There isn't much you can normally say about a Network Switch and what you can say is already spoken for.
The GS108 has 8-ports which all Gigabit enable (1000Mb/s or 125MB/s) which all have embedded LEDS in. The right hand one lights up if the connection is operating at 10/100 Fast Ethernet and the left LED lights up if the connection is at 1000 Gigabit. The LEDs blink with activity.
Also the left of the ports there is another two LEDs per port, the top row lights up with collision (I have never seen any yet) and the bottom if the link is active. Finally there is a Power LED on the far left.
The GS106 is inside a very nice metal case which gives it its excellent quality as most switches come in a horrible plastic case. Its painted a very smart blue and would not look out of place anywhere.
It is very small and as it has no fans it doesn't produce any noise at all, its also very cool which is something Linksys switches have a problem with. It comes in a smallish box with only a few bits of paper, the AC wallsocket and a wall-mounting kit which is a nice addition.
Installation as always is very easy, plug mains in, plug ethernet cables in and your set, it will never let you down, doesn't need restarting or anything, so more of a 'Plug and Forget' peripheral.
What does Gigabit mean? well it means that it will take a lot less time to transfer information or enable more connections and transfer. All the ports are Full-Duplex which means they support 1Gbps up and down at the same time. On 100Mbps connection it would take you at maximum speed 6.4 minutes to transfer a DVDs worth of information. On 1Gbps however it would only take you 38 seconds.
Now in theory you won't always get your maximum speed as it will depend on more things than this switch such as cable type and the network cards installed in the comptuers on the network.
The other question might be why should I buy Gigabit when I only have a Fast Ethernet network? Well you should buy Gigabit because it is future proof and it is now affordabe. You might not have any Gigabit enabled devices at the moment but you will, most new motherboards are now shipping with Gigabit as standard. Not long ago this swtich was twice to three times the price it is now and there has never been a better time to upgrade.
Overall this is an excellent product, 8-ports are more than enough for most houses and have room for expansion and with the reliability it offers you can hide it away and forget about it.
Well Done Netgear on and truly wonderful piece of equipment.
More details
Stability
Very stable
Instruction manual
Satisfactory
Manufacturer Support
Good
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