Gigabit router/switch for home use

fross

fross

fross

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Joined
8 Nov 2007
Posts
426
Location
London and Florence, Italy
Hi all,

I'm changing my home network config - I'm moving the NAS across the house so it's nearer my main PC (and unfortunately away from the router on the old side of the house), so I need a small, 4 port say, router to connect the PC, the NAS, and an eventual Airport Express to. It'll need to be gigabit, as I'm already feeling the strain on 100Mbit. The PC and NAS are both gigabit internally.

I won't need wireless on the router due to the airport express, so I'd like to save money there. I am a little in the dark when it comes to when to use a router/when to use a switch and all that lot, so could use a little advice and some product recommendations!

Thanks in advance
 
Get a HP Procurve 1400-8G, nice price simple and good connectivity, just trying to persuade the wife to get me one for xmas
 
The NetGear GS605 is cheap and cheerful and does the job. I use it to connect my primary PCs and my NAS to my network. Admittedly in my case the whole network is Gigabit including the router, but arranged correctly you should still get Gigabit speeds between the devices attached to the switch even if the line to the router is still running at 100Mb.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys.

I was under the impression that a "switch", as opposed to a router, allowed more efficient use of transfer especially when at high speeds, something like it allowed simultaneous transfer in both directions, whereas a router didn't, so bidirectional transfer was slower. But this is exactly the sort of information I need to know! :)

The HP has great reviews, though the netgear is half the price and still fulfils my needs. I've had issues with netgear adsl routers before, not coping well with p2p and when doing stuff like polling game servers (looking for servers on tfc caused the router to shut down for 30s!) - CBJ, you been using it for similar things and it's ok?
 
fross said:
Thanks for the tips, guys.

I was under the impression that a "switch", as opposed to a router, allowed more efficient use of transfer especially when at high speeds, something like it allowed simultaneous transfer in both directions, whereas a router didn't, so bidirectional transfer was slower. But this is exactly the sort of information I need to know! :)

The HP has great reviews, though the netgear is half the price and still fulfils my needs. I've had issues with netgear adsl routers before, not coping well with p2p and when doing stuff like polling game servers (looking for servers on tfc caused the router to shut down for 30s!) - CBJ, you been using it for similar things and it's ok?
Click to expand...

Well without going into networking theory too much, a switch 'switches' traffic while a router 'routes' it. Simple. What that means in practice is devices in the same subnet can communicate through a switch, whereas a router allows communication between different subnets.

Basically, today home users need one router to connect them to their internet connection and that's it.

To be honest the HP is a steal at £44 or so, I wouldn't even consider the netgear (then again I wouldn't touch a netgear anything with a barge pole)
 
fross said:
The HP has great reviews, though the netgear is half the price and still fulfils my needs. I've had issues with netgear adsl routers before, not coping well with p2p and when doing stuff like polling game servers (looking for servers on tfc caused the router to shut down for 30s!) - CBJ, you been using it for similar things and it's ok?
Click to expand...
It's been fine. I plugged it in, connected the network cables to it and forgot about it. There's nothing to do or to configure, and I've been getting the kinds of speeds you'd expect when copying files and so on. While I understand people's brand reservations, there really aren't that many things that can go wrong with a switch; heck, the 100Mb one I had before was a Belkin and even that didn't manage to break anything!
 
Lifetime warranty, metal case, not cheap white plastic, non wallwart style PSU. 3 good enough reasons for me to go for the HP one.
 
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