Neat Netgear 5 port gigabit switch

Advantages: Cheap, reliable, simple to use
Disadvantages: None.

...I liked this switch so much, I bought two of them. Netgear have a reputation for cheap and reliable networking equipment, and this 5 port unmanaged switch is no exception. When I bought my two, they were retailing online for approx £35 each - but these days you should be able to get one for approx £25 (inc VAT.) The switch is more or less the size of my hand (yes, I have big hands). With 5 ports on the back - all are auto-sensing, as is the gigabit standard, so you don't have to worry about crossover cables if you're daisy-chaining switches... The only other port on the back is for power, which is the usual "wall-wart" plug in transformer you get with most home networking equipment. Given the switch is unmanaged, you can just plug desktop computers, laptops, XBOXes, network printers straight into the switch, and not worry...

sjhill 20.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch - switch - 5 ports

Netgear GS105 5 Port Gigabit Switch

Advantages: Easy installation, small, sturdy, quiet, auto uplink
Disadvantages: Runs quite hot

...cables. Operation Compatibility: Most recent PC's have at least a single gigabit Ethernet port on them now. Now you can make use of it. Tested fine with Intel Pro/1000 MT cards and nVidia nForce cards Noise It contains no fans so operation is completely silent, however, as with all other Netgear switches, this unit gets quite hot. For peace of mind it would be best to keep it away from sources of heat (I tend to lay an old PII heatsink on the unit just to help with the cooling!) Troubleshooting The LED indicators provide you with all the information you could possibly need to help diagnose any connectivity problems - not that you should have any Conclusion Very fast, reliable equipment. With prices for gigabit equipment coming down, now is a great time to upgrade...

sj19uk 11.09.2005 (04.12.2005) · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe GS105 - switch - 5 ports

Switch to Netgear

Advantages: Excellent quality. loads of features, easy to install
Disadvantages: None

...Netgear are well known for their networking equipment and it is for this reason I want to tell you about a great piece of kit. The 24 port switch. 24 ports of networking capability.... But what does that all mean??? Ok, let me tell you about what a network is. Even the internet is just one big network. it is simply just a collection of computers that are connected together and can communicate. Simple! But, how do you connect them together? Its not like they shake hands and have a chat is it? Well in a way, that is what they are doing but using some extra hardware to do this. To put a computer on a network, it needs a Network interface card or NIC. This plugs into your computer's motherboard. Its basically similar to installing a graphics card or sound card. You then need to connect the computer via the NIC card to...

andycharger 21.07.2003 · Read review
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Review of Netgear 24port 10/100 Switch

Switch to Netgear

Advantages: Easy to use, easy to install
Disadvantages: closeness of the ports.

...Netgear are well known for their networking equipment and it is for this reason I want to tell you about a great piece of kit. The 24 port switch. 24 ports of networking capability.... But what does that all mean??? Ok, let me tell you about what a network is. Even the internet is just one big network. it is simply just a collection of computers that are connected together and can communicate. Simple! But, how do you connect them together? Its not like they shake hands and have a chat is it? Well in a way, that is what they are doing but using some extra hardware to do this. To put a computer on a network, it needs a Network interface card or NIC. This plugs into your computer's motherboard. Its basically similar to installing a graphics card or sound card. You then need to connect the computer via the NIC card to...

andycharger 02.06.2003 (04.06.2003) · Read review
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Review of Netgear 24port 10/100 Switch

solid build and quiet switch = happy chappy

Advantages: small compact size, metallic body, passive cooling=no noise
Disadvantages: gets a bit hot during summer

...Well there isn't much to say about this switch. I've bought 4 of these and they are all working fine. This is basically the big brother of the FS108 switch. The FS108 is 100mb Full duplex switch (full duplex meaning it can send and receive data at the same time), which theoretically gives 200mb throughput (send/receive combined). The GS108 is a 1000mb full duplex switch, which theoretically gives 2000mb throughput (send/receive combined). Under real wolrd conditions, you can copy a 650mb file with a 100mb switch in under 5-6 minutes. With a 1000mb (gig) switch , you should be able to do it in under 2 minutes (hardware permitting). On average, you will more than likely get over double the transfer rate than a 100mb switch, and obviously it's a hell of a lot faster than a 100mb hub. With copying the files am assuming you are...

waga 25.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe GS108 8 Port Gigabit Desktop Switch - switch - 8 ports

The speedy GS605

Advantages: Looks great, performs well, easily installed
Disadvantages: Gigabit networking is unavoidably expensive

...Netgears GS605 offers a stylish alternative to having gigabit Ethernet in the home. I spent a lot of time looking for a retailer who stocked this item and eventually I ended up shopping with MicroDirect after Misco sent me a GS105 (the GS605's business brother) in error. I'm quite fond of Netgears home networking equipment and my entire home network currently uses solely Netgear products. The GS605 is the same size as all Netgears current line of home products that feature the platinum white casing. The product I obtained was silently different than advertised in that it had a silver reflective lining around the front panel instead of the traditional white used on all of the other platinum white products. The GS605 is also considerably heavier than both the DG834 router and the WG602 access point, most likely due to a greater...

adehh 12.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch - switch - 5 ports

Neat gear from Netgear

Advantages: Cheap, Easy to configure
Disadvantages: SFP GBIC ports are shared with copper ports, loud fan.

...I haven't found a cheaper 16 port Gigabit Ethernet switch than this Netgear. This 19" rack or desk mountable switch has 16 copper ports and two SFP GBIC ports. The GBIC ports are shared with copper ports 15 & 16 - so you get to use either or, not both, which is a bit of a shame - but they do say it is a 16 port switch after all... They have at least given you the option of adding either short or long range fibre capability to the switch. The switch will work out of the box as if it were unmanaged, but then you'd be missing the point... The switch is manageable via its built in web server, which provides an easy to use interface to all the common functions you would expect - 802.11Q VLAN tagging, Quality of Service, Jumbo frame support, 802.3ad link aggregation. You can upgrade the firmware using the web interface too, keeping...

sjhill 18.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe GS716T - switch - 16 ports

Ideal switch for the small business or developers

Advantages: Easy to set up, configure and use
Disadvantages: None

...We currently run an 80 user network in our office. While the main traffic of our network is handled by 6, 24 port rack mounted switches, my little IT office has 7 PCs in it with not enough ports on the wall to connect them up. this poses a problem. To connect to our network, you need a network connection on the Wall. There are 4 connections in our office and 7 machines. Obviously 7 into 4 does not go so a solution was needed. The answer? A small desktop based switch that would allow us to connect up to 16 computers to one Network connection on the wall. The Product? Well we use Netgear equipment in our office because you know with Netgear, you are buying quality at an affordable price. So we opted for the FS116 Desktop Switch. The size of it? Well its about an inch high and about a foot long. It is about 6 inches from...

andycharger 06.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe FS116 10/100 Desktop Switch - switch - 16 ports

Netgear FVS114 ProSafe VPN Firewall/Switch

Advantages: Good features, VPN support, 10/100 WAN port
Disadvantages: Challenging documentation

...Not so long ago, you were lucky to have broadband of any speed. Now broadband is getting faster with speeds of 8-10Mbps becoming more common and 24Mbps not so far away. As a result, the current generation of routers for the home or small office are starting to show a weakness - they only have a 10Mbit WAN port for connecting to your ADSL or Cable connection. The Netgear FVS114 manages to bring a 10/100 Mbps WAN port equipped router to the party with a whole bunch of extra features. As the box proudly proclaims, it combines 8 VPN tunnels, a router, 4 port switch and SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) Firewall in to one compact device in the familiar dark blue metal case that Netgear are famous for. With support for 253 users, there's a lot of power here for the price. What's in the box As well as the Netgear FVS114 itself, you get...

ilaskey 13.02.2007 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe VPN Firewall 8 FVS114 - router

Switch it !

Advantages: Performace at an excellent price
Disadvantages: 4 ports may not be enough

...No, no, not like your Switch card or Visa card... You're in the Networking section now :-) Although I'm sure if you're reading this you have SOME idea about networking, I will explain first the basic difference between a switch and a hub (Network experts please forgive the following paragraphs) >>> A hub will usually work at an elementary level, making a verbatim copy of all data it receives on each of its ports to all of its other ports. As you can imagine, for a 10 port hub, this means that 80% of all its output is completely redundant (reaches a destination that simply ignores it) >>> A switch is a LITTLE more intelligent. A switch will check the unique "MAC" address that the data is destined for, and assuming it has seen the machine that that MAC address belongs to connected to one of its ports, it will pass on received data...

one47 09.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of NETGEAR ProSafe FS105 10/100 Desktop Switch - switch - 5 ports