Question about network switches.

Jimbo

Jimbo

Jimbo

Soldato
Joined
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Location
Newcastle, England
I was after a switch so I could connect from my downstairs Virgin Media hub 5 Router to my PC witch is located upstairs. I'm on a 1 Gig connection and trying just a Ethernet cable from the routers 2.5GB port to the pc I was achieving speeds of 1,136Mbps and above. so I bought a cheap TP link Gigabit switch and going through that I'm hitting 900 ish speeds. So me not having a clue about these things believes it's the limitations of the switch? So my question is if I buy the TP link 2.5GB switch witch is significantly more expensive at £91.59 would I see much better download speeds? I mean I'm pleased at the £19 5 port Gigabit switch but if I can do better I would like too. And also what does managed and unmanaged mean? As one I've got now is the former and the more expensive one I'm looking at is the latter. I just want it to plug in and work. :D
 
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Yes, 940Mbit ish is about the best actual throughput you’ll get from a 1Gb switch. A 2.5Gb switch will give you more throughput so you would get back to the 1130Mb ish speeds with one.

You can get cheaper 2.5Gb switches from the Chinese selling sites etc - I’m assuming it’s not ok to name them here so I won’t, but I’ve got a couple that were under £30 and they’re doing a great job.

If you want it to just work then you just need an unmanaged switch. A managed switch will have a web interface and will let you do stuff like VLANs, link aggregation etc and it sounds like you don’t need any of that. You don’t have to use any of that functionality so they can still work as a dumb switch but no point paying more for a managed switch to get functionality you won’t use.
 
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The main difference between managed and unmanaged switches lies in the level of control and customization they offer:

Managed Switches

Control & Configuration: Managed switches allow for extensive configuration and control over the network. You can adjust settings such as port speed, VLANs, redundancy, port mirroring, and Quality of Service (QoS) for traffic prioritization.

Security: They offer advanced security features, enabling you to protect the network and detect threats.

Monitoring: Managed switches provide tools for monitoring network performance and troubleshooting issues.

Cost: They are generally more expensive due to their advanced features and the expertise required to manage them.

Unmanaged Switches

Plug-and-Play: Unmanaged switches are simple plug-and-play devices with no configuration options. They start forwarding traffic as soon as they are connected.

Limited Features: They have basic features necessary for network connectivity but lack advanced capabilities.

Security: Unmanaged switches do not offer configurable security features.
 
Armageus said:
Why is 900Mbps such a problem?

I honestly wouldn't bother - leave the other ~100Mbps available for other devices e.g. on WiFi so that e.g. any downloads from your PC don't max out the connection and cause "lag" or "bufferbloat" for other devices
Click to expand...
Yeah it's not really a problem and I'm happy with the speeds on Wi-Fi I was lucky to see 300Mbps. I was just wondering if I'd bought the wrong thing, however it's working great.
 
radderfire said:
The main difference between managed and unmanaged switches lies in the level of control and customization they offer:

Managed Switches

Control & Configuration: Managed switches allow for extensive configuration and control over the network. You can adjust settings such as port speed, VLANs, redundancy, port mirroring, and Quality of Service (QoS) for traffic prioritization.

Security: They offer advanced security features, enabling you to protect the network and detect threats.

Monitoring: Managed switches provide tools for monitoring network performance and troubleshooting issues.

Cost: They are generally more expensive due to their advanced features and the expertise required to manage them.

Unmanaged Switches

Plug-and-Play: Unmanaged switches are simple plug-and-play devices with no configuration options. They start forwarding traffic as soon as they are connected.

Limited Features: They have basic features necessary for network connectivity but lack advanced capabilities.

Security: Unmanaged switches do not offer configurable security features.
Click to expand...
I have previously commented you're basically regurgitating ChatGPT on demand in another thread, but you've literally lifted that almost word for word from the lowprices blog post on July 29th without having the decency to credit the source. Please, do better.
 
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Actually it was originally an AI generated answer, generated by me, which I have checked and posted. You are incorrect about the source. You are correct about the use of AI.
 
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