Are all cheap switches made equally?

dark_hag666 · 1 May 2008 at 16:08

Need a cheap switch, apart from staying away from belkin are there any other hidden pits falls to stay away from or all all switches basically the same in quality etc?

FrenchTart · 1 May 2008 at 16:20

All cheap switches are just that - cheap. I wouldn't worry hugely. Though there's no harm in looking up online reviews of any switch you're thinking of buying.

dark_hag666 · 1 May 2008 at 16:29

Thanks

Dave85 · 1 May 2008 at 16:51

Got a 8 port switch at a computer fair 6 years ago made by a company called soho, its sat up my attick and worked flawlessly without a single hitch. cost 7 quid. dont worry about them.

dave-lew99 · 1 May 2008 at 17:56

I had one of those 8 port SOHO things - was yours translucent green?

Mine set on fire...

TrX · 1 May 2008 at 18:46

dave-lew99 said:
I had one of those 8 port SOHO things - was yours translucent green?

Mine set on fire...

..Yeah but you probably lost the power supply in your boxes of random electronic bit's and bodged it to run from the mains... didn't you!

Don't go for the netgear white/silver 5/8Pt gigabit ones IMHO. Had some weird link-up issues with it (with linux drivers)

dave-lew99 · 1 May 2008 at 18:56

TrX said:
..Yeah but you probably lost the power supply in your boxes of random electronic bit's and bodged it to run from the mains... didn't you!

NO! That's not true, how day you say that....remember...i know where you live

It was however left on a thick carpeted floor....

Definately do not buy a netfear 5/8 port gigabit (the white ones) they are utterly rubbish - lots of linux link issues (wouldn't link at all) and on windows would randomly link at 100 instead of 1000 - lots of different network cards.

Rich · 1 May 2008 at 20:09

HP 1800-8G for the win

p4radox · 1 May 2008 at 20:59

Got a 16 port switch for about £18 4 years ago, worked flawlessly and still does.

leezer3 · 1 May 2008 at 21:24

I seem to go through cheap switches at an incredible rate, although they are running 24/7

Pretty much all of them use the same basic chipset/ components- Variations seem to come in the power adaptor & case color.
Occasionally, you'll find a manufacturer has added a ridiculous little heatsink in that is worse than useless, but nothing more significant than that.

Just ensure that wherever you buy them from will do returns easily! The switch behind my TV has been replaced 4 times in the last two years, each time seems to be a minor upgrade (Currently have a Netgear, lasted for 6months ATM), & I've never had to send back the old ones as they don't cost enough.

Cheers

-Leezer-

dark_hag666 · 2 May 2008 at 00:56

So I guess they aren't all equal :S

Avalon · 2 May 2008 at 12:03

No they aren't. I've got As(h)ita rack mount 16 port units that I picked up for a tenner each. After 2 years 24/7 the PSU gave up due to capacitor leakage. My HP rackmount 24 port unit is still going strong (£1.35+delivery each off the bay) though the fan does need replacing, I'll bet it's been running 3x as long though.

As for the netgear GS units i've never had any problem with drops in speed or refusing to sync at GB speeds under any OS (Win/OSX/Linux/BSD). Any chance it was a card/driver/cable issue ?

dave-lew99 · 2 May 2008 at 18:04

I tried a range of cards - Pro/1000's on board realteks, 3Coms, Broadcoms and none would link at gigabit under linux or Solaris. Swapped lots of cables about - factory made and self made.

Swapped it for a linksys S2008 and suddenly everything works perfectly.

dark_hag666 · 2 May 2008 at 18:32

Well, my shopping list currently contains a D-Link DGS-1005D.

Talrinys · 2 May 2008 at 18:33

dave-lew99 said:
NO! That's not true, how day you say that....remember...i know where you live

It was however left on a thick carpeted floor....

Definately do not buy a netfear 5/8 port gigabit (the white ones) they are utterly rubbish - lots of linux link issues (wouldn't link at all) and on windows would randomly link at 100 instead of 1000 - lots of different network cards.

I have a white Netgear 5-port gigabit switch, detects my link as gigabit each time and works perfectly, i have loads of connectivity issues but none of the other computers so i'm assuming it's a vista thing, also because some of them were fixed after SP1.

marscay · 3 May 2008 at 18:09

the netgear GS range are quite good for the money, my gbit switch has been running 24/7 for the past 2? years maybe more without incident.....no fan either which is nice.

JIM_BOB7813 · 3 May 2008 at 18:16

marscay said:
the netgear GS range are quite good for the money, my gbit switch has been running 24/7 for the past 2? years maybe more without incident.....no fan either which is nice.

I also have a GS (GS605), and it's been fine for around a year, but recently had a little problem http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11620646&postcount=12

Good for the money though.

Dave85 · 3 May 2008 at 19:53

dave-lew99 said:
I had one of those 8 port SOHO things - was yours translucent green?

Mine set on fire...

heh na it isnt see through green this is the badboy here, same as yours ?

iphone pic so forgive the quality.

oddjob62 · 3 May 2008 at 19:55

SOHO is a generic term for Small Office Home Office, so it may not be the same make

dave-lew99 · 3 May 2008 at 20:09

No, it was nothing like that, as said it's probably not the manufaturer - mine was completely unbranded apart from SOHO written on the top, it's long consigned to the bin now.