.5G ports...

QNAP 2.5G switches have some very iffy reviews at the moment. Here's just one example:

QNAP QSW-1105-5T, 5 port 2.5Gbps auto negotiation (2.5G/1G/100M), unmanaged switch, Broadcom Chipset Embedded : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

Seriously, dropping connections and crashing isn't something I've seen in a switch for upwards of 20 years. How did QNAP get something so fundamentally wrong?!

Odd, not sure what's going on, but it's not something I'd expect from a switch.
Couldn't tell you what's going on, it's a long time since I worked there and the people I know there aren't involved with the switches.

It was more of a future proofing thing than anything else, as even though Gigabit switches are a lot cheaper, it means replacing them in the future, which means more junk in a pile somewhere. I got an 8-port Netgear Gigabit switch sitting in a box, as I have no need for it, nor do I know anyone that wants it. It was only £25 or something during Amazon Prime Day some years ago, so no big deal, but I only used it for about two years in the end and it feels a bit wasteful.

 

[Chrispy_]

Odd, not sure what's going on, but it's not something I'd expect from a switch.
Couldn't tell you what's going on, it's a long time since I worked there and the people I know there aren't involved with the switches.

It was more of a future proofing thing than anything else, as even though Gigabit switches are a lot cheaper, it means replacing them in the future, which means more junk in a pile somewhere. I got an 8-port Netgear Gigabit switch sitting in a box, as I have no need for it, nor do I know anyone that wants it. It was only £25 or something during Amazon Prime Day some years ago, so no big deal, but I only used it for about two years in the end and it feels a bit wasteful.

Yeah, it's Amazon reviews so treat it with a pinch of salt but there are too many people all reporting "dropouts" and "loss of connection" to be coincidence.
Trying think when I last had a switch that would drop out and lose connection - might a 3COM 10mbit switch from around the millennium, and in its defence I believe that particular model was bridging a BNC network hub with some RJ45 ports all in one box so lots going on there beyond just a basic ethernet switch.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yeah, it's Amazon reviews so treat it with a pinch of salt but there are too many people all reporting "dropouts" and "loss of connection" to be coincidence.
Trying think when I last had a switch that would drop out and lose connection - might a 3COM 10mbit switch from around the millennium, and in its defence I believe that particular model was bridging a BNC network hub with some RJ45 ports all in one box so lots going on there beyond just a basic ethernet switch.

Can't say I have ever had a hub or a switch do that so...
I mean, it could be a hardware bug, remember that Intel had to scrap its first revision of 2.5Gbps Ethernet chips, as they had an unfixable hardware bug.
It's possible something like that has crept into whatever hardware QNAP is using, but it ought to affect others too, since I doubt there are too many options for low cost 2.5Gbps switches in the market so far. Not to throw dirt at Realtek, but I would guess it's based on Realtek hardware. Their chips for computers appear to be working well from what I've seen, so it's not as if they've messed those up.
Noticed that Broadcom packages their 2.5Gbps chips in FCBGA packages, so those must cost a small fortune, so no wonder we're not seeing multiple 2.5Gbps ports on routers, yet.
Hopefully Marvell don't jack up the prices on the Aquantia stuff they bought and continued, but unless you're going 5 or 10Gbps, I have a feeling they won't be cost competitive either, as both Realtek and Intel are cheap, almost Gigabit chip for the PHYs.

 

[dir_d]

Can't say I have ever had a hub or a switch do that so...
I mean, it could be a hardware bug, remember that Intel had to scrap its first revision of 2.5Gbps Ethernet chips, as they had an unfixable hardware bug.
It's possible something like that has crept into whatever hardware QNAP is using, but it ought to affect others too, since I doubt there are too many options for low cost 2.5Gbps switches in the market so far. Not to throw dirt at Realtek, but I would guess it's based on Realtek hardware. Their chips for computers appear to be working well from what I've seen, so it's not as if they've messed those up.
Noticed that Broadcom packages their 2.5Gbps chips in FCBGA packages, so those must cost a small fortune, so no wonder we're not seeing multiple 2.5Gbps ports on routers, yet.
Hopefully Marvell don't jack up the prices on the Aquantia stuff they bought and continued, but unless you're going 5 or 10Gbps, I have a feeling they won't be cost competitive either, as both Realtek and Intel are cheap, almost Gigabit chip for the PHYs.

I'm still surprised there are no real multi gig switches. You can buy a cloud managed one from EnGenius https://www.engeniustech.com/cloud-managed-switches.html but its still expensive. You could go even deeper and buy https://www.fs.com/products/108716.html?attribute=5271&id=205526 its over 3k but I think the switch will last anyone 10+ years in a home network though.

I think both of these switches use the Broadcom chips and thats why they are so expensive

 

[Chrispy_]

I would guess it's based on Realtek hardware. Their chips for computers appear to be working well from what I've seen, so it's not as if they've messed those up.

So my primary site office has a bunch of reasonably old Catalyst 3000-series edge switches and the Realtek 2.5G NICs on some motherboards do NOT work well with those Catalyst switches at all.
For like £8 a pop I've just solved the problem by dumping in some cheapo realtek PCIe gigabit NICs to the 30-odd machines that had 2.5G NICs in them and have since been buying boards that have either only 1G or Intel 10GbE NICs on them.

If Intel's 2.5G had an unfixable hardware bug and Realtek's 2.5G hasn't been a 100% success for me, perhaps 2.5G is best avoided and we all just wait for 10G to go consumer/mainstream. It's crazy because I spent today at work architecting 40G upgrades at a datacenter and it feels like 10G has been the minimum for iSCSI and server-grade hardware even in small businesses for well over a decade, yet here we are discussing how the first rung on the ladder after the 22-year-old gigabit standard is basically a minefield of failures in the consumer market.